Roxie had discovered a great way to avoid the oh-so-inconvenient love of her life. Books. She had a stack of them sitting near her desk, presents from Christmas, birthdays, summer and school. At one point, she had been quite the bookworm. Before, of course, school had taken away all of her time.
Staying focused on the task at hand, she prepared a bowl of potato chips, placed them on the table in the front room, and positioned herself on the couch. She opened a book and prepared to block out the world.
Miles smirked a little when he realized what Roxie was doing. He had been battling with himself about whether to approach her about what was obviously between them, or to let her go and keep his distance, since she seemed so intent on ignoring the situation. But something about the way she was so deliberately trying to avoid him made him more determined than ever to get through to her and force her to admit what was there between them.
Ignoring his roommate, he plopped down on an armchair and turned on the television. The loud voices of TV meteorologists were announcing school closings across the county. Annoyed, Roxie glared up from her reading.
"I'm TRYING to read," she announced. Staring straight at the television, Miles tried not to smile.
"Well maybe I'm TRYING to watch television." He flipped the station to a hockey game.
"Ya know, this weekend will go a lot easier if you just stop trying to annoy me!" Roxie was getting fed up with him, and started to wonder how she could ever have feelings for someone who could make her so angry.
"Well I think the weekend would go easier if you just came to grips with the fact that you're madly in love with me." Miles couldn't suppress his grin. Roxie just sat there, with her mouth hanging open, at a loss for words. Which lasted about 30 seconds.
"I am NOT madly in love with you! You are the most annoying person on the planet!" She was fuming now, and was having trouble even pretending to be concentrating on her book. Roxie glared at the words on the page, black letters spelling out something she couldn't interpret in her current mindset. Miles jumped up and yanked the book from her grip.
"Give that back!" Roxie jumped up as Miles ran across the room, holding the book over his head. She felt like this was somehow a third grade classroom, and she was being taunted. And then the worst thing of all happened. In spite of her annoyance and anger, she started laughing! Why on earth did she pick that time to break into a fit of giggles?
Eyes glittering with amusement, Miles stood, backed into a corner, the book raised high above his head. Roxie tried to jump and grab her book, but to no avail. Miles kept standing there, grinning like an idiot, torturing her.
"Miles!" Roxie scolded. "Yes dear?" If nothing else, he certainly knew how to aggravate her. "Give it!" And then suddenly Roxie got a great idea... she glanced at his upraised arm and proceeded to tickle him without mercy.
Miles knew when he was bested. He dropped the book and curled up in a sort of standing fetal position, trying to ward off her very well directed tickling. The book lie forgotten now as the tickle torture became a game. And then Roxie made the mistake of looking into Miles' eyes. Both of them still laughing, she quieted, just looking into those eyes.
"Roxie," he whispered, and grabbed her hands.
That's when the power went out.