Is it possible for certain family members to carry on a curse? I've become convinced the Pataki clan has a bad luck curse deep rooted to the beginning of our bloodline. Great grandpa Pataki spent several years of his life in search of striking oil in America and becoming rich. When great grandma Pataki got tired of him chasing his 'pipe dream', he gave up the search and joined a more modest profession as a railroad worker. Not even a week later he found out a lucky fellow struck oil in the exact same spot he had been searching not even a month prior. As for my grandpa, he dabbled in the stock market around the time of the Great Depression. He was invested in "General Motors (GM)", one of his friends said that pulling out of GM would be the safest option during such hard times, fearing their stocks would plummet again. After he traded in his stock the company began thriving again and leaving himself unable to buy back into it, thus continuing the "Pataki family curse". Now don't get me wrong, the curse isn't simply money-based. Take Big Bob for example. Robert Pataki had a perfect life. He married his sweetheart and had a beautiful daughter named Olga. As fate would have it, his wife Miriam accidentally got pregnant after a drunken anniversary night neither of them really remembered. Instead of becoming upset like Miriam was, Bob was actually ecstatic. If there was one thing Bob wanted in his perfect life, it was a son. This was his chance! He and his daughter Olga bought every piece of blue clothing inside of OshKosh B'gosh, and they decorated the nursery in pale baby blue paint with a football trim at the top. He was finally going to have someone to take to baseball and football games, teach how to shave someday, and most likely force into various peewee sporting events. But the family curse reared it's ugly head yet again… that fateful day in March Big Bob didn't get his son. According to my aunt, the doctor announced "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Pataki! It's a girl!", Bob glared down at the newborns naked form and screamed in agony. He stormed out of the room mumbling to himself 'that's the first and last disappointment we're ever having.'
My family didn't exchange my blue clothes for pink… Miriam was in a never ending postpartum depression and Big Bob didn't want to look at 'the girl'. So the duration of my first few years were spent in blue jumpers covered in sports memorabilia. For my third birthday it was Olga of all people to acknowledge me. She knelt down in front of me and ruffled my hair like you would a dog and cooed 'here you go baby sister!' and handed me a pristinely decorated pink package. I opened it to find a pink jumper, and a pink hair bow. Olga took the bow out of the box and arranged my hair in two pigtails before tying the bow on top of my head. 'you are just too precious!' she pinched my cheeks and kissed my forehead. Olga may annoy the living hell out of me, but if it wasn't for her I would most likely still be in blue jumpers to this day… And I would have never heard Arnold's sweet, angelic voice that rainy day many eons ago. But as far as the curse goes, I think I was the curse. Big Bob never wanted another daughter, and Miriam never wanted a second child. My existence was an accident, a mistake… and as being a mistake, I was genetically cursed to continue making mistakes all through my life. I'm a walking, talking, mistake.
'Helga….'
'You're amazing..'
'I want you..'
'Helga-'
"Helga?" Phoebe's hand came into my line of vision.
"Huh?" my hand twitched against the surface of the table. "W-what?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine… why?" I absentmindedly scraped my fork across my plate a few times.
"You've been poking at the eggs on your plate for about 15 minutes and staring at the wall." I threw my fork down as she set her elbows on the table and gave me a concerned look. "When you invited me for breakfast this morning I assumed you had something that you wanted to talk about… What happened after you disappeared last night? I couldn't reach you." I visibly tensed at her question, which I know she picked up on. "Helga?"
"I-… I honestly don't even know where to begin Phoebs." my eyes veered another direction.
"Well for starters I heard you went upstairs with Arnold, um… by force."
"Uh huh.." I droned.
"So what happened?" she motioned for me to continue, desperate for answers.
"Um…" my hand found its way back to my fork and began tapping it against the plate. "We kind of got into an argument. I called him out on everything he did."
"And what did he say?"
"Well…" I thought about it momentarily "I actually… didn't let him say anything-"
"Oh Helga.." she sighed. "You didn't let him speak? What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking Phoebs!" I groaned "I yelled and yelled at him. When I was about to leave he challenged me to walk out forever. He says there's no way I could ever do it. A-and I just kind of… snapped."
"What did you do Helga?" her expression grew more and more worried.
"I… might have... kissed him… a little bit." I winced at my own words. "It was like a kiss of death sort of thing! And then I just… walked out."
