"So," Jacob began after a while, clearly bored with the silence. I looked up from my fingers, deciding to at least pretend to be interested in whatever came next. "I heard a few things while I was away. It was a few of your tricks I suppose."
"My tricks?" I repeated sceptically, surprised. "And what might they be?"
He shrugged a little, completely relaxed as his eyes wondered around the room. "I heard you batter your eyelashes when you want to get your way. Keith was getting quite annoyed by it actually."
"Really?" I asked, sitting up. So it had had some effect on him - the fact that I'd keep undermining his guards was meant to be a personal offense, but he'd just ignored it as far as I knew. "Huh."
"Any particular reason why I wasn't subjected to that? After speaking to some of the guys, well," he grinned, looking at me. "Sounds like an odd experience."
I laughed. "I knew you'd never go for it."
I didn't think I knew anyone else - nor had I ever known anyone else - who could branch such a subject and still make it a laughable conversation. 'Why do you never flirt with me?' wasn't the most common conversation opener around. Jacob seemed content to joke about with it and was grinning like, well, like Jacob, although most people I'd met would seem awfully embarrassed by the subject. It was just another one of those things that really bugged me about him. I guess I should consider myself lucky. Whereas I'd been beginning to think he had to be in here for a few hours a day as he had been before, the fact that it was now late afternoon was reassuring. Although, if I'd known he wasn't going to burst in on me this morning, I might have tried to catch up on some of the sleep I'd missed last night. Having barely slept, I wouldn't have objected to a few more hours - but the only time I had a guarantee that he wouldn't be in here was during the night, so I'd made myself wait. That was something I was beginning to regret now.
"Do you absolutely have to be in here?" I asked him, cutting across whatever he was about to say. I didn't mean for it to sound quite the way it did, but I would have rather had the opportunity to sulk on my own than be pulled into a conversation. "I mean - you must have something better to do, surely?"
"Aw, come on," he said, nearly whining. He was still smiling though, which sort of ruined the charade. "You're avoiding my question. I'm truly crushed you never considered me worth it over here, and you're just joking about."
I could see he was still joking, but it couldn't hurt to play along a little.
"Oh yeah? How hurt?" I asked under my breath, moving slowly as I rose from the bed and glided over to him. I started walking my hand across his chest and looking up at him from beneath my lashes.
His eyebrows shot up; he clearly hadn't been expecting anything. He was still smiling. "Pretty hurt."
I pouted my lips a little. Not too much, only enough to get what I wanted.
I manoeuvred him around, and he let me, stepping back where I guided him. After a moment, keeping my eyes on his the whole while, I pushed him slowly down onto the bed so that he was sat up. He didn't seem to be quite over the shock yet. I slipped onto his lap, locking my arms around his neck. I leant in and put my lips beside his ear, speaking slowly. "And why's that?"
I let my fingers play in his black hair, loosely running through the strands. I sat back a little, looking at him with a faux innocent expression.
"You want to know why I'm hurt?" he asked quietly, his arms finding their own way and locking around my body. "I'm hurt because I'm the only one. You keep leaving me out, and I might start thinking I'm not good enough for the likes of you. And let's face it, if I'm not good enough, no-one is."
