COHABITATION

7

"Oh, come on, that's definitely a shot," Val shrieked at Rio as he passed on another question.

His eyes met the ceiling as a smirk crossed his face, she was surprisingly enjoying this night in with him. They were both stressed out, so she had recommended drinking, and to make it more fun––a drinking game.

It had developed into the type of game you'd play at a highschool party, truth or drink. Which really just turned into them drinking whether they answered or not. But that only made it more funny considering the current company in front of her.

Val had started out easy, like, what's your favorite candy? And after what seemed like minutes of deep thought from him, Rio responded with skittles. And why was this the most shocking thing to find out about Rio than anything? She shouldn't have really been shocked because he's a sour person, it would make sense that he likes sour things.

He reciprocated the question with a twitch of his lips, and almost a smirk when she revealed that hers has always been peanut m&ms. As usual, she glanced momentarily at him, and as usual he remained passive. She ventured towards more personal questions, where are you from? What's your mom like? Do you have any siblings?

Though he remained non-verbal through most of her inquiries, his eyes let on more than his words probably could have. It was painfully obvious that he probably didn't have the most normal childhood, but then again, neither did she. So why did she continue to ask pressing questions that she knew would receive a look of indifference?

And so maybe she was egging him on, begging for an outburst. She wondered if the alcohol would make him feel loose enough to share with her, but seeing his stable state after all he's drunk already gave her an answer. And if anyone was getting to the point of drunk babbling, it was definitely Val.

He dismissed every question with a drag of vodka until they had to resort to a new bottle of alcohol. By now, he should be tipsy, or at least a little drunk like how she is right now, but he wasn't. She laughed at his scrunched up face when she yanked the bottle of tequila out of his grasp.

"God, you're so fucking annoying. Dogs or cats?" She sighed, relinquishing the hope of pulling something confidential from him.

"Dogs," A twitch of his mouth at her cursing is the only facial tell to prove he's enjoying the game.

He takes a moment to lean back on the palms of his hands, as if he's trying to gain inspiration for a question. His tongue pokes out between his teeth as he seemingly focuses on something behind her.

"Why did you stay here for thanksgiving," Her eyes raised, and opened her mouth to answer him, but froze. The intrusive voice in her head was already doing its job.

Elene, you will burn for what you did.

Even though he didn't know that part, he did know that she didn't have any family. Maybe he didn't remember their first real talk, and that was okay, but she wasn't going to recount the story with him again.

She bit her lip, mostly to stop the tears from piling up in her eyes, and to distract herself that they were actually talking about something real. The crisp winter air through the cracked open porch door swept through her hair as she pondered on her dream once again, or rather the memory. It was so long ago, she has been here long enough with no trace of him, so why does that dream still pull such an emotional response? Before she could think anymore on the matter, the bottle was against her lips and she was taking a long pull from it.

Rio opened his mouth but said nothing, she was shocked to see him look even a little apologetic for unknowingly being intruding. The thought alone of him being apologetic was enough to make her laugh. But, feeling sorry for being intrusive? That was laughable, wasn't his entire stay in her home intrusive?