Author's Note: YAY! New reviews. I love your reviews, they make me so happy. I feel like it's Christmas morning everytime I open up my email inbox. Yes, I know that the virginity thing is super-cliched, but I couldn't help myself! I know, I know, I'm making excuses. I'll work extra hard to try and make it believable.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inception (Though I have it on DVD)
"Is this really important?" Was her icy, razor-edged reply.
There was that odd, intoxicating sense of bliss she got from hurting him. She had finally figured out why it felt so frighteningly good- it gave her a sense of control, something she had lost her grasp of a long time ago. It made her feel powerful, like she was stronger than him, stronger than anyone else. For all this time, she had been so used to being polite. To obeying her superiors. But to disobey them, to stray away from the well-walked path was... Intoxicating.
"It's important to me." He replied, trying to sound strong, but she could tell by the exasperated sigh at the end of his sentence that he was crumbling.
She crossed her arms, her lungs swelling up to the point that they felt like balloons about to pop as she inhaled deeply. "Fine, yes, you were my first. I was a virgin before I slept with you! Are you happy now?"
But to her surprise, he didn't reply. He just slowly moved away from the bed and walked mindlessly towards the window, tossing his head back and rubbing his hands against his face.
"No." He said blankly, turning towards her so that their eyes met challengingly. "No, I'm not. Why didn't you tell me? I could have stopped if you wanted me to!"
"I just wanted to get it over and done with." She mumbled under her breath, staring down uncomfortably at all the scars that marred her flesh.
Also, I wouldn't have anyone other than you be my first. A snide little voice in her head chimed in, making a white-hot lump gather in her chest and begin to rise painfully in her throat. She would never tell him that. She wanted to trust him, but she was scared to. Scared that she would just get burned. Arthur was too good to be true. Any guy that was too good to be true inevitably ended up betraying her. Why would he be any different?
"Ariadne, that isn't something you just get over and done with." He responded, his voice strong, firm, rising in volume from his anger. "You-you... God, I can't even talk around you!"
Suddenly it was as if someone was rubbing a scouring pad against the inside of her throat, scratching away all of the skin until every inch of the inside of her throat was raw and bleeding. She began to choke on something that wasn't there, more searing, scathing globs of water filling up in her eyes then trickling down her face. The intoxicating feeling was beginning to wear away. The drunkenness she felt from the power of tearing him down was quickly melting into what could almost be considered a hangover. All her fiery, crackling, electrifying anger was becoming an overwhelming, blinding guilt that made her throat close up and her ribs enclose around her lungs. She could feel herself being sucked deeper and deeper into her own inescapable pool of guilt, suffocating, choking, pleading for a way out. For redemption.
"Arthur, I'm sorry." She scrunched her eyes together, pressed her hand against her forehead, and began to sob. "I really am sorry. I don't know why, it just felt so good to hurt you. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean?" The anger in his voice was completely gone now, replaced by what sounded like a mixture of wonder and curiosity.
"I was so cruel to you earlier, and you didn't do anything wrong! I just liked the feeling of hurting you for some reason." She shook her head slowly, unable to look him in the eyes. "Part of me liked you, but the other part of me didn't, and I guess that hurting you made me feel in control. God, I'm such a screw-up."
Her emotions were pouring out of her at an astounding, dizzying rate. It was a repulsive, horrifying, yet oddly releasing sense of carthasis, sort of like hurting herself, but different somehow. She couldn't explain it. But it was unstoppable. Every emotion she had bottled up was now out there and exposed. She was blabbering on and on like some hysterical child, her words tangling with waterlogged sobs to become a confusing muddle.
"Ariadne." Arthur said quietly, almost whispered, then she felt his fingers gently enclose around her wrist. "Look at me."
No, no, no, don't look at him. She kept her face buried in her palms, every inch of her body trembling like a browned, shriveled-up leaf.
"Please." He slowly, gently began to pull her hands away from her face, until they were both staring at each other in the eyes.
As her eyes met his, she felt her entire body go numb, her heart stop for a split second, and her fingertips seize. "I let one stupid kiss get the best of me."
"No, you didn't. I wanted to kiss you." He whispered, his thumb softly brushing against her face, wiping away a large tear that had been trailing down her cheek. "I like you."
Once again, she felt herself battling over whether or not to believe him. The moment was just too good to be true, and every rational part of her was screaming for her not to trust him. But another part of her was longing, achingly desiring to believe him, to trust him. He was telling her he liked her. Even though it seemed like all the odds were stacked against her, like even if he was telling the truth, and her did want to be with her, that their relationship was doomed to collapse. She stared at him, her lips slightly parted, the temptation to trust him a lot like the temptation to try a drink even if she was underaged, to try a smoke, to subtly glance at the test of the student next to her and copy down their answers. So wrong, so forbidden, but somehow it was the forbidden things that felt the best. Like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
"Really?" She murmured, sitting up slightly.
"Yeah."
Then, slowly, torturously slowly, they moved in closer, feeling the electricity between their bodies crackle more and more until finally they came together in a tight embrace. His hands gently stroked her back, for once making her feel safe and warm. But yet somehow, deep inside, there was an aching, gnawing feeling, that they were doomed.
"What happened?" Cobb inquired as Arthur came strolling into the waiting room, toying with his red loaded die, lifting his gaze which was once at his feet towards the extractor.
"We're together." He said bluntly, a subtle hint of screw you in his voice.
Okay, I worked pretty hard on this chapter, but I'm afraid that it was over sentimental. Dear God, I hope not. If it sucked I will happily go back and rewrite it so that it will be better. I can promise you that this story is probably going to go on for a while, and that the course of their relationship is going to be very rough. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull it off. Anyway, I always love reviews, and boy, do they make me write more. Toodles.