Maybe In Another Life

Chapter 18

(Draft)

She inhaled the sent of cigarettes, while the white smoke lingered in the air. Her fingers reached out, caressing withered petals before she ripped them off the flower.

Was she wishing upon something? Does he or does he not? No one knew.

The orange light wavered. A shadow danced upon the ceiling as a moth dove into the yellow halo around the bulb.

The door opened and Soren walked out of the councilor's room. He wore an annoyed expression on his face, mouth downturned in a sort of disgust.

He looked up at Mavis, the crease in between his eyebrows only deepening.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked, confused by her amused expression.

"Sorry man, she gave me permission to skip next weeks session in return for this." Mavis clarified.

The psychologist had asked her to convince Soren to attend a session, seeing as he hasn't been showing up, but she knew better. Instead, she tricked him into coming here.

He rolled his eyes and started walking down the hall. After a few second of delay, Mavis skipped behind Soren, soon falling into step with him.

The corridors were lightly populated, occasional people wondering around, most probably up to no good.

But to them it didn't matter.

Mavis was too indulged in her thoughts, being eaten away by the silence, while Soren found himself too wrapped up in his curiosity towards Mavis.

"What are you thinking about?" Soren, much to his demise, gave in to his pestering interest.

"Is that your third question?" She raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"I can't ask you a question without it being part of your stupid game?" He responded ticked off.
"Fine, you wanna play 21 questions, let's do it. But don't run off as soon as you feel exposed, because it's you who offered we do this in the first place."

They both stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at each other heatedly. Soren's lips were pressed into a thin line, his eye slightly twitching, jaw flexing as he clenched it harder. Mavis's eyes grew round, her cheeks flushing. She had picked at her cuticles until one of them bled, the sting she felt being the reason she broke eye contact.

"Fine." She muttered, unintentionally stepping closer to his body as she let a student pass behind her.

His arms instinctively shot out, holding her shoulders before gently pushing her away. She tore out of his grasp, her shoulders burning almost as intensely as his fingers.

"Well? On with it." She pressed him, proceeding their trudge back to their rooms.

"What's the reason behind this relationship you have with food? Your anorexia." He finally blurts.

She stops in her tracks for a second, before resuming as to not face him.

"I'm used to not eating much, thanks to my family's position that you already know of. There's not much to it sorry to disappoint." Mavis shrugs.

"Bullshit."

This time she faces him, standing one step higher ahead of him on the stairs.

"You may be used to eating little, but now that you have the chance to have 3 meals a day you'd be a fool not to take it. You hesitate. Whenever I offer you food you look at it like it murdered your parents. You flinch, picking at it like you're calculating the calories or something." He says.

"I don't have an explanation to that." Her voice turns hoarse as she suddenly finds her throat dry.

"Is it because of your body? Because if you still look in the mirror and think you're fat, news flash, I can see the outline of your ribcage through that turtleneck you're wearing."

Silence.

A door creaked somewhere in the distance, and faint shouts reached their ears but they were both silent.

Mavis turned away but looked at Soren in disbelief through her peripheral vision.

"Look I-" He exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry, I didn't have the right to react this way. I don't even know why I care... I-"

"Why do you care? That's my third question. This is the second time I ask, I know, but why? Tell me why you care Soren." She dares him, her face turning to steel.

No answer came.

Frustration filled the both of them.

"See, don't you dare accuse me of running away when yo-" Her answer was cut short by a-

By a kiss.

She froze, literally, her brain going haywire, malfunctioning as she was taken by complete and utter surprise.

At first his lips were cold, hers felt chapped. There was a gaping space between them, which looked terribly painful from the side as it was not even supposed to be there.

His hand reached out and cupped one side of her face. She finally responded by kissing back, wrapping her fingers around his wrist.

Soon his lips warmed and hers turned soft. The kiss was electrical, but not in the usual romantic way. It was like scolding sparks erupted, electrocuting them both. They jumped away from each other, and it had ended. As abruptly as it happened, it was gone.

Their lips were burning, red to match the tips of their ears and cheeks.

The kiss felt like an empty promise. It was there, it happened, a promise, but it was lacking... or rather lagging, like it was still loading and processing, not completely there yet.

"I wish I had the answer to that, but I don't." He said, seemingly calm, but his flustered actions proved otherwise.

Mavis, on her part, seemed too calm. She just stood and watched as he ran up the stairs...