The meal had been delicious, James
as always, creating a masterpiece out of a very limited supply of
ingredients. It was only scrambled eggs
and cereal with fresh peach slices, but hell, I couldn't even boil water for
the life of me, so it tasted like a feast.
Not to mention it had been prepared
by possibly the world's most gorgeous cook.
I sighed. James had the most wonderful way of leaning across to hand me my
plate, in which he would suddenly look up, and gaze up at me through those
incredibly deep, green eyes of his.
A dull 'thonk' brought me out of my
daydreaming.
"James, could you please stop
hitting that ball on the ceiling? It's
irritating."
He scowled at the ceiling, giving
the bouncy ball another toss with a flick of his wrist, only lower this time.
"Sorry," he muttered, slightly
irritated but still mindful of my temper. As if I had disturbed him somehow.
I sighed and turned back to the boring
reports I had been going over before my mind had begun to drift, eternally
puzzled with him. He seemed to be doing
more of that lately; falling into a sort of trance, like he was thinking really
deeply. No offense to his intelligence
or anything, but James had never really struck me as the intellectual type
before.
It bothered me, somehow. I had this nagging feeling that somehow it
had to do with me. I mean, he had
always tried so hard to protect me. To
return the favor from when we were children, I suppose, though he owed me
nothing. Could his need to protect me
have gone so far that it dominated his thoughts?
I mentally slapped myself. If my thoughts kept wondering like this, I
would never get through all these papers.
I let my gaze fall on the piles and
piles of paper littering the bed in front of me, my spirits sinking.
I hate paperwork.
With a depressed groan, I let myself
flop backwards onto the bed. "I am so
bored!"
James turned to look at me suddenly
in surprise from the chair across the room, as if he had just realized I was
there, the rubber ball falling from where he had thrown it to hit him in the
head.
"Ow!" He rubbed his head, scowling darkly at nothing in particular.
I tried not to, but I couldn't help
but laugh at the look on his face.
Then my laughter died and I sighed
again in boredom. James looked
similarly bored as the two of us stared at one another across the room in
silence, as if staring would make one of us come up with something to do.
Finally James spoke up. "We
need to—"
"Get out of this room," I finished
for him. He nodded in agreement,
getting up from his chair and stretching stiffly. It didn't look like a very comfortable chair.
I crawled off the bed, ignoring the
papers that fluttered and fell to the floor in the process, as I searched
around for my purse. It occurred to me
how strange it might have seemed to some people, the way I had been able to
finish James' sentence for him, but for us, it happened all the time. It was strange: one moment, I wouldn't be
able to figure him out, and the next I would know exactly what he was thinking.
Strange, but comforting. It was nice to know someone so well you knew
exactly what they were going to say.
I scowled. "Where is my damn purse?" I muttered out loud, digging through
the pile of duffels, invisible packs and the like on the floor.
Something tapped me on the nose, and
I looked up to see James swinging said object in front of my face. I smiled sheepishly, rising to my feet and
taking it from him.
"Uh, thanks…" I said, slipping it
over my shoulder and following him out the door. It seemed silly, carrying a purse when I didn't even have any
money, but it comforted it me to at least have it on hand.
We walked for a bit down the town's
main street, checking out the shops and people and simply enjoying the
weather. There was a nice breeze coming
in from the ocean, along with plenty of sun and the town was small and
pleasant.
But also boring.
"So what are we going to do,
anyway?" I asked suddenly, finally getting bored of simply taking in the
sights. I was pretty sure I had seen
all there was to see.
James shrugged, looking up at the
sky to watch the seagulls, which were circling a ways off towards the beach.
"We could sneak into a movie," he
suggested lightly, taking his eyes off the birds to look down at me.
I frowned slightly. "Is there even a theater in this crappy
town?" I commented doubtfully, scanning the stores and shops nearby.
He grinned. "Yeah, I think I saw one earlier!" Grabbing me by the arm, he began pulling me
back down the street. "Come on!"
I don't remember the movie very
much. We spent most of the time making
fun of it and reminiscing about old times; the first time we'd fallen in our
own hole, the first time I made James dress in drag and he ended up having a
blast. The time our Pokémon evolved and
when we almost drowned on that stupid ship. And people we had met, like Cassandra, Dr. Proctor, that Duplica girl,
Butch and Cassidy. And Jessebelle.
We got off of that subject real
quick.
"I can't believe you snuck us into The
Brave Little Diglett Goes to Mars!" I laughed as we came out of the
theater. A theater mostly full of
children and their parents. Yeah, we
had been getting a lot of weird looks.
"Well how was I supposed to
know? It's not like they post movie
titles outside the 'Exit' doors," replied James defensively, leaning against
one of the rope dividers in the lobby.
I laughed again, leaning next to
him. "Guess we should have known once
all those 'G rated' movie previews started playing," I remarked lightly, giving
him a grin to let him know I wasn't mad. He grinned back, then turned away with a pensive look on his face.
"So what are we going to do now?" he
asked, putting his hands in his pockets uncomfortably.
I pursed my lips thoughtfully. In reality, I cared nothing of what we did
as long as I spent the rest of the day with him, but I of course couldn't say
that to him. Suddenly, it seemed
incredibly hard to come up with an answer that was character of me.
"Jesse?"
I turned to look at him quizzically,
finding him looking at me in a fashion I often looked at him when catching his
mind wandering. Apparently, it had been
my turn to space-out.
I turned away, shrugging carelessly,
hoping he hadn't caught my nervousness at his gaze. I just couldn't seem to look him in the eyes anymore, afraid I'd
lose face gazing into those intense green depths.
Everyone saw me as tough and
immovable, but around James, I felt like putty.
"Whatever," I answered casually,
hoping to sound indifferent. "There's
not much to do in this town, anyway."
He made a face of agreement,
slouching suddenly in boredom. "You're
right about that…" he muttered, turning thoughtful once again.
I found myself studying the movie
posters plastered around the lobby, anything to keep from looking at him;
wishing I could touch him, wishing I could feel his arms around me again. I wanted to be lost in his eyes; his warmth,
his scent, filling my senses. To hold
onto him forever, kissing him like sweet, endless torture. The intense longing overwhelmed me, and I
suddenly needed to be somewhere else, anything to keep my mind off of him.
But I didn't want to be away from
him.
Damnit,
James! I cursed him in my head, Why
must you be so perfect?!
I felt his eyes on me and I turned
to him, hoping I would be able to control the longing in my eyes. He turned away hastily, as if he hadn't
wanted me to know he was watching me.
And then I noticed the color rising
in his face, ever so faintly. My heart
skipped a beat. Could he…?
An idea formed in my mind. Smiling, I turned to him again, suddenly not
so afraid to do so.
"You hungry?" I asked brightly,
knowing he'd never say 'no' to food. He
smiled in return, nodding and brushing off his embarrassment.
"Do you have something in mind?" he
asked.
I smiled mischievously, once again
confident in myself.
* * *