Deception

Chapter 37

33 days before

The sun poured through the blinds, the light forcing my eyes open before ten in the morning. I pushed myself up and surveyed the empty sheets next to me, still warm from her. I threw myself back down on my side, finding her in front of the mirror, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Only a pair of neon green underwear covered her, the muscles in her back flexing as she stretched. The sunlight dripped over her features and highlighted the dip above the band of her underwear and the full curve of her hips. 

She turned at the sound of a camera shutter, placing her hands on her hips. The corners of her lips curved into a smile before she turned back to the mirror. "Can you pass me a shirt?" Her morning voice broke through the silence, a slight accent hanging on to her words. I tossed her my shirt from last night, watching her pull it over her head, her ponytail coming out in the process. She groaned, her hair hanging around her shoulders, as she pulled the shirt down to her thighs before she drowsily dragged herself over to me. She straddled me, her lips pressing to my forehead. 

"Is the 'about last night' talk upon us?" I mumbled, tracing her jaw. She leaned into my touch and raised her eyebrows, poking my nose. 

She shrugged, "Could've sworn we went over this last night. When did you come back to bed?" I had stayed downstairs for an hour after Alex went back upstairs, lighting marshmallows on fire and watching them burn after realizing that Alex had taken the cigarettes. There was no reasoning behind it, except for boredom and the prevention of over-thinking. Alex was right; she'd never been good with words. 

Anna ran a hand down my chest, humming in question. "Around one." I brushed my thumb over her lips and chin, moving down to her neck. I pressed my thumb into the bruises on her skin, fascinated by the way the red marks were plastered on her body. 

"You ate all the marshmallows, didn't you?" she giggled. I leaned in to kiss her, only to have her back away, placing a finger on my lips. "Morning breath." 

"I told you, I don't care." I reminded her. 

She rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about yours, dipshit." She ducked her head into the crook of my head, leaving soft kisses. "Why were you down there for so long?" 

I sighed, pulling my hand through her hair. I knew she never liked the topic and probably never even considered it. She'd probably counter my argument with the fact that she's only seventeen and I'm only eighteen and we have our entire lives ahead of us. And she would ignore me when I pointed out that we had slept together more than enough times to create some type of attachment and I had told her that I loved her too many times for me to let it go now. She had probably never considered where we had been or where we are and especially not where we were going. 

I held her hips in place, watching us in the mirror. She placed her palms on my chest and pushed herself back to eye level. "You aren't answering my questions." she pouted, her shoulders sagging. My shirt slipped down her shoulders and she raised her eyebrows.

"Is this going anywhere?" I dropped my hands from her hips, wanting her to get off of my lap. I wanted a cigarette between my lips, lit or not. Preferably with a strawberry lipstick ring on it. But she stayed there, staring into my eyes with her wide green ones, her mouth hanging open for a few seconds. I sounded pathetic, needy almost. But I needed her to answer me. She stared at me for a while longer, the sound of the clock above the bed intensifying. 

She sucked in a deep breath and I closed my eyes, prepared for the "We're only teenagers" answer. I expected her to climb off of me, fixing her ponytail in the mirror just so she wouldn't have to look at me. My eyes snapped open faster than usual when her hands cupped my face, lifting my lips to brush against hers. She closed her lips around mine, running her thumbs over my cheeks. I stared at her, waiting for her to avoid the question with a simple roll of her hips.