Brave Love

Of Age

Heart in a vice;

Nothing can suffice—

The weight of time's price.

 

___________________________

Brave Love Chapter 18: Of Age

[Chip]

 

Hurry up

I'm hungry

 

The letters were crooked and all over the place; some overlapping one another. Xander and I remained frozen in the most suspicious straddling position, staring at the pink bottle with the note attached to it.

The door to Giselle's room clicked shut quietly—as if she wasn't there in the first place.

It took quite a while for both of us to come back to earth, and I was searching for something to say; to ask whether we'd been too loud; how Giselle knew what this bottle was and why it was in her room; to scold Xander for influencing his sister—

"Pft," There was a restrained laughter coming from the person in front of me, low and sincere as it was. "That was..." Xander couldn't even come up with words to finish his sentence as he tried hard not to laugh out loud.

"That was—genius."

My lips parted in shock as laughter began to take hold of Xander by the shoulders and shake him alive. "X-Xander! That isn't...why is that even in Giselle's—I...oh gosh what have you been teaching her—"  

Words failed me; stumbling, stammering as I felt the magic of a real smile cast its unstoppable spell.

"St...Stop laughing...you're making me laugh too..."

As if on instinct, my hand came up to slap his shoulder (only realizing that it was my hand that hurt instead) to show my feeble attempt at expressing my embarrassment.

"Well then—since we have this," Xander mused, reaching down to slip the pink bottle into his hand, "Let's continue shall we?"

I did a double take.

"Huh? A-Are you out of your mind you...you piece of...piece of dough—" My face heated up like kettle on fire as I tried to shift out of our strange position.

Xander held me fast.

"Aw c'mon. Just one round?" He teased.

R-R-Round?? What does that even mean?

 

"I don't understand what you're saying b-but whatever it is," I crossed my arms indignantly as I tried for a glare, "It's going to be a no."

Xander rolled his eyes, the remains of his laugh still etched on his lips.

"Alright Angel, as you wish."

My blush deepened, heating up my ears as it deemed convenient. Arms weakened, my heart let its guard down—no matter what my mind seemed to say; to protest.

He planted a kiss on my forehead, pulling me in for a cuddle.

"U-m...you know, Giselle said to hurry..." I flailed my arms a little, implying that he should let me go. "She's probably starving since we skipped lunch because of...because of Jett just now."