Thε Spαrklε Tooƒus (ACT I: Fall Term) ✓

twenty-six

A Proper Apology

I set a mug of warm hot chocolate down on the counter with a clunk, peeking at Damien through the open kitchen. He was seated on the couch, huddled up under a thick blanket so that all I could make of him was his wet brown hair. With a sigh, I cleared my throat and said, "Your drink's ready!" He shuffled around, his green eyes peeking out from the fuzzy material. I could hear his teeth chattering from a mile away and with a roll of my eyes, I picked up the drink and joined him in the living room.

"Here you go, weakling," I said, sitting down on the center table across him and then handed him the mug. A pale, shivering hand emerged and upon making contact with the warm ceramic surface of the mug, I heard him exhale loudly in relief.

"That feels so good. So warm."

"Careful, it's still ho-" I begun to warn him as he took too quick a sip from the drink, and then let out a stream of curses.

"Damn it!" he cried for the billionth time today, resting the mug slowly on his knee. The blanket uncurled from him as he focused on making sure he wouldn't spill his drink.

"It's your fault you know," I pointed out, getting up and joining him on the couch.

Picking up the blanket, I wrapped it around him and held it to his shivering form, my hands encircling his broad shoulders. "You shouldn't have raced into the rain like that. I tried to stop you but did you listen?"

"No," he answered quietly, sniffing like a child.

Damien didn't speak in the minutes that followed, and I was glad he chose not to. I didn't have it in me to scold him, despite the fact that it was entirely his fault for his current state. When he'd found too much of an inspiration from my words and pulled us into the rain, it had taken me less than a couple seconds to snap out of the shock and pull him back in the direction of the school.

The logical answer would have been to wait the storm out, and try to catch a cab when it had calmed down to a slow drizzle. But Damien had none of my 'logic'. He was a 'live in the moment' kind of guy and had continued to tug me along as he skipped forward, telling me we had to embrace the weather and not let it get in our way. So much for that philosophy. It had turned on him the moment we'd tripped and stumbled our way to my front porch.

The first thing I had done was turn on the central heating when we'd entered, and he'd been mid-way through his sentence of "calm down, May! You worry too much. I'll be just fii-hiiiine-atchoo"! Having given him an unamused glance, I had rummaged in my room for my thick winter blanket. He was more than grateful when I had given it to him.

The color began to return to Damien's face, his body stopping a case of the shivers as he took a couple more sips of his hot chocolate. Standing up, I said, "I'm just going to go get changed," and was about to walk toward my room when I felt his hand catch mine. It was warmer than I had expected it to be. Peering over my shoulder, I caught him making the goo-goo eyes.

"What?" I sighed, groaning internally.

"Umm..don't take too long May," he whispered softly, tugging at my hand.

I wasn't sure if he was playing around or if he was genuinely scared. His eyes looked bigger and glassier, like a child's would after they'd had a nightmare. Assessing him silently for a couple seconds, I decided he wasn't playing around and nodded with a small smile.

"I'll be back. The monsters won't get you while I'm gone."

He didn't smile at my joke, but his hand let go of mine. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked out of the living room and down the narrow hall, toward my bedroom. Stepping in, I shut the door behind me and leaned back against it. My thumb and index finger pinched the cold metallic zip that had been brought up to my neck, pulling downwards as I took off the over-sized maroon jacket I had on. Apart from a couple drops of moisture here and there, it wasn't wet at all.