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nuagederose · 24 days

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Dark Roots of Earth | Chapter Twelve: Kisses Don’t Lie

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Though Valentina had gone back home in a haste, Chuck and Eric lingered back in the apartment for a bit longer than usual just in time for Christine to whip up a round of breakfast for the three of them. Eric had offered to help her, but the only thing he could make up for her was the toast to go amongst all the three of them.

She could scarcely eat up her scrambled eggs, however, given she kept on thinking about Alex and meeting him over at his place for the day. But at the same time, she knew that she had to eat something lest she be hungry all day long. She thought about the dream she had had the night before, and she wondered if she could run it by him when she saw him later on. Chuck meanwhile sipped on his coffee and showed her a little smile from behind his mug.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Christine asked him as she munched on her piece of wheat toast with apricot jam on the top.

“I’ll raise you two pennies for two of your thoughts,” he retorted, to which Eric snickered.

“What’s the catch?” she asked him.

“The catch is you and I do something together sometime this summer,” Chuck said.

“I dunno, man, she’s been chillin’ with ol’ Mr. Skolnick lately,” Eric retorted in a singsong voice.

“Well, yeah, I know that,” Chuck scoffed. “But I kinda want the same thing that you and her have, though.”

“Hang out and be buddies and stuff?” Christine asked him.

“Exactly, yeah!”

“Okay, um… what would you like to do together?”

“I wanna take you to dinner and a show,” Chuck declared.

“Dinner?” Eric demanded, taken aback.

“You and I went to dinner every night we were in Monterey,” she pointed out as she took another bite of toast.

“Yeah, but we were in California, though,” he insisted. “It’s different back here in the Big Apple.”

Chuck and Christine glanced at one another.

“Eric, this is the city that never sleeps,” she pointed out. “People here don’t give a shit about what you and I do together, or what me and him do together.” She sipped on the rest of her coffee and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

“Anyways, I gotta meet Alex today,” she informed them as she picked up her plate and took it to the sink. Chuck offered to do the same for himself and for Eric as well, the latter of whom had a rather wounded look upon his face. Christine watched him out of the corner of her eye as she rinsed off their plates under the faucet, and she wondered as to what was going through his mind right then. It reminded her of a time when another boy had his eye on her and Chris was standing off to the side with a similar look upon his face. She dared not dwell on such a memory as that time had long gone behind her, and Eric was totally different by comparison, but it still flashed through her mind like a flicker of light at the start of a thunderstorm.

The two of them still gave her a hug as well, and by the time she was alone again in the apartment, Christine ventured back to her bedroom and changed her clothes. She knew that it was going to be a rather warm day that day, and thus, she wore that low-cut white top and matching choker that Alex had given her right before she left for California. Quickly, she ran a hairbrush through her hair and fixed it up into the taut ponytail at the back of her head: the very tips of her hair brushed against the small of her back, and she knew that it was time for a trim lest the split ends make their return.

She gave her neck a quick swipe of the perfume that smelled of cherry blossoms, and then she hoisted her purse over her shoulder. As she made her way out to the hallway and locked the door, she thought about Eric’s behavior back there.

Maybe that trip out to Monterey had done something to him, and something that he hadn’t the courage to talk about, either. She flashed back on the kiss that he had given her, and she wondered if there could be something there should the whole thing with Alex not work out at all.

But she loved Alex. She was in love with him, and she knew that in her heart, she could love him more and love him better than Captain Howdy ever could.

Captain Howdy did not love him at all, as far as she knew. But she wondered if there could be room in her heart for two guys as she strode out to the sunshine and the bus stop. The warm sun washed over her and remained with the warmth over her as she rode on down to his neighborhood, the street lined with all of the trees, which had long bloomed with the fresh green leaves of spring and summer and gave the entire neighborhood a cool blanket against the hot days upon New York City.

Through a gap in the canopy, the sun shone down on the crown of Alex’s head, and Christine could see his plume of gray from right down the street as a result. He peeked over his sunglasses at her: it made her think that he was watching her like a movie star.

