Her Shadows

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

AMELIA POV

I swing back and forth, gazing out at the green grass, laughing kids and barking dogs surrounding me. A couple walks down the path, holding hands and talking adamantly. A father swings his daughter into his arms and blows raspberries against her cheek. A teenager chases his dog, trying to wrangle to the ball from its mouth that the dog simply refuses to give over.

Ignoring the ache in my chest and pulling my focus from the family on a picnic, I refocus on the nightclub across from where my set of swings so happens to face.

Plotting the exit points, windows, the people entering and exiting despite the daylight, their security measures. All information to be tucked away to later report to Eugene. My master having sent me on this tedious and useless mission that was relevant to a boorish event he would soon attend alone.

I was bored. So unbelievably bored that I found myself texting Jayce.

I take another bite of my meatball sub, watching the three dots appear in response to telling him that I was sitting alone in a park. Suddenly he types, "I'm 5 mins away" and embarrassingly, I feel my heart pick up speed.

I think over for a moment what the implications of Jayce joining me on my small mission were, but quickly decide that having a stakeout was pretty low risk.

I had just spotted a particularly scandalous woman enter the club without having to flash ID when I heard footsteps approaching. I swear this boy has the stealth of a horde of rhinos.

He sits on the swing next to mine, "hey!"

I flash him a look, "hey" before taking another bite of my sub.

"What is that?" he gestures to my sandwich.

I answer, "meatball sub" as I point it in his direction to show him, but I did not expect him to TAKE the sandwich and TAKE A MASSIVE BITE before handing it back.

At a loss for words, for maybe the first time in 15 years, I stutter, "Did... did you just bite my sub?"

I expected him to flare the red of a firetruck like usual, but instead he smirked at me cockily, meatballs still puffing out his adorable cheeks, reminding me of a quokka, before saying "yep."

He's acting like this is normal.

Is this normal?

"I cannot believe you just ate my sandwich."

This had to be the most words we had ever spoken, my walls opening just a tad as I forgot to monitor them. Jayce seemed to take full advantage of this new openness to communication.

"Why? You offered?"

"I SHOWED it to you. I didn't think you would eat it!"

He laughs. Laughs. "well maybe next time be more specific! You confused me!"

At this I find myself blinking three, rapid blinks and biting my bottom lip, an unconsciously done action that the strange boy next to me seems to zero in on.

Apparently seeing this as some form of green light, Jayce reaches out and pulls my lip from my teeth, his thumb then resting on my chin as I look at him incredulously.

He then blushes tomato red – there it is! – and quickly pulls away before looking at his feet and swinging back and forth slightly.

I felt that unfamiliar flutter in my chest again, a feeling that only ever seems to surface in his presence. I feel conflicted, wanting to both swat the feeling away viciously and curl into a ball and engulf myself in its fluttering warmth.

What the fuck.

I quickly school my features again, remembering my place and pull my focus back to the club. Jayce, seemingly ok with the silence, or too embarrassed to object, simply swings back and forth.

In my bag at my feet I notice the cookie that had come with my combo meal. Now also feeling some type of - remorse? – for making Jayce feel bad, and then feeling angry at myself for feeling anything at all, I pull it out.

With a fortifying breath, a breath I can't BELIEVE I have to take, I turn to Jayce's swinging feet and offer him the cookie.

Looking down at me, he immediately slows down his swinging, the only sound his feet dragging against the asphalt. Once he had slowed to a rocking pace, he looked at me and grinned. That humungous, look at my wonderful dental work, I have no cares in the world, SMILE.

I immediately became obsessed with seeing it again and again.

I wanted to know that feeling.

I hand him the cookie and he gently removes it from my hand, our fingers brushing against each other's, and he bites his lips against the pink hue tinting his cheeks.

"Thanks. You don't want any?"

"No, I'm good," looking back toward the club.

The Jayce's hand is in front of my face, waving the chocolate chip creation in front of my nose. 

What is he doing?

"You surreeeeee?? I reckon you want some. Common! I bet it'll be the best cookie in the universe."

I look at him, a blank face that somehow feels transparent under his gaze, and slowly reach up a hand to break a corner off. I bring it to my mouth and take a bite, Jayce seeming completely invested in the whole process. Not able to wrestle his eyes from watching me lick my lips clean of crumbs.

Knowing the exact effect I'm having on the poor boy, I make a show of licking my two fingers, and just for fun, I lean in real close to his face and whisper, "you were right."

Jayce suddenly blinks really fast, coming out of his trance and coughing. That pink hue now a bright red before retracting his hand and taking a bite of his own.

We finish the cookie together.

---

OK, first of all, look at Jayce gaining a bit of confidence! Still can't believe he just bit her sandwich like that.

But how cute are they!? 

If you enjoyed this chapter, please vote! And happy reading everybody!