All For Not - Wednesday

Page 60

"Exactly why have we ended up here of all places?" He looked down at me, a smile on his face as he took the last step down the cobblestone stairs. I frowned from the lack of information but when he turned to look at me again he only chuckled, reaching out to grab my hand as I took another step, my feet leaving the stairs altogether.

"I figured maybe you didn't have any good memories down here or at least the first time wasn't a good memory. I'm sorry about that by the way, Bianca decided to-" I stopped his words quickly, "apologizing each time you feel regret or bad about something isn't good for your health either..."

"I suppose it's not, to be honest this might not be good for my health either but," he trailed off talking to himself his jaw tensing once again, "your teeth will hurt if you keep this up," he awkwardly smiled before snapping his fingers and rushing to the other side of the room, quickly reaching the other set of stairs.

"What are you doing now?" He laughed lightly again, "just wait. Actually," I watched him turn before running back to me, "here come over here," he began dragging me gracefully by the hand as my brows furrowed, knitting together in confused curiosities, he didn't let go until I was in the middle of the room, "okay just wait right here."

"And why am I waiting here?" It wasn't a sarcastic question but a question of curiosity that was paired with a raised brow and a light voice, my face slowly relaxing the more time passed, "just wait, I wanna show you something..."

My eyes followed him back over to the stairway, only for him to crouch near the first few steps while facing the wall. The sound of rock scraping against each other becoming very noticeable as my head tilted while watching him.

"When I first found out about this place and I was inducted as a member of the nightshades I spent hours down here looking through things and one day I kind of stumbled upon this. But of course no one else really knows about it, they're only here for the society's reputation to be honest."

Something clicked together and he stood, backing up as something machine-like started to whir around the room. The sound was almost too loud as I looked up at the ceiling, a point encased in a deep gold pointed down above me as a part of the room's design, "just watch this..." His voice could've startled me if he wasn't still in my view.

He had moved back from the stairs to stand a few feet in front of me, continuing forward until he was close enough to hug me if he wanted to, "what did you-" The sound of the room clicking like mechanical pieces stopped me from continuing any further with my words, a sight taking over the high ceiling, "Hoag's object..."

"You know what it is?" A smile lifted onto my face in awe as I looked above us, his eyes following my line of sight to gaze at the image, "it's my uncle's favorite constellation... He talked about it alot when I was a kid, I didn't think he'd go as far as to leave it as a hidden piece down here."

"Your uncle was in the nightshades?" I gave a nod, "most of my family actually, my birth parents as well, however with my uncle everyone knows him as Cousin Itt," I watched the sight above us closely, not paying attention to my words as the galaxy moved around, rotating around itself.

There was never a moment I thought I would see something like this, it looked like it was truly in front of me, no hologram or mechanisms making it all possible, "thank you," he looked back at my face as I continued to stare up above us, "for what?"

Looking down from the ceiling our eyes locked, "for showing me this..."

"I recall telling you to stop doing this," my hand reached up automatically at the tic in his jaw, "your going to start grinding your teeth in your sleep," my fingers pressed into his jaw bone lightly as his hand grabbed onto my wrist, "sorry," he didn't move or speak just watched me thoughtfully, "Kent? Are you alright?"

His eyes flicked down before meeting my gaze once more, "uh yeah, I just..." He seemed to be choking on his own nerves, frozen in place wanting to say something but unable to do so.

"Can I kiss you?"

My wrist heated up under his hand as did my face, in fact it felt as if my whole body was about to be set ablaze until he dropped my wrist, "sorry I-" as soon as words left his mouth and his grasp left my wrist I stopped him, "yes..."

He froze for a moment, thinking about my sudden answer to the point it was almost an awkward moment. But then he leaned down and kissed me as the room began to glow around us, the galaxy expanding above.

It felt like I was cooling down and melting at the same time as my arms wrapped around the back of his neck. His arms winding around my waist and bending us over slightly as it got more intense, my body being pulled closer to his.

The only want, need, was to be as close as physically possible.