To Know More

23 | tangled strings

"Like I was?"

"Drunk."

The blurt of the word was purely accidental, yet it was the only one that could've conveyed what I wanted to say. As soon as it left me, I bit my lip harshly as if to stop myself from any further stupidity and traversed my eyes all over his face, trying to assess his reaction and gauge just how agitated he was.

He clearly noticed, for I observed his eyes lower their line of gaze down to my lips, rendering me free of the burden of his attention.

"So what if I am?"

My relief was clearly short-lived; he looked up into my eyes once again after a few moments of silence, a glint of confusion evident on his face.

"Well, I just- I just thought you'd end up hurting yourself...like, like getting hit by a car in the night or something..." I stammered pitifully, trying to pull a weak smile to ease the tension but failing miserably. "So I-"

"So you decided to follow me to the middle of nowhere, all alone?"

All I could do was gulp silently in response, a soft, almost inconspicuous breath escaping my lips when I felt him tip his head down interrogatively, nose almost grazing mine.

I could smell the yeasty smell of alcohol in his breath when he looked into my eyes, lusciously dark lashes nearly brushing my own.

"Why do you care?"

The question was spoken with a tone that resembled innocence, as if he genuinely wanted me to provide him a valid, reasonable reason due to which I'd care, or as if he was asking it more to himself than me. 

I almost opened my mouth to speak as a reflex but abandoned that thought the next instant, realising I had no answer. Once again the pesky voice in my head made itself apparent, making me push it down as deep as I could. 

But what if it's right, I couldn't help but wonder, What if I do care?

I took in a shaky inhale - partly because of the scathing burden of that question, but mostly owing to the sensation of Noah's nose making a fleeting contact with mine, his ragged breath fanning my cupid's bow.

"Are you going to give me an answer, Amelia?" He asked as a mere centimetre separated our lips, dark eyes boring into my own.

It was too much; the feeling of his breaths on my face, the touch of his skin on mine, the sheer burden of his eyes...Too much. Way, way too much.

I needed to get out, be anywhere but there, in my current position. My brain felt like a cesspool of tangled strings with incessant knots, ones that refused to untie till he stopped staring down at me.

I felt overwhelmed - completely overtaken, consumed by our proximity and the intoxication it seemed to infect the air around us with. It was like a high - one I needed to escape right now before it confused me any further. 

"No." I answered him abruptly, and without warning, slipped out from under him and into the open.

The beating in my heart slowed, recognising its normal state.

Ah, sweet mother of god.

For a moment before, I felt like I'd completely lost my train of thought...as if I was transfixed, almost...entranced. 

What in the world was that?

I shook those intense feelings out all at once and took in a deep breath, shifting my gaze to find Noah chuckling at my action, still facing the wall but now leaning against it in his drunken state.