"Spinelli! It's dark, and it's creepy, and you are not leaving me up here all alone!" Maxie shouted as she grabbed onto his upper arm, her fingernails digging into his flesh. He didn't flinch though. Truthfully? He was just happy she was touching him.
"Maximista, do you want the power to be restored or would you rather The Jackal let the shadows prevail?" Spinelli said as he slowly pried her fingers one by one off his arm. "You could always accompany me on this less than pleasant deed, you know."
"Oh, oh, oh, no way! I cannot yell at the horror movies and then turn around and go walk into a basement during a power outage! Besides, you're the virgin. You have the best chance of survival."
"What?" Spinelli squeaked.
"You know, the virgin always lives. It's just like one of those rules," Maxie said staring him in the eyes as if he had the intelligence of a flea.
Spinelli sputtered wordlessly. This was one of those moments when he remembered why he loathed her so thoroughly when they first met. She always went for the damn jugular, even if she was wrong. His gaze traced the arch of her eyebrow which was cocked as if in a silent challenge.
"The Jackal will have you know he is not quite the image of virginal innocence that you assume him to be," Spinelli said shining the weak flashlight in her face.
"You're kidding," Maxie said deadpanned. When Spinelli showed no signs of laughter her eyes widened a little. "You're not kidding! Who was it? Oh God. Please tell me it was not with Lulu."
"The Fair One and I have never crossed the line between friends and something more. You know that, Maximista."
"Was it that nurse?" Maxie demanded and Spinelli smiled a little. With that tone it was almost easy to imagine that she was jealous, of course, all the lights being off helped too. "Spinelli!"
"The Maximista does not understand the concept of privacy, especially with things that are of the most private nature," Spinelli said jokingly.
"You don't have to tell me. I know it was that nurse," Maxie said.
"The Maximista is free to believe whatever she wishes," Spinelli said with a crooked smile.
"Maximista is free to know what she knows," Maxie muttered.
"Come on," Spinelli said tugging her by her hand. "We of loose morals would do best to stick together."
"I hate you," Maxie spat at him trying to tug her hand free. Spinelli simply linked their fingers and pressed their palms closer together.
"The Jackal takes no offense to your unthinking words. He knows they are only born of fear and desperation."
"I still hate you," Maxie said.
"I'll go down first," Spinelli said once they reached the stairs to the basement. "Is there anything down here that I should be aware of? Any old furniture? Anything?"
"Nope. It should be mostly empty. Besides, you have that flashlight."
"This flashlight has the intensity of a flickering candle flame," Spinelli said smacking the bottom of the flashlight. "You know, The Maximista should really be more prepared. What if you had been by yourself?"
"Oh God. Give it a rest. Go before I decide whether I'd rather make a run for it or shove you down the stairs," Maxie said with a huff as she crossed her arms.
They were silent as they descended down into the darkness of the basement. The flashlight was little help to the room's complete vastness and complete absence of light. Spinelli felt Maxie's tiny hands travel up his back, grasping at his hoodie.
"The Jackal is beginning to feel a lot like a human shield for some unknown reason," Spinelli said.
"Good, now if anyone or anything jumps out at us, act like a human shield," she said as her hands slid back down his back and peeked around to his waist. She was taking small baby steps in his shadow, or at least where his shadow would've been.
"The Jackal never would've assumed you were such a scaredy cat," Spinelli said and immediately felt his hands slide up under his hoodie and her nails rake swiftly, and a little painfully, over his unsuspecting skin. He shuddered. "Okay, cat has claws. Message received. Let's just get this done."
They worked together until they finally found the switch box they had been do desperately seeking. Spinelli flipped it opened and studied its contents, hoping to God they had just blown some sort of fuse so Maxie would calm down. Unfortunately, it was as he feared and the power had been lost completely to the storm.
"It appears there is nothing I can do, Maximista."
"What?!" Maxie squealed as she stomped her foot down. "There's nothing you can do? You can't like… Jackal us some power from somewhere else or something? God, what's the point of having you around if you can't fix things like this."
"Words can wound, you know," Spinelli said with big eyes.
"Oh, shut up. You know I didn't mean it like that. Now stop being stupid and help me back upstairs."
"I don't know, Malevolent Maxie, I kind of like it here," Spinelli said darting off and finally stopping to lean against an old desk that had been shoved in the corner.
"Spinelli! Get back here! This is not cool!" Maxie shouted, eyes narrowing trying to spot him within the dark. "Spinelli, I swear I'm going to kill you."
"Marco!"
"I'm going to kill you!"
"Mar- coo!"
"Spinelli," Maxie shouted turning around on her heel unsure of where the noise was coming from. "Spinelli, come on. It's not funny anymore!"
"Marco," Spinelli called.
Maxie turned to her left thinking that his voice seemed to be coming from somewhere in that direction. She squinted as hard as she could but could only make out blackness. Suddenly she felt a large pair of hands slip around her waist and pull her back against a warm chest.
"Marco," Spinelli said teasingly, directly by her ear. She could feel his warm breath float over her skin and goosebumps rose along her flesh. She turned around in his grasp so she was facing him.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Maxie exclaimed grabbing him by the ear and twisting.
"Ow! Maximista. Come on, you have a grip like my granny."
"You scared me," Maxie said placing her hands on his chest, not bothering to move away.
"You weren't really scared. Had you been in true distress The Jackal would've been by your side before you had a chance to blink," Spinelli said.
"You know," Maxie said. "This kind of reminds me of being trapped in that stinky sewer with you. That was so disgusting."
"The Jackal agrees, but is not going to wrinkle his nose in girly disdain," Spinelli said fondly as he stared down at her.
Maxie head-bumped his chest playfully, and Spinelli couldn't help but to grin. This is why he loved her. The little moments they had alone when no one was watching. Where he was just a boy and she was just a girl. And nothing else seemed to matter.
"Upstairs, now," Maxie demanded as she pushed him ahead of her. They stumbled a few times on their way to the steps and then stopped at the bottom of them, neither of them moving.
"Ladies first," Spinelli said. "Besides, if you trip you may still get to knock The Jackal down the stairs."
"Just like in the soap operas?" Maxie asked hopefully, like a little girl.
"No, if it was just like the soap operas I would have to be pregnant," Spinelli laughed.
"Oh my God," Maxie said in hushed tones. "That nurse knocked you up, didn't she?"
"Want to know a secret?" Spinelli asked seriously, and when Maxie nodded he continued. "It might not be hers."
"Tramp," Maxie said as she placed her hand on his stomach waiting for the Soap baby to kick. She looked up at him with laughter barely contained in her eyes and the edges of her flirting lips.
Drunk off her touch, and perhaps encouraged by the dark he brought his one hand up to cup the small of her neck. Quickly he tried to estimate the amount of time to kiss her before she realized what he was doing and hit him. 4.5 seconds, he decided. Taking a deep breath he leaned in and kissed her.
Maxie did not hit him. In fact, she seemed to lean into his touch, standing on her toes to reach him more easily. Her tongue danced cleverly into his surprised mouth and soon after he was kissing her for all he was worth. He forgot about breathing, forgot about the dark and the musty smell of the basement. All that mattered was this unusual and beautiful creature in his arms. Finally they broke apart and Spinelli could make out the shine on her now swollen lips.
"Finally. I was running out of plausible reasons to grab you and kiss you," Maxie said flippantly as she grabbed his hand and skipped them up the stairs.
Somewhere Spinelli was sure his brain had disconnected from reality and he was really alone in his Pink Fortress weathering the storm alone, but thankfully his heart knew different. This was very, very real.