Heliophilia (Norminah)

Six

"Why are you so happy?" Arin snaps at me as I spin around the kitchen. I stop quickly as I hear his voice, I didn't even hear him come in.

"It's just a pretty night, that's all," I say back with a smile on my face that hasn't left since Dinah told me how she feels, that she's falling for me. I don't think I've been this happy since... I couldn't even remember.

"You're damn annoying so cut it out," he snaps back as he looks over my shoulder to see what I'm doing.

He grabs the sandwich I made for myself off my plate and shoves it in his mouth, eating almost half of it in one bite. All happiness falls from my face as he devours it right in front of me, I was really looking forward to it. I let out a sigh and turned around to start making another one but he steps in front of me before I can.

"Hey, you bipolar or something?" he asks as he holds my chin in his huge hands to make look at his face.

"Give me a kiss," he says before pulling my face into his. I can feel the crumbs of his sandwich in his facial hair as he shoves his tongue into my mouth. He wastes no time in pushing me up against the fridge, the door handle digging into my back without sympathy.

"Arin," I try, hoping he'll back off but he takes it as me moaning his name as he moves his leg in between mine and starts to grind on me. His hands tangle in my hair but as I wriggle trying to get away from him, he grips my upper arm tightly and I feel him start to feel up my inner thigh.

"Arin!" I scream shoving him off me. "I don't want to," I say as I wipe his spit off my face.

"What the fuck?" He asks fixing himself, obviously trying to cover up how worked up he's gotten. "At least jerk me off," he says motioning to his pelvis as if it's something I'm obliged to do. I shake my head and look down at the ground; normally I could take how roughly he handled me, but not today.

"Since when were you a frigid little virgin?" He asks, "you were the one who begged me to fuck you before we even got together," he spits and I flinch at the memory.

My 15 year-old self was too eager to prove herself to everyone, and too proud to be a virgin at such an age. So, I let Arin take something I'd never get back just so I could brag about it to my friends. To say it was horrific would be an understatement; at least he had a clue about what he was doing now, but back then he was oblivious to what sex actually meant, how it was supposed to be an act of love and affection of the deepest kind, not to get yourself off in the back seat of a car.

"Why do I even keep you around anymore!" He laughs out obnoxiously and I keep my eyes on the floor hoping he'll just leave.

"Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you!" He shouts at me and I look at him through tears.

"Get yourself together Normani, because I'm getting sick of all this shit," he spits before throwing the remains of his sandwich on the floor and storming out, leaving me to clean up the mess.

As I bent down to clean the food my mind wondered to Dinah; I wondered would she ever do something like this to me, would she touch me in a way that wasn't soft and beautiful. As my mind wonders to her I look at the clock to see its nearly 11 and that I need to leave if I want to see Dinah. I quickly cleared up and adjusted myself in hopes I looked presentable as my feet took in through the winding corridors of the house to lead out to the back garden.

I opened the gate that lead down to the pool and I stood by the clear water, trying to clear my mind but the heat of the night was fogging my brain. Against my better judgement after waiting 10 minutes for her I took off my top and shorts and slid into the warm water of the pool. My hot skin sighed in the relief as the water cooled it down and I moved about, getting a feel of how the water carried me. I let out a little sigh of content as I swam about in the pool, I forgot how fun it is to swim at night.

I let my body weight be taken by the water as I lay back and closed my eyes. I heard footsteps and I froze but then looked up to see the girl who I had stuck in my mind all day standing by the side of the pool looking as gorgeous as ever. She was staring right at me as she starts to peel her shirt off her body, throwing it on the floor behind her. My eyes dance over the tanned skin that was left exposed and I felt my mouth go dry at the sight; she was so beautiful.

She unbuttons her shorts and slowly slid them down her legs and kicked them off, showing her tanned legs in all their glory. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her body as she started to tie her hair and walk towards the side of the pool and slowly got into the water. She made her way over to me at a painfully slow pace, and when she finally got to me she came so close to my body, yet we didn't touch.

"Hi," I whisper as she stares right into my eyes. She actually gives me a small smile, it was just a flick of the corner of her lips but I was ecstatic that I evoked such a thing from her and my own smile covered my face.

"You're adorable," she whispers as she brushes a strand of wet hair out of my eyes. Her gaze drop to my arm where Arin had squeezed earlier and left a already forming bruise and she glided her fingers over the purple and red colours.

"Did he do this to you?" She whispers and she moves closer so our noses are brushing and I can feel the heartbeat in my ears. I nod my head since I'm not sure my voice will convince her it didn't affect me.

"You don't deserve this Normani," she says looking me in my eyes and I almost let myself come undone in front of her.

"I do, I-I'm not worth anything more," I say truthfully to which I see her eyes flicker with an emotion I'm not familiar with.

"She gently takes my arm in her hands and kisses the bruises softly, my skin wet from the pool.

"I want you to come with me," she whispers against my skin and my facial expression probably screams 'confused'.

"Can I trust you?" She asked and I whisper a small 'of course' as she stares into my eyes.

"I'm leaving soon," she whispers in my ear as she pulls my body closer in the water. "I'm running away." I loop my arms around her neck as she whispers into my ear and her hands rub my hips.

"These guys came to me about 4 months ago, they're called the PLND, some drug police force. They want me to help them," my body's going crazy over the electricity her skin is making me feel. I pulled her impossibly closer and her hands softly rubbed my thighs and I wrapped my legs around her waist, the water taking most of my weight.

"I've been getting proof against JP. He's planning this huge cocaine trade in the Gulf that they know about in two week's time. If I get enough evidence and bring it to them in their office in El Paso they promised me protection, like legal stuff," she whispers into the skin of my neck and I stroke her hair trying to get her to continue.

"I'll be able to get away from all this, from JP, but I don't want to leave you behind. You're better than this, I can see it in you. You're the first person to ever notice I couldn't even read, yet alone try to teach me. And every day I fall harder for you," she finished and she pulls back to look me in the eyes.

"Will you come with me?" She asks quietly and I can't take it anymore; the way she looks at me, the way she touches me, the way she speaks with softness just makes me melt so I did the thing I've dreamed of doing for the last two weeks, and I kissed her.

In hindsight of this kiss, I like to think of it as my first, since I'd never really kissed anyone like I kissed her that night. At first it was light, our lips brushed and I've never felt more alive in my life. But then her impossibly soft lips moved with mine, showing me how much I mean to her as they moved together. My whole body hummed as she skimmed her tongue along my bottom lip, and as I opened my mouth and her tongue met mine I couldn't help but moan. They moved together at a lazy pace and she pulled my impossibly closer, our bodies floating in the pool. I pulled back, bringing her bottom lip out between my teeth and letting it go creating a popping noise before I pecked a kiss on the swollen flesh.

"Of course I'll come with you," I whisper against her lips and I feel her smile into the kiss as my heart beat increased and the butterflies refused to stop.