Sinners and Serpents {g.w.}

Chapter 25

a/n: im so glad you guys liked the last chapter thank you for all the sweet comments! 

Instead of shock, a feeling of rightness settled over you, as if you had known subconsciously that it had been George. As if your brain had been wanting it to be George. Still, you had a hard time controlling the nervous excitement that made your hands shake and your mouth feel like it was full of cotton. What made things exponentially more difficult was the expression in George's eyes. You could've sworn he looked nervous, but that couldn't be right, could it? George didn't get nervous; he was the most confident, self-assured person you'd ever met. It used to bother you incessantly, used to drive you up the wall every time you saw him speak so suavely to girls or brush off insults like they were metaphorical flies buzzing round his head. "You gave it to me?" you asked finally, even though you'd heard him loud and clear. You just wanted to hear it once more.

"Yeah. You're disappointed," he said, his voice flat. For some reason, the cracks in his confident exterior that were barely paved over as he sat next to you made something fierce twist and swell in your chest.

Shaking your head vehemently, you looked down at the necklace. You weren't disappointed, not in the slightest. In fact, you couldn't imagine being more excited that it had been him. "No, no, not at all. It's just..." you worked up the courage to ask the question you'd been pondering since the moment you'd opened that little red box and seen the silver snake on the velvet cushion. "Why?" Such a small, short word, and yet, the amount of answers it could receive were endless. You'd be lying if you said there wasn't one answer that you longed to hear more than any other.

"Why?" George repeated. The light in the library was beginning to fade as the sun started its slow descent just above the rolling green hills you could see outside the massive windows, but if you focused, you could see a pink tinge creeping across George's freckled face. Waiting for his answer actually seemed to slow time to a painful crawl. Your heartbeat thundered in your ears, a drumroll of anxiety as you watched his mouth open, then close, then open again. "I saw it in Diagon Alley one day and the first thing I thought of was you."

"Me?" Hearing George confess he'd gotten it for you was apparently enough to turn your brain to mush, to make comprehending his words a monumental task. "Why?" Even to your own ears, you were beginning to sound repetitive, much like a parrot, only able to mimic certain words. So much anticipation in such a short word as you waited for what you truly wanted to know: but why did you think of me?

Who would've thought that merely speaking to George would be enough to reduce your vocabulary to single-syllable words? George smiled wryly, a sight that made that little spot below your navel ache in the best way possible. "I mean, it's a snake, but that's...that's not really why, I guess. I saw it and it reminded me of you, of the mask you wore to the Halloween party. It was so delicate and so intricate and I don't really know much about jewelry at all, but I don't think I've seen anything like it."

Your mind was struggling to figure out whether he meant those compliments for your mask, or for you. "It's the most beautiful necklace I've ever seen," you agreed softly. "It...I mean, this sounds bad, but it must've been expensive. Why would you..." Spend that much money on me?

George's warm brown eyes studied your face, and he leaned forward, his knee bumping yours as he did. You tried to ignore the sparks that zipped up your leg to your hips. How that small point of contact was driving you so wild was lost on you, but you couldn't deny that it was. He'd barely been within three feet of you for weeks now; it wasn't your fault your body was so pathetically desperate for his touch when it was the best thing you'd ever felt. "Because," George began, his hands tensing and relaxing as if he was trying not to reach out for something, "I wanted to get you something that is almost as breathtaking as you are."