"I'm proud of you," she said as they sat into her car and she started the engine. He looked across at her, the hint of a smile on his face but he replaced it with a curious frown.
"For what?"
"Not verbally attacking that boy's mother on the way out." He nodded and shrugged, wrapping his bottom lip over his top in thought. He turned to her again and took a moment to let his eyes wander from her face down along he body and back up.
"I felt you hand on my arm," he said quietly and he knew her foot had risen off the accelerator as he felt the car slow momentarily.
"What difference did that make?" she asked quietly, a knowing tone in her voice that told him she was only asking that question to give her time to think of another.
"You have a calming effect on me, love." She took her eyes off the road and raised an eyebrow at him to tell him that not even she believed that one. He smirked.
"Well, sometimes. Most of the time, well…you have a very different affect on me." She chuckled and smiled to herself. Cal could definitely read pride off the way her face lit up. She seemed to look ten years younger.
They drove the rest of the way to Cal's house in silence. As she pulled up outside his house, he seemed to come back to reality. He turned to her just as she yawned heavily.
"Come in for coffee."
"No I really should…"
"Oi. You're shattered, I'm not having you fall asleep at the wheel. Coffee. Now." He pointed an accusatory finger at her and she laughed, unbuckling her seatbelt as she did.
OXOXOXO
Once in the kitchen, they sat, again in silence, mulling over their respective coffees. Things were beginning to feel awkward in the silence. Cal had finished his coffee and was leaning against the island in the kitchen, crossing one leg over the other and back again, thinking about what to say.
Gillian, for the most part, was trying to stay neutral in her expressions, posture, everything. She stood up and moved to the sink to wash out her cup, then she moved back across the kitchen to lean against the fridge opposite Cal. He looked up at her from under his eyelids.
"Gill, I think we need to talk," he said, straightening up, shoving his hands in his pockets. Gillian straightened up too, glancing at the ground before shaking her head.
"No Cal." He frowned, taken aback and looked at her.
"Eh?" She took a step closer to him. Then another, and another until he felt the corner of the island poking into the small of his back. Slowly, and nervously Cal noted, she put a hand to his face, her thumb stroking his cheekbone.
"I think the last thing we need to do is talk."
With that, she kissed him.