Prompt #18- Pink
When Jayne finally lets go of River's soft cheeks he is half amused by the flush on her face.
Of course, the better part of his brain is currently engaged in wondering if she is going to attack him and his body is reluctantly readying itself for battle when all it really wants to do is melt back into her arms.
He shifts back and stares at the small girl in front of him with her puffy lips and glazed expression. He feels almost proud that he had a hand in that.
Speaking of hands …
Jayne pulls away completely and steps back. "Uh, you okay?"
"Hmm." The eloquent speaker with a brain the size of a planet is reduced to monosyllabic grunts.
Jayne lets a slow smile slide across his face. "Girl? Crazy?"
Her eyes focus on him and he realised hi mistake immediately. "Ain't calling you Crazy on account of you being, ya know. I was just … got used ta… I don't think you're all—"
It's River's turn to smile as the big bear of a man starts to babble.
It's cute. She bites her lip and smiles at his winsomely.
"I don't mind," she says, her hands twisting as she smoothes down her dress. "The lip exchange produced desirably surges of emotion that I find quite favourably compatible with my current frame of mind."
Jayne finds that her long-winded way of saying she liked it produces surges of another kind. He shuffles his feet and nods, almost gruffly.
"Right."
River steps back and, just in time too, as Mal comes around the corner with Zoë, both checking over the manifest.
They stop at seeing River and Jayne standing so close together and then they take in the cookies on the weight bench and look back, again, at the two of them.
"Well, if this ain't a turn up, what'd'ya been getting into Jayne?"
No one is sure who is most surprised when Jayne's cheeks turn an interesting shade of pink before he hurries away, cookies in hand.
Mal turns to River who gives him her best "gone-crazy-back-soon" look and meanders off.
He stares after them for a brief moment and then back to Zoë who just sighs. Mal shakes his head. "I appreciate your restraint, Zoë, but I'm sure you got somethin' to say on this here occasion?"
"Yes, sir," Zoë says. "I believe the correct phrase is 'I told you so'. Sir."