Author's note: So as far as dialogue goes, this is kind of a quiet chapter. But they both had a lot on their mind, so I suppose that makes sense. Sorry it took so long, I really struggled to get started this time, but once I did it just wrote itself. Muses are weird like that. Because I felt bad for the delay, I kind of rushed to get this one out as soon as it was finished, so if you catch any errors, I'm sorry and I won't be offended if you let me know.
Cedric watched Sofia tuck into her pineapple pizza eagerly as he picked at his own sausage one, lacking anything even slightly resembling an appetite. Not only was he desperately trying to figure out a way to tell her he planned on asking out Cleo on Monday, but he was disconcerted with her hushed conversation with James. The one that ended with suspicious abruptness the instant his cousin spotted him standing within earshot, effectively preventing him from overhearing anything useful.
Was James in on Amber's blackmailing plot? Or perhaps he was the one orchestrating the whole thing. If so, if he approached Sofia with a similar threat, what would he have asked her to do? More importantly, would she cooperate or allow them to tell their parents? Would she stubbornly undo anything Cedric tried to accomplish by following Amber's commands?
His eyes swept over his twin's pretty features, not to admire her, but to assess her mood. If James had said something to upset her, there should be an indication of it, and he was relieved to find nothing of the sort. Instead, she wore a carefree grin between ravenous bites. A grin that drew his eyes to her perfectly shaped peach lips, lips that he'd kissed three times now, but doubted he'd ever be allowed to again.
Needing to touch her, feeling as though he'd come completely undone without some scrap of contact, he brushed the back of his hand against hers beneath the surface of the vintage table, and her smile deepened, reaching all the way up to her eyes, which she turned to him, showering him with admiration. Emboldened by her silent reaction, he weaved his fingers between hers, wishing he could somehow freeze this moment and live in it forever.
This moment, where they ate pizza and secretly held hands, where she didn't yet hate his guts. The moment before he lost her for good, though truthfully he could never have had her anyways. He didn't want it to end. He wanted to scream, to rage against what was to come, to protect that oblivious happiness and the overwhelming innocence she possessed with everything in him.
"Since Amber and I got our allowances, I was thinking we could go to the arcade after this." Cedric was barely aware that the blonde boy had spoken, his eyes still firmly set on Sofia instead of paying attention to the conversation. She nodded enthusiastically, trying to clear a mouthful of pizza so she could speak.
"That sounds great." She answered as soon as she could do so, and Cedric suppressed the urge to groan.
He didn't want to go to the arcade, he wanted to take her home, alone, to tell her that he loved her, really loved her, and he was sorry for everything that was about to happen. He wanted to spend the rest of their last weekend together the way they'd been this morning, only without Amber's interference this time. At the same time, it seemed more appropriate to hold her at arms length, to distance himself now in an attempt to hamper the devastation that Monday would bring.
"Cedric?" James switched his focus to him, and he had no other option than to nod his approval dumbly. "Good, then it's settled. Sofia, can you help me get more sodas?" Cedric tightened his grip, trying to keep her there, but her fingers slipped from his grasp, and just like that the moment that he wanted so badly to preserve melted away to nothing more than a bittersweet memory as he watched her and James collect the red plastic cups and march over to the soda machine.
...
Sofia was aware of Cedric's intense stare on her back. She could picture his dark probing eyes, though she tried to shake the image away and pay attention to the game. She loved the arcade, but had to admit to being less adept at video games than the rest of their little group, especially her brother. As the screen flashed 'Game Over', his footsteps approached her from behind, but he didn't say anything to her. In fact, she mused, he'd been unusually quiet ever since they left the house that morning.
She glanced at him over her shoulder before slipping another quarter into the machine. The screen in front of her switched to the logo for House of the Dead 5, and she adjusted her stance, pointing the gun toward the machine in anticipation.
"You're too tense." He hissed into her ear as he pressed against her back, his arms wrapping around her and his hands covering hers. She wondered how he could possibly expect her to relax with him holding her so intimately. "If you're tight like this, it lowers your reaction time." She swallowed hard, her mind no longer on the game at all, and somehow she managed to nod.
"Aren't you worried about-" He rested his chin on her shoulder to get a better view of the carnage on the screen, and she suppressed a shiver of delight as his breath tickled the delicate flesh of her neck, losing track of what she was saying.
"They're playing Angry Birds. Way on the other side." He whispered, answering her abandoned question. "Shit, Sofia, shoot that guy!" She renewed her interest in the game, if only to maintain the excuse that he was helping her with it.
"There's another gun, you know..." She offered, because it was the appropriate thing to do, even though she wanted him to stay right where he was.