"WHAT?" her hands slammed against the table. "You kissed him? Oh my GOSH!" I sunk deeper into my seat and stared at the ceiling. Phoebe, who was quietly mumbling to herself in Japanese and shaking her head in disbelief noticed my lack of commentary on such life changing events. "Did anything else happen after that Helga?"
"Uh… well you see, Phoebs…" I glanced around the diner in case there were onlookers.
"Helga!" she reached across the table and grabbed my hand, shaking it. "What happened?"
"UGH!" I threw my hand up in frustration. "He freakin' followed me back to my dorm last night Phoebe! FOLLOWED me!" I began going off into a full blown tangent "It was around two in the morning, so I thought it was you knocking randomly at my door. But NOOOOOO… It was Arnold! I didn't even get two goddamn words out before he grabbed me and started kissing me!" Phoebe released me from her grasp and slowly covered her mouth in shock. "The next thing I knew we were making out like two horny teenagers. There may have been some groping and some moaning, and at some point there was a bed involved and clothes were shed. Then there was some sweating and grinding and…" I took a deep breath. "God, DAMMIT PHOEBE! We ended up breaking my bed frame!" my heart was beating like crazy and my breath was coming out erratically. "I feel like I was ran over by a truck! I practically limped here this morning! I CAN'T WALK STRAIGHT! And look!-" I grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled it down to expose my right shoulder, which had a dark bruise that looked like a set of teeth. "And you wanna know the worst part Phoebs?" my demeanor changed to a more calm state. "… I feel absolutely empty… completely void of all emotion. I want to curl up into a ball until I'm invisible. I'm an idiot, a fool… All the above. You get the picture."
Phoebe uncovered her mouth and linked her fingers together under her chin, taking in everything I just blurted out. "So… Arnold was… rough with you, um.… during intimacy?"
"Oh for fucks sake Phoebe! Out of all the information I just gave you that's what you got out of it?" I felt a small blush creep up on my cheeks. "It's not like how it sounds.. It wasn't violent. Just… intense." and glorious. But Phoebe didn't need to know THAT much.
"What happened after?" I could tell she had more questions beyond that, but she was keeping it simple.
"We woke up this morning and went our separate ways." I shrugged, indifferent.
"What?" her eyes widened. "Helga! You two need to discuss everything! Especially now!"
"Phoebe… either way things are going to end badly. We slept together last night in this crazy heat of the moment scenario. I threw myself at him like a idiot floozy and he reciprocated like a typical male. He didn't want me… he wanted the stupid girl from the party that gave him lip service! Things with the frat are already over, and I'm pretty sure Arnold is going to want this indiscretion to be forgotten by the time he's thought it over."
"But Helga, I-"
"Please Phoebe." I set my head on the table and groaned loudly.
"Helga! Stop it this instant!" her voice raised a few decibels. I raised my head as I gaped at her in shock, Phoebe rarely ever raised her voice at anyone let alone me. "You're a 21 year old woman! You had… relations with someone whom you care about. You can't run away from what has occurred. And no matter how unpleasant that conversation may seem, you will regret it for the rest of your life if you don't talk to him. Now quit acting like the hard headed 9 year old you once were and do something instead of talk about it!" she crossed her arms in front of her, her face softening as she sat back in her chair. "I'm sorry for the outburst… but it had to be said."
We stared at each other for several moments before I broke down and lowered my head back down to the table, banging it repeatedly. After several seconds of hitting it against the table I laid there, pondering what she had said.
"You're right Phoebs.." I muttered. "I need to talk to him about everything… not just last night. I'm going to find him today and settle the score. And if by some miracle we don't hate each other by the time it's over… who knows." I shrugged.
"Just remember to keep your temper under control." she gave me her mothering stare. "You know you tend to overreact."
"I know, I know… I promise no tantrums." I slid out of the booth and threw the tip on the table. "C'mon… lets get you to the train station Phoebs."
Saying goodbye to Phoebe was hard. She kept telling me to call her whenever I needed it and to keep her updated on the situation. She repeatedly hugged me and told me to do the right thing, and that she knows everything will be alright in the end. I simply hugged her back and mumbled something along the lines of 'yeah yeah… I'll be fine'. On the drive back to campus is when thoughts began swirling in my head about last night, and the insanity that occurred. I hadn't really taken the time to think about what happened or the pretenses under which it happened. I actually slept with him! I let my brain take a mental vacation. What the hell was I thinking? I was furious at Arnold last night! Why did I let him in my pants for crying out loud? Just because he made lustful googly eyes at me my brain turned to Jello? GOD I'm an idiot! How could I ever make this situation better? Me and Arnold never stopped to think about the repercussions… We just… did, instead of asking questions. What ever happened to the days when we would high five? When did we graduate to humping? Weren't we just at odds over this very subject?… Something has to be rectified now before things got more awkward.
