Snowed In

Chapter 6

I awoke much the same as I did the morning before, tucked away in Avi's loving arms only our roles were reversed. Instead of him holding me, I held him. His weight lay over me. His leg was wedged between mine. I heard him wake but didn't much feel like moving. Thoughts of the night before dominated my mind. I felt guilty and ashamed for what I had done to him. I wasn't too concerned with what he had done to me. I had come to understand what had happened in him. It scared me, worried me and broke my heart.

I felt him stir. He moved his leg and shifted our weight. I listen for the change in his breathing that would indicate that he had woken. He mumbled softly as he woke. I listened, but once again I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Avriel?" I whispered softly. He put his head on my chest. His whiskers tickled, but I did not laugh.

"I'm sorry about last night. I'm so, so sorry. I. I." He started stuttering again. I put a hand on either side of his lovely face and looked deep into his eyes. Then kissed him silent.

"Hush now. Avi, hush."

"But,"

"But, nothing. Avriel. I'm sorry too. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"We need to, or we aren't going to be able to move past it. Later?" He was silent for only a moment.

"I should not have treated you that way. That was a horrible thing to do. You mean more to me than that. You are more. I," He looked closely into my eyes. "I don't know who that man was last night. He hurt you." His eyes held tears then looked away. Why did I always make him cry? I tried to talk, and those eyes flicked to mine, and the words died on my lips. He was not done speaking. "That was the worst of me. You deserve only the best." I cut him off.

"If I can't handle you at your worst. I don't deserve you at your best." I searched his eyes until I found what I was looking for. I smiled at him. He smiled back. "What I did to you."

"You should do again sometime soon." He held my face and smiled again. "It was the best part." He winked and stole a tender kiss.

"I'm hungry. We should eat. But first," his eyes were full of that mischievous little light that I had come to love. "First..." he kissed tenderly. "we shower. Look at this mess." for the first time that morning I looked at his hair. It was a beautiful mess all about his head, a wild nimbus of brown waves that toppled and fell about his face and shoulders. He was just beautiful.

"Okay." I nodded and laughed. I could only imagine how rough my hair looked.

We crawled out of bed, he took my hand and led me to the bathroom.

"Do you want to shower with me?" I looked at him like he tried to milk a cat and I did my best not to sound condescending or offended when I replied, by covering my offense with a light laugh and a gentle nudge.

"Do you want me too?" His answer was to roll his eyes and take my hand. He had a habit of just doing and not talking. I followed him to the bathroom. He led me in, grabbed towels and hung them on the bars on the outside of the shower door. He turned back and turned on the heat lamps and their fans then pull me into the shower with him. He turned on the two showerheads in the corner and adjusted the temperature. He stretched out his hand and smiled at me. I stepped into the spray with him and tucked into his open arms. We stood still like that for a long while.

"Do you want me to wash your hair?"

"Can I wash yours?"

"Yes"

"Deal."

We took turns washing each other up, stopping to kiss tenderly here and there. When we were done we turned the water off and drip-dried in the shower marinating in our own sweat before we thought to stop staring at each other and holding hands.

"Would you like me to braid your hair?"

"I know you like to, but I was hoping to go outside with you a little later and it needs to be dry then. We should make sure yours is too."

He left his hair down. We went and got dressed then went down to make breakfast before his stomach started growling louder than he could. I made him crepes for breakfast. We talked lightly over our plates, cleaned up and headed out to play in the snow.