“Wanna dance?" he asked
"I guess you'll do. All the cute guys are already taken," I answered with a grin.
"You wound me with your callousness," he sighed dramatically, taking me in his arms.
"I do have a black belt in demolishing overstuffed egos.”
“Will you please stop peeking at me like that? This is degrading enough as it is."
"Did it ever occur to you," I said, with a sly smile and a wink, "that you're irresistibly handsome, I can't keep my eyes off of you?"
He threw his head back in a laugh. "Of course. I should have realized.”
“He was fantastic eye candy, and I earned the right to have a few cavities.”
“Want to talk about it?" I asked gently.
He smirked at me. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm a guy. We don't do that." My nose scrunched up in confusion. "We don't discuss our feelings."
"That's a relief; I don't want to talk about it either.”
“How did I dance with a guy who's never heard of feminism?"
"I've heard of it, but that doesn't mean a woman can do everything a man can do," he goaded. I went to smack him on the back of his head, but he ducked with a snicker."I'm learning," he informed me. "How did I ever consider dating such a violent girl?"
"We're both lucky we got out early before we really knew each other."
"Oh yes, good thing neither one of is still interested in the other," Brent said with a playful grin.”
“I don't want any part of this. The whole thing kinda freaked me out. I'm sure girls always do what you tell them because you're hot, Brent, but I'm just not that interested."
His head perked up with a wide smiled. "You think I'm hot?”
“So, what you're saying is that I bring out your book - wielding, short tempered side?" He hooked his foot through the straps of my backpack and brought in front of him. "Removing temptation."
I gave him a look that communicated he should wither and die.”
“A few minutes after discovering we had a goal but no plan, Brent was laughing heartily at a pathetic joke I had made. It reminded me of the first
day on campus when I had thought his laughter sounded like a melody. It did now, even more so. It was music, beautiful, in a manly way, like a
sensual, slow jazz. I loved jazz.
“Jazz, huh?” Brent asked, his voice suddenly husky.
“Uh . . . what?”
“My laugh reminds you of jazz? Is there anything about me you don’t find attractive?” He rubbed his hand over his lips trying to cover his smirk.
“So tell me, how much do you love jazz?”
I’m sure my face was pinker than the inside of a watermelon. “I didn’t say any of that.”
“You didn’t have to say it, Yara, I could hear it.” Brent tapped the side of his head. “I can hear your thoughts.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Oh, but I am,” he said, completely straight-faced.”
“That was . . .” I trailed off trying to find the proper adjective.
“Long overdue?”
“Long overdue? You’re the one who got skittish when I mentioned how I felt and backed away when we almost kissed.”
“You call me on all my crap, don’t you?” He laughed throwing his head back. “That’s one of the things I love about you,” he said. His fingers
skimmed up my shoulders until they cradled my neck and my whole body tingling.”
“A book from a nearby shelf tumbled to the ground and the pages rustled a moment before settling. I bit my lip, debating. If this was a horror movie, I would be yelling at the stupid girl to run - but I ignored my own advice and walked towards the book.”
“Something horrible had happened here, and had left it's residue behind. It seemed to rise from the bottom of the tiled pool and leak from the ceiling, clinging to the walls and binding itself like some parasite into any host it could ensnare. I imagined it's cold fingers rooting inside me, spreading throughout, and leaving traces of itself embedded in my soul.”
“Going through a tragedy leaves an impression on people’s souls. Once you’ve had a loss, you learn to deal with it and move on, but you carry that hurt with you always" - Yara Silva `Intrinsical”
“Right,” I fumed, my index finger poking him in the
chest. “So we’re even then. My kiss didn’t count because it
was an accident and yours didn’t count because it was
strictly for medical purposes. Neither of them counted as
kisses.”
“Would you have wanted them to?” Brent demanded
suddenly, bending his neck so he whispered it in my ear”
“The wind picked up intensity as Brent’s lips found
mine, and I decided our training sessions were going to be
a lot of fun.”
“Oh, please. You’re the one whose arms were
wrapped around me,” I argued out of habit, folding my arms
with a scowl.
Brent’s warm breath touched the clear windows,
steaming them slightly. “You’re also the one who kissed me
while in my previously mentioned weakened state. Then
you claimed to not mean it. Tell me, do you take
responsibility for any of your actions?”
“Brent put his arm around me whispering, “I know.” I wasn’t sure if he was agreeing with the fact that we had conquered Thomas, if he knew the
real reason I had risked so much to save him, or if he understood why I was crying. I decided it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was
holding me.”
“He looked like he wanted to say something but his jaw tensed and
instead he let his hand travel from my elbow to my hand, the strong pulse from his fingers like a balm to my injured soul. I raised our entwined hands
and placed them over the steady thumping of his heart a twin of the rhythm in my own chest. I pressed my head to his chest letting the steady pace
of his heart and his citrusy, musky scent envelop me, lull me into a place of security. A place safe enough that I didn’t have to pretend I was okay. I
failed to sniff back the tears that began to leak from me.”
“I gulped; I had the overwhelming sensation that what we had done wasn’t enough. I’m not sure what I had expected, maybe a fairy tale ending
where a magic wand fixed everything, including all the darkness we had been through.
But this was no fairy tale. Nothing could bring back the thirty boys that had died. Nothing could take away the grief that had torn their family’s
hearts into shreds. Experiences like this, I realized, are wounds that never quite healed; they stayed with you and no amount of justice would erase
the scar.”
“The quickest way to a man`s heart,' said the instructor, 'is proverbially through his stomach. But if you want to get into his brain, I recommend the eye-socket.”
“do other animals have human emotions? Yes, they do. Do humans have animal emotions? Yes; they’re largely the same. Fear, aggression, well-being, anxiety, and pleasure are the emotions of shared brain structures and shared chemistries, originated in shared ancestry.”
“How do I know what I'm up for if you won't tell me what this is about?'
'It's about a friend,' she said simply. 'A blond woman with a sunshine laugh and the courage to light the world on fire.”
“The problem, as I see it, are the twin human creations of marriage and religion. It is marriage and religion that make copulation complex and hurtful. Marriage brings up notions of trust, cuckoldry and ownership, while religion makes certain kinds of intimacy sinful.”
“Courtiers were supposed to sound musical when they spoke, their laughter like a harp chord and their sneezes like notes on a flute,”
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