“Peek-a-boo,” she told him as she came within earshot. Her eyes wandered down to his long toned legs, accentuated by his black shorts and fitted shirt.

“There’s that girl,” he sang out as if he was up on Broadway. His warm, rounded voice echoed over the sidewalk and she knew that he had been teaching himself how to carry his tune better. “There’s that girl, there’s that girl…” Christine strode up to him and kissed him on the neck and then on his cherry lips, the latter of which she held onto as if her life depended on it.

Alex held back a bit and ran his fingers through his soft black hair: the gray streak shone under the sun as if it really was made of silver.

“Where did that come from?” he asked her with that lopsided smile on his handsome face.

“I just… wanted to feel you for a bit longer,” she confessed with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“You know, it’s the damnedest thing: I was feeling the same way just last night. I really wanted to hang up and go over to your place.”

“You wouldn’t’ve liked it,” she said. “We had loud music going, all kinds of coolers flowing, someone called the cops, it was this whole big scene.” He treated her to that soft chuckle of his.

“Wanna go down to Coney Island?” he offered her with another run of his fingers through his hair.

“Oh, baby, you know it.” She lovingly patted the side of his face and kissed him again, that time with a slight raise onto her toes to reach him. She then held onto his hand, and the two of them walked together to his car parked right near the corner. When he let go of her hand, he took his keys out of his front pocket and let his sunglasses slide down the bride of his nose.

“You look really sexy, by the way,” she told him as her eyes wandered from his chest all the way down to his feet. “Showing off your skin and your curves like this.”

“If I have curves, what do you have?” he joked as he unlocked the car.

“More of curves?” she replied with a bit of reluctance, and he burst out laughing at that.

They both climbed into the car in unison and, once he fired it up, she was met with the soft crooning of Karen Carpenter on his radio.

“Man, you never hear the Carpenters anymore,” he remarked as he switched up the volume dial. Christine rolled down the window and let the warm summer air sweep over her.

She thought about the last summer Chris was alive, and one day while on the way to his house, she had the window down and her hand out the window to feel the breeze through her fingers. She did just that, much to Alex’s pleasure. In one small corner of her mind, she refused to believe that Chris was gone, that it was all some terrible joke and he had faked his death and was currently living under the boardwalk down at Coney Island, or out in the woods in the middle of Central Park. But she had left him behind in the past along with the memory of Ann and the memory of the time before Alex, and now she looked on at the big Ferris wheel once he turned the corner.

It was a warm summer day and yet there weren’t many people there; luckily for them, Alex took the spot due across the street from the parking lot.

Once he had locked the door and tucked his keys into his front pocket once again, she snuck up behind him and reached into his back pocket. She flexed her fingers inside of his pocket, which in turn made him flinch a bit.

“Hey, watch it,” he teased her. She did it again, and that time, he flinched forward and clutched at himself.

“God, you’re frisky today,” he joked.

“It’s what happens when you call me late at night and I wake up thinking about you,” she replied in a single breath. “I’m wanting to touch you.”

He peeked over his sunglasses at her again, that time with a playful little smirk on his face.

“I was also wanting to hear your voice, too,” she added, and he raised his eyebrows at that.

“You know, truth be known, I feel that way sometimes, too,” he confessed as they were met with the unmistakable smell of French fries, followed by popcorn.

“We need to have some fun,” she whispered right into his ear.

“We’re about to go into Coney Island!” he insisted. “Of course we’re going to have some fun.”

“No, no, I mean…” She lightly kissed the side of his neck, which in turn made him gasp and shiver. She held back to find him raising his eyebrows at her. “Let’s have some fun.”

“Oh, I see,” he breathed, and he showed her a playful little smile at that. “Well, first things first, let us play with the little island we have here.”

It reminded her of the time that he took her there before the rainstorm fell down over them, except this time, the sun shone down on them in the form of another shower. She held his hand, even when he had his free hand upon one of those old brown cream soda bottles with a straw out the spout. His black hair seemed to flow against the warm sea breeze, and she had her chest out in the open. There was a little stuffed sock monkey, bright green, the same color as the bushels of cotton candy off to the side, over by the balloon wall that caught her eye.

