Xirysa Says: Just a few words: Happy birthday, WhiteTigerLilly! Thanks for being such an awesome reader and reviewer—this one's for you!
In Love and War
They lay together on her bed, panting for breath as if they had been running a marathon.
Her hair was disheveled; parts of it stuck up in the hair while some pieces clung to her forehead with sweat. Bright red and slightly swollen, her lips were slightly parted as she sucked in breath after breath of much-needed oxygen.
He looked no better—his shirt was rumpled and untucked and the buttons had somehow become undone. Licking the sweat from his upper lip, he stared at the ceiling—what had just happened was too crazy for him to comprehend. But it wouldn't do to think about that now, not with her so close to him. He felt that if she got too close, he'd be ready to start again. Then again… She probably would be, too. He kicked himself mentally. Such thoughts weren't necessary right now. He shifted his attention to the bed upon which they lay instead.
The bed was, simply put, a complete, total, and utter mess. The linens were in disarray, the comforter drooped lazily unto the carpet, and the pillows lay scattered about the room.
If his grandmother had walked in at that moment, she would have berated them for allowing the room to look as if a hurricane had passed through, with a stampede of charging elephants following soon after.
Cleanliness, however, was the furthest thing from either of their minds.
He turned on his side and reached out one hand to brush a damp curl from her temple. "Oscar," he gasped between breaths, "are you sure it's alright that we did that?"
She grabbed his hand and pressed the palm of it to her flushed cheek. "Your hand is nice and cool," she told him. "But yes. If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have called you up here."
"But what if someone finds out?"
She snorted. "Let them think what they want. Personally, I don't care."
"Still, you're a noble. People are going to talk, you know." He sat up, and the front of his shirt gaped open. "If they found out what happened, I mean."
"Then they won't find out." She turned on her stomach and stared up at him from the corner of her eye. Her tone was resolute—that was the end of the discussion.
He shrugged his shoulders and sighed quietly to himself before getting off the bed. Stooping down, he picked up some of the pillows and tossed them on the bed. She sat up and watched as he began to tidy up the room, idly playing with her hair.
"You don't have to do that, you know," she said as she used her sleeve to wipe away the sweat that clung to her face and neck. "I can do it myself."
He grinned and winked at her. "I helped make some of this mess, so it's only fair that I help clean up."
The mattress squeaked a bit as she got up. "Alright. Whatever you want." She adjusted the bed linens as he continued to pick up things around the room. "Although, you may want to button up your shirt before you leave."
He looked down quickly and blushed before facing the wall and adjusting his attire. Turning around, he presented himself to her.
"Do I look respectable, now?" he asked with a grin (although there was still a hint of red on his cheeks).
"Of course," she answered sarcastically. "As if you had just arrived at a ball held in Versailles."
Scowling, he resumed his work, and she resumed hers. Silence permeated the air between the two, charged with a sense of camaraderie and understanding.
He tossed the last pillow onto the bed and flopped down beside it. She joined him a moment later, sitting tall and proud on its edge. He looked up at her, a guilty expression upon his face.
"I'm sorry about your lips, Oscar," he said.
She pouted down at him. "You'd better be, you idiot. How am I going to explain this?"
"Er… Why not say that you fell? That's basically what happened."
She smacked him upside the head and smirked when she saw him wince. "I didn't fall, though. You pushed me. And anyway, I ended up getting my revenge." She poked his cheek, where a lovely lavender bruise was beginning to form.
Now it was his turn to frown. "No fair. Sticking two pairs of shoes in your pillowcase in the middle of a pillow fight is cheating."
She laughed and rubbed his shoulder lightly. "Don't worry—all's fair in love and war."
Xirysa Says: My gosh, that was totally and utterly plotless. EPIC FAIL TO THE MAX. XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! I had another busy week at school, but decided that I absolutely had to write this. Expect something else soon, too, because my parent's wedding anniversary ids the 25th and I want to write something special for that as well. As for this… Well… More innuendos? Ahahahaa, how I love thee… Anyway, as usual, feedback and comments are very much welcome!