Devil's Food Cake [✓]

41 | 'sulky susan'

I decided to walk back with him, only because Zachary pestered me to accompany him to his flat. It turned out that he needed a walking companion. I really didn't know how to decline in a diplomatic way or without feeling like a rubbish friend. Besides, it was sweet that he offered to make me tea and we could watch that 'silly' urban fantasy show I liked (ok, was obsessed by, but that was another story) —it was abnormal for him to be so... thoughtful.

Unless this was another one of his tricks. Was he going to try to seduce me? I tried not to think about that scenario. I was in enough trouble as it was without having recourse to fancy.

His friends had all decided to head back to the nearest tube station. He said it would take us about half an hour to walk it. Apparently he was trying to limit his use of public transport the past few months.

'You should try it too when you're not sulking with me...' He tilted his head at me, flashing me a grin.

'What? How am I sulking?' I was genuinely puzzled.

His mouth drooped downwards before one side curling up into a half-smile. I punched his arm lightly and he started to snicker.

'I could turn back now and I wouldn't regret it.'

'See, you're sulking.'

'No, I'm not! But I soon will be if you continue on like this!'

'If you say so, Sulky Susan. You weren't really a good sport. I expected some enthusiasm earlier.'

I decided to indulge him by not bothering to launch into a ready-made retort from my sizeable menu of comebacks. It would have fed into his original criticism of me being a 'Sulky Susan'.

I tried another tactic. 'Maybe that's just my natural expression.' I shrugged.

He tilted his head as if to say 'really?', one eyebrow was raised, unconvinced.

'You're not smiling at me.' For a brief moment, he looked away distraught, to my shock. He seemed to be processing something, an emotion that left us as both at a loss for words.

I was stumped. It was as if we were both naked in the open among hundreds, if not thousands of, strangers dashing back home on their daily commute. I could have said a thousands words; perhaps if I had said something, I wouldn't have felt so hollow inside. An inexplicable part of me, deep down, burrowing like a small creature in a hole of my own making, knew that he was significant. It whispered to me like a snake rustling amongst the trees, dangling a juicy apple in my line of vision.

It was wrong, but I wanted him. So, so much.

He glanced up at me, realising that he'd gone too far. A glimmer of naughtiness brightened his features, as though he he knew exactly what I was thinking. I would have been offended if I didn't feel so pathetic at the same time. I was coming to learn that Zachary wasn't like normal people. He could be vulnerable, if he got something out of it. His emotional reveals weren't manufactured as such; just targeted to achieving set goals. I wasn't exactly sure why he was interested in me, because I'd made it fairly clear to him that I probably would not have anything to do with him as long as Jonny and I were an item. It didn't make sense to muddy the waters and suddenly dump Jonny for such an unreliable person.

Even this walk was merely an entree to the main meal, as I was about to find out. The slippery snake, silent and sensuous, was about to show me that he wasn't as cold and miserable as he made himself out to be...