She grinned to herself when she convinced him of it. She knew that he was more than willing to spend money on her, money on her rather than Captain Howdy: he was spending enough on her, what with the wedding and everything.

Alex held the dart next to his head and chucked it to the first balloon right smack in the middle of the board. It popped so loud that it caught her off guard.

“That’s how we do it!” he declared with a chuckle. The second dart hit the one slightly to his left, and the third took the one slightly on his right.

“We’ll take the green monkey,” Christine declared to the kid behind the counter; he handed it over to Alex, who scritched the crown of its head as if it was real.

“For you, my love,” he told her as he handed her the monkey, to which she took and cradled in her arms as if it was made of gold.

“Shall we go down to the beach?” he suggested as he took a sip from his soda bottle.

“Please,” she quipped, and she held the monkey in one arm so she could hold hands with him again.

They walked side by side down towards the boardwalk and the panoramic view of the beach and the ocean. The aged wood of the walkway felt warm underneath their feet, and it radiated against their interlocked hands.

Like the sun was blessing the forbidden love between the two of them.

They passed by the bathrooms, and he held back a bit from her.

“Okay, but… um… before you and I get busy down here, I have to use the little boys’ room,” he told her, and he swiped her lips with a hearty kiss, the hardest one yet complete with a wave of sea spray cast over their heads.

“I’ll be right here,” she promised him with a wink, and she held onto his soda bottle with one hand. Christine watched Alex go in through the blue door on the left side, and she lingered back with the monkey in her arms. She pressed it up against her chest like she would a textbook, and she leaned against the brick wall due across from the doors.

She spotted something out of the corner of her eye, and she turned her head and looked up the boards to the spot on the wall, way out of earshot from her. She recognized that feathery blonde hair, now made golden by the summer sun, and she recognized her father anywhere.

Her eyes wandered to the water fountain right across from them, and she knew that short straight black hair anywhere as well.

Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of them, and she blindly ducked into the men’s room so she was close to Alex. The men’s room was small and bright, and smelled of fresh lemons as if they had just cleaned in there. Indeed, the smooth powder blue tiles under her feet shone under the fluorescent lights as if they were brand new. She caught the sound of something hitting the porcelain in one of the stalls, followed by a low thud.

“Whoa, ow!”

Christine rounded the corner and stood before the one door that had been closed.

“You okay in there?” she asked him through the door.

“I fell off the toilet.” He grunted out a bit as he picked himself up off the floor. “Not the first time that’s happened, though. And at least it’s clean in here, too.”

“Yeah, it actually smells really clean in here,” she remarked as she kept her folded arms up to her chest.

“Besides, this is the men’s room—you know you’re not supposed to be in here,” he told her; she could see his feet under the bottom of the door.

“I don’t care,” she confessed to him.

“I should’ve known,” he teased her with a chuckle. Christine held back against the wall with the monkey pressed right up against her chest. Even though she was in the men’s room, she didn’t mind standing there waiting for him, and she knew she was comfortable with him. The sound of his voice and his presence in the stall before her made her momentarily forget why she came in there in the first place.

“I saw Nelly and my dad down the boardwalk,” she told him right as he shifted his feet on the clean tile floor.

“And that’s why you’re in here?” he asked her, dumbfounded.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“That’s kind of an odd pairing to think about,” he confessed with a slight strain to his voice. “You sure it was them?”

“I know my dad from anywhere and I’m ninety-nine percent sure that was Nelly he was talking to.”

“Not sure why you’d run in here with that in mind, though,” he confessed.

“I also saw your fiancée out there, too.”

There was a brief pause behind the stall door. “Shit. Ah, shit.” He fetched up a sigh. “What was going on?”

“I don’t know. My dad and Nelly were talking to each other, and she had her back turned to them so she probably had nothing to do with it. It’s still disconcerting to see, though.”

“Yeah, I’ll say. So much for Nelly being a friend to us, too. At least I lie for you, Christine.” He then stood up and she heard him pull up his shorts. He then flushed and opened the door at the same time, and he greeted her with a nervous look on his face and his sunglasses perched upon his head.