I don't know how long I stood in front of Arnold's dorm room, it could have been five minutes… it could have been forty five. I finally hesitantly raised my fist and knocked softly against the worn wooden door. As if on cue Eugene opened the door and bounced excitedly at my presence.
"Hey Eugene… uh… Is Arnold around?" I rubbed my arm awkwardly, glancing all around the hallway.
"Why gosh Helga, he never came back last night! I haven't seen him. I figured he was probably at Gerald's. Have you tried there yet?"
"No.. I guess I'll have to check there next." I began backing away. "See ya around..." and just like that, I was out of options. If Arnold went to the frat house there was no way I could show my face there again. Was I really going to have to stalk his dorm room to see him? "Crap.." I muttered to myself as I limped my way back to my dorm. My legs were still killing me from… well, contorting them the previous night. There were so many questions that remained unanswered. Namely why we ended up in between the sheets last night instead of yelling at each other… and secondly, where the HELL did he learn all that from?
When I got back into my dorm I hobbled inside and plopped directly into my bed, forgetting the broken frame I heard an unpleasant snap as I landed. Frankly I didn't care about the status of my cheap bed frame. A moment of realization hit me while I was staring at the ceiling, "You're a dumbass, Pataki!" I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialed Arnold's number. After the first ring I heard an all too familiar ringtone playing in the corner of my room. "FUCK!" I groaned, getting up off the bed in search for his phone. I finally located it underneath my bra from the previous night. 'Helga' with a cute little smiley face next to it flashed on the screen. I hung up the call and noticed he had about 4 missed calls and several text messages. "Don't even think about it Helga old girl… it's his business." I set his phone on my desk. "He'll be back for it…" it was almost like I couldn't control my hand as it traced the edge of the phone, slowly finding the button that turned on the screen once again. It lit up, startling me somewhat. I unlocked it and held it in my palm, still contemplating what I was going to do… If I was going to do anything.
As fate would have it, I didn't have to make that decision. There were two short knocks on my door before it opened. I dropped Arnold's phone back on to the desk, eyes wide at the blatant intrusion of my room. My grip on the back of my computer chair tightened at the sight of familiar spiky blonde locks peeked through the opening of the door. "Helga?" Arnold's head fully came into view. I felt my breath catch in the back of my throat. God he's so gorgeous. "Hey!" he came inside, still dressed in his clothes from last night, with two insulated coffee cups cradled against his chest. "I've been looking all over for you! Where'd you run off to this morning?" he casually closed the door behind himself and walked over towards me, extending one of the cups of coffee to me. "I had doughnuts too… but when I couldn't find you I ended up giving them to a group of homeless guys." he chuckled.
I stared at the cup of coffee he was offering for several seconds before dumbly reaching out and taking it. "Thanks." I held the coffee under my nose for inspection before taking a sip. It was exactly how I liked it… How the hell did he know that? "So… Where were you when you left my dorm this morning Arnoldo?"
"I told you when I was leaving this morning about signing up for my history class. It's first come first serve, and the sign ups started at 7:30 this morning. But after that I came looking for you with breakfast and you were already gone!" he set his coffee on the desk next to his phone. "Hey! That's where I left it! I thought I might have left it at Gerald's." I clutched tightly to the hot beverage in my hands as he brushed against me to grab his phone. "Gerald was looking for me last night." he didn't look up at me as he perused the contents of his phone. "Oh well." he set it back on the desk. He was standing dangerously close… our bodies just a few inches apart. Our eyes didn't leave each other's. I nearly passed out as his hands pulled at my waist until we were flush against each other. When he began leaning in my eyes widened in shock. He glanced down at the cup still clutched in my hands, reaching between us to remove it and set it next to his. "That's better." he grinned. Instead of leaning in again he pulled me even closer until my head was resting in the crook of his neck. I could feel him nuzzling me with his cheek. A-and was he… hugging me? Arnold must have sensed how tense I was. His hands slowly traveled up and down my back, stroking me. Hip lips brushed against my neck before pressing against it softly a few times. "You okay?" he murmured. I felt myself nod weakly, it was almost like I wasn't in control of my actions whenever he was this close to me. He leaned back out until our eyes could meet.
