"Yes... I want you to leave me alone. I mean it."
The words leave a sickly taste in your mouth and you wash them down with even more wine, aware that the more you drink the more your resolve might weaken but you're not thinking straight.
"Do you tho...
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The last thing you wanted was a situation where you and Van were left alone. And yet here you were. The two of you. Definitely alone.
"Well... this is fucking stupid," you snap, going to walk past Van into the corridor but he counters your movement, stepping to the side, blocking you.
"Hold up, I think you owe me an apology," he says stonily.
"You called me a bitch!" You shoot back, considering trying to push past him but you know by his stance that he's not going to let that happen.
Everything about him is confrontational. He doesn't have a large build but his height alone means that he looms over you... and as for the way he's looking at you... There's anger there but there's something else simmering just beneath the surface. Something that makes your pulse race and your whole body feel hot.
"You heard Larry... he says we need to talk."
"I've got nothing to say to you!" You retort, taking a chance at moving forward, roughly shouldering Van and to your surprise he relents, moving aside to let you pass.
He doesn't leave you though. You hear the sound of his boots on the kitchen floor, heavy steps as he trails closely behind you.
"So what... are we just going to ignore it?" He says, and although you don't look back, you can feel his presence closely behind you as you step to the kitchen counter, reaching for your bottle of wine.
You can't explain it, but he exudes some kind of magnetism. You can feel the pull now, a low kind of tug in your gut, urging you to turn around but you don't, finding a glass and filling it with wine instead, hoping it will dull your senses which just seem to be heightened whenever he's around.
"I don't know what you're talking about," you say, immediately following it up with a large mouthful of wine.
"I think you do."
He steps closer, close enough that you can feel his body heat. Your thoughts go to last weekend and how you felt him pressing into you in the kitchen. A part of you yearns for that again, and you hate yourself for it.
"Van... just cut the crap. We don't like each other, so let's just agree to stay out of each other's way, okay?"
"You really want me to leave you alone?"
Even as he says the words you feel a stirring somewhere deep inside, the version of you that you've been trying to keep hidden. It's awakening now, imagining him ghosting you, no more loaded glances across crowded rooms, no more featherlight touches when you brush past each other in the corridor, hidden exchanges which you try to tell yourself are all in your head but you know in reality are far from that.
"Yes... I want you to leave me alone. I mean it."
The words leave a sickly taste in your mouth and you wash them down with even more wine, aware that the more you drink the more your resolve might weaken but you're not thinking straight.
