Velvet Mirror

Chapter 6

Peter walked me up the steps and to the door, fingers entangled. We stopped on the stoop, just standing there, his hands on my waist and my arms around his neck, the flower bouquet dangling from my hand very close to the dangerous point of dropping. We stood there, smiling and breathing, until we realized that we probably looked ridiculous. Peter looked like he was about to say goodbye when I decided to interject.

"Hey, do you wanna come inside and watch a movie?" I asked.

His whole face melted with relief. "I would love that," he said.

I unlocked the door and pushed it open, waving him through the door before I followed after. I walked him downstairs to where the television was. We ended up watching some classic 80's move or another. We sat down on the couch, side by side. We were close enough that I could smell his scent: the constant musk of acrylic paints combined with cinnamon and other spices I could never name; whatever it was that he wore as cologne. I was never much of a cook--aside from grilling steaks. Peter used to make fabulous three-course dinners, but only once in a blue moon, always just for the two of us. He did not usually like to cook, but when he did, the meals were always incredible. They were always stunningly romantic, no matter what kind or volume of company we had.

I took in how lovely he looked sitting beside me. His olive-toned skin and light stubble so tempting that I nearly had to physically restrain myself down in order to keep from reaching out and touching him. Because he was looking straight ahead, I could view the long slope of his nose that made my stomach feel like jelly. I blinked and I just how much he seemed to radiate a kind of golden beauty. And a warmth. Peter used to tell me that he and his oldest sister, Alicia, could see auras. Alicia used to always say that Peter had a particularly strong aura, and that oftentimes other people could see it. When I would ask her how she knew, she said that other people would give hints by saying he looked like he was glowing or almost as if he had a little dark cloud following him around. Mariah, their middle sister, did not believe in auras. She said that Peter just wore his heart on his sleeve all the time, so it was easy for anyone to know how he was feeling because he was not good at hiding it.

Eventually, I managed to turn my head away from Peter so I could watch the movie with him instead of watching him. We laughed and made jokes throughout the course of the movie. If there was something Peter was not it was a silent movie watcher—as in Peter was someone who always talked during movies, not someone who did not watch silent films.

Two-thirds of the way through the movie, Peter had me laughing and then he turned to me and my laugh faded slowly. His stunning grey-blue eyes sent a shot of warmth through my body. I always expected his icy eyes to send frigid spears through me, and I was always pleasantly surprised by the butterflies that proceeded to fill my stomach and spread warmth throughout my body.

Peter looked at me and his eyes softened and he began to lean towards me. An alarm went off in the back of my head. I told Jocelyn and my dad that I was not going to get back together with Peter after what he did to me.

I leaned away from Peter. "I can't do this," I said, shaking my head. "Not after what you did to me."

"Valerie," he tried to reason with me, his voice edging on pleading, "it's been eight years... We've stayed in touch. It's not like we ever really broke up. I thought we were past this."

"Past you freaking out and not being present when I needed you most? Past you being absent in my life for the past eight years aside from letters every few weeks?" I said incredulously. "You don't think it's hard for me to move past you walking out on me?!"