Leading him to the kitchen, I poured us both a glass of water and offered him some chocolate cookies. Slipping into the island beside him, I racked my brains for what to say. Usually I could flirt easily, I didn't like to but I had literally descended from a long line of Southern Belles with more beaux than Scarlett O'Hara could have ever dreamed of, my grandma had personally taught me how to catch a man with my eye. Flirting was easy when it meant nothing, but now everything relied on me capturing this man before I began to show and became too heavy to move with the grace I had been tutored to.
Therefore, I pretended this was no big deal. I pretended I was flirting with Pyro or Bobby again. I laughed tossing my hair from my face, "I've just realised that we've met twice already and I still don't know your name!"
"Robert Frost" he flushed,
"Robert" I let the name roll of my tongue, "Robert Frost, what a…the name sounds…like something from a story tale me Mr Frost are you and your sister really fairytale creatures wandering amongst us mortals?"
He laughed and I noticed he was sweating. I wrinkled my nose in disgust but cleared my face when he opened his eyes again.
"That's the nicest question anyone's ever asked me," he said and I ran that through my mind and matched it with the perfect response,
"Maybe they were afraid of the answer, sometimes people don't want to know they are in the room with a superior being"
He froze "Do you really think I'm a superior being?" he whispered,
"Well" I tasted bile in my throat, "It's just, the way you and your sister are, it's as if you're both closer to heaven than anyone else"
At that moment I ducked my head feigning embarrassment, really I was congratulating myself on having said heaven instead of hell.
"So you and my sister are close then?"
Well is there not a
kind of bond between enemies? I remembered how Magneto and Xavier had
been fierce enemies but whenever they were together they spoke
Magneto's first language of Hebrew, they played chess and read
together. Acting more like brothers then enemies.
Emma and I were a long way off from that though.
"Well, not exactly. She and I started on a sour note. However, she has never been anything but sisterly sweet to me. I guess it was because I was jealous of her, she's so pretty and confident and I'm not…"
Going to be able to keep on lying like this, I thought, I was close enough to retching as it was.
"Yes you are," he blurted out; I shot my head up, "Pardon?"
"You have lovely hair and your eyes are mesmerising"
"Do you think so?" I caught his hand in mine and then blushing feigning mortification,
"Oh, oh I'm sorry how forward of me. I'm not usually this brazen"
"No" he protested eagerly "Really it's alright"
"No I'm sorry. My grandma raised me to be a good Catholic and suddenly…just being around you makes me such a…"
"You're not, really. I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable. I could go if you like"
"Oh please don't" I begged, "Or if you must at least promise you'll see me later"
He did and hesitating a moment, grabbed my hand and kissed it sloppily. Then scurried from the room. "Hooked" I licked my lips triumphantly.
I lunged for the plate of cookies biting down satisfactorily, I was starving!