Palindrome

Sixty-Two

Chapter 62

Aarohi

"Favorite color?" I shoot. 

"I don't have one," Paxton answers. 

"Why?" I ask indignantly. 

Paxton scratches the side of his face, "It's kinda embarrassing." 

"We're past that point," I argue leaning back on the stiff blinds of the hospital window. Paxton comes over to where I'm sitting on the window ledge. He studies me, drinking in his oversized jacket that I'm wearing with a tank top and jeans. I look right back at him, taking in his jeans, DECA shirt, and messy ginger hair. Soon that'll be gone too. He's made me promise to leave before they do so I don't have to see the entire process even though I argued I wanted to. 

Outside this room, Nagi and a few other friends of his are waiting. However, after spending the first hour with them, Paxton wanted the last half an hour to be just him and I. There's this silent agreement between us that we won't acknowledge anything till the very end. Until that moment of finality, he's letting me quiz him on trivial matters that I'm supposed to remind him if he does forget. 

"When I was a kid, I couldn't pick between any of the colors because I thought it would hurt the other colors' feelings. That belief persisted till date," He confesses, looking at the potted plant beside us with an insane amount of interest. 

I laugh, and he frowns deeply. "You think that's idiotic, don't you?" 

Shaking my head, I grin, "I think it's adorable, you're adorable." 

"Of all the adjectives you could use," Paxton says wryly, folding his arms. 

Arching an eyebrow, I pull out my phone. "Oh, I'm sorry, would you prefer sexy, hot? Because Pax, let me tell you only this man deserves to be called those adjectives."

He squints, taking a few seconds to process it because of his newfound loss of sight. Then his eyes widen as he realizes that I'm showing him pictures from his Bar Mitzvah that Ella sent me as a joke. 

"Delete," Paxton orders lunging for my phone. 

"Heck no," I argue, holding my device up as he reaches for it. Finally, when he does grasp it from my hands, his gaze flicks over to my face. We're very close now, inches apart. 

Here we go again. 

Not that I'm complaining. 

In one swift movement, his hands press down on my knees as my own wrap around his neck. My lips brush against his softly at first before they become frantic—Paxton groans as I intertwine my fingers in his hair. 

"God Rohi, you're killing me," he breathes, pushing the sleeves of his jacket off my shoulder.

"Phone," I demand as he starts trailing kisses from my jaw down my neck. A gasp escapes me when his lips touch a soft spot, and I can feel him grinning mischievously against my skin. 

Paxton chuckles darkly, brushing his lips against mine again. "I think I'll keep it actually." 

Rolling my eyes, I pull him in closer. His fingertips graze my bare skin as the cool metal of the ring he's wearing presses against the small of my back. A shiver runs through me as his lips work on leaving more kisses against my shoulder. Desperately I try to ignore the pounding of my heart as his warm breath fans my skin. 

"Paxton, we shouldn't-" I mumble weakly as he softens any final protests with his lips. My own part to grant him entrance so that I'm lightly tasting his as I sink into his arms.