Invisible String - Jake Sully

18

Days passed by since her breakdown. Tawn tried not to let her feeling prevail after Jake's confession. She trusted him, so there was no reason to doubt his intention with her. However, a small part of her still harboured the sadness inside of her, and she unconsciously didn't want to seem to let that go, choosing to wallow in self-pity rather than actually see the reality of her relationship.

She tried very hard to be happy. Whenever she spent her day with Tuk and Kiri, she tried to be pleased with them and indulged in every conversation with the girls.

When Neteyam asked her to go for a walk or a ride with their ilu, she accepted the invitation almost immediately, letting him talk his feelings with her, giving him advice on his love life that Tawn noticed was about a certain metkayina girl who had her eyes on the olo'eyktan son.

She tried to be there for them even though Lo'ak grew to dislike her.

To be honest, she understood why he hated her now. Having his family take the side of a stranger rather than him, a family member. She would hate her too if she were him.

It hurt her more than she let on since she thought they were close.

Kiri and Neteyam tried to make excuses for their younger brother, trying to rebuild the bridge between them. And Tawn would always brush it off.

Tawn was a pacifist. She hated confrontation, and she was never good at one. Whenever Ronal hurt her feelings or ignored her, she would swallow the bad treatment she got and let it all out alone, where no one could see how much it affected her.

"Morning, love," Jake greeted, walking into her hut, carrying two bowls of soup in his hand.

Tawn looked up at him and greeted him with a smile. She noticed how much better he was at cooking metkayinan dishes. He always surprised her with something new every time he brought her food.

"What are you doing here, Jake?" she asked. It was pretty early in the morning, there weren't many noises outside her tent, and the sky hadn't even turned blue yet.

Jake looked at her as if she was serious, "can't I visit my lovely girlfriend?" the word tasted weird on his tongue. He didn't like to call her that.

Tawn rolled her eyes at the man who sat down beside her, "Jake, it sounds weird. We're old," she said, not liking the word too.

Jake laughed. He placed the bowl of soup in front of her and gently pried her finger from the knitting needle in her hand. Jake knew she didn't sleep that night and it pained him to see her like this, exhausted and fragile.

"I'm old, you are not, and I won't call you that again," Tawn laughed slightly at his statement.

"You're making me look like someone who loves older men," she pouted.

Jake laughed heartily. He pecked her cheeks before whispering, "but you do like older men," he whispered, "we have more experience than those boys," he continued, trailing his kisses down to the base of her neck. His breath shot tingles to her spine, making Tawn even more flustered.

Seeing the expression on her face, Jake continued to laugh. Tawn pouted. As much as she acted like she didn't like it, she loved it when he acted like this to her. She loved his attention. 

"Now, before I do something I'd regret, eat this," Jake said, pulling himself away from her and nodding at the bowl before her, telling her to eat it.

Tawn's eyes followed Jake's movement. He picked up the bowl and placed it in one of his hands, scooping the broth to his mouth. Tawn's eyes lingered on his lips, the lips that seemed to avoid hers. She wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed by him.