SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

You like her

Johnny's Point of View

This was a terrible idea.

Not the food – Maeve had actually nailed that.
Not the movie – although I still wasn't ready to admit I liked it as much as I did.

No, the terrible idea was this.

She was curled up on my couch, wearing my hoodie, eating my food, and acting like she had any say in what movies I watched.

And somehow, I'd let her.

I wasn't sure when it had happened, when I'd stopped keeping my guard up, stopped telling myself she was just a classmate, just someone I needed to look out for.
At some point between her hijacking my dinner order and kicking her feet up on my coffee table like she owned the place, I'd forgotten to remind myself that this wasn't normal.

That we weren't normal.
That I wasn't supposed to like this.

I shifted, adjusting my leg, biting back the wince that followed.

Pain pulsed through my thigh, a deep, insistent ache that had been lingering since this morning's training session. Sitting still for this long wasn't helping, but moving would be worse, so I gritted my teeth and dealt with it.

I was used to this.

Pushing through.
Ignoring it.
Pretending it didn't bother me.

What I wasn't used to was Maeve Connor taking up space in my house like she belonged here.

And worse – how natural it felt.

I let my head fall against the back of the couch, forcing my gaze back to the screen, but my focus was shot.
My leg throbbed, but it wasn't the reason I was tense.

It was her.

The way she absently tapped her fingers against the rim of her water bottle during tense scenes, like she didn't even realize she was doing it.
Or how she always ate the crispiest dumplings first, like she had a ranking system for them.

And then there was her laugh.

I wasn't supposed to like that either.
But I did.
Which was a problem.
A problem I refused to acknowledge.

I turned my attention back to the screen, determined to focus on literally anything else.

Maeve leaned forward slightly, reaching for the last dumpling, and before I even thought about it, I grabbed it at the same time.
She turned to look at me, one brow raised.
Neither of us let go.

I narrowed my eyes. "Really?"

Maeve smirked, tightening her grip. "You snooze, you lose."

I scoffed. "I literally paid for this food."

"And?" She tilted her head. "You were too slow."

We locked eyes, neither of us backing down.
It was stupid, childish even, but I wasn't letting go out of principle.

Then, before I could react, she licked the dumpling.

My mouth fell open. "You did not just–"

Maeve grinned, victorious, and popped it into her mouth.

"That was actual psychopathy, Sunshine."

She shrugged, chewing happily. "Should've been quicker."

I ran a hand down my face, shaking my head. "Unbelievable."

The worst part?
The pain in my leg was still there, sharp and relentless.
But right now, the only thing getting under my skin was her.

I turned my attention back to the movie, jaw tight, forcing myself to focus.
But I couldn't.
Not with her sitting there.
Not with this sitting in my chest like something solid, something heavy, something I did not want to deal with.