NOTE: Guess what, everybody? This might be the first time I've ever had the chance to do this: I'm posting this chapter ON LOCATION! Yep, I'm currently in Toronto, Ontario, about to head back out into the city for more exploration. Who knows? Maybe I'll bump into Kim and Knives!

Also, Sorry about the cliffhanger/teaser at the end, but I'll get the next one up soon, I promise!

CHAPTER TEN

I didn't call or text Knives back the next day. Probably made her feel bad… or maybe not. Can't always tell how she thinks.

Problem was, I needed time to recover. Any college girl can tell you that there's a huge difference between a sloppy, drunken make-out session, and actually kissing a girl you're semi-interested in. Twice. In the same day. God, did I like her… which surprised me a lot more than it should have, given how cavity-inducingly sweet she is. Guess I was just used to hating everybody and everything, so anything that messed with that status quo was going to be regarded with heavy skepticism until I felt like I could trust it.

But she seemed to understand, because I didn't get a bunch of sappy texts or selfies of her making kissy-faces or whatever. She only texted once that night, and once the next day just to say "So I have this cute redhead's number ; )". Which made me roll my eyes, but I'm pretty sure a customer heard me giggle.

He must be destroyed. No one can know.

The day after that, I texted her a single word: "Bored." Less than a minute later, she was racing into the video store, blue paisley scarf around her neck soaked in sweat and a light smoke coming from the soles of her running shoes.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry!" she panted, hands on her knees. "I… stopped to breathe!"

"Dude. Kidding." Something weird came over me; I got up from my chair and gestured for her to sit and recover from obviously sprinting all the way here. Was I putting someone else's needs before my own? What the hell?

When I came back from getting a glass of water from the back, she looked way more calm and relaxed, though she still accepted the glass gratefully and chugged it. "PWAH!" she gasped when it was empty. "Thanks!"

"Sure."

Setting it down, she turned to smile up at me. "Watch a movie? You pick again."

"We could make out," I suggested in a deadpan voice.

"I'm all sweaty and gross. You probably don't w-"

My lips cut hers off. Seriously, I don't know what I was turning into; maybe it had just been so long since I let anybody in that all that pent-up "relationship energy" was bursting to get out and do something for once. Maybe she was just a great kisser. All roads led to Snogtown, anyway.

When I pulled back, I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, you are pretty sweaty. But you don't stink or whatever; just have that… you know. The salty smell."

"The wha…?" She was clearly still a little dazed from the kiss.

"That salty skin-smell of someone who just started working out. Not like, old gross sweat, but fresh, clean…" I fell silent. How did she keep getting me to talk more than I normally would? The whole reason I didn't say much was because I didn't want to sound stupid, which I felt like I was a lot more lately. Being stoic was a defense mechanism, I don't need a shrink to tell me that.

Not that Knives cared. Lucky for me, she never cared when I sounded dumb. "Oh," she said with a slight nod. "Yeah, I know what you mean, kinda. Never really thought about it before."

"Right. Anyway… I dunno what to watch. We have a French film that sounded kinda interesting."

"I don't speak French very well," she snorted.

"Mine's pretty rusty, too. But there's subtitles."

"Cool."

So I put it on. And this time, the experience of watching a movie with Knives was totally different. I mean, not that much different from before, because the oddly comfortable silence was still there. Her comments were about the same as they would have been before. There was just… I dunno. Holding hands and kissing, snuggling slightly — once her sweat evaporated a little, of course.

I had a girlfriend. A fucking girlfriend. It was really starting to hit me, and every time it did, I felt my face getting warmer. Apropos of nothing! Just thinking about that being what Knives was to me now was impossible enough that it made me embarrassed without any specific event to trigger that reaction. Even just this, holding her close while we sat through some sappy avant-garde piece that made me roll my eyes with every scene, watching her nibble at a bag of Skittles she found in her purse… not even kissing very often because we were still awkward, shy nerds… yeah. Was off the beaten path for me, something I hadn't felt in forever.

What the hell did she see in me? Still no idea. But she seemed to think I was "nice" and "cool", or whatever.

After the movie, we went around the corner into Honest Ed's for some lazy window-shopping. Ordered some Chinese and went back to my place, talking while we ate. Mario Party for a while. We kept nudging each other and threatening not to kiss the other person if we lost… well, the second one was mostly me, but yeah.

The best way to describe it was that it was what I needed. Basically everything I'd needed but didn't want to admit to needing.

"You're such a cheater."

