the secret of distance

Chapter 16

Notes:

"Your skin smells like light. I think you are the moon."

—JC

"Oh my god! Hope!"

Said Hope lies on the floor, her back to the ground and her eyes to the ceiling. Although it wasn't a hard fall, she still feels winded and pants slightly.

She still can't believe all of that just happened. Did Josie really say that or had she imagined it?

Hope sits up and winces as Josie hovers over her and turns the lights back on.

"How can I help?" Josie asks as she examines Hope's terribly red face. She reaches down and the tribrid stands up quickly.

"No, keep your hands to yourself," Hope dodges Josie's helping hand, mostly teasing. The girl blushes and Hope's eyes dilate. She rubs her back even though it doesn't really hurt. "You've done enough."

"Come on," Josie laughs as Hope pouts, not serious at all. "It's not like I pushed you off."

"No." Hope looks away stubbornly, sitting pointedly against Josie's desk. She's still embarrassed. "Instead, you just sat on my lap and seduced me."

"I seduced you?" Josie giggles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she steps into Hope's personal space. The tribrid watches with parted lips. Just a week ago she had only dreamed of being this up close with the siphoner. "So it worked?"

Hope bristles, crossing her arms. "I knew it."

Josie blushes but she still looks overly proud of herself. Hope wants to stay in this moment forever. "What? I can't kiss my soulmate?"

She leans forward, putting a hand on Hope's thigh on the desk and aiming for Hope's lips with her own. Hope avoids it and presses a soft kiss to the siphoner's forehead instead.

"Josie, wait." She won't allow herself to become some horny animal, not when she could hurt Josie if she gets caught up in the moment too much. The brunette deserves more than that. "We should probably talk about...you know."

Josie raises her eyebrows, confused. Hope feels like slapping herself on the forehead.

"...Going further, I mean," she clarifies cautiously. She really means—sex. She can tell Josie understands because her cheeks turn that temping pink once again. "We don't have to..."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't want to hurt you," she explains, her breath catching in her throat at Josie's rejected expression. "Sometimes I lose myself and forget my strength, and if that means harming you—"

"No," Josie cuts her off, like she can't even hear any of it. "You won't."

"Okay." Hope looks around the room, struggling internally. "If not that, then what about the fact that you and I have barely talked up until a couple of days ago?"

"We've already waited so long, Hope—"

"Okay, what about—"

"Do you not find me attractive, or something?"

Josie appears as if she's teasing, but Hope knows that she's serious and actually thinking about it by the sad look in her eye.

"No, of course—of course not." Hope trembles over her words in her rush to answer. "I think you're very attractive."

She thinks back to a couple of moments ago, and how much she had liked having Josie against her, how much she had enjoyed their lips meeting again and again, how crazy she had become at the sight of Josie's neck, the animal she had become at the first feeling of a throbbing pulse—overcome with the suddenly desperate need to mark Josie.