Chapter 21
"No date tonight?" Chris asked, plopping down on a bench next to William. His friend was busy not looking at Noora, and failing.
"Nothing planned so far," Will answered, finally detaching his gaze from his unofficial girlfriend – even though everybody knew already – and looking at Chris. He couldn't wait for his black eye to fade away so he could finally turn the page and move on from the hectic last few weeks. "Why are you asking?"
"Because I do." He shrugged in an attempt to look relaxed but he was a bit tense. "Mara asked me to come over tonight, I was hoping to get rid of you," Christoffer joked – he was dead serious though.
William was not amused and huffed in exasperation.
"I'm not leaving you alone with my sister in my apartment so you can christian every room," he groaned.
"Seriously, bro?" Chris complained, frowning and throwing his head back when William gave him a stern look. "Not cool."
It wasn't the first time William cock-blocked Chris but most of the time he did it because he found Chris fooling around in his bed during a party, not because he wanted to protect a girl's honour. It itched Chris to tell him that Mara's honour was gone since she was fourteen but he kept to himself because Will probably didn't know that. There are certain things a girl doesn't tell her big brother.
"I'll be there the whole time, looming over you guys and coughing whenever it gets too steamy," he snickered but his smile vanished when he heard Chris grumble something along the lines of 'you might as well start coughing now'.
"Shut up!" William exclaimed, bringing a leg up on the bench.
"What? It's true! If you know your sister at all, you shoul-"
"She usually doesn't bring the guys she sleeps with home," William cut him off. "But I guess I'll have to get used to it, you sound- serious about her."
Serious was a massive understatement but that William didn't need to hear – Chris bet it was obvious. From a single look toward Mara, his eyes gave away how hexed he was. And he wasn't even complaining! Same goes for William – if not a little more, his eyes were practically glued to Noora, he looked at her like she was his sun and stars. Chris hoped he didn't look that dumb when he caught Mara smiling at him randomly during the day, otherwise he would never hear the end of it
from the boys.
"You're not the boy she sleeps with though," William continued. "You're the idiot she loves. Which sounds even worse said out loud." He winced as if the words stung.
"I don't think you're supposed to tell me that, Mara has yet to say the words,", Chris laughed at the 'oh shit' face that William made. "It's fine, I won't say anything."
"Cool, cool-" Will nodded. "You know I'm just messing with you, right?" He then asked, staring a little harder at Chris. "I'm happy if you're happy. Both of you."
"You don't look too miserable yourself," Chris said, gesturing toward the group of girls where Noora was laughing at something girl Chris said. "You sure you don't want to take the girl on a date tonight?"
"Quit trying to set me on a date to be alone with Mara!" William rolled his eyes and Chris began to laugh wholeheartedly, catching the attention of the girls.
000
Three hours into the evening, William was regretting his decision of not going out with Noora and staying at the apartment to chaperone the two idiots currently cuddling on the couch. When he saw them slowly dozing off and falling asleep in front of the TV, he began to wonder why he denied himself a little fun tonight. What came over him? What did he care anyway? Those two have been humping like bunnies for months, he was sure of it, what does it change that he knows it now? Did he ruin both their and his night? God, he needed a drink.
"Cheers to me and my brilliant ideas," Will grumbled and took a sip of beer.
Mara was right, he was a shit decision maker. There he stood, in the living room's door frame, watching Chris and Mara sleeping soundlessly, their features free of tension as though everything was best in the best of worlds. The bottle of beer almost slipped from his hand when he heard a knock on the door.
He didn't think he could get any more confused but when he opened the door and found Noora standing there, all dressed up and smiling, he did indeed, become more confused.
"Noora?" He asked with a smile. That's all he seemed to do whenever she was around – her very existence was enough to make him smile, especially when she was all dolled up and sheepishly stepped inside the apartment.
"Hi, is it a wrong time?" She asked, although he was obviously not up to much. "Oh! Are you sleeping?" She lowered her tone when she saw Mara huddled against Chris on the couch, their eyes closed.
"It's a perfect time," William exclaimed in a whisper. "It was getting a little boring to pace around in silence."
