Ex Again

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: "TUG-OF-WAR"

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: “TUG-OF-WAR”

He pulled her closer as she molded her body to his. She fit perfectly against his frame. He loved how soft her body felt against his muscular one. She smelled like coco butter and that intoxicating fragrance that was part of her essence. He heard her snore lightly and talk in her sleep.

This was bad. She was starting to invade his dreams, she was haunting him in the state of his sub-consciousness. He felt overwhelmed with thoughts of her. Often he caught himself thinking about her. Her laugh, her smile, even the crease that formed between her eyes when she was thinking. She tends to ramble when she felt nervous and the pitch of her voice went higher when she was excited.  Most of the time her hair was tied up in her signature bun but he wished that she would just let it free like she had worn it on their first date. Her thick hair reminded him of the mane of a lion. Unapologetic. She radiated strength and courage because she was not trying to imitate anyone else, she was comfortable in her own skin.

The sound of Aaliyah’s At Your Best pulled him out his slumber. He tried to open his eyes but the bright light hindered him from doing so. He felt a body next to him like he did in his sleep. ‘No this is not real’ he though. ‘I am still dreaming.’

He slowly opened his eyes to adjust them to the light. He looked down at the sleeping form that he held in his arms. He tightly closed eyes and opened his eyes one at a time. Maybe she would vanish from his dream. She was still there breathing evenly and lying on his chest. He lightly squeezed her. Nothing happened. He removed his one arms from her and pinched himself. That hurt! And she was still there.

‘How did this happen?’ he wondered. The last thing he remembered was them talking and strolling down memory lane listening to old school music. They must have dosed of. He looked at the watch against the wall and saw that it was almost midnight. There was no way he could wake her now and send her on her way. It was late and he did not feel comfortable with her driving at this hour. What if something happened to her? No he would not wake her up. She could leave in the morning.

He reached for the pad and switched of the music. He got up as carefully as possible and went to switch of all the lights that were still on. He checked that everything was secure and he returned to where he left her. He got a blanket that he usually keeps in the den and covered them with it before he snuggled against her. Once again her body molded against his and he wrapped his arms around her. He closed his eyes to get some sleep.

Five minutes passed. His conscious kept eating away at him, sleep did not come easy. The once comfortable place was not that comfortable anymore. Guilt was eating away at him. He was not being honorable and noble. He was taking advantage of Azania to gratify his need for her.

After his emotions played tug-of-war between what he wanted to do and what he needed to do, he finally got up as quietly as possible. She did not wake up but her body curled into the fetal position. He covered her with the blanket. He walked to the guest room closest to his and got some blankets. He laid them on the bed. He also got a spare tooth brush and facecloth and left them on the bedside table with one of his t-shirts and some sweatpants. He went back down stairs. Reaching the sofa, he picked her up with ease and instinctively she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He carried her up the stairs and placed her on the bed, in his guest room. Her body once again resumed its fetal position. He looked at her feet. She still had her flat ballet looking shoes on and he took them of. She had cute feet. They were not small and petite but then again she was not small and petite. Some of her toenails had some chipped nail polish. He couldn’t help but smile. Her shoes had left their imprint on her feet and he would have rubbed them if he had her permission to do so but it would just look creepy if she woke up to found him rubbing her feet. There was nothing that he could do about her dress, he did not want to violate her by taking if of even if she would be more comfortable without it. She would just have to sleep in it.