Icarus

Fall

Fall

Cassie's blonde ponytail swayed from side to side as she paced in circles around the oval table. Her every move, performed so gracefully, captured him in a rapture of obsession. Using his arms to pull his head down to his legs, he rested it on his knees.

"Let's see... you're either plotting to kill me... or you're shocked that a lug like me can interpret Shakespeare."

As Cassie turned to respond, strands of her hair fell from her messy ponytail and she tried to put them back in place as she paced towards Tate. By this time he was sitting on the floor sporting a confident smirk. She hated that his smile was intimidating. It made her feel weak.

"I am plotting your demise, an assassination by my lethal rendering of Shakespeare," she quipped, using a vocabulary that Tate would use.

Gazing at Tate, Cassie wondered why he plopped on the floor? The sofa was right next to him. Perhaps he knew it would put her nerves on edge and give him an advantage in their current bout of verbal fisticuffs. He should be sitting... on the couch, not on the ground. Everything should be in its place. He was breaking the rules.

"Don't you dare to spit out words slandering the master of literature in my presence," he teased, while aiming his index finger at her like a judge pointing at the accused in a courtroom.

Taking up the challenge, Cassie began quoting.

"When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little starts."

Covering his ears like a little kid, Tate stood up.

"I won't listen to another word."

In reality, the fantasy of watching her move was now enhanced by her seductive voice-he was hypnotized.

"And he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun," she continued.

Once Cassie was done she crossed her arms and looked at Tate.

"Now I'm the one wondering, why you were being so romantic before...quoting Shakespeare like it was a love sonnet?"

"I thought you'd like it," he replied sheepishly, still shining his perfectly disarming smile at her.

Cassie really didn't think he was that attractive, his mouth was too big, his nose was slightly crooked, and his eyes were nothing special. Only your average dark brown but when she gazed directly into them, and she never wanted to, they captured her like a stray comet being inexorably drawn into a black hole. Whenever they were together, his eyes glowed with the passion of a heart on fire.

Uncomfortable with what she was feeling, Cassie headed for the kitchen. Even with Tate's noisy steps clomping behind her, she refused to turn and continue their confrontation. Hoping to calm herself down with a glass of water, she breathed heavily while pouring, trying to shake off a level of nervousness she'd never experienced before.

"Spare me the romance...I can't do my job!" she spat without really thinking about the greater meaning of what she was saying.

Tate scoffed at the implications of her doing her job.

"I'll pretend you didn't actually just say that."

She felt his voice deepen as he came closer.

"I can't..." she coughed out, "I just can't concentrate."

Cassie's pulse was racing as her heart began to implode, melting like candle wax. She'd never loved anyone past the point of surface attraction. Her intuition told her that once she got on the train that took you beyond that point, there was no returning. At that same instant of deliberation, she felt a shove from a million hands pushing her to cross that line.