Ending Link (Link Dane 2)

NINE

NINE

There was no way we would automatically act as though we were the best of buddies after that whole conversation. We would be delusional to think that an attempt was in order. I understood Link and he understood me. For now, that was more than I could ever ask for. And I would leave it at that.

"I'm really not in the mood to eat anywhere else expect the hotel." I told Link when we were both strapped in the car.

He didn't look my way as he answered. "Sure."

Although his reply was short, I couldn't help but feel this sharp pang in my chest at what we had become. There was this tug and push at play between us and it left me far more confused than anything. One minute, I didn't want anything to do this with man. And the next, he was back in my life and awakening all sorts of feelings inside of me. I silently berated myself, a quick reminder that I had no right to feel any sort of pang whatsoever when it came to Link. The only thing I was allowed to do was to keep myself a good distance away from him.

Staring out the window, my face blank yet my mind was filled with small thoughts here and there. First, it was as though Link bathed himself in his cologne before he stepped back in the car since that sharp, masculine scent filled my nostrils, almost rendering me delirious. There was something about a man with a signature scent that as a perfectly healthy female, I couldn't not acknowledge. And secondly, from my peripheral vision, I could see Link was struggling with something. The way his hands clenched and unclenched on the steering wheel, how his upper torso couldn't decide whether to sit up straight or lean back gave it all away.

I was half tempted to ask what was going on but opening ourselves to another topic seemed to put me off. It wasn't due to fear, but there was this underlying understanding between us two that normal chit chat would never stay normal between us. 

So I kept my mouth shut and focused on the other things that filled my mind. And gratefully, they were significant enough to keep me occupied until we reached the hotel. He stopped the car by the front and I didn't wait one more second before I dived out the car.

The wide expanse and escape of the tight space in the car was welcoming as I inhaled deeply, letting the air rush into my lungs. I heard Link step out the car behind me and soon enough he was in step with me.

"Damn it Ori," I heard him mutter under his breath. 

Just stay quiet... a voice reminded me. But I couldn't. "What?" I asked him, shooting him a look.

He was scanning the area around us before his eyes rested on my face. "Just because you want to get the hell away from me doesn't mean you have to run in the open like that."

I was surprised at his words and... was that a sort of hurt I could detect in his voice?

We walked inside the lobby of the hotel. "I'm not trying to get the hell away from you." I told him. And I wasn't. Was I? 

I was trying to get myself out of an uncomfortable situation. I pressed the button to call for the lift and waited for it to come, all the while trying my best to seem nonchalant as I could feel Link's eyes burning into me. "Say's the girl who had to scoot all the way to the window to get some space between us."

I snapped my head towards him. "I did not!"

He arched one eyebrow back at me. "You did."

The doors of the lift opened and we both stepped aside to let the people who were in it to step out. Once we were inside the lift, with the doors closed I turned to him again. "I was looking out the window and thinking about things."