"Arnold… I-" my sentence was cut short when his hand cupped my cheek and his thumb ran almost… lovingly across it. A mischievous grin spread across his face before he pulled my mouth to his, placing a quick peck on my lips before pulling away completely and plopping down on my mangled bed that he helped me destroy. His left hand gestured for me to follow him. I pushed myself away from the desk and slowly limped over towards the bed. His look went from amused to completely horrified.
"Oh my god… Helga!" He pulled me down next to him on the bed. "Did I do this to you? Did I hurt you?" he began assessing the damage that was currently visible.
"Hey! What are you doing?-" I grunted in protest as he lifted hem of my shirt until it was showing my ribcage. I glanced down at myself the same time he did. I hadn't noticed the fingertip shaped bruises at my hipbones until now, or the splitting headache I had from banging my head repeatedly on the headboard. "I'm fine Arnold." I began pulling down my shirt to cover up the evidence, but his hand halted me. His other hand pushed my shoulder until I laid down flat on the mattress.
My heartbeat began picking up when his hand touched the skin of my ribcage and began traveling lower until it was at my hip. "I'm so sorry I hurt you Helga.." he bent down low and kissed one of the bruises on my hip. "Why didn't you tell me I was hurting you?"
I had two options; enjoy his coddling, or tell him to stop this nonsense. I don't like being treated like I'm some daffodil. "It didn't hurt at the time football head. It's fine." I stared blankly at the ceiling. My breath hitched when his lips began traveling upwards towards my ribcage. "Why are you doing this?" I grabbed his hair, halting him.
"I feel kind of guilty… I've never done anything like that." he blushed. "I mean, I've never hurt anyone before. I'm not... That... kind of guy."
"I told you I'm fine!" I pushed him off of me and sat up, pulling my shirt back down. "Now shut up and stand up football head." I pointed to the spot in front of me. He stared at me awkwardly several seconds before complying.
"But, why?-"
"Just shut up Arnold!" I tugged him by his belt loops until his waist was directly in front of my face. I glanced up to meet his curious expression. Without hesitation I stuck my hands underneath the bottom of his shirt and slowly began exposing some of his skin.
"What are you doing?" his eyes followed me as I stood up.
"Arms up football head." without question he lifted his arms over his head as my hands lifted the shirt off. Arnold was by no means a buff man, but the sight of him shirtless would be the death of me. "Turn around." again he followed directions without question. Not to my surprise, my memory served me right. At some point last night I left several long scratch marks down Arnold's back, and he had several bruises forming on his shoulders and arms. I ran my fingertips along his naked skin until I came along a scratch. He hissed upon contact. "You didn't do anything worse than I did last night football head. So quit it with your worrying. C'est la vie." I picked his shirt back up off the bed and tossed it at him. "Thanks for the coffee, you can go if you want." I stood in front of my mirror and glared angrily at my reflection. I was irritated with myself, and this situation I managed to put myself in.
He quickly slipped his shirt back over his head and stared at me "Why do you want me to leave?" I merely shrugged in response. "Helga." he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, laying his chin on my shoulder. "Last night was… intense, I know… and it may have been kind of spur of the moment.." he nuzzled the side of my face again until his lips were by my ear "But I don't regret it… at all." The whole time Arnold stood behind me I couldn't stop staring at our reflection in the mirror… we looked so… right. But it felt so wrong. Like something was horrifyingly wrong. When his arms held me even closer against him I stopped looking at our reflections.
"Do you mean that?" I looked over my shoulder at him
"I really do Helga..." he tilted his head and caught my lips with his, kissing me softly. To my surprise my right hand shot up and held his head in place, terrified he would pull away from me. I could feel him smiling against my lips as my hand treaded through his hair and tugged lightly. After several moments I finally allowed him to pull away. "I prefer this to the butt kicking I get in beer pong." he chuckled and turned me to face him, wrapping his arms around my waist before kissing me again. There was no question in my mind if I enjoyed kissing Arnold or not, it was… perfection. But the only thing I could focus on was how genuinely irritated I was by this situation. He was finally giving me attention beyond a slap on the back or a nudge on the shoulder. For Pete's sake he was currently cupping my ASS and moaning into my mouth. But there was a creeping reminder in the back of my mind that I was supposed to be having a conversation with Arnold right now and not using our lips for x-rated purposes. Was this all we had going for us? Intimacy? Lust?