“Looks like we’re going to have our work cut out for us, my dear,” he confessed to her.

“No doubt about that.”

“Let me wash my hands and then I’ll take a look out there…”

Christine held off to the side of the faucets as he scrubbed his hands with the soft soap right next to him.

“I love how you aren’t offended by my odor, either,” he confessed to her with a glimpse up to the mirror.

“I actually don’t even notice it,” she told him with a shrug of her shoulders. “It’s just a part of life, anyway.”

“Exactly!” he replied as he switched off the water. He took a few paper towels from the dispenser on the wall and dried off his long and lanky hands.

“Oh, good, you still held onto my soda!” he declared as she handed it to him and his free, dry hand. He took another sip from the straw and then shook his head about.

“Okay, now, let’s see what’s going on out there,” he said as he opened the door with the paper towel. They were greeted by the ocean breeze and the warmth of the sun, but Christine thought of lingering back away from there lest one of them look in their direction. Alex peered off to the right, and then to the left. He held still and she knew they were still there.

“Oh, god, that is my fiancée,” he muttered as he put his sunglasses back on. “And it looks like that is Nelly, too.”

“What do you think we should do?” Christine asked him. Alex didn’t say anything as he tossed the paper towels into the trash can by the door, and then he took her by the hand and led her away from there. She daren’t glance back, and she knew that they would be safe in the furthest stretch of beach from there.

#dark roots of earth #dark roots of earth fanfic #as the seasons grey #as the seasons grey fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #chapter 12 #testament #testament band #alex skolnick #chuck billy #eric peterson #oc tag #traditional art #drawings #fanfic with art #artists on tumblr #badgalnirvhannahart

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nuagederose · 3 months

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Dark Roots of Earth | Chapter Seven: Hot for Teacher

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It was a warm, summer morning by the time Christine had checked in for the class session, and she hoped that nothing would stand in her way for the duration of the hour. She knew that she could find a moment at any given point following the class hour, and she was more than willing to take it out with him. It was her very first time ever being in summer school, even though she wasn’t the one undertaking anything.

She let her long ponytail cascade down behind her head, and she wore the necklace he gave her with pride. The bright green visitor tag clung to her purse strap as if she bore a badge; however, she was more than eager to wear her long green coat again, just so she could be extra cozy and comfy on those cold, shorter days when the rains started to filter in from the ocean and down from Canada. She also hoped to tell Alex about Chris and show him the grave at some point, at least before the snow came in.

She padded into the classroom, right around the corner from his tiny cramped office, and she immediately began to plan ahead for his lunch break following the class period.

She spotted a pair of small tables and a couple of stools tucked up against the left side of the room, right next to the teacher’s desk. She spotted his plume of gray hair behind the desk, but he had his back to the doorway. It seemed so strange that she wasn’t going to be participating in the actual class session, but she obliged in taking one of the two tables there, the one closest to him. As she took her seat and set her purse down on the top of the table before her, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Something with straight black hair tied up in a loose bun at the back of the head and a gray varsity shirt.

It took her a second to recognize her from Valentina and Colette—

“Sabrina!”

She showed Christine a grin laced with a piece of gum, and she opened her arms for her.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Sabrina declared.

“Same here! What’re you doing here?”

��I was going to be bored all summer otherwise,” she explained with a shrug of her shoulders. “It was either this or be all cooped up in that dusty old apartment with my grandma and my sister. Besides, I really wanna see Alex again.” She paused for a second. “Is that why you’re here?”

“Don’t tell anyone, though,” Christine quipped with a shake of her head and her finger up to her lips; Sabrina giggled and flashed her a wink.

“Besides, I haven’t seen you in a while, how’s it going?” Sabrina asked her.

“Just got back from California. Eric and I went out there for over a week.”

“Wow! I don’t get to travel much so I’m always envious of people who like to vacation and go places.”

“You’ll have your chance some day,” Christine vowed to her.