"I came to see if you wanted to go out, Eskild bailed on me for a tinder date, so-" Noora stretched the last syllable, waiting for William to get the hint and ask her to hang out.
"Yeah- yeah sure, we can go anywhere you want! I wanted to ask you out actually but- I don't know, I have no excuse, let's just go and I'll make it up to you," William rambled as he set his beer on the coffee table and grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger.
"Don't you want to say goodby-" Noora began to ask when William grabbed her arm to lead her out.
"No, let them be, at least when they're asleep they can't get in trouble."
Oh boy, if only he knew how wrong he was. As soon as William closed the door before them and locked it, Chris opened an eye to make sure they left.
"They are gone," he whispered, for good measure. "Not too fucking soon!" He exclaimed after a few more seconds and stretched his tired limbs once Mara lifted her head from his shoulder.
"I was going to fall asleep for real, Noora really took her time."
Mara yawed and mimicked Chris' action. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted a quick 'thank you so much I owe you one' to Noora. Chris kicked off the blanket that was covering them both and grabbed William's half finished beer on the table.
"Isn't sharing a beer a bit like kissing someone?" Mara teased him as she laid down, resting her head on the armrest and throwing her legs over Chris' lap.
"Wouldn't be the first time," he answered with a wink before downing the rest of the drink.
"Oh god," Mara whined, covering her eyes with hers hand. "I didn't need to know that, nor did I want to!"
"Serves you right for making dumb jokes!"
Chris put away the bottle and leaned forward until his face hovered over Mara's and he pulled away her hands to look at her.
"C'mon, don't hide your face from me," he demanded gently. "You've been drooling on my shoulder for the past thirty minutes, I think I deserve a reward."
His tone conveyed the smirk on his face and even if he looked at her like he was the hunter and she was the prey, Mara knew she had him wrapped around her finger. She brushed back his rebellious hair with her hand then slipped it behind his neck only to pulled him down and kiss him. Their lips met in an open mouthed kiss tainted with a bit of roughness due to their frustration after waiting three hours for Will to leave.
"I waited just as long as you, why don't I deserve a reward?" Mara asked when Chris pulled back a second, merely to change positions and climb between her legs.
He could feel her welcoming his weigh on top of her, the way her thigh clutched his hips and her legs wrapped around him – there was no better feeling in the world to him. With one hand each side of her head, Chris looked down at her, watched her smile and bite her lip, wondering if she knew what she was doing to him when she looked at him this way. He licked his lips and leaned down again, pressing his forehead against hers.
"Why are you looking at me like you're about to eat me up?" Mara asked playfully, rubbing her foot up and down the back of his leg.
"Because I am," he growled, rolling his hips to earn a low moan. When Mara's swollen lips parted, Chris took the opportunity to kiss her again, as if he wanted to absorb all the little sounds she emitted. "That's your reward – and mine too."
"Promise?" She ushered, barely mustering up the words while being assaulted by Chris' lips, on his lips, on her neck, down her throat and lower, lower.
There was no point in answering when Chris could simply show her that he meant it. Slowly, very slowly, he rid her of her clothes one by one until she lied naked on the couch – oops. And soon, the quiet room was filled with short breathed gasps and heated moans while Chris' head was buried between her thighs, and Mara's hand pulled at his hair.
000
"It's not too late to go out," Mara muttered, her voice showing more tiredness than she would have liked.
Chris' body kept her warm and his arm around her waist weighed heavy enough to make her feel safe and protected. Mara's bed provided them with much more comfort than the leather couch and that's where they ended up after getting (a little) naughty on Will's precious couch.
"Now?" He groaned in her ear, nuzzling her neck. "You'll have to give me a damn good reason to get me out of bed after this."
He still didn't open his eyes when he felt her turn around in his arms and started kissing his chest up to his collarbones.
"I love you," Mara said, and Chris froze. As soon as she felt him tense up she stopped kissing him and looked up, and placed one last kiss on the corner of his lips before looking at him. "How is that for a damn good reason?"
"I have nothing to say to that," Chris admitted a couple minutes of silence later.
