Blanca Like Snow

Chapter 26 - Penalty

       Silence is worse than words. Nora in front of me, just staring at me while wearing that knowing smirk is driving me insane. She hasn't said a word since we finished playing hide and seek and then had dinner. Just furtive looks, a smile that makes my guts twist. And every time I looked away, Will was always where my eyes landed and he didn't look nervous at all, or uncomfortable, or anything at all! He was acting just like always which made me feel even more anxious.

As Nora keeps watching me I feel the urge to get on my knees with my fists above my head in penalty, confessing what happened in the barn and all my other sins.

She doesn't say anything, and I know I don't necessarily have to mention what happened, I can just pretend nothing occurred and she's just reading more into the situation, but I can't. If she asked me, if she teased me I could lie or do anything, but the silence makes me want to break it with my confession.

"Stop," I beg, grabbing a pillow to hide my face in it. "If you keep doing that I'm going to break down and confess."

"Confess what?"

Why is she playing innocent?! She knows, I don't need to tell her things, she is too clever and knows me too well.

"You know what," I whine, still with my face buried in the pillow. "Don't make me say it out loud."

"I don't know anything," she replies. "I just saw Will and you really close, hiding together in the barn. I don't know what happened after I found you and why you took so long to come out."

I groan as I throw the pillow at her, glaring but it is quite a weak look as I'm more embarrassed than anything else.

"Fine! I kissed him. No, he kissed me and I kissed back. Wait, no I—I ack!" My tongue twists and I rub my hands over my face. "I don't know. Kiss."

Nora laughs, finding my misery too amusing apparently. I glare at her again, my hands cupping my face in my best impression of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.

"Let me guess. It was a mistake, got caught in the mood, it means nothing," Nora ventures and what makes me blush is that I'd like to say that. I really would.

"I dunno," I whisper, looking down. "I want to say that, but it's too shameless. I..." I sigh, feeling overwhelmed with my own emotions. "First of all, I liked it. Second of all, since our truce or even before that, it's like all the tension between us changed from animosity to something else. He makes me nervous, my heart races and I think I'm crushing on him and that's... not right? I mean, in my current situation having boy problems is the last thing I want."

I really didn't sign for boy problems, but that seems to be exactly what I'm having right now.

"Okay, hypothetically speaking, we might put our differences aside or even find some middle ground, but then what? What's the point of it? I come here to hide and stay alive and go back with a boyfriend? That's ridiculous. Considering that's something he might want, which we don't know. He could be just fooling around or I don't know."

"I can understand your point of view and why liking him makes you conflicted," Nora says, his expression more sympathetic instead of teasing, which helps a lot to calm down a bit. "But it's not like your only two options are either ending up with him or not."

"Come again?" I splutter, not following her quite well.

"I mean, you're under a lot of stress, you're scared, so why not using this little distraction that's showing up in front of you? You don't know what might happen as you get to know him better. Maybe this will be just a kiss and nothing else, or maybe you two are more compatible than you think."