“You really will,” Alex chimed in right then from behind them; Christine blushed at the sight of him and the snug black shirt wrapped around his body. The frame of his glasses had a little extra sheen to them, and his eyes seemed a touch clearer as well. “You really will have your chance one day, Lady Bird.” Sabrina smiled at that as he walked on to his podium with a thick, floppy book tucked under his arm.

Christine was a touch relieved she brought a notepad to help with the doodles for her graphic novel as she knew that it was going to be a long period. It was Alex, and he always taught it in a way that she could follow it with utmost ease, but she was glad that it wasn’t her hearing about second level music theory in all its elongated rambles.

More students filed in, and Sabrina followed Alex over to his podium. Christine took her seat right as a tall boy with long wavy hair the color of molasses strode in on her right. His bright eyes contrasted with his dark skin, such that it was all she could see as she looked up at him.

“You must be his guest,” he told her in a low, gruff voice, and he took his seat next to her.

“Indeed, I am,” she replied as she leaned back in her seat for a better look at him.

“I’m Chuck,” he said to her with a shake of the hand.

“Christine,” she introduced herself; his grip was hearty and firm but gentle. He took his spot next to her and folded his hands over his lap.

“Okay, my aides are both here,” Alex was saying as he took roll call. Christine spotted Sabrina’s bun about three rows back from the front, just like with her and the Sundaes. She then returned her gaze to Alex, who towered over the podium in all his might.

Chuck then leaned over to her.

“You like him, don’t you?” he whispered into her ear, and she gingerly nodded her head. He gestured for her to move in closer. “Let me tell you, he’s definitely got it bad for you. He’s told me quite a bit about you since he started working this summer.”

“Oh, yeah.” Christine couldn’t resist the grin on her face at that. “He and I, we’ve had some fun together the last several months. In fact, we’re coming up on a year here.”

Chuck raised his fist to her, and she gave him a bump with her own.

“You should totally make out with him after class, just to flaunt yourself,” he suggested.

“Oh, I like to flaunt with him,” she assured him, and he gave her another fist bump.

“You oughta bring in some lace and leather into the equation, too,” he suggested.

“I should have a whip, too, I reckon,” she cracked.

“Nice little whip and give ‘em a spankin’, too,” he added, and she giggled at that.

“What’re we giggling about over here?” Alex interjected right then as he walked over to his desk for something.

“We’ll tell you later,” Chuck promised him. Alex squinted his eyes at the two of them as if he was trying to figure them out, and Christine nibbled on her bottom lip and took out her notepad from her purse. Chuck leaned back in his seat while she scribbled some words down on those fresh lines and added a little doodle at the bottom. She knew she had a way to go with things like shading, and thus, she knew that the book was going to take her a while. If it took her all the way to the wedding, then she knew that she could do it.

Despite her suspicion that the class was going to be long, Alex made the time go by with haste, and she couldn’t help but wonder as to how he did it. The next thing Christine knew, the class was being dismissed.

She tucked her notepad back into her purse while Chuck caught up with him for a question: it was striking to see someone taller than Alex.

Christine turned from the desk right as Sabrina walked on closer to her from the very back of the group of students. One of them flounced towards the door, and she only caught a glimpse of the side of their head.

“Bitch,” Sabrina muttered under her breath. Christine craned her neck for a better look out the door, but the last person had already walked out of the room.

“What was that all about?”

“That was her,” Sabrina told her in a low voice given Alex was right there. “Captain Howdy. That last person who just walked out of here, and she just about pushed me when I came over here to talk to you, the fucking bitch.”

Christine gaped at her. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure of it. She had a wedding band on her finger, all through the class period she was looking at Alex as if she wanted him, and when you and the T.A. were giggling about him, she gave you a dirty look. I was right behind her so I couldn’t get a good look at her face but I did see her purse her lips. I just had this persistent feeling that it was her.”

“What the hell, I didn’t even know she was here,” Christine confessed, and she folded her arms over her chest.

“I didn’t, either,” Sabrina said with a shake of her head. “It has me spooked now.”

“Don’t be,” Christine insisted to her. “I feel this is just going to be a onetime thing here with me, so don’t worry about me.”