A smile etched his features now that he finally heard those words come out of her mouth and for him. Not because she wanted to prove something to William. Not because William was rambling about how he would have to deal with seeing Chris hanging around at their place more often.
"Nothing at all?" She insisted, pouting a little and smiling knowingly.
It wasn't that she absolutely needed to hear him say it back – because she already knew Chris reciprocated her feelings and Mara was never one to be so dense as to need people to spell things out for her - she could read between the lines just fine. But Chris – Chris was another thing – he looked like the words were on the tip on his tongue, waiting to be said.
"Maybe a few things, four actually," he said with a shrug.
"You've had plenty of time to think them through since the hospital when you eavesdropped my conversation with William."
Mara grinned mischievously and stole another kiss from Chris. She was an agile thief and Chris a consenting victim.
"I love you too," he finally said and buried his nose in the crook of her neck to pepper kisses here and there and leave a very visible love bite as if to draw a final point to his statement.
Mara's crystal clear laughter echoed through the empty apartment and at this exact moment she was especially glad William wasn't in their vicinity and they didn't need to stifle their laugh and be quiet.
"Still wanna go out now?" He asked, pressing his lips to hers again.
"Of course, I'm famished and I want a waffle," Mara declared causing a wide smile to stretch her boyfriend's lips.
"I expect you don't have a waffle maker?" He sighed, already pulling off the blanket.
"You know Will and I live off of take out food," she huffed. "Now come, let's get out of here and prove my brother that asleep or not, we always cause trouble!"
"Well said, Mara! Let's get crazy and go down town to eat waffles in the middle of the night," Chris teased her.
They had to go back to the living room to pick up their clothes and as soon as they were ready, they left arm-in-arm for a night trip to the local H24 diner to have some waffles because the lady requested some. Despite his little experience with serious relationship – or total lack there of – Chris knew that the secret to a long lifespan was to not stand between a woman and food.
"Do you think he'll panic if he sees we've disappeared?" Mara asked once they were in the street. The cold wind did wonders to refresh them after their activities. "I'd pay good money to see his face!"
"Are you punishing him for being a dick to you?" Chris laughed.
"Me? I would never," Mara pretended to be offended by the sheer thought.
The familiar crinkles appeared at the corner of Chris' eyes and Mara felt her heart swell in her chest to the point where it hurt her ribcage. With a strange sort of pride, Chris wrapped his arm over Mara's shoulders and let her hug his side as they walked through the streets of Olso, void of people and lulled in a pleasing quiet darkness. The lights of the late closing restaurants illuminated the city, but nothing shone brighter than the spark in their eyes – as freaking cliché as it sounded – because right now it didn't matter that it was half past midnight and below zero degrees, or that they were tired and hungry, because they were still the happiest of all people.
"Do you think we've switched roles?" She wondered out loud as they finally stepped through the door of the restaurant. The familiar jingle of the front door greeted them when they sat down near the window.
"What? With who?" Chris frowned, confused. It wasn't always easy following Mara's train of thought.
"Noorehlm," she said with sarcasm dripping from her voice as she used the made up ship name she used to refer to Will and Noora. "A few months ago we were complaining about them eye fucking and being love sick puppies – which was true – and now I feel like we're no better."
"Do you want a real answer to this?" Chris huffed playfully, both his eyebrows shooting up. His left hand distractedly played with the menu and Mara's foot rhythmically tapped on the tiled floor.
"Is it a pleasant one?" She inquired.
He leaned back on his chair without ever taking his eyes off of her. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly upwards and he had to look down to his lap to suppress the smile growing on his features.
"No clues, do you want to hear it or not?"
"Fine, tell me how pathetically in love we are, I can handle it," Mara told him.
"We'll never be like Will and Noora. First off, we're much better looking – I mean look at us-" Chris began immediately beaming with pride upon hearing Mara's laugh. "-and also because I'm sure no one can claim to understand what we went through just to be here tonight, together, eating waffles with extra whipped cream, let alone pretend they lived the same experience."
"How many people can claim to have been beaten up as many times as we have, right?" Mara asked, agreeing with his reasoning.
