Poetry in Motion

16

Morning came quickly, or at least that's what it felt like for Arthur. His eyes slowly opened, staring at the back of the sofa as his mind came to. Hearing a quiet snuffling sound, he looked down. Imelda. He was on his side; she was on hers and he had his arms wrapped around her tightly as she buried her face against his top.

Everything came back to him then. The kiss, the conversations, everything. Arthur's face slowly stretched into a wide smile. Together. That word came back to his mind as well. Together. Arthur was unaware to how this would truly feel. He had already suspected that their relationship wasn't going to return to normal after the kiss. But this, this was something else.

Stroking a hand down her hair, Arthur was rewarded with a quiet grumble and her wanting to nestle more. If she nudged anymore against him, he was going to fall off the sofa. Yet, he needed to wake her. He had work, and he was rather sure she did too. Yet, she looked so peaceful, he was comfortable and at peace too. But they couldn't stay here forever, though Arthur wished they could. He was going to just take this moment, keep it in his mind. One of the few fond memories he was going to have in his life.

"El, you need to wake up. I've got to go to work." Arthur whispered gently, trying to wake her. He even shook her shoulder, not too much but enough to rock her from side to side against him and the sofa.

"Arthur, no...five more minutes," Imelda said, her voice muffled against his chest.

"I have a meeting to go to, remember?" Arthur tried; he knew she wasn't going to drop him talking to Hoyt. He thought using that, or reminding her of that would have her moving. Instead, what he got was her yawning quietly, her arm wrapping around his middle tightly and her shaking her head. "El...Imelda, come on," he said heavily with a sigh. He even tried using her full name, something that he'd grown out of doing. He thought it would've had an effect, no.

"Arthur, will you let me know how it goes?" Imelda asked, out of the blue as she peered up at him. She was seemingly more awake than what he presumed. Maybe she was just dragging moving? Not that he blamed her. He was warm and comfortable. Why would anyone want to move from this situation?

"Yes, of course I will." Arthur stroked the back of his hand down her cheek. Imelda's eyes just looked up at him, Arthur smiled. "I'll come see you at work and let you know how it goes. Where else am I going to get a good lunch at a discounted price?" He queried, grinning over the running joke as she beamed up at him too. "Come on," he patted her arm, she got the message and moved it. Arthur sat up, stretching and tilting his head. Each movement seemed to come with cracking popping joints again before he stood up.

"Will you meet me from work?"

Arthur turned, he looked down at Imelda, she had huddled back into the cover with a shy smile. He knelt down, "I think you already know the answer." Like hell was he going to allow her to walk home alone now. Arthur was always going to do it. But now that they were seemingly together, officially, he was always going to do this.

Imelda sat up, "Want to go out somewhere?"

Arthur looked up at her a little confused. "Like...a date...?" He trailed off awkwardly. He hadn't ever been on a date before.

Imelda smiled and nodded, "You choose where. We can come back, change, then go again. It's just a suggestion, you don't have to take me up on it, Arthur. Just...you know...dating tends to come with dates," she laughed quietly with a shrug.

"Okay," Arthur nodded enthusiastically, he even sounded it too as he jumped to a stand and walked off with a slight skip in his step. It sounded like a brilliant idea to him. Only, he had to think of a destination. He for one knew neither of them were exactly the richest people. So somewhere small, not too expensive...