Guarding Margaret D.

After the Storm

"For when my baby smiles at me, my heart goes roaming to paradise! And when my baby smiles at me, there's such a wonderful light in her eyes!"

"The kind of light that means just love, the kind of love that brings sweet harmony."

"I sigh! I cry! It's just a glimpse of heaven, when my baby smiles at me!" Margaret laughed uncontrollably while Charlie swung her about, dipping her as the song faded out on the radio. 

"You know, that's a good look for you." Charlie quipped. Margaret slid around the floorboards in her ankle socks, underwear, and his baby blue button-up. She smiled back at him, catching his admiring gaze as she went to pick up the receiver on the telephone. 

"Oh, I'm so glad! Don't mention it, you don't owe me a thing. We're family."

"Who is it?" Charlie mouthed. 

 "Yeah, take care." Margaret set the phone down and resumed attending to the slew of boxes encompassing Charlie's flat. Their  flat now.

"It was Betty. They're all settling into the place nicely. Good thing I could give her the down payment with all the proceeds from my book."

"You mean Marvin's book."

"Shut up." Margaret giggled, chasing him. She was hindered in her pursuit after a collision with the corner of one of her boxes and plopped to the ground in defeat.

"Ow!" She cackled, not budging from her place on the floor. He quickly came to stand over her, assessing her injuries.

"I'm fine, really." She insisted.

"You're bleeding." He scooped her up, placing her on the counter.

"It's just a scratch." She said in protest.

He ignored her various objections and rifled through the cabinets until he found a bandage. 

"There." He said, covering the scrape and brushing his lips over the region.

"You make such a fuss." She grinned in amusement. 

"Someone has to." He kissed her softly, moving to undo the buttons of her shirt, or rather, his shirt. But he swiftly reverted back a few feet from her, upon realizing the insinuations of his actions.

"Th-there's no rush. We don't...uh, have to do anything."

"You're so cute when you're flustered." She wrapped her legs around his waist in order to pull him towards her. 

"I want this more than anything." She whispered in his ear, planting a trail of kisses along his neck. He promptly placed her on the bed. With their clothing shed, their bodies entangled, nothing else in the world seemed to matter. 

~

The two paramours sat entwined on a quaint little bench on the outskirts of the gardens behind the church.  

"Hah! Listen to this, it gets me every time. Absolutely hilarious." 

"Read it, then. I'm on the edge of my seat." He said.

"Signior Benedick says to Beatrice, 'But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none.' Then Beatrice quips, 'A dear happiness to women! They would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.' "

"Let me guess, she has the hots for him."

"Sure, their mutual feelings are apparent in the banter. But it also speaks to the nature of their relationship on a deeper level, and that which they close themselves off to. What they convey with their projected disdain, and the sentiments they reveal, however inadvertently. That they're both just two lonely people, obviously in love with one another but too crippled by fear and pride to take any affirmative action. "

"God, I love when you analyze Shakespearian archetypes. It's insanely attractive."

"This is a genuine interest I'm expressing, a passion even. I'm serious." She scowled.

"So am I." He grinned and further wrapped her in his arms. She rolled her eyes and he ruffled her hair, sending it falling about her face in disarray. 

"Would it kill you to act like a grown up for a change?"

"Yes, I think that's a veritable possibility."

She shoved him forcefully with her forearm and he began to descend off the bench. He wrapped himself about her, making them plummet to the earth in simultaneous fashion. 

"You asshole!" Margaret shrieked. 

"It was you who instigated the circumstance." 

"You should have had the good sense to foresee the motion and stop yourself from falling. You know I'm inherently combative." 

"Oh, you're quite right. The fault is mine for not possessing clairvoyant proclivities."

"Precisely." She rolled over, laying flat with her stomach pressed into his chest cavity. She traced the curvature of his unkempt brows.

"What are you doing?" He inquired amusedly.

"If you weren't so Goddamn blond, everyone would see that you're pretty close to sporting a unibrow." 

"You take that back." He furrowed his brows, feigning offense.

"I won't." She giggled. He began to sit up, and they stood, brushing the rubble from their clothing. 

"You know, that was your chance to say something romantic. While you were caressing my face, and we sat there draped against one another."

"I guess I blew it."

"I guess so."

"Well I suppose they'll be chances in the future to remedy my indiscretion."