The waitress set their waffles on the table and the two of them dug in the second the walked away as though they hadn't seen any food in days. Chris and his extra syrup and Mara and her extra whipped cream really were the dream team.
"It was brilliant to ask Noora to lure Will away by the way," he said, using the last piece of waffle as a sponge because he didn't wan to waste any drop of syrup. Chris had a sweet tooth, that she knew.
"It was our joker," Mara replied. "Next time he'll have to suck it up or wear earplugs!"
"Or we can go to my house. I still have a few rooms we haven't tried out, and I- shit, get down! Get down!"
Mara dived under the table no questions asked.
"What's going on?" She asked in panic.
They attracted the attention of the waitress but Mara quickly told her it was nothing and she shrugged and went back to work, like it was nothing new to have customer hide under a table.
"William and Noora just walked past the restaurant," Chris whispered.
There was no reason to whisper, but it was a reflex. Just like diving under a table when there was no longer any reason for them to hide from anyone.
"That's it? You scared me, Chris!" Mara shoved him in the shoulder. "I thought freaking Terminator was coming for us!"
"Sorry, power of habit," he apologized and sat down on the floor, not really bothered by their position. "Mara, did you- did you take your waffle?"
As she licked away the whipped cream from her lips, Mara said, "Excuse me but I have my priorities sorted out."
"I can see that, yeah," he laughed. "Mind sharing?"
"Ugh? Yes!" Mara replied, moving her waffle out of Chris' reach. "Order another one!"
"Or I can just eat it off your lips since you have whipped cream everywhere," Chris said and connected their lips to illustrate.
She smiled in the kiss, and gasped when Chris used his hand to pull her closer, regardless of the lack of room to navigate. They deepened the kiss as much as politeness allowed and finished the rest of Mara's waffle before crawling out from under the table.
They took place on their respective seats and gave an apologetic glance to the waitress – Chris also gestured her to bring them two more waffles – but she barely acknowledged them, she was looking at something else, outside.
"What's- oh my god!" Mara shouted when she turned toward the window to look at what the waitress seemed to be staring at and met the judgemental gazes of her brother and her friend. Her hand flew to her chest and her heartbeat went into a frenzy as soon as she saw William's scolding expression and Noora's amused one.
"They can't be serious!" Chris groaned and looked away. "Well, so much for sneaking out. Might as well order more waffles."
Mara smiled at the two of them and gestured them to come inside for a late night snack. A double date – now they reached a new low of silly pathetic romanticism.
000
The usual hustle animated the school at lunch break. It was now warm enough to eat outside, and the Penetrators occupied the central table. From the moment things went back to normal between the two Magnussons and Christoffer, it was like the entire school became more joyful – it became a merrier place. Conversations flowed easily, laughter erupted from the other tables and all trace of tension left the atmosphere.
Chris sat one leg each side of the bench to face his friend Maksim, who couldn't stop asking him questions about Mara, as though he couldn't ask her directly. She hung out with them often enough, yet they all waited for her not to be around to try and get juicy information out of Chris. Most of it was sex-related and a bit gross. It was the kind of questions Chris didn't mind answering when he didn't care about the girl, but he mostly shrugged when someone came up to ask him what Mara was like in bed. What answer were they expecting anyway? Even if he responded, it would be something along the lines of 'she's fucking fantastic' and that would be it.
Nevertheless, he had to give them credit for trying. It was the closest they would ever get to receive answers to their questions if Chris had a saying in it.
"Do you think it makes a difference that she's Will's sister?" Maksim asked him without even looking up from his fries, distractedly shoving one after the other in his mouth.
"A difference from what?" Chris sighed, finishing his coke and playing with the empty bottle, flipping it around in his hand.
"The other girls. What makes her so special that you went monogamous from one day to the next? Magic pussy or what?"
"You know what? That's exactly it, Maks, Mara has a magic pussy," Chris said in slight annoyance. His patience was wearing a bit thin and sarcasm fell out of his mouth before he could think about it.
"It glows in the dark," Mara whispered in Maskim's ear from behind him, effectively startling him and making him drop the fry in his hand.