"ugh…" I pulled my mouth away from his "Crimeny.." I glanced down at my left hand which was currently halfway down his pants. "Sorry…" I tugged it out of the 'no no zone'.
"What's wrong?" he slid his hand out from underneath my shirt and took a small step back, but not completely exiting my personal space.
"What are we doing here.. Honestly? Who are we trying to kid? Whatever is going on right now between us is obviously still heat of the moment. There's a lot of stuff we still need to talk about." I readjusted my shirt and hair and took another step away from him. "We're letting our hormones control the situation."
"I understand how you're feeling right now Helga. All of this has happened so quickly. But if you need us to take this new… thing we have slowly, I'm okay with that. Whatever you want to do I'm on board. We can figure this all out, together." he took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "I don't want to do anything to make you unhappy. You're one of my best friends."
In my mind I was screaming at him, cursing and slapping him. He still wanted this? Or was he wanting some pretty little thing he can parade around? But what about the frat? What about my reputation he helped destroy? Was I supposed to just forget about these things and let him paw at me like an animal? Was I strong enough to push away the one person I spent nearly twenty years worshiping?
Could I really tell Arnold no?
** Two Weeks Later**
Irritation. Pure and utter irritation. That was the only emotion registering in my mind. When I was nine I thought a loving and doting boy toy was existential to having a relationship. He'd follow me around like a puppy and obey my every command without question and would worship the ground I walked on. It would be perfection!
I was freakin' wrong..
Not only was Arnold the perfect definition of a little man-slave, he was an annoying one. Everywhere I turned, there he was… in my face. All this week since school started again he's been at my side, in his words: 'bonding'. Under normal circumstances I would have died at the prospect of getting attention from Arnold like this. He held my bag for me as he walked me to class every day, he left little lovey-dovey notes on my door, bought me food at the slightest growl of my stomach, and held my hand in front of everyone after everything that happened. The only problems with this little scenario were that the frat was never mentioned again by either of us, nor did I ever see the guys. If Arnold saw them I didn't know about it. And the other issue... was me. The more Arnold paid attention to me, the angrier I was becoming. I was starting to genuinely hate seeing him… and it was scaring me.
Today was no different than any other day since our unadulterated boink fest on New Years. He showed up at my dorm room this morning with a big cheesy grin on his face and a bag of sugary breakfast goodies for me to consume before I became 'cranky'. He fussed over me in between classes and fed me lunch. All in all it was the normal new routine, until I tried ditching him that evening to read for my American Lit class. He insisted we should hang out in my dorm for the evening. Either way I knew I wasn't going to get rid of him with a simple no, so now I was stuck with Arnold pretending to study, while in reality we sat on my bed and watched a movie on my cheap 20 inch TV.
Upon Arnold's insistence I was reclining between his legs and leaning against his chest with my arms crossed defiantly in front of me, thwarting his cuddling efforts. We were halfway through 'Hook' when Arnold turned his attention back on me. "Hey Helga?" he finally pushed my arms out of their interlocked position and fully wrapped his arms around me. "I wanted to talk about something."
"If it's about the cherry bomb in your backpack yesterday I know nothing.." I grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in my mouth.
He set his chin on my shoulder and shook his head "I already know you did that." he chuckled.
"Then I see we have nothing else to discuss." I huffed bitterly despite myself. I had kept most of my rage I felt towards him bottled, but I was finding myself slipping more.
"Okay.." he paused, obviously pondering my exact meaning. "If you don't want to talk…" he trailed off suggestively, reaching his hand in front of us and slowly running his fingers down the length of my thigh. "we don't have to.." his hand paused when it reached the top of my jeans and I tensed. His other hand finally made an appearance, brushing my hair to the side so he could kiss my neck.
Ever since new years we hadn't… done that again. Everything that happened seemed so wrong and I was still trying to figure out his angle in all this. I didn't want to go there again. Not when I was feeling so unsure about everything… "Arnold." I grabbed his wrist. "Stop."
He pulled his head out of the crook of my neck and removed his hand from my hip. When I glanced over my shoulder at him he flinched. "Sorry.."
"Whatever.." I pulled myself off of him and plopped down on my stomach on the other end of the bed. "Was that what you wanted to 'talk' about? Crimeny football head."
