Forbidden - Pedro Pascal

Chapter 9: "i need you,"

Oscar's place was beautiful, dimly lit with a stunning view of Paris from an impressive height. His house opened up to a huge balcony with a pool and a fire pit with a U shaped sofa.

We lowered ourselves onto the sofa after chucking our bags into the hallway. Oscar came back out of his kitchen with Enya, who was blushing and giggling, with a pack of beers and some brownies.

"Oh good I'm starving," I slurred, reaching for the bag and stuffed one into my mouth, sighing with satisfaction. Everyone burst out laughing and I looked up, confused.

"Lily, they're edibles," Timothée spluttered, taking one himself.

"Yeah, I know they're edible," I rolled my eyes, eating another one. Pedro grabbed my wrist when I went for a third.

"They're edibles. Like weed brownies," he struggled to stifle a laugh.

I stopped mid-chew; I had only tried weed a few times, but it never seemed to have any adverse effect on me so I shrugged, sinking back into my chair, smiling.

The bright blue of the pool shone against the yellowing sky. Florence stood up, yawning.

"Pool anyone?"

She set down her beer and slipped smoothly out of her dress, striding over to the pool in her lacy underwear. The eyes of the group followed her in awe; she was truly beautiful, her honey blonde hair tied up effortlessly in a loose bun and the curves of her body shone golden in the sunrise.

Timothée followed, stripping and running with an cannonball jump into the pool, splashing Florence who squealed as Oscar joined, grabbing Enya and pushing in Flo.

Quickly I undressed, hopping from one foot to another a little self consciously. Pedro lay on a lounge chair and glanced at me, his black eyes looking up at me through the curls of his dark hair. He whipped off his shirt and ran towards me, sweeping me into his arms before I could react and taking a running jump into the pool.

We plunged into the freezing water, and came up to the water simultaneously, his arms still around my waist. I moved the hair that was now plastered to his forehead, laughing hysterically and he pulled me in closer, wiping the mascara from under my eyes with his thumbs and drawing into a tender kiss.

Soon after we all got out, drying off by the fire pit under white fluffy towels, courtesy of Oscar. The world became muffled and whoozy, and the silhouettes of my friends began shifting from huge to small. I reassured myself it's just weed, nothing bad can happen, and closed my eyes, curled under my towel on the sofa.

I woke with a jolt, slick with sweat and poked out my head to look around. Everyone was staring at me, what seemed like a horrified look in their eyes, piercing into mine. My heart pounded in my throat and I shot up, stumbling back into the house.

"Hey Lil, where you going?" Oscar asked after me. I mumbled what I thought was a coherent sentence but clearly wasn't, as Pedro leapt up after me.

My teeth chattered against the glass of water I had managed to pour myself, and Pedro caught me by the arm. My neck snapped round and his brow was furrowed with worry.

"Are you ok Lils?" He asked softly, tilting my chin up with his finger to look at me.

"Everyone was l-looking at me," I stammered, looking back at him accusingly. His eyes softened.

"Oh baby no they weren't, you're paranoid, it's just the weed. Everything's ok- hey hey.." he pulled me into a hug, kissing my head as my breathing quickened.

"Just breathe, that's all you need to do,"

He said lowly, stroking the back of my head. After a while, we headed back outside and I fell in and out of consciousness as the rest of them talked. One moment I snapped back into reality, and Pedro nudged me.

"Lily, they're asking. Do you mind if I tell them?" He cocked his head at me. I had no idea what he was talking about but tried my best to look composed.

"Yeah sure go ahead," I answered. Pedro took a deep breath, but his voice melted into the background of the buzz in my head.

I took another swig of my third beer, hoping to somehow feel less of the effects of the edibles I had stupidly stuffed into my mouth earlier.

-

The crunch of a beer can against the tiles woke me, and I peered around. Enya and Oscar were leaving, his arm over her shoulder to steady each other, and no one else was in sight. I sighed in frustration at how inebriated I was: this wasn't how tonight ended in my mind.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, Pedro came round the corner, sweeping up beer cans into a bag. I looked at him, confused, and he shrugged his shoulders at me.

"I feel bad, we kinda trashed Oscar's place," he whispered, scooping in more bottles. I looked back at him longingly, but I struggled to keep my eyes from rolling back into my head.

"Ohh, Pedro this wasn't how this was supposed to go," I grumbled, looking up at him through my eyelashes. He set the bag down and calmly covered me with my towel, cradling me and carrying me inside.

I could feel the comfort of a cool mattress underneath me as he set me down, pulling a blanket over me, but I clumsily fought against it, attempting to move him closer to me by grabbing his bare shoulders.

"Please Pedro, I need you," I whispered slowly. He took a sharp intake of breath, clambering into bed next to me.

"I'd love to, but absolutely not. Not like this, Lil. You're too drunk. I'll see you in the morning."

I smelt his musky scent as he leant over to kiss me on the forehead, before turning off the bedside lamp. Instead of protesting his graceful rejection as I intended, I fell into a deep sleep.