Testing For Hope

Chapter 20 - Floating

 I walked back to my home, guiding the beautiful creature into my oasis. Her feet crushed the leaves that covered the trail through the garden to the front door. As we walked, I picked some fresh berries to put in some tea for later.

I turned around after getting enough fruit and grabbed her hand, pulling her from the lollipop plants my mom planted as a reward for me doing my studies years ago. I took her inside and sat her down in my living room. She looked at me in wonder, but also satisfaction. Perfect. I then got up to the kitchen to start the tea.

 "Where are you going?" She asked in a curious tone. Her eyes were looking at me, holding me in place.

 "Just to the kitchen to start the brew. Why did you want some company?"

 Her eyebrows raised at that comment, then she said, "No." She looked around the room as I left the area to get the kettle.

 I reached up into the first counter over the stove top and got the iron teapot down and put it on a burner. I turned the water in and made it go into the kettle with magic, levitating it into the pot. I then turned the heat up to medium and started working on the herb collection for the flavouring.

 "Can I look at these?"

 Hearing her ask this, I leaned over to the doorframe and saw her staring at my bookshelf. "Sure! There are plenty of good stories in there."

 She reached for a book called Abandon. It was a surprise when it appeared on the shelf at first, because from the date listed, it looked like it was from another time and the description the writing used made it seem like it was from the future. After a while, I ended up just ignoring the book entirely, but it will always hold a place in my memories as the first outlier amongst the books.

 She must have noticed that I wasn't paying attention entirely because she had walked over in the time I was in my head and started snapping her fingers in my face. "Snap out of it, will you? It's creepy enough that you weren't responding, now you won't even flinch?!"

 She was standing so close that I almost forgot how to breathe. I then heard the steam coming out of the teapot in the kitchen and grabbed her hand to bring it down, holding it there for a second longer than necessary.

 She followed me as I left into the kitchen to get the cups set up, her taking a seat at the table. She had the book closed next to her and she was staring at me. I turned around to face her, two cups in hand when she must have decided enough was enough.

 She grabbed the cups out of my hands and held my hands, dragging me back to the living room. She must have really looked around my house because in no time she had put a song on the record player I had forgotten I had.

 She let my hands drop and stepped back a little and bowed slightly. I smiled as heat rose to my face. She smiled at my reaction and grabbed for my hand again, but also reached for my shoulder. Noticing the placement, I placed my hand on her waist and started dancing to the music. When the song started, we slowed down slightly to soak it in.

 Late night telephone,

 Calling all the wallflowers I know,

 Out the dark and into the light

 I had a feeling that she was planning something and my suspicions were confirmed when she started singing along.

 "Floating on my lowkey vibe. Floating on my lowkey vibe, vibe, vibe. I don't need that late night high. I'm floating on my vibe, vibe, vibe." Her voice was so mesmerising that I didn't even realise when her hands started raising to my hair, messing it up slightly by the upwards motion.

 Her hands started cupping my face, but then she looked distracted before she pulled away. She looked at me with the worst betrayal, then I remembered what I had done.

 I raised my fingers to my ears and felt them. I took them out and looked at them. The earplugs were there the whole time.

 Out of touch in harmony

 Designer drugs from dead end streets

Break the air to feel the fall

Or just anything at all