"Nah, I'm out of quarters." They played in silence for a while before he spoke again.
"Sofia... Would you run away with me if I asked?" She spun in his arms, studying him in shock, and behind her the game shouted that she had lost again, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because his eyes were pleading with her to say yes, and because his hands had moved to her hips, and her heart had jumped all the way up into her throat, preventing her from giving a response other than the strangled squeak that forced it's way out.
"Calm down, I was only curious." But she couldn't calm down, because there was a razor sharp edge to his statement that both frightened and intrigued her. He let go of her and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. "I'm gonna go trade in my tickets." He informed her before storming off toward the back of the arcade.
She leaned against the game and squeezed her eyes shut, willing her pulse to slow and trying to decipher his odd behavior.
...
Amber snored gently, the weight of her arm draped across Sofia's waist providing a warm comfort, but not quite what she needed to get to sleep. She knew what he said about them getting caught, about the risk she was taking by sneaking to his room at night, but Sofia was having trouble caring. Besides, even if James or Amber found out she was in his bed, she doubted they would care. The four of them had always been closely knit, a team. They were more than just family, they were best friends.
She turned her face to peek over at the blonde, trying to latch on to hazy memories from somewhere long past. An important adventure with both her and Cedric, one that brought the three of them closer together. The details remained elusive no matter how she tried, but the feelings remained, the elation she felt over two of her favourite people growing beyond a strange dynamic where they egged each other into making mischief and actually began to enjoy each other's company, even if they didn't often seek it out without prompting from her. Amber, Cedric, James... These were her most important people. She appreciated some of Cedric's concerns, but wouldn't it be easier to just be honest with the few people they could trust to understand them?
"Amber..." She hissed, but her cousin only snuggled closer. A sigh of discontentment escaped Sofia's lips as she carefully rolled to reach for her cell phone on the nightstand. Shielding the screen to avoid disturbing Amber with the light, she reread Cedric's text - the one that insisted she sleep in her own bed tonight to avoid a repeat of this morning. 'Would you run away with me...?' There were so many glaringly obvious reasons why the only proper answer was no, so why did she regret not agreeing to the strange request?
Deciding against heeding his text, she gently lifted Amber's arm and slid out from beneath it, then snuck to Cedric's room in much the same fashion as the night before.
She found him sitting up in his bed, his laptop beside him on the mattress and the white string of his earbuds leading from it to his ears. Even in this dim light, his eyes appeared to gleam as he trained them on her. He tugged the tiny speakers out and held up a finger to this lips, then pointed to James on the floor, and she nodded as she crept past.
"I told you to stay in bed." If he dared to speak any louder, she was certain it would have come out as a low growl, but she stuck her tongue out defiantly as she clambered up to his side.
"I wanted to ask you, first. Earlier, at the arcade... Why did you say that?" He shrugged, tipping his chin to avoid her.
"It was just a thought. Don't worry so much about it." He mumbled, moving the laptop to the nightstand so he could fall back onto the bed.
"I am worried." She pressed, following suit and turning onto her side to curl up next to him. "I'm worried that if I said no, you might go without me."
He spun fast, his fingers catching under her jaw so he could lift her face to his. "Never. If you believe that, then you really don't get me at all."
He was so close, and for a second she thought he might kiss her again. No, she wanted him to kiss her again, and her tongue darted out to wet her parched lips in anticipation, but he let go, shifting away from her. Frowning over at him, she thought over the times their lips had met. They'd both been initiated by him, so perhaps if she... Tired of over thinking everything when it came to them, she climbed into his lap, dropping her face down until their lips met. His hands flailed out at first, but eventually came to rest on the small of her back.
"If you asked me... Really, honestly asked me," She began breathlessly when they parted. "I would go anywhere as long as it was with you."
"No, you wouldn't." He murmured as she tried to kiss him again, deftly flipping them over so he was on top of her, his knees pressed between her thighs and his hands resting on either side of her head to keep himself propped up above her. "There's no way you'd leave everyone else behind, and I'd be an asshole for trying to make you. But thanks for saying it." He claimed her lips with a possessiveness that was disarming, quelling any attempt she might have made to counter his words. She carded her fingers through his shaggy hair, wishing it was possible to draw him even closer, but he was already pressed as tightly as he could be against her mouth.
He yanked back suddenly, and his eyes flashed with something foreign and dangerous. She knew that look, though he'd never shown it to her in this lifetime, and it made her heart flutter wildly in her chest as she pondered whether it would be okay to encourage the destruction that expression promised, if only for this one moment. "Go back to bed, Sofia."
