ataraxia, lorenzo berkshire

"twenty eight"

"lorenzo, can you help me unclasp my necklace?,"

he sat up from his position, his back resting against the back wall of the bathroom, the wall closest to the door, his arms loosely crossed over his lower chest as he raised an eyebrow.

"alright," he agreed, hoisting himself up and padding over to me, his hands buried in his pockets as he stationed himself behind me, as i manoeuvred my hair to hang over my right shoulder, leaving my left shoulder completely exposed and allowing my nape of my neck to reveal itself, the silver unsolvable necklace clasp prettily perched upon it.

i felt his fingertips brush against the nape of my neck, with nothing to obstruct the distance between our skins, his touch unfiltered against mine made me regret ever asking him that question - and realise the agape possibilities containing the possibly explicit events that could happen next, if i allowed them to.

his fingers ran across the surface of my skin as he began to work on unclasping the minuscule necklace clasp, focus apparent on his face as i looked into the mirror we were both stood in front of in the bathroom. his eyes were narrowed, squinted as his brows were furrowed together, masked slightly by a few segments of brunette hair falling atop his forehead.

"what's gotten into you lately, val? you're acting different around me." he whispered, his husky words teasing behind my ear, the wispiness of his words seeped into my canal as i bathed in every word he said, tilting my head back, as if doing so would allow myself to become more exposed to his gentle tone.

his hands rested at the back of my neck, still - awaiting for my answer - which i was yet to give.

be sensible, valentina.

no bullshit, get to the point.

"i've been acting weird?," i pretended as if i was mentally incoherent, deaf to my painfully obvious shifts in attitude and body language towards him, and he knew.

why wouldn't he?

he knows everything.

"i think so," he began, letting out a long exhale.

"when i touch you, you almost.." he paused, beginning to drag his hands down my back, it's destination being the small of my back. upon feeling this, my skin tightened, muscles tensing - a shot of electricity pulsating through my veins, similar to the sudden feeling of touching ice with warm, exposed hands.

and with that, he removed his hands from my skin.

"...flinch." he finished his sentence slowly. "we used to do this all the time, touch one another, fool around, like at those parties, you know?"

he took a step away from me, allowing me to turn away from the mirror, in which i was observing him from, to face him, my body pressed up against the sink, my hands gripping onto the edge of the ceramic rim for dear life.

"well," i cleared my throat, using this moment to think about what exactly i was supposed to say to him, it was obvious his suspicion was rising, and i had no game plan to deflect that level of suspicion.

"when you were.. fooling around with saskia at pansy's party, i felt weird."

he was now a good five feet away from me, his back against the wall opposite me, his arms crossed, his head cocked to the side like a curious cocker-spaniel - listening.

".. you kept.. looking at me. and not in a normal way - you had this lust in your eyes and it intimated me, so i made theo-,"

wait.