Five ✘ Lila • Survival

#2 The one you're with in the middle of the night

Lila headed down the hallway back to her room. Her hair was still wet and her robe damp from putting it on immediately after she got out of the pool. She ran away from him while he was dressing. Still, Five soon caught up to her. He grabbed her arm to stop her, and yet there was something gentle about the gesture, the way he touched her.

"So you're going to say something like that and then just disappear into your room?" He moved her more away from the rooms and gave her a long look, "and after what just happened between us?" He moved a little closer to her. His tone of voice betrayed that this was definitely more than a one night stand for him. It had always meant everything to him. He gave her a look that gave her goosebumps.

"Five..." Lila sounded a little desperate, but she didn't really know what else to add, what had happened was just stronger than anything her reason was telling her. "We shouldn't be doing all this." She whispered, looking into his eyes as she did so.

"We probably shouldn't, it just doesn't change the fact that I want to do it at the same time... more than I want to, I can't stop... I can't stop wanting you and it's your fault for making me addicted to you." He lowered his gaze to her lips and didn't stop there, kissing her.

Lila ran her fingers into his wet hair and at first she just gave in until she placed her hand on his chest and pulled him away from her. "No..."

Five laughed unexpectedly at that. "Your words say no, but your eyes say something else... and I'm not even talking about the rest of your body," he smiled a little teasingly, "I know you want me... even when you try to pretend you don't... I know how much you enjoy us being together."

"Now you're an expert on women, huh?"

"All women? God. Absolutely not, but I know more about you than you care to admit. I know you run away from what could hurt you badly enough, and at the same time you like to go back to what you like..."

Before she could say anything, Five moved with her to his room, where he was staying alone.

"Aren't you being a little cheeky?"

"Maybe?" He pulled her into his arms again. "I don't want to talk to you in the middle of the hallway."

"So no ulterior motive?" Five smiled at that, but said nothing. "I need to get back to my room. If Allison notices I'm gone, she'll gets things together." Five smiled in satisfaction at what she said. "What are you still grinning about?"

"Sorry, it's something completely conceited..."

"Spit it out." She pushed him away a little again.

"You're not in the room with Diego."

"And?"

"And? Well the obvious things. You told me it was over between us, yet you made love to me as soon as we had the chance... and you can't even be in the same room with him after all."

"You've always been very conceited!"

"This isn't hard to put together. You've had problems before. You wanted a break. You've talked so many times over the years about going back to the kids, but you've never said outright that you wanted to go back for Diego and you two. And if you... if you loved him, you'd be with him now."

"And what if I were with him now, huh?" She stared at him defiantly.

"What do you want me to say, Lila? That I'm dying at the thought of someone else touching you?"

"That someone else is my husband."

"Well, officially, sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you provoking me on purpose?"

"And if so?"

A certain desire to fight with each other never quite died out for them. It just went to a whole other level.

"Diego may be your husband... he's the father of your children... but when it comes to the deep end of the night, I'm the one you're staring defiantly into the eyes of here, trying to stretch time by every minute just so you don't have to go back to the reality around you."

Lila stared at him, her heart racing.

"If it had ended for you the moment we got back, it would have all been a distraction... I'd be the one who'd have to watch you two be happy together again, how you can't last five minutes without each other. And believe me... I'd rather go straight to hell rather than having to pretend I'm not losing my mind..."

His voice sounded low, but the intensity of his words resonated in Lila's every cell.

Electricity seemed to be audible in the silence as neither spoke for long.

"Would you leave if I were with him again?"

"Yes." He answered without hesitation.

"Would you just leave and not come back?" She hissed.

"Yes."

Lila nudged him, not liking the answer. Five was amused by her response, as if he expected her to do exactly that.

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I'm staying! As long as I can evoke all this in you, it's worth staying."

Lila approached him. "If you leave, I'll find you..."

"And then what? Will you kill me?" He said it in a deliberate tone, like when she'd asked him on the rooftop by the pool.

"You bet!"

At the same moment, they moved closer to each other and started kissing, their mutual attraction having passed the bearable limit. Only a trail of clothes remained behind them on the way to the bed.

--

Five hugged Lila from behind, and it was certainly not innocent, they seemed content at the least, until their contented slumber was disturbed by a pounding on the door.

A very loud banging on the door.

They both looked at each other sleepily and realized that it was already morning, maybe even mid-morning, depending on how bright the light was shining into their room.

"Open the door right now!" Allison's voice rang out.

"Damn it..." whispered Lila.