Prompt 018: Lovers
The light from the day was twisting into beautiful and vibrant streaks of color – scarlet; fuschia; topaz. A small village in Italy was now closing down, the residents shutting their doors and windows to the world so they could break away from the hard work of hours before. A few bodies shuffled among the streets, but most good boys and girls were home by now.
A pair of children (certainly no older than eleven) had slipped away from their families to spend a minute together. They hid behind a prominent, lush hill so as not to be seen, and rested against the grass.. "I thought your mother said you weren't allowed to see me anymore." With a tone of harsh indifference (the oxymoron intended), the girl of the two stared fiercely at her counterpart.
He returned the gaze, but with something softer; something mischievous. "She did." A wide, toothy grin spread across his flushed cheeks. His face was always a little pink after a good run.
She stared for a moment longer, seemingly in search of something hidden within those blue eyes. However, nothing else was revealed, and she took notice of a weed beside her. "Then why are you here? Why don't you listen to her?" Her voice cracked an inch during the first question. With frustration, she rushed through the second.
"Because I know you're not dangerous."
The matter-of-factness of his tone caused her attention to return to him sharply. Her thick lips scrunched and the bottom one slipped from underneath; she pouted. "And just how do you know that?"
"Because you're a girl."
He laughed when he said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She didn't feel the same. "I beg your pardon."
The chuckle he'd muttered was quickly retracted. His expression was promptly twisted into one of bemusement. "I just mean that girls need protecting. You can't be dangerous when you're so fragile." But something told him that his words hadn't patched things between them – if looks could kill. The boy moved closer, chancing stains on his trousers as he neared her. "Jane, I just don't think they're right about you. Sure, you're a little more rough than a girl should be, but you're pleasant enough. You're nice to me. You're..." He flushed brighter, though it was difficult to witness in the waning light. "You're pretty. A girl like you couldn't possibly be dangerous."
His comment surprised Jane. Though still hard, her eyes faltered from guarded to shocked. Being called pretty was not something to which she was accustomed. Certainly, she had a delicate enough face, but her body was all wrong and her clothes were patched with new tears popping up every day. Being accused of witchcraft had left her family severed from the community. They had never particularly had affluence, but before a few years back, they had been accepted just as everyone else. Now, they were the targets of riots and cruel jokes. Yet here sat a boy who proclaimed to feel the opposite.
"You're such a fool, Nathan. I could place a terrible curse upon you right now." Even her voice had dulled with the astonishment.
His grin returned, though more slight. "I am already enchanted." He leaned in and kissed the side of her face quickly, pulling back before the moment could be awkward; before the sound of his mother's call could come any nearer and find the two in a comprising situation.
"You had better go," Jane responded immediately. Nathan's mother sounded close to the town, but no chances should be taken. He nodded and pushed himself to his feet, prepared to head home. Jane caught him violently by the wrist, forcing him to look down at her. The darkness around intensified her usual, strange macabre features. "If you tell anybody you kissed me, I will hex you." He stumbled for a moment and then grinned, running off.
Jane smiled only when he had gone, following his lead after a thought.