Blooming by Peyton Fletcher

her chin settling on his
shoulder.
    Todd stepped
in and closed the gap between their middles.
    They stood
there for how many minutes he didn’t know, eventually he realised he was
rocking her slightly back and forth, and her hand was stroking the hair at the
nape of his neck. He doubted she even knew she was doing it.
    “This isn’t
so bad is it?” he whispered to her.
    “No, its ok,”
she answered.
    “Hmm only ok,
I must be losing my touch, you can give me a little more than that surely?”
    Jen’s breath
feathered his ear as she paused to choose her words carefully, “It’s nice, I
mean, you’re so big, there’s so much of you, I thought I’d feel scared and I do
– feel scared I mean, but I also feel sort of safe. It’s disconcerting being
near you, I’m afraid to like it too much, afraid of where that leads.”
    He felt her lips
ghost accidentally against his neck as she spoke, he wanted to stay like this
longer, but he also wanted to push her a shade further before he said
goodnight. He waited while he felt her heartbeat drop and steady and then said,
“Look at me Jen.”
    She didn’t
question him but drew back and looked at him. She was still having trouble
meeting his eyes, but she did it anyway he noticed with a little triumph then
he took one arm from her waist and stroked her cheek softly.
    “I’m going to
kiss you now, you don’t have to kiss me back, just accept it. Can you do that?”
    Her eyes
flashed once, her emotions unfathomable.
    He left a
thumb tracing the corners of her lips encouraging them to part slightly, his
fingers followed the line of her jaw and throat, then he leaned in and said,
“Close your eyes kiddo,” and she obliged him without resistance.
    Dipping his
head, he kissed her full bottom lip softly, then her top, then repeated the
kisses more firmly. Then he tilted her chin up to close her mouth and kissed
her full on the lips staying in place for several beats of her heart.
    He stepped
back, keeping his hand on her waist until she opened her eyes. Her hands rested
on his shoulders, and her cheeks were pleasantly flushed.
    The devil in
him couldn’t keep quiet any longer, and he gave her a wink, “we’ll save tongues
for next time.”
    She gasped
and spluttered and the spell was broken, she leapt off the footstool and had
her door open in a flash.
    “I’m going
before you say anything and don’t be brooding on this all night because I know
another secret about you Jennifer - you’re not as scared as you’d like to
believe.”
    He laughed as
the door slammed and he heard her stomp away.
    ****
    Jen was on
fire, everywhere.
    After she
slammed the door, she didn’t know what to do with herself, she felt like crawling
under her bed and pounding her fists on the floor, her senses were shot to
pieces. She was terrified, electrified, there was no way she was going to bed
early now.
    She touched
her lips, she could feel his 5 o’clock shadow against her cheek and her chin,
she could still feel the patterns he’d stroked on her back, she felt like she
was going mad. She burst into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror,
she tore her robe off, her skin was flushed from chest to forehead and she felt
like she needed a cold shower.
    “Aargh,” she
screamed at the top of her lungs, venting like a madwoman.
    Upstairs
Sebastian dropped a copper saucepan on his foot in shock and started hopping
around cursing the air blue, and Sean rushed in to see what was going on.
    Downstairs
Lily looked up as Todd came in the door.
    “This dating
thing’s going well for you two isn’t it?”
    “You heard
her?”
    “I think the
whole block heard her, what are you up to?”
    Todd looked
confused, “I really don’t know, no matter what she tells me, and all the hurt
she’s had in her life, I get the feeling that if I give her too much sympathy
she’s going to find it easy to give me the brush off. The only time she opens
up to me is when I bug the shit out of her, and god