Unmuted

Unmuted- Chapter 12

“Close your eyes.”

“They are!” I laugh.

“No they’re not.”

I peeked through one of my eyes, checking to see if he was actually checking if my eyes were open, and as expected, he was not. His back was turned away from me and he was working under a dark green velvet cloth. I rolled my eyes, “You can not even see me.”

“Bunny,” he warned. He turned and found my eyes. He dropped the cloth, “Oh, come on. You said your eyes were closed,” his voice had held a tinge of annoyance.

I placed my left hand on my hip. “Hey, they were!”

“Well can you like,” his hands make crazy gestures. “Close them again?”

I jumped up and down at the center of the study. “No, I want to see already.” He shot me a scolding look. “You know I hate surprises,” I explained.

He considered this for a few beats, but then he finally gave in. “Fine,” he gestured for me to come to him. “Come on.” He tried to sound annoyed but I could still hear the excitement in his voice.

I squealed and ran over to him as quickly as my new grown legs could take me. I almost trip on the way (something that had started to happen often since I grew six inches in the past year), but found my balance before I do.  “What is it? What is it? What is it?”

He finally dropped his annoyed attitude and shared the same expression I imagined I had. "Okay, just," he paused to breathe since all the excitement had stolen his breath. "Calm down."

I laughed. "Me, calm down. You're the one who's not calm, even though you should be since you know what is under the stupid cloth.” I reached over towards the secret item only for my hand to be slapped away.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked his words colliding into one another.

“I just--”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?” I whined. “What are we waiting for?”

“I have to give my speech,” he said seriously.

“You have a speech to give?” I joked and threw my hands in the air dramatically.

His face cracked, and a flash of hurt made its way to his face before he quickly concealed it. “Fine,” he sighed and turned away from me staring ahead of him. “Just open it.”

I sighed deeply, feeling bad a little bit. “No, it is okay. Go on, give your silly speech.” I laughed. He did not say anything, but just stared at me silently, wordless. I reached over for his hand, but he pulled his hand away. “Jordan--”

“Why do you always do that?” he shot, his voice raised. He turned back in my direction his face a fever of expressions.

“Do what?” I asked surprised by his sudden outburst. I had no idea what he was referring to. I had not known I was doing anything -- did not know that I had been doing anything.

“You just...” he sighed deeply, perturbed. “You never let me do anything nice for you.” His face turned a tint of red, I was not sure whether from embarrassment or anger.

I stared at him mouth agape -- deflated, trying to figure out what he meant and what to say. “Sure, I do,” I finally said, not understanding his change of emotion.