ataraxia, lorenzo berkshire

"eleven"

"lorenzo- you're with saskia," i managed to stammer out, trying to find away to create some distance between us, but to no avail, as he had caged me in against the pillar of my poster bed.

"who said me and saskia were ever together?" he looked at me condescendingly, tilting his head like a hound listening intently.

"nobody, i just thought-,"

"you thought wrong, val." he corrected me in a hushed tone, running his thumb across my bottom lip, savouring my silence as he weaselled his way into my brain.

and possibly my heart.

"i don't do relationships." he simply stated, stepping away from me and leaning against onyx's bed, opposite mine.

"commitment, couple shit, it's just not my thing."

i nodded understandingly, suddenly it felt as if he was opening up about things i wouldn't expect him to ever open up to me about, but something he defiantly would open up to draco about.

"why are you doing this?" i asked, looking down at my feet as i spoke, too afraid to watch his reaction to my question forge upon his chiselled facial features.

"doing what?"

"messing with me." i answered for him, crossing my arms. i somewhat felt insecure in this moment, trying to advert my gaze to anywhere but him.

"because i like the way you react," he stated simply, getting up from his leant stance at the end of onyx's bed as he now stood in front of me, his arm anchoring him as it was above my head, gripping onto the wooden pillar of my bed.

"i like the way you freeze up, go tense.." he leant into me, his voice becoming more velvety and fragile, a vocal embodiment of delicate woven silk.

"..i love the way you can't control your actions when i'm in close proximity of you." he admitted undeniably, as he planted a kiss on my jaw, knowing he had me at my most vulnerable.

"what about saskia?" i asked slowly, not sure how to approach or formulate the question.

"me and her are nothing serious, like i said." he spoke confidently, affirming the fact that he and saskia had an odd intimate relationship in which no strings seemed to be attached.

there was a brief interval of silence, following his answer i thought desperately of how to prove that i wasn't going to let him manipulate me and play me whenever he felt like he needed sex.

which was frequently.

"you and theo?" he asked curiously, making the distance between us further away as he anticipated my answer.

this is my chance.

"yeah, i don't know.." i lied, knowing full well there was absolutely nothing going on between me and theo, merely just friends who like to help each-other out when in dire need.

however, with this lie i just told lorenzo, i knew that once i'd told theodore what i had just said, he'd play along with it, because that's just how theo is.

he doesn't really care, as long as he gets a kick out of it.

which he certainly does.

i watched as lorenzo studied my face, most likely double-checking that i'd told him nothing but the truth, and luckily, his face didn't seem to indicate any signs of questioning.

"val, can i ask you something?" he changed the subject, moving me out of the way from against the pillar of my bed so he could sit back down, his head now resting on the palm of his hand as he looked up at me.