“I think it’s shrunk. I took a dip in the ocean before coming here, and apparently that’s an ill-advised move while wearing leather.”
“Good thing you didn’t go with the same material for your whole outfit, huh? Your junk would be pretty unimpressed right around now.”
“Did you just say junk?”
She wished she hadn’t now. It had seemed okay before, but once he flagged it her face flamed red. What had possessed her to sayjunkto Holden Stark? He probably thought she was thinking about his famous penis, and how she would love him to rub it all over her body or some other weird thing.
And the worst part was—she kind of did seem to be doing that.
She had to pretend to be breezy just to get it out of her head.
“I guess I did.”
“And you also suggested I might actuallychooseto wear an entire suit of leather. Is that what movie stars are in your head?”
“Well, they’re certainly not like you.”
“And what am I like?”
“Funny. Self-deprecating.” She paused, considering. “Not an asshole.”
“Hey, there’s still time for me to be an asshole. Get me my tea, I only like chamomile with gold leaf in it, stop looking at my face—no, look at my face more!”
“See, all of that just makes youlessof an asshole.”
“Dammit.”
“I know, it’s a pain.”
“This jacket is a pain.”
She watched him shrug around inside it for a minute or so, obviously trying to escape and obviously failing. He was starting to sweat under the effort. She had to help.
“You know, I could cut you out of it, if you wanted. I was actually going to suggest that earlier, only I thought it might be too weird. But I see now that you actuallyareweird, so I’m not sure it matters as much.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. Cutting me out sounds awesome.”
“I’ll get the scissors. And the tea with the gold leaf in it. While looking and not looking at your face at the same time,” she said as she stood and walked toward the kitchen. It was a good place to end it on, she thought. It left her looking cool and light, instead of obsessed with his penis.
Or at least, it did until he shouted after her.
“I think you’re kind of doing that anyway!” he called out, and she was suddenly very grateful for the kitchen wall that now stood between them. Her face had gone all hot again at the thought of him figuring her out so easily. He knew she wasn’t really interested in everything but him.
He had seen her trying to glance and not glance at the same time.
But that was okay, that was fine. She could be cool about it.
“Can you blame me? Your face is what magic would look like, if it were real. Harry Potter could probably use your jaw to destroy Voldemort.”
“Did you really just say that?” he asked, and it was the strangest thing. She didn’t have a single solitary urge to say no. She just wanted to carry on doing this, even though her face was hot and he might get the wrong idea. It felt like coming to a really tall and impassable wall, only someone was there with the best kind of ladder.
She suspected that someone was him.
“Yes, I did. Harry Potter does your face with a wand.”
“I think I could be arrested for that.”
“Nah, there was that whole epilogue at the end where he was an old man married to Ginny. So at worst, you’d be an adulterer.”
