Fill My Lungs | J. Todd ✔

[09] Addiction

Valerie knew Jason had gone back to Gotham as he had sent her a text before leaving. But after that text, there had been absolutely no contact from his end, making her think that either he was too busy or he had forgotten about her.

Days were passing by in that dull monotony and she had no idea when he was going to come back.

It was not that she missed him, she reminded herself for what seemed to be the hundredth time. But she definitely missed waking up in his comforting arms, being showered with his gentle kisses, his affectionate gestures and last but not the least, having a mouth-watering breakfast each morning cooked specially by Jason.

She was starting to realize that even in a relationship like theirs, it was impossible not to get attached to the other person emotionally. It could all be very well in movies or books where they showed people hooking up and not catching feelings for the other person and settling later on with another partner. But in real life, things were complicated.

Having a bond that intimate with someone couldn't be established without emotional connection. And in Jason's case, it was so easy to get attached to him.

He was distant and detached but that didn't mean he wasn't caring. She was starting to see that the agreement in between them was more than just occasional sex. It involved all their late night conversations, the kisses shared during breakfast, the comfort of being held in the other's arms as well as the jokes and teasing remarks that were exchanged between them.

Those few weeks that he was away made her think a lot about whether they were even true to the character of their relationship or somewhere along the way it had changed.

But she also knew that she would never be the one to bring that up. She was used to people abandoning her, Jason would be no exception.

However, even thinking in that direction hurt.

She couldn't go to sleep again and didn't know what else to do. Her phone's battery had died so she had put it on charging but it was still switched off. She was too tired to go out to the living room and watch the television either.

So she was twisting and turning in her bed, hoping she would fall asleep somehow.

She had closed her eyes when she felt a tap against her window as if someone had thrown a stone or a ball upwards at the pane but it had missed. She sat up, knowing it was too late for children to be playing outside. But then a stone was thrown up again, hitting the pane and then sliding down.

Her room was on the third floor so she drew open the curtain, checking to see who was throwing pebbles at her window. However, she was surprised to see the person waiting downstairs and a smile broke out on her face to see him at last.

Dressed in his casual attire with a khaki jacket on top, Jason was standing there with his hair as messy as always and a smirk playing upon his lips as he saw her open the window.

She didn't have a balcony to come out to or else it would have made quite a Romeo and Juliet reenactment. And knowing Jason and his love for Shakespeare, he wouldn't have hesitated to read out Romeo's lines.

Instead he called out in a voice that wasn't loud enough to disturb the others but in the silence of the night, she heard him clearly. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair..."

She laughed, his presence automatically brightening everything up.

"Wait, I'll come down myself," she signaled him to stay there then grabbing a shawl from her closet and slipping her feet into her slippers, she rushed down the stairs.

Soon as she opened the door, she rushed into his open arms, letting him sweep her off her feet. A delighted laugh escaped her as she cupped his face in between her palms and planted her lips on his.

The surprise of seeing him there was better than sleep, she decided, losing herself to the warmth of his embrace and his passionate kisses. The two of them were quite oblivious to the world around them as they had been apart for long and the thirst to quench the fire raging inside them upon reuniting had overcome everything else.

Valerie didn't see Sarah coming to the window as well to see what all the ruckus was about and getting shocked to see her with Jason.

She hadn't known that her friend was still meeting up with the local assumed serial killer. But seeing them right then, locked in each other's arms, it felt too intimate a moment for her to intrude upon.

So Sarah simply closed the window, sighing as she returned to her bed and decided to ask Valerie about it in the morning.

On the other hand, Valerie didn't say no to Jason's offer of spending the night with him and he carried her to his car, a smile dancing upon his lips.

Finally after so many days, he felt alive. Perhaps Tim was right; addicted or not he was becoming too accustomed to Valerie Kayes' presence in his otherwise unstable life.

He felt like a ghost haunting his own life without her but the second she was close to him, it was almost as if that ghost learned to breathe again. Perhaps she breathed life into him each time he got to kiss her.

Addicted or not, she was becoming far too important for him to just let her go.

She was slowly starting to fill him up the way oxygen fills up the lungs to keep a person alive and breathing. And without her, he felt suffocated.

"I missed you," she breathed out as he got in from the other seat, his oceanic eyes focusing on her.

His hand reached out to gently tuck a loose hair strand behind her ear, watching her cheeks shaded red.

"And I missed everything about you," he replied, his hand cupping her face as he brought her closer, "your eyes, your lips, your smile... Everything."

Her heartbeat quickened as his lips closed upon hers in a tender kiss. When they pulled apart, she remarked, "frankly, I missed breakfast the most."

His eyes widened slightly in disbelief but then he pinched her cute little nose playfully, shaking his head as a laugh finally escaped him. She got silent as she hadn't heard him laugh before, her hands reaching out to rest on his chest to feel the light rumbles it created within him.

He seldom laughed but right then with her, he had let go and gave in to the urge of laughing at her joke.

"I know just the treat for your breakfast to make up for all these days you didn't get to eat it," he mumbled as his rumbling laughter died down and he gently kissed her cheek, "I know you'll love it."

***