Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨

"Morning," I greeted Ember at the breakfast table the next day, after an extremely uncomfortable night's sleep in my armchair whilst she was in my bed.

God, how I wish I could sleep next to her.

Ember grunted back, going to the fridge for a carton of milk. She poured some into a glass, still ignoring me.

"How did you sleep?" I tried, chewing on a piece of Nutella on toast.

She wrinkled her nose at me, finally looking at me. "You shouldn't talk while you've got food in your mouth."

"Sorry, Mom," I teased.

"Besides." She shrugged, after taking a sip of milk. "Nutella's gross."

My mouth dropped open almost comically. "How can you even say that?"

"Like this." She leaned across the table, bringing her face closer to mine. "Nutella. Is. Gross."

"Ember Hestia Milburn, are you even human?" I shook my head incredulously.

"Just as much as you are." She rolled her eyes and moved away from me, "I don't even understand the love for Nutella. It's just chocolate with nuts in — which is something that should never be allowed to happen." She stated, very matter-of-factly, "Chocolate should be left as chocolate."

"Freaky girl," I smirked, jokingly.

"Freaky boy," she threw back at me.

"So, about last night..." I began, before letting my voice trail off.

"What part about last night?" Ember instantly turned cold. "The part where you decided to send me into the crosshairs of the hunters by making me get Chris Woodman, a hunter's son, to trust me?"

"Well, no." I rubbed the nape of my neck awkwardly. "The part before Jason interrupted us?"

"Oh, yeah..." she said as if she had forgotten all about it. "What about it?"

I sighed. "We have to talk about it."

"No. We don't, actually," Ember responded bluntly.

"Why not?" I frowned. "Of course we have to talk about it."

"Nope." She popped the 'p'. "I was just showing you how to relax and take some pressure off yourself."

I found this weird; usually, Ember was the one that wanted to talk about everything that happened between us. And now — now she was acting like she just didn't care.

Maybe she doesn't care anymore. Maybe it was just comfort kissing.

"So, we just continue as normal?" I glanced at her.

"Yep. Which includes going back to school," she said pointedly, causing me to groan. "How else am I going to get close to Chris?"

"True," I huffed.

"Although it might be a little difficult to start with after what happened at that party..." She mused, before washing her empty glass out.

"What happened?" I snapped my head up.

Finding Ember with that guy touching her up the way he was made me feel sick to my stomach. I was so glad that she'd yelled my name when she could; there was nothing on Earth that would've been able to stop me from getting to her.

She needed me, and I got there just in time.

"Well, I bumped into him before I went upstairs, and before all of... Yeah. He said two words, and then I ran off like he'd pulled a gun on me." She faltered when she saw me wince at her words. "Sorry, probably not the best simile."