Summer Solstice

Trapped In His Arms

{{{My brain was screaming at me, too many questions much too quickly, and my only answer to all of them was that Konai had indeed been struck by lightning the night before. That would explain this evening completely. But my mind ached, telling me to say yes. Say yes.}}}

My answer was nothing more than a sigh, "Yes...?"

He looked at me for a moment, just long enough for me to see his eyes change, his face soften. Just long enough for me to think about protesting. Then he pressed his lips softly against mine.

The world tilted slightly. There was no rhyme, no reason to anything. I felt nothing but the soft even pressure of his lips against mine. The rest of the world did not exist. My body relaxed suddenly, and I felt more at peace in this moment than I had in my whole life. I sighed against his lips. He was so amazingly warm.

His arms tightened around me, his mouth slanting across mine. My hands tingled, both of them laying on his chest. With them pressed between us, I could feel my heartbeat and his. His heart was a peaceful 'thump thump'. Mine was embarrassing me.

His hands touched my face, pulling me back gently. "Andrea?" His voice was gruff, agonizing. I smiled faintly.

He had said my name.

"Konai?" I answered. He smiled and it was like the sun breaking over the snow-capped mountains. "Will you please go back and dance with me?" A cool breeze swept over me, pulling me back to reality.

"Dance?"

The thought of being trapped in Konai's arms again was instantly appealing. "Yes, dance, before I do something I'm going to regret." His eyes raked over me. I blushed from head to toe. "I really... I don't know. I'd rather not. You know I don't exactly fit in." I stuttered.

I was still trying to recover from the fact that he had just kissed me. My lips were still tingling.

He slowly dragged me back to the dance floor. Turning me quickly, he pulled me back into his arms. Mmm... it felt so nice.

"The only reason those boys were staring at you, is because you look incredible. And the girls are looking, because they want to be you." I would have protested, but he pressed his fingertips against my lips. "And I'm staring, because I'm the one who's lucky enough to be here with you, and I don't want to waste one moment looking at anything else." His eyes held mine, and never let go.

We danced for most of the night, not looking, or even seeing anyone else. I was sure there had to be people around us, but the immense light shining in Konai's eyes was pulling me in, drowning me, and I didn't care. I could only see him, and for some strange reason, he was only seeing me.

We finally stopped when Little Joe tugged on Konai's sleeve.

"Hey bro, is it okay if I take Kaida home, she's gonna fall over soon." We both looked over at Joe, who had Kaida curled up on his arm. She looked blissfully happy. Konai looked down at me, then back at Joe.

"Yeah, we should go, she's looking tired too," he tugged on my hand playfully. I was most definitely not tired, especially with every nerve ending in my body screaming at me. I shivered. He ran his hands up and down my arms, sending even more electricity into my system.

"You're getting cold Andrea, lets go." My heart skittered for a moment. I was not going to get tired of him saying my name. "That's a good idea."

Liar.

It was a bad idea. My body wanted to stay here with him and my mind was slowly agreeing. He ran his fingers down my arms once more, then linked his fingers through mine. Joe handed me my coat, but I threw it over one shoulder, not willing to let go of Konai's hand long enough to put it on.

We dropped Joe and Kaida off at her house and I watched Joe give Kaida a quick kiss on the cheek and dart off towards his house, which was only a few blocks away. He wasn't the only one who needed cooling down.

I smiled. What I needed was a good jump in the lake, my body was still warm from dancing with Konai for most of the evening, and my heart still hadn't lost it's erratic momentum from when he had kissed me.

My mind was so preoccupied about the evenings events, that I hadn't noticed the car was stopped. I turned to see him gazing at me, a thoughtful expression on his face. He started to say something, his hand lifting towards my face, but jerked it back suddenly.

He turned and stepped quickly out of the car. I froze for a moment, wondering what he had been about to say. The door clicked shut and I watched as he walked around the car, his lips moving. He was frowning, and looked.... irritated.

The cold hit me before he even opened the door. The night was over and he didn't have to be nice to me anymore. That had to be it, the only reason he had tried so hard to be kind, why he'd behaved so strangely. Kaida was at home now, thinking about the boy she had danced with all night, so there was no reason to do anything more to make her happy.

As soon as the door opened I darted past him, running up the steps to my house. I fumbled through my purse, trying to find my keys. Warm hands wrapped around my wrists.

"Andrea, what's wrong?" His voice was soft, but there was an edge to it.

I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. "The dance is over Konai, you don't have to do this..." I tried to hold back the tears, but they spilled out onto my cheeks. "You don't have to keep acting like this is normal," I gestured between the two of us. "This isn't something you have to do."

"But this is what I want to do."

He sounded so sure, but I wasn't. Tugging me around to face him, he let go of my wrists. His hands reached up to cup my face. The heat from his hands was burning into my mind, and making it hard to resist. I placed my hands over his, but they were suddenly too tired to pull his fingers away.

He kissed my cheeks, my forehead, the tip of my nose. I was lightheaded, suddenly afraid that I had fallen asleep, and this was all some sort of dream. At any moment I would wake up and the magic from the dance would be gone, and my heart would be broken.

"Please don't..." I whispered.

But the rest of my words were cut off by his lips pressing against mine.