A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

31

"Nora."

"Hm?" She looked up from her book, folding the page over to not lose her place. "You alright, Lem?"

The male nodded, sitting next to her on the table. He was quiet for a while, only their breathing being the only noise between the two.

"Yeah, a while ago, y-you asked about my mother." He looked over, seeing her plain expression.

Nora sat in silence, allowing him to continue. "Well, I been thinking and I think I'm ready to tell you about her."

"If you're ready, I won't push you." She offered a small smile, placing her smaller hand on his for comfort.

"I don't remember much of her." He started, his words slow. "From what I do remember, she was a lot like aunt Maggie. Tough but caring."

Nora listened.

"Maggie always said she knew what to do, was always smart. When she left well, we were lost for a long time, but as I said last year Maggie's tough and so we pulled through."

"My Ma left when I was young, fifteen. She asked Maggie to take me in and left; we don't know if she's still alive or not but she's been gone a real long time so now, now I d-don't know what to think."

Nora nodded, squeezing his hand as he continued to talk.

"Maggie never found out why she left. She just did, said goodbye and walked away." His voice began to shake and his eyes were watering as he continued, he tried suppressing his tears but he failed, a singular tear rolled down his cheek before he broke out into sobs.

"Sorry, I-"

"It's good to cry. No shame in it." He smiled at her support, shuffling his chair closer to hers. It was awkward but he managed to twist his body around enough so that his arms could wrap around her waist and his head rested on her shoulder that didn't didn't cause too much comfort.

"You're good to me." She hummed, her arms wrapping around his kneck to hold him close.

"Seriously though, what did I do to deserve you in my life?" He mumbled, although his words were mainly muffled by her blouse and shoulders.

"I wonder the same thing." He pulled away, his eyes red from the suppressed cry. She wiped some tears away with her thumb, her hand placed on his cheek to carress it.

"I'm glad I rescued you from going to Sisika."

"And so am I." His hands had moved to now sit on her waist, his thumb rubbing along her side. She leaned forward, gently placing a soft kiss to his lips. It was innocent but they lingered against eachother for longer than expected, her right hand raising to comb through his hair. Her lips opening in the slightest to grant him entrance.

The longer the remained the more heated the kiss became, Lem moving to pull her onto his lap as he began to slowly unbutton her blouse.

"There you two are." They pulled away startled, Nora staggering to her feet as she nearly fell onto the floor. She turned to notice the all to family face, burned, of Maggie Fike.

"I seem to have interrupted something." She cleared her throat, her eyes moving to Lem who could only manage a sheepish grin.

Nora hadn't noticed the top few buttons of her shirt had been undone, due to herself usually having the same amount open when she couldn't be bothered for her appearance to be "well-kept." However, her hair had become untangle from the bun she had it in and her face was flushed, something so uncharacteristic for Nora when in Maggie's or anyone else's presence, for Lem... not so much.