In Love with My Best Friend
Chapter Ten: Tell Me You Love Me
"Kel, can I come in? Please?" He knocked again, harder this time.
Finally, a tired voice called from the other side of the door, "If you're going to come in, do so. If not, quit banging on my bloody door."
He smiled slightly at her words. Obviously she hadn't had a good night. He wondered what she had been thinking about. Instead of standing outside and pondering it, however, he twisted the knob and walked into the room.
His eyes swept across the space. There were the overstuffed chairs in front of the fire, the shelves that held several books, mostly gifts he had given her over the years, and papers. Hundreds of papers covered them. He shook his head, thinking, not for the first time, how glad he was not to be a commander. Being chief healer was enough.
Finally, he looked to the small bed by the window. There she was, wrapped in sheets, looking rather rumpled. He smiled and waved a hand slightly in greeting. She glared.
"If you wanted something, tell me. Otherwise, go away."
"Umm, yeah, I wanted to tell you something. Could we sit down, please?" He gestured to the chairs. He certainly didn't want to sit with her. On the bed. Just the thought made him blush.
You shouldn't be thinking that! The part of him with the conscience told him. He shook his head, agreeing.
She hadn't answered. He thought she was going to refuse. After a few moments, however, she slowly nodded her head. He walked over to the chairs, turning his back on her. There were noises behind him, but he didn't turn around to see what was going on. When she walked over, she was wearing a long blue robe over what looked like thin white breeches.
Quietly, she sat down on the chair across from him, folding her legs beneath her.
"What did you need, Neal?" Kel asked him quietly. Obviously she had decided to control her temper. He was glad. It wasn't something he saw very often, but when she was mad, you did not want to be anywhere near her. If you were smart, you would flee the country. He would rather face a group of Scanrans than his best friend in a temper. He might survive some Scanrans, but he couldn't be so sure when facing her anger.
He cleared his throat, nervous. He knew he needed to talk to her about this after what had happened yesterday, but, well, he was scared. Finally, he began. "I think we need to talk. I know we need to talk." He corrected himself. Of course they needed to talk, for Mithros' sake!
"What about?" She arched a brow.
"About the beautiful daffodils outside." He told her sarcastically. "About what happened yesterday!" He would have liked to add something else to that, but figured that she wouldn't take it to kindly if he insulted her.
She nodded her head slightly, silently signaling for him to continue.
"We need to talk about why you left like that."
She gave him a look that clearly stated that she didn't want to do anything of the sort. "Kel, we have to discuss this! We can't just let it sit between us!"
Her voice had lost all of the earlier calm when she answered. "Neal, you don't get it!"
"No, you're right, I don't! Make me understand, Kel!" his voice was loud and full of pain that he couldn't mask. "Please." He added quietly.
She flinched at the emotion that his words carried. She sat, pondering whether or not she wanted to tell him. Finally, she answered in a low voice, "Yuki's one of my closest friends, Neal. I couldn't do that to her, even if I wanted to."
It was his turn to flinch. Her words hurt him, she knew. It hurt her to say it. To lie to him like that.
"I think you should leave." She told him quietly.
He nodded his head. "I will, but first, I want you tell me something."
Kel made a questioning noise in the back of her throat and he continued. "I want you to tell me why your words tell me one thing, but your voice, your body language, tells me something different. I want you to tell me why you kiss me like you love me."
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she could say. Neal watched her. He knew he had gotten her. Even if her words were cold and heartless, said that she felt nothing like he did, everything else told her that she felt the same. And though she may have been good at hiding her emotion from her face, she couldn't stop it from showing through in her body movements.
"Do you love me?" He asked her quietly.
She looked away from him.
"Do you?" He asked again when she didn't answer. She watched the fire. He stood up and kneeled in front of her. Taking her face in his hands, he turned her to look at him. When she see him clearly, see the love in his eyes, he reached up and gently pressed his lips to hers.
When he released her lips, she was shaking. He tilted her chin up so he could see into his eyes. He saw his answer there before he asked.
"Do you?" His voice was quiet, a mere whisper.
"Yes." Her voice was ruff with unsuppressed emotion.
He smiled before reaching up and kissing her again.
Very fluffy. Ah, well, what did you expect from me? I am like the princess of fluff. And the queen of short chapters. This is only 923 words long! Can you believe it?
By the way, sorry for the awful chapter title. I just couldn't think of anything else!
Oceanspike- Glad you liked! You do, you loon! I absolutely adore Bazhir Bride. And all your other ones, for that matter!
Chicken-puffs- are you okay? Glad you liked, though.
Pinky- of course I do! I love dom. But I love neal, too. I cant make her go with Dom! That would be so wrong! He is acting really selfish, but he loves her! A lot! Poor dom...glad you think its realistic. I totally understand what you mean, though. No offence taken in the least. I think, 'omg, this is going to be just like all these other stories' all the time when I'm reading stories. A lot of times though, they surprise you. Glad mine is one of those. I hate it when they aren't realistic. It bugs me sooo much!
Wake-Robin- I know! I was so relieved to have it out in the open. Glad you liked anyway. I am so relieved that I portrayed Kel right. I was really worried that I hadn't!
VampireEternity- Glad you liked. YAY! Its adorable! How awesome! Cant have them too sure of themselves can I?
Queen-of-sapphires- glad you liked. I feel sorry for dom too! I love them both sooo much! Its hard!
Alianne Cooper- Neal is extremely insecure right now because of this mess I think, so he jumps to the wrong conclusions. She was afraid to hurt her friend. She didn't know what else to do, so that seemed like the best thing at that moment. Never seen the secret window. I am against scary movies. I feel so sorry for dom! He is such a great guy. And he has to watch as the girl he loves and his cousin get together! How awful! If I thought it would work, I'd kill yuki off. At the moment, im not to fond of her. Oh well. That would be mean. And I don't like killing the characters. Its awful. I actually got the tracing the lips thing from one of my older friends. She and her best friend, a guy, kissed. Afterward, she was talking to me about it, and just sat there tracing her lips, like she was remembering what they felt like when he kissed her. I thought it would be a good thing to add, if I could get it across right. I felt that no matter what, Dom and kel would remain friends because that's the kind of guy he is. And he loves neal, and would help him I think. Well, anyway, thanks for the review. You always make me think!
PsychoLioness13-Thanks! I feel bad for dom too. I hate those fanfics were she doesn't care what happens, as long as she gets what she wants. That's not the type of person she is, and I like them to be realistic.
Kore Yan- I did (finally)!
Nolee- glad you liked. Sorry for 'updating like a maniac' as you so kindly put it. I just wanted to get them all up. And I will be sure to make your acknowledgments longer if you write more in your reviews! Otherwise its kinda hard! Ooh, nerd rope...yummm... btw, you need to update your stories! Very soon! Please?
