Surprise, but I miscalculated and this still has five chapters lmao. It ends on the twelfth chapter.
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DAYS IN, Christmas coming soon, and Orion still couldn't get over one measly fact. Hanging it over my head like a mistletoe or poison ivy. He perceives it as something nice and sweet as mistletoe, I say it feels more like poison ivy ready to attack my esophagus.
This afternoon, Orion's chance to pinch me with it again came while we were both working out the dough for my Christmas biscuits. I had prepped ingredients over the counter, both of us elbow deep in flour and kneading when he popped it in again like a bomb, leaning close to me that I stopped and stared at him with a dead-fish stare while a slow, burning smile rose on his lips.
"You said I'm your boyfriend," he said, grinning.
I gritted my teeth, looking away. "I never said boyfriend."
"Your beau."
"Shut up."
"I get it, I get it." Then he was snickering again, a minute into a supposed silence. I exhaled, trying to ease up my jaw. "You needed a cover story just in case anyone tries to visit you and they see me here." He raised an eyebrow. "I just didn't expect that excuse."
"They know I don't need a lot of things, I've been living alone for years now and have survived for years without companion nor help from anyone. Second, I can't say you're a relative because my dads side of the family is gone and my mom... Well, she grew up in foster care in the city. She never liked it out there so when she found my dad - lives literally in nowhere - it was perfect for her."
"Can I... Can I ask about your parents?"
"Sure, but there's not much to ask. They've been dead since I was a kid. My nonna never talked, I never felt the need for any answers, so I don't know much. I only have photographs of them. I look a lot like my mother, but my eyes are Amon eyes. All seeing and wide as a deer."
Orion peered, moving close. I stopped and watched him asses with a tilt of his head and a narrow of his own eyes. At this proximity, I notice his green eyes were lighter than I thought, with flecks of gray that made it lighter. He had a small birthmark close to one side of his nose like a scar, and it was so very small. He had moles too. A constellation of them.
I held my breath as he began speaking.
"I wouldn't say a deer. A deer has surprisingly small eyes. I'd say more of a cow's."
I raised both my eyebrows. "Gee, thanks."
"No, no, it's a compliment, haven't you heard of it before? I mean it is a pretty old compliment, but cow's eyes are so big and pretty. They have nice lashes and they look innocent."