"No!" he gasped. "I'm sorry Helga.. I wasn't trying to insinuate that at all. I just got-"
"Caught up in the heat of the moment." my eyes rolled indignantly. We know all about that excuse by now.
"Come on Helga, don't be angry. I was just being dumb and I'm sorry about that. I'm still trying to figure out this whole boundary thing between us." he crawled up next to me, biting his lip. "Which is why I've been debating asking you something." My eyes widened immensely. He wasn't actually going to… ask… THE question? Under these circumstances? What, did he enjoy snuggling up to a frigid iceberg who is obviously bent out of shape about something? Crimeny! "I was wondering… if maybe… you wanted to come with me to my Grandpa's birthday party this weekend." he cleared his throat. "As my guest, I mean." We both stared at each other for several moments in silence, mainly because I was flabbergasted. What ever possessed me to think he'd be asking me to be his girlfriend after only two weeks of… whatever we were doing. He couldn't even ask me to be his date… just his "guest"…
"Fine." I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. "But I'm only going because the people you used to live with are bat-ass crazy. I could use the entertainment and free cake."
"This is awesome, I thought you were going to say no!" he wrapped his arms around me before I could object and plastered kisses all over my face like an overly happy mutt.
"Okay, okay! Down Fido... Sheesh!" when he rolled off of me I wiped the back of my hand over my face a few times.
"You like it." he teased.
"Oh yeah football head, I love it when you get your drool all over my face." I quipped, glaring at him from the corner of my eye.
"Oh yeah?" an all too familiar cheesy half lidded gaze met mine. I yelped when he pounced on me, pinning my arms above my head and straddling my waist. "I aim to please."
"NO! Arn-" with ninja-like precision and speed he brought his mouth down to mine, surprising me. "MMM-" I growled against his lips, moving my head away from his. "You sneaky little….. Ugh! That's it!" while he was off guard I pulled my wrists from his grasp and grabbed his shoulders, pushing him off of me. "You're gonna get the pounding of a lifetime bucko!" to my surprise he dodged my tackle and pulled me down with him and suddenly we were both wrestling back and forth, not harming each other beyond a push or shove. At some point we fell off my bed and started rolling around the floor in the midst of all the mess. "OUCH!" I groaned after my elbow came in contact with the hardwood floor after a particularly vicious toss by Arnold.
"You okay?" He panted, loosening his hold and settling himself half on top of me.
"Are you always so rough? Crimeny football head. I pegged you for the gentle type."
He examined my elbow to make sure there was no actual damage before placing a kiss on it. "And I pegged you for the rough type.." he placed another kiss on the back of my hand.
"Is that why you wrestle me like I'm a 250 pound MMA fighter?" I glanced down at our hands and saw they were linked together. In the back of my mind I realized we were doing it again… Getting caught up in all of this crap. Letting hormones win… But I felt myself going along with it. I was putty in his hands. Honestly? His persistence was kind of hot… despite how much I hated it.
"Why do I get the feeling the almighty Helga 'Badass' Pataki is a total and complete softie?" he grinned. "I think it's kind of sweet."
"Whatever…" I muttered.
"Despite what you've seen, I'm not generally a rough person Helga." our eyes stayed locked on each other as his hand ghosted over my stomach until he reached the hem of my shirt, slipping his hand inside. It was almost electrifying the way his skin felt against mine, his fingers resting at my waist, making me shiver.
"Then show me…" I pulled myself into his lap and sat him upright on the floor before grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and pulling it off of him. He didn't say a word, nor did he attempt to take any items of clothing off of me. He simply sat in silence, waiting for me to tell him what I wanted. I wordlessly held my arms above my head and smirked at him, a few seconds passed before I felt his hands land at my waist and tug the shirt over my head. I ran my hands over his chest, arms, shoulders, and stomach before grabbing both of his hands in mine and gently placing them on my chest and letting go of him. Without any further instruction he leaned forward and gently captured my lips with his. Unlike our first time there was no rushing frantically. There was a sense of urgency, but it was so much calmer than before.
But that stupid voice in the back of my mind kept popping up to remind me that I was supposed to be angry with Arnold. I was supposed to be yelling at him and demanding answers. But how could I question anything when I was falling even harder for him than I ever did before? But the real question was….
Was he falling for me too?… Or was he the one wearing a mask?