Maddy went completely still as Carter drew nearer. Whether he was going to bite her indeed or attempt anything bolder, she didn't know. But, either way, once her legs didn't feel as numb as they did now, she would kick him in the crotch.
She almost squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for his teeth to find a home and sink in the sensitive skin of her neck, or for him to press his split lips against hers -although she preferred option one-, but the last logical cell left in her head forced her to keep them open.
None of the two happened.
Instead, Carter's lips hovered over her ear, nearly brushing against it as he spoke in his raspy voice.
"You can hate me all you want, princess, but that isn't going to change the fact that you are the outsider here." The coolness of his whispering voice from so close up made Maddy's hair stand on edge.
The reminder cut through her like a razor. She felt her veins bursting open from the rage, an internal bleeding of fury forming a boiling, bubbling puddle inside her body. Her hand he was still holding squeezed into a tight fist.
"Guys?" a voice shouted from the stairs - the voice of Carter's life saviour.
The boy shot Maddy a last provoking glare before drawing back.
"What are you doing?" yelled Sia, now from the living room.
She stepped into the kitchen casually, but seeing Maddy and Carter coated in streaks of chocolate and looking as if they were about to lunge at each other, she stopped by the doorframe.
"Okay, what the hell?" She laughed, clearly ignorant of the tension in the atmosphere. "What happened in here?"
Maddy and Carter exchanged a glowering glance.
"So! What are we gonna have for..." the words died on Logan's lips, who was soon also standing by the doorframe, right behind Sia. "... breakfast." He cocked his head to the side. "Umm... Hey, Maddy."
Maddy twitched. Had she heard right? Did that gorgeous god just say "hey" to her when she looked like... that? She pushed down her shame and forced an awkward smile on her lips, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her.
"Umm... I brought you a pair of boots I found. They are my mum's, she must have forgotten them here." He passed the shoes to her, then stepped back again.
Maddy mumbled an embarrassed "Thanks" to the boy with the adorable dimples.
She clumsily put on the Timberland boots he had just given her, balancing on one foot, then on the other. Those shoes were warm and soft and extremely comfortable, nothing like her old Oxfords. She sighed in relief at the discovery they fitted her perfectly.
Mia was the next one to enter the homey kitchen, which had now turned into a battle field. Scanning Maddy from head to toe, she raised a condescending eyebrow. "Well you guys look as happy as a pig in the mud. If you know what I mean." She sat on top of the table provocatively, her fake smile contradicting with the innocent look in her eyes.
She did not just-
"Likewise," said Carter, the same fake smile plastered on his lips.
Then he splashed Mia's pretty face with the chocolate sauce.
A high-pitched whistle came from Logan's mouth. Sia was clearly restraining from laughter. For a moment, Mia just stood there, still as a statue, processing Carter's attack move. Maddy stifled a hearty laugh at her expression, extracting an extremely satisfying, heavenly pissed look from her. Logan and Sia didn't even try to hide their amusement anymore, raucous laughter exploding from the both of them. Mia looked daggers at them. She jumped off the table and charged towards the refrigerator, pulling the door aggressively. She grabbed two eggs.
YOU ARE READING
Smells Like Winter
Science Fiction"Don't touch me, your hands are cold." Maddy Wesley was your typical 17-year-old high school student, a wallflower with excellent grades, a good taste for vanilla ice cream and a normal, somewhat dull life. Until a virus broke out. A virus that brou...
