“Yeah?”
“I want to know what you like.”
I really do.
“I don’t know, maybe pepperoni and mushroom?”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
* * *
I parkoutside her house and jump off my bike. I go to the door but before I can knock, she opens it.
I don’t think I’m prepared for it at all.
The sight of her is something painful yet necessary. It’s a cocktail of fear and hope. It’s my worst nightmare come to visit me when I least expect it, and my most beautiful dream coming true. It’s an enormous mistake, but the best decision in the world.
She stands there in the doorway, smiling innocently with some terrible striped socks and a tracksuit that would be big enough for me to get in there with her.
Raw, vulnerable, beautiful.
I’m sure she has no idea the effect she’s having on me, the fire that is starting from all corners of my body and growing more dangerous with every damn minute I spend with her.
“How did you get that pizza here on your motorbike?”
“Huh?” I get my thoughts together.
“I was saying…oh, it doesn’t matter,” she smiles again.
Fuck.
“Er…I’ve only got one chair.”
I shrug, “We can eat on the bed.”
When I say the word bed her cheeks go aflame and I can’t help feeling pleased by her reaction.
“If that’s alright with you.”
Everything, Riley. All of it’s alright. I’d take anything, as long as you’re the one giving it to me.
“Did you say something?”
Did I just say that out loud?
I shake my head. She smiles again.
Fuck, this is killing me. If she keeps this up, everything’ll go up in flames. My respect, my guilt and my fear that someone will rip me to shreds.
We sit on the bed, careful not to touch, but that’s fine. It’s understandable. It’s probably too intimate a situation for both of us. It’s going too quickly.
“Would you like some wine?”
“Water’s fine, I’ve got to drive.”
“Oh yeah, of course. I’ll get you a bottle, I didn’t think of that.”
“I’ll get it,” I say, standing up and going to the kitchen. I act like it’s my place, as if I were a regular presence here, when actually I’ve only been here once before.