"I am not!" she cried out as she shut the Nintendo off, pouting a little. But I was beginning to learn the difference between when she was just pouting and legitimately hurt or sad; I always felt this deeply-buried desire to hug her either way, but it was easier to ignore when it was nothing serious. "Like, it's my game, of course I'm gonna be better at it. You're out of practice."

"Oh, stop trying to make me feel better." But I was already smiling a little. Just a little, though. "You really don't mind leaving this here?"

"Nah. It's nice having somewhere to hang that's not in my parents' house. Like, you probably get me."

Nodding, I helped her wrap the cords around the claw-like controllers as we nipped it away for the night. "Yep. Cramp your style no matter how old you are."

"In fact… I could, um, sleep over? Not tonight, and not for, um…" The way her eyes looked away, I didn't even have to guess what she was trying to say. "But just to play a board of 50 turns, and have breakfast together, I guess. Is that dumb?"

"Pretty dumb." But I felt bad instantly, so I added, "That you thought you had to ask. But this place is tiny; it'll probably be super uncomfortable."

Her pout turned into a grin. "Nah. I like your couch. And um, your bathroom's not bad, just sucks you don't have a legit bathtub. Though the shower stall is pretty roomy."

"Why, do you wanna shower together?"

The minute I said it, I could tell it was going to send both of us into fits. And I was right. Of course, my fit was basically just me facepalming and holding my hand there until my blush subsided. Knives kind of let out a strangled squeal, then flopped onto her back and rolled around for a few seconds. When we both recovered, we kind of glanced at each other, then away, then back again.

"Y-yeah. Maybe. I mean, I know you're probably kind of curious about my body…"

"Wow, listen to this self-confidence." Her red cheeks made me want to kiss them. So I did, and she gasped very quietly. "Man, this is weird."

"I'm curious about yours, too, though," she admitted very softly. It was so shy that I couldn't even tease her about it without feeling like some kind of puppy-kicker.

"Well… I think if I tried either one right now, I'd explode, so… we can kinda put a pin in that."

"Sure!" she agreed instantly, and the sheer relief in her voice told me it was the right plan. "I don't want you to explode into coins!"

Snorting, I started pushing up from the floor. "Didn't mean like that; just figuratively explode. But good to know."

Walking her to the door felt even more different now than it did the last time. My date. My girlfriend, Knives Chau, who was walking extra slow so she could spend more time with me. Everything was the same, but everything felt different. Pretty lame. We kissed, and it was longer, sweeter. With her shoes on, we were closer to the same height… I don't know why I noticed that. But she still leaned up to kiss me. Complete with one foot popping up and everything, like in some classic silver screen romance.

Around the time we started getting hotter and heavier, and I kind of naturally started poking at her lips with my tongue, she pulled back with a sudden gasp and a shiver. "Ooh… mm, wow, Kim…"

"Shit."

"S-so I'll see you tomorrow?" She suddenly seemed to be in a hurry. As if hanging around with me would keep her from leaving. Which might have been true, actually; I knew I was starting to feel an inclination toward trapping her in that apartment and never letting her leave.

"Hell yeah, tomorrow."

~ o ~

It snuck up on me. Like, for some reason I was thinking "twenty-four hours", and it was more like sixteen or something. Because she had to work, so this time she didn't drop in on me during my shift, but around the time I got off she was right there out front, wearing a cute tank top, skirt that came to her knees, and strappy sandals, bags packed and grin in place. Ready to go.

"Are you moving in or something?" I demanded, having taken one of the bags to help carry them to the bus stop. "What the fuck?"

"I brought my Ninja Ninja Revolution pads! You're in a basement flat, right? No downstairs neighbours… we can stomp around all we want!"

My eyes just deadpan glared. "Ninja Ninja Revolution. I don't really play… I mean, I barely ever…" But her earnest grin made me roll my eyes and grunt, "Fine."

"Plus I got hair dye and nail polish and face masks and all that stuff if you wanna get super girly." At my scowl deepening, she added, "Or not! We don't have to use any of it!"

"You'd paint my nails some horrible Dayglo green."

"Nuh-uh! Like, forest-green. It would complement your hair. But I could do black or like, an electric blue maybe? Or just a clear-coat with sparkles…"

That topic lasted most of the way home, with her off on a tangent without me having to contribute much other than stubbornly refusing to accept that this inevitable course of events was going to eventually catch up with me. Ah well… it was only one night.

Or was it? This was getting a lot more serious a lot faster than I had anticipated. And if I had known what would happen later that evening, I'd probably have thrown both hands up in the air and realised that my life was never in my control to begin with.

Luckily for everyone involved, I had no clue.

To Be Continued…