Sabrina sighed through her nose and gazed past her to Alex; Christine turned and looked back to see him rummaging through the desk drawer in search of something. She then returned to Sabrina.

“You sure you didn’t see her face?” she asked her in a near whisper.

“I only saw her hair,” Sabrina replied, also in a soft tone. “She’s got shoulder length hair like he does.” She curled her upper lip at that, and Christine frowned.

“Exactly like him?” And Sabrina nodded.

“Yeah. It’s like she photocopied his hair, made it less frizzy and rid of the gray streak, and put it on her own head.”

“That’s kind of creepy when you think about that,” Christine said with a shudder. “A couple that looks almost exactly alike.”

“Yeah, I definitely feel so,” Sabrina agreed. “Reminds me of Marlene’s ex-husband. Chris, I’m not even kidding, if I didn’t know better, I’d swore he was her brother.” She shuddered.

“Shifting gears away from… being emotionally scarred for life,” Christine said with a clearing of her throat. “What’s your schedule like?”

“I have study hall right now for the next hour, followed by a really short ten-minute break, and then I have psychology, and then lunch at one,” Sabrina told her. “And then I have geography, and volleyball practice, and then I go pick up my sister and then we go home. Nelly’s giving us a ride, too.”

“Nelly’s here over the summer, really!”

“Oh, yeah! She’s got these cool no-bake pies and cookies for the lunch period, too, and she says it’s to keep us cool when we’re feeling too hot. It’ll be good for me in particular because the last practice I had, it was so hot.”

“I didn’t even know we had a volleyball team here,” Christine confessed.

“Oh, yeah! We’ve got that, plus basketball, and track and field. I did gymnastics when I was a kid and now my sister’s doing it. I’ve always wanted to do water aerobics or something with swimming but this’ll have to do.”

“My parents were both in karate when I was a baby, so any of the martial arts for me.”

“That’d be badass,” Sabrina remarked. “Take up some kind of martial art and then go kick Captain Howdy’s ass if she lays a hand on Alex, or on me, for that matter.”

“A martial art, or boxing is another one I think of doing,” Christine added, and she raised her fists before her face as if to fight her.

“I ain’t gonna mess with you,” Sabrina joked with a chuckle. “I’ll catch you later, Chris.”

“See you later, Sabrina,” Christine followed suit with a pretty little wave to her right as she left the classroom. Christine then turned her attention to Alex, who hoisted his courier bag over his shoulder. Without a moment’s hesitation, she strolled over to him and put her arms around him and planted her lips onto his to stop him dead in his tracks.

He tugged back for a look into her face and a pushing of his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

“Whoa. Hi.”

“Hi. C’mon. Let’s go and have some fun.”

“I have thirty minutes so, good idea,” he told her in a broken voice. He ran his fingers through his frizzy dark hair, and she caught a flash of the roots within his gray streak. She licked her lips and took him by the hand, and she led him out of the room to the hallway. Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought about the fact that she was in the same room with Captain Howdy and she never realized it for even a second, either. She led him around the corner to his office.

“I overheard you and Lady Bird talking about sporty stuff?” he recalled as he opened the door for her.

“Yeah, she and I are thinking of taking up water sports and fightin’ words, too,” she quipped as she guided him into the cozy confines of his office. He closed the door and she leaned her back to the door panels themselves. It was air conditioned in there and she could feel her nipples tightening as a result.

“Been meaning to ask you this, too,” he began as he kissed the side of her neck, “how’s your dad doing?”

“He’s doing better as far as I know,” she told him. “I think I’m gonna go visit him this afternoon after class, and then Valentina’s going to spend the night with me. We’re going to have some pie courtesy of my mom.”

“Ooh, what kind of pie?” Alex asked her.

“Strawberry, if I remember correctly. It’s one of those no-bake pies so it’s nice and cool and refreshing for a day like this.”

“Ooh, that sounds amazing and decadent,” he remarked with his hand rested upon his belly. She put her hand on top of his, and she ran her hand down the small of his back to the seat of his pants.

