SHADOW

Signs

"I'm outside your door. Come get me."

I stared at her door like it was some daunting task. A few nerve-wracking moments passed before her door swung open.

She grinned at me, assaulting me with a tight hug. I lifted her off of her feet effortlessly, nuzzling my nose against the side of her face.

"I didn't think you'd come," she said softly, her lips kissing over my face affectionately.

"How could I not," I said, walking us through the door and shutting it behind the both of us.

"Still," she said, her voice slightly raspy.

I set her down, and let her lead me to her bedroom. Our footsteps were quiet because the house was silent. As soon as her bedroom door closed behind us, I grabbed her by the waist, and spun her around, holding her firmly.

I looked over her, my green eyes subtly flickering to her lips.

She bit down on her full bottom lip. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too, Athena," I said honestly.

The fact that I was being honest confused me. I came to Athena because it was the right thing to do. I came to the conclusion that if I saw Jayde tonight I would only be setting myself up for failure.

Nothing had changed, and nothing would change. And that's how it had to be.

She hooked her pointer finger into the waistband of my grey sweats, tugging on them. A soft smirk pulled at the corner of my lips, as I closed what little distance there was between us and leaned down to kiss her passionately, moving my hands from her hips to palm both sides of her face.

She melted, complete putty in my hands.

I pulled away, allowing her to breathe. Athena stared at me intensely as she caught her breath.

I glanced back and sat on the edge of her bed, motioning for her to follow me. She straddled my hips, hooking her arms loosely around my neck. I sat there quietly, watching her as she scanned over me curiously, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth before she smiled shyly.

I didn't know what she was going to ask, but I knew something was on her mind.

"Something on your mind?"

She nodded, her eyes darting across my face nervously. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Ok, Ask."

"Did you decide to come just because you thought we were gonna have sex??? You sounded really hesitant on the phone when I called."

Her green-blue eyes searched my face, asking for my honesty.

"Do you want me to be honest?"

She nodded quickly.

"Well Athena...no." "I came because it was the right thing to do."

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. I knew she wanted to ask what I meant by that but she held her tongue and waited for me to continue.

"If all I was looking for was sex, I could've gotten that from really anybody."

She nodded slowly, "Okay."

"Did I answer correctly?"

"Yeah," she said softly.

That lustful energy that she had been oozing when I had first got here had completely dissipated.

"I hurt your feelings."

"No I just..."

"Listen, I hate to be blunt, but it's the truth. Just like you can't explain what it is about me that you like, other people feel the same way. And I'm not saying this to hurt you and I don't want you to think that just because people offer themselves up to me that I take the opportunity because I don't. I still have standards."