Chris snickered mockingly as his friend literally made a little jump from the surprise of having Mara creepily whisper in his ear. Chris had seen her walking over there but didn't say anything, and he was glad he kept quiet. Mara giggled satisfyingly and sat down between the two boys, her back to the table.
"Talking about me I see, what else were you saying?" She inquired after putting her bag on the ground and stealing one of Maksim's fries.
Chris bit his lip and raised an eyebrow at Maksim as if to tell him 'go ahead man, you started this, you tell her'. Mara felt the familiar warmth of Chris' palm on her thigh. Since they were at school she knew he would behave and leave it there, just for the comfort of making direct contact, but his hand was a lot sneakier than that most of the time.
"I just asked Chris what made you so special to him," Maksim ingenuously answered, in order to put Mara's attention back on her boyfriend.
But she didn't budge and continued to look at him as though Chris weren't even there, though she could feel his hand on her and hear him chuckle on her left.
"You don't think I'm special?" Mara asked Maksim with a smile, causing a blush to appear on his cheeks as though she had asked a tricky question. "Ouch!" She faked to be hurt by that.
"That's not what I meant- of course you're special, I mean you're William's sister-" he awkwardly stammered, the blush on his face deepening.
"If the only thing that makes me special is my brother Chris would be dating him," Mara pointed out, earning an uncomfortable chuckle from the boy she was currently dragging and a teasing stroke of the hand from Chris.
"You're digging your own grave man," Chris laughed at how red he was by now.
"Thanks but I don't need you to tell me," Maksim replied, squinting his eyes at his friend. "I mean- you've got to be some very special snowflake if you can deal with this," he eventually told Mara, pointing to Chris' general direction with his chin. "Full offence dude," he snickered and flipped Chris.
"He's pretty al right," Mara shrugged and moved her eyes back on Chris, who tried to conceal his smile. "You'd be surprised," she added to Maksim's intention.
He was more than al right and a thousand times a better person and boyfriend than all the other guys Mara has met in her life. But that wasn't anyone's concern but theirs. Most people bought the Chris' act of the emotionally unavailable player and notorious fuckboy – which he was in a sense, but not fundamentally – and as long as it didn't come in the way of their relationship, they didn't see the need to prove people wrong.
"Nah," Maksim shook his head and decided she must be messing with him because everybody knew Chris was the worst, he wasn't boyfriend material. "Wait 'til you find out his flaws, the dude's not even half as fun and easy going as he tries to play it off- aouch!" He yelped in pain when Chris kicked him under the bench, but Mara didn't pay any mind to what he said.
"Trust me, I know Chris' flaws. I know exactly what I'm getting into," she mindlessly answered while leaning in closer to Chris.
He grinned and met her halfway to kiss her. It remained general audience rated despite the force they put into it, and the underlying eagerness for more than just a chaste little kiss. But when did they ever feel content with a mere kiss? Chris and Mara were both uncharacteristically intense people; God help them they could never get enough of each other. Except that social conventions required that they broke the kiss after a few seconds. With one hand nestled on her waist and the other one on the back on her neck to press her lips against his one last time before they pulled apart, Chris thought that Maksim wasn't completely wrong – she was special.
"Oh no, you stop this, you stop it right now!" Maksim said a good ten seconds after they stopped kissing, making them both frown.
"We're not doing anything," Mara said in a confused tone, almost like it was a question.
"Don't play innocent," he warned her, though it seemed that it was directed at the both of them. "I've seen porn that wasn't even half as steamy as the way you look at each other. It's gross, and nobody should have to see this first hand like I am."
"Shut up and close your eyes if you don't enjoy the show," Chris scoffed.
He and Mara leaned in for yet another kiss in a synchronized movement, as if they both of them had had the same idea at the same time. When their lips met, it triggered another round of protest from their friend, who stood up to give them some privacy and spare himself the show he was subjected to.
That truly summed up their whole relationship. They knew each other like the back of their hand; they didn't need to check to know that they were on the same page. It was instinctive, completely engraved in their being, in who they were, and without saying a word they just knew, they felt it in their guts, in their bones, and in their heart that their feelings were shared.