Reactance | James Potter

Chapter 4

 
THE AIR WAS was sticky, stuffy and warm. It felt constricted behind her ribcage, as though it was too thick to pass through her lungs. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck as water would whenever it rained over her head. Her chest was rising and falling quickly, so quickly that she was audibly gasping for breath.

   Forward for a moment, then she would have to pull back again. She needed to breathe, but she couldn't. It just wasn't happening properly - like when you think about it for too long and then, suddenly, it's as though you've forgotten how to.

   There was saliva collecting on the corners of her reddening, plump lips. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and swiped over the smooth, raw skin. There was a foreign taste. She wondered if it was from the tacky gloss that she had put on just a half hour before, but its stickiness was gone entirely.

   Her hips were aching where he held her, tightly and firm. His fingers dug deep into the thin material of her knit sweater, which had begun to rise up on her stomach uncomfortably. She could feel the hem of it rubbing against her navel; she wanted to tug it down, back into its proper place, but she didn't. She could feel the chill goosepimples that riddled the underside of his wrist, which pressed against her bared midsection - just above the waistband of her trousers.

   He would push against her every time she went forward toward him. His chest only waited to touch hers again as an addict would wait for their fix. Every time she weaved in and out to reconnect their kiss, his grip on her became more serious - as though he expected to hold onto her forever.

   He would not.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

   The sound echoed throughout the small, cramped space. The two students pulled apart from one another, each of their backs whacking against the adjacent walls with a silent smack. They rested there, panting, with their shoulders trembling as they looked at one another.

   It was difficult to see in the darkness. Large images became skewed, small details invisible. The only source of light came from the tiny, square window above their heads. Only a thin amount of sun poured through its thick glass: a mockery of the true power of the sun's rays. It did little to illuminate either of their features, but she could see somethings.

   How he was smiling at her. How it was a handsome smile. It showed his straight, white teeth well and it enhanced the appeal of his sharp jawline. How his blonde, wispy hair was in disarray from where her hands had been lost in his locks. There was a sudden ache in her fingertips now; despite her hands resting at her sides, it still felt as though she was pulling against his scalp. His cute, button nose shined with freckles even now and the dimples were evident in his flushed cheeks.

   Knuckles rasped against the door to Olivia's right once again.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

   Olivia's head turned just as the door was pulled open. The space was flooded with light as its occupants were revealed to the openness of the public corridor. There, with their hands on their hips, stood Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon.

   Lily seemed to be amused. Her lips were quirked into a small smile, her brow raised in expectation. However Marlene, on the other hand, seemed to be rather miffed; her foot was tapping impatiently and she was smacking on her gum loudly enough for Olivia to be able to hear it feet away.

"How did you find me?" asked Olivia as Marlene pulled her out by her arm. There was a stinging behind Olivia's eyes, since they had become accustomed to the lack of light during her time in the closet.

   After a moment of blinking, the feeling disappeared and with it the little black dots that had begun to dance across her vision like tiny ballerinas. Lily clamped her hands atop Olivia's shoulders and positioned Olivia's body in front of her, beginning to straighten out her crooked neck collar. Olivia peered past Lily's ear, which had the girl's red hair tucked behind it, in search of any other person.