“I need this,” he whispered to me. “I need—this. So much. So fucking much, you have no idea.” He gasped and lifted his head from her. His chest pushed out towards her face, and she rested her hands on him.

“Do you think we could quite literally do it in here?” she asked him. “Here in the safety and peace and quiet of your office?”

“We don’t have much time, though,” he pointed out to her as he ran his fingertips down the curvature of her spine to the small of her back. Christine slowly ran her hand down his deep chest: she raked her fingernails along the full shape of his belly, which in turn made him shift his weight.

“How do you make music theory sound so erotic?” she whispered to him between caresses on his neck.

“I know my shit, my Strawberry Girl,” he breathed out to her. She reached under his shirt and she thought about what Chuck had suggested to her.

Some lace and leather. She had neither at her disposal, but she knew that she could find it. Alex held her face in his hands and gave her his firmest and most passionate kiss yet.

“I want to have some more time with you,” he whispered to her. “I want to see you here more.” Another firm one on his part once again.

“Is there anything artistic going on during the summer?” she asked him.

“I don’t think there is,” he confessed. “But let me take you to Coney Island again. Let me take you to a show. I want to spend time and money with you.”

“But what about your wedding? What about money you have set aside for that?”

“Weddings are a depressing affair,” he explained with a stroke of her face with his thumbs. “You know? It’s all the planning and the organization. Having to buy a dress for her and a suit for me. Thinking of what to serve for dinner. Thinking about what kind of cake. The date. The location…” He shook his head.

“Not if it’s someone whom you actually love,” she pointed out. “It’s not depressing if you’re marrying someone whom you love and who truly loves you.”

His eyes locked onto her own right then, and she believed that she was sailing along in the ocean.

“What’re you implying?” he asked her in a soft voice.

“Whatever you want me to imply,” she whispered back to him. Another passionate one, and that time, she slid her arms underneath his shirt to feel his soft flesh on his back, those beautiful handles over his hips.

“What kind of cake for the wedding…” Her voice trailed off.

“She wants marble cake,” he told her. “I just want cake.”

“But what kind of cake, though?” she asked him as he rounded her and pressed his back to the wall so he could give himself to her.

“Babka,” he replied. “Cheesecake, too.”

“Babka and cheesecake?”

“Babka and then cheesecake—well, no cheesecake and then babka, in that order. Flourless chocolate cake, apple cake, and krantz, too. Thinking about the wedding being so close to Hanukkah makes me want some good old fashioned diaspora goods all to myself. I know these things will fill every inch of my heart and my belly better than she can.”

“And I certainly can, too,” Christine added with a stroke of her finger down his chest. “Be careful, you eat all that cake and your tummy will get so big from it all.”

“Not if I balance it all out with some fruits and veggies. You know, stuff that’s healthy.”

“You’re still going to get a bigger belly, though,” she pointed out. “You’re going to be eating a lot of food.”

“Get a bigger belly all for you, dearest Christine,” he breathed out to her.

“Eat a lot of food and go scorched earth on her ass,” she laughed.

“God, you are so soft and docile and yet you have this violent side to you that likes to wreak havoc… and it’s—making me feel so much.”

Indeed, she ran her fingers down to the crotch of his jeans, and she could feel how much he had firmed up in there. She thought of stripping off his pants for him, just to give him some relief, but then there was a knock on the door.

“Are you kidding me,” he grumbled.

“Who’s that?”

“Alex?” a boy’s voice came in through the panel.

“Forgot I had a meeting during my break today,” he said, to which he sighed.

“What should I do?” she asked him in a hushed voice.

“Um, just take your purse and I’ll cover for you,” he assured her. “I’ll catch you after school, I get off at three.” He ran his fingers through his black hair and straightened out his glasses and his shirt. Christine fixed her top and the strap on her purse to make it look as though they were having a brief chat. She opened the door and ducked out of there first.

“Sorry to make you wait, Henry, I had a quick discussion with a student…” she heard him say as she walked onward to the cafeteria to meet up with Nelly and work on her graphic novel. All the while, she couldn’t help but laugh to herself that Alex was willing to lie for her.

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