Toxic [Richard Kruspe]

Deal?

I light my cigarette with a match and I sit on the porch swing, moving back and forth. It's snowing and the temperature is minus degrees. The garden is full of snow and the scenery is beyond beautiful. I love snow. I don't know why, but it helps me relax more, than sitting under the sun, listening to the birds chirping in a hot day. The grey sky and the snowflakes usually calm me down. Technically, I should be freezing right now, but my nerves are working on the opposite. One of my best friends just hit on my Anna. I'm not sure what to believe and what not. I don't wanna see anyone at the moment.

Besides her.

I hear the door open and I see her with her crutches, slowly closing it and approaching me. While she exhales by her nose, she creates small frozen clouds. Her nose is already red from the cold and she's wearing a black striped beanie with an oversized coat. I recognize it immediately. It's Oliver's. She sits next to me on the porch swing, and hides her face in the coat.

- "Hey."

- "Hey."

- "You know you'll freeze out here, right?", she asks and I puff on my cigarette.

- "Don't worry about me, I'm used to low temperatures. I'm a native German, remember?"

- "I do, but you're chasing a cold, or pneumonia, at the worst case." She gazes at the snowy garden and the ice that has already been formed on the rocky path. "Holly molly, the ground would be great for ice skating."

- "Anna." I say firmly and she turns at me.  "You didn't join me out here to create a weather forecast, did you."

She giggles.

- "You got me.", she sighs. "I came here to find out why you decided to sit here alone, just when we started having a good time all together. I'm sitting here for like, 2 minutes and I've made no progress so far."

I take a sip of my coffee and I look blankly at the railings.

- "Why don't you ask Schneider? I bet he is a master at resolving mysteries like this."

- "Schneider?", she frowns surprised. "How's he any relevant to your unexplainable behaviour?"

She rubs her hand on her thigh to warm it up, but I realize that this is not the only reason she's doing it. She's nervous.

- "Oh, I don't know, that's why I said that you should ask him. See, I'm not the only one who always has to be in the centre of attention. Looks like he needs some of your attention too. So, focus on him instead.", I burst ironically, but Anna chuckles, shaking her head.

- "Hm, now I think I'm making some progress. You eavesdropped."

- "And I was lucky enough to hear important stuff, so as to not get caught off guard when something more serious happens."

- "Richard.", she starts. "I love you. And I told him. You heard that part, right?"

- "I did."

- "So there's nothing to worry about. I gotta admit, it was weird seeing him act all flirtatious against me, especially knowing that he's aware of our story. But it means nothing to me. He's just a member of my favourite band and that's it. Let's not make it that big of a deal."

- "Maybe we should, Anna! My friend flirted with my girl! My girl! He betrayed our friendship! It may not mean something special to you, but it means to me. I happen to think highly of the idea of friendship."

I'm on the edge of getting out of control. I clench my fists and close my eyes. Anna realizes that I'm a bundle of nerves and snarls up, resting her head on my shoulder.

- "Baby... I respect the idea of friendship too. And it makes no sense that Christoph attempted something like this. It's not his type. Maybe something else is going on. Something that we haven't noticed yet."

- "Enlighten me, please."

- "Maybe he knows. And by 'knows', I mean 'knooows', you know?"

- "Wow, you could have been a brilliant journalist. What a rich vocabulary!", I joke and she hits me lightly with her elbow.

- "Aah, come on. I mean that he understood that something's going on between us.", she whispers. "That we are together. I think that he's in cahoots with the guys and they are testing us."

I frown. How didn't this cross my mind? It makes sense somehow.

- "How are we going to ensure that they are testing us?"

- "Now that we are both aware of the situation, we can check each one of their moves, their reactions, their conversations. If anything similar happens again, we'll figure out what we'll do when the time comes." She looks into my eyes with a devilish smile and I can't help but smile too. "So what do you say? Partners?"

- "Partners.", I kiss her forehead. "I love it when you act like an imp. It's hot." I puff on my cigarette.

- "I'm your girlfriend. That would have happened sooner or later."

I hug her and come closer to her face. I kiss the tip of her nose and she giggles.

- "So... du liebst mich?", I ask in a deep voice.

- "Ich liebe dich, Herr Kruspe. Do you need any more proof?"

- "Just come here."

I pull her closer and I kiss her slowly. Although it's a freezing hell out here, her lips are so warm and soft, it's hard to resist the urge to do a lot more. One of my hands caresses her back and the other her cheek. I can hear a soft moan coming out of her lips and I chuckle, breaking the kiss.

- "Am I that good? Hold yourself girl."

- "Oh, maybe you can join me later in my bed to find out if you are that good.", she winks.

- "Deal." I wink back and I put out my cigarette. "What now?"

- "Grab your mug and join us inside. Play it cool. We'll drive them crazy. And don't be aggressive to Christoph. He's a good player in this game."

I stand up and hand Anna her crutches.

- "Let's do this."