Brazilian Lounge

seventeen.

Chapter seventeen.

Ms America was like a forbidden fruit. I could look, discreetly admire, wish that I had it all to myself, but she never allowed me to touch her for too long. It got me thinking about the first night we almost had together, when she told me how she didn't like being alone. She was like a completely different person, and I liked both sides.

It had been a week since we last saw each other when there was a particular knock at the front door.

I grabbed a shirt as I asked who it was. They didn't answer, instead they just knocked louder.

"I'm coming!" I put the shirt on and opened the door slowly. "I'm not interested in cookies or anything if that's what this-" I stopped mid-sentence and stared into her eyes. They looked different, much paler than usual. At a loss for words, I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her into me. I knew that she needed a hug. She let her body sink into mine and I could tell she felt weak. I felt her warm tears seep through my shirt. She had no grip on me, but I held her close and tight. Without any words, I slowly shuffled backwards and closed the door, still holding her against me.

"I'm sorry," she breathed.

"What? No. Don't be sorry," I looked at her. My hand stroked her cheek as I rested my chin on top of her head. "Never be sorry for crying," I whispered. We stood in the middle of the flat. "Here, sit down," I guided her to the sofa. "Water, alcohol?" I offered as I sat her down. I straightened my posture while she nodded vigorously, probably referring to the alcohol. Looking into her eyes again, I realised something I hadn't before - she was drunk. "Not a good idea," I mumbled, "hot chocolate?" I asked, then realising that hot chocolate reminded me of Ms America, it felt wrong. "I'm making you coffee," I nodded firmly as she lay down on the couch. I headed to the kitchen, only to find out that Marcos didn't buy extra coffee that week. Fuck. "You know what? I'll just order us a large pizza,"

"Stop...making me," she struggled to say in her mumbled tone, slurring every word, "so unhealthy," she groaned.

"It's comfort food. Forget about other shit for a while, would you?" I smiled at her small smile before calling Mr Delivery to put an order in.

After ordering the promoted 'Awesome Foursome' from a local pizzeria, I sat down on the couch and let Pia's head rest on my lap. I played with her loose strands of hair while she dosed off peacefully. She was usually one to sober up rather quickly after a short, short nap.

*

Her eyes stared upwards into mine, wide and full of dismay. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Her awakened state was similar to that of her slumberous one; ever-so-still, so calm. The confusion in her eyes were evident though.

My eyebrows jerked up and she knew exactly what I was thinking. I was only wondering why she was with me at that moment.

"You should be flattered." Was all she said before we continued having a coded conversation with our eyes, as if someone was going to understand what we were talking about. The thing was, though, that our 'eye language' made absolutely no sense, but we understood each other clearly.

I lowered my head, nearing my lips to hers. The tips of our noses touched softly. Each of her breaths tickling my lips, we were going to kiss. I couldn't wait to taste her lips again.

Just then, a knock at the door disrupted us.

"Must be the pizza," I rolled my eyes. Her ears perked up at my mentioning of pizza. My toothy grin displayed my happiness in the moment. I grabbed the money I left on the kitchen counter for the pizza boy.

"I'm not supposed to..." Her eyes were practically glued to the brown and red boxes of pizza as I balanced them on my right hand. "You ordered-"

"Yes, Pia," my voice sounded deep and amused. I closed the door after thanking the delivery boy. I faced her, but she was too focused on the pizza.

"Aftonio!" She dragged out the 'a' in my name, nagging me. I laughed.

"You're going to enjoy this, and you're going to be happy," I placed the box on the kitchen counter, teasingly opening the box. Her mouth was practically on the floor with drool dripping out the sides.

"Don't tell me what to do," she said weakly. I sniffed the pizza and closed my eyes, savouring the heavenly scent.

"Pia, you gotta come 'n' get some," I carefully took a slice and placed a part of it on the tip of my tongue. I groaned with pleasure, provoking her.

"Fuck you," she exhaled and almost ran to the box of pizza. I was too distracted by chuckling to notice how she stuffed her face with a slice each of the four different pizzas. My laughter became extremely hard when I saw her eye twitching with joy and her topping covered mouth. "See what you do to me?" She tried yelling at me with a mouthful of unchewed pizza. I thought my breaths were nonexistent because of the way I was laughing.

"For...for-oh God!" I gave up on my speech until I could speak again. "For a model, you're pretty damned gross," she smiled at me, showing random bits of mushrooms and cheese in between her teeth.

"I like this one," she stuffed another half of a slice into her mouth. She stuck her tongue out, trying to gross me out by showing me her chewed food.

"Really? I like this one," I grabbed a slice with ham and pineapple toppings and slowly moved it towards my face. "On your face," I quickly shoved it onto her face. She backed away with a gasp before smiling at me.

"You didn't just do that."

"Seems like I did," I winked.

"Aftonio...you will pay," she jumped on me and simultaneously grabbed a meaty slice of pizza, which she then rubbed deeply into my hair. Her grip around me didn't loosen as I wiggled, trying to get her off my back. We were both training our abs by that moment.

Eventually, she jumped off of me and looked at me in thought.

"If you don't mind...I was enjoying this pizza,"