Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 57: brought to you by armpit hair

Shame on me for not updating, because being productive is for suckers and I don't want to clean the whole house that the boys messed up. Shame, shame, shame.

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Shay was sick of snow. She hated the heat more, of course, but spending a cold season in a stone house without modern conveniences, such as instant running hot water, central heating, electric blankets, microwaves, and hell, vacuum cleaners, was wearing sorely on her. Not to mention she craved fruit like no one's business and feared scurvy waited for her just around the corner; a salad sounded like heaven to the point she almost dug through the snow to eat grass; she'd kill multiple people just to get a brownie; math homework sounded amazing; and damn it, if she didn't miss the silky feeling of having shaved legs and pits.

"At this rate I'm just going to braid it," she told Neara, flat as Kansas, gesturing to said armpit hair. "Put in some feathers. Some glitter. Poof."

If the deep ache for modern conveniences wasn't enough, she missed Curtis. Ryan staved off the loneliness and she loved him to death, but that didn't make him the CEO thinking, sass talking snake with his dry view of the world barely concealing his deep passion. She missed that brain of his, that face, his long and straight as rain hair, his mouth---among other stuff that is none of the reader's business.

Also, she was getting tired of unwanted men. Parker she had come to adore like a cousin or brother and grew comfortable enough with him due to his love for children and his absolute lack of fear when it came to her babies. The only downside to this was that Ryan knew this and fought even harder against his remaining discomfort to be just as good with the babies, but the space between their abilities with kids was still too far, probably because they were still snakes. To their benefit, the baby snakes liked them equally: tolerable, and sometimes fun.

Joseph, however, tried to sneak in whenever she tried to get alone time and would surprise her with random projects around the house, like wooden shutters that could open and close and a new improved shortbird shelter that came with windows and a door so they wouldn't have to come inside during the next storm. He couldn't seem to understand that people didn't like feeling indebted and that gifts, even if the gifts themselves were something the receiver could appreciate, weren't wanted.

Harvey...Harvey was kind of like that unwanted gift. Something she enjoyed, but had no way of repaying or shouldn't be enjoyed at all. Even if she wasn't in love with him, his gender put her on edge. Constantly she found herself feeling guilty for just enjoying a conversation with him or thinking of what kind of person he would be in her modern world--or just thinking of him at all. She didn't want to give herself the temptation to hurt Curtis and Ryan and she wasn't stupid enough to think that she was strong enough to resist a temptation that was around her all the time, could satisfy her ache for deeply intelligent conversations, and with beautiful, jewel-like blue eyes.

Yet another reason why she missed Curtis. She hoped he'd be able to give her the same satisfaction in philosophical conversation that Harvey gave her. While not stupid in the least, Ryan was a highly emotion-based person who often settled for 'no-duh' conclusions rather than exploring outside the box. While complementary to Shay's often too logical and blunt approach and making her feel like a well-balanced person, it just wasn't the same.

And then there was the whole deal of filling multiple needs with multiple people and expecting herself to do the same for them and worrying that she wasn't and---

"And I thought it was stressful enough just listening to myself think," said Neara.

"Away from all first world problems, jobs, and schools and we're still finding ways to stress ourselves out," said Shay.