At No Time || Bruno Mars

25

Three days passed measly by since the night at the studio, and Trystan still hadn't gotten over what transpired in that room. Her skin tingled whenever she thought of Peter's eyes gliding over her body. She could hardly eat because of the butterflies that filled her stomach every time the image of him biting his bottom lip crossed her mind. To be in his presence had been a personal hell; her heart nearly hammered out of her chest when she was within any kind of proximity of him. Trystan had felt this way only once before, and when she had, she'd fallen in love with the man.

She sat at her kitchen island, mulling over a bowl of cornflakes she had to force herself to consume. Her gaze was listless as her thoughts ran rampantly. What was she going to do? The feelings she had before those moments in which Peter's gaze had undressed her had grown immensely afterward. She'd gone home that night wishing that Peter had really undressed her, that his hands touched her like his eyes had and she'd been the one biting his lip.

No, she'd concluded, when her thoughts became too heavy, too dangerous. I can't have him. Let it be.

Trystan felt a nudge at her ankle, and for a moment at least, she was freed from her formidable thoughts. Bella, having grown large enough to settle her hooves on Trystan's lap, stared at her expectantly. She had already been given her breakfast, but Trystan should have known the growing piglet's appetite was larger than before.

"Here." Trystan set the remnants of her cereal down onto the floor. "I'm not gonna eat it." The piglet chomped happily away at her second meal, and Trystan was envious of how carefree the animal was. Having not to deal with disallowed lust was probably such a relaxing world.

Trystan thought of calling Angelique, but she wasn't sure if she was up for whatever her friend had to say, and she didn't want to admit to her that her earlier accusations were true. Angelique would never let her live it down.

She decided, as she had been, to keep her feelings under wraps. Whether or not Peter could tell was to his discretion, but Trystan would drop dead if anyone else were to find out.

Driving to the recording studio did little to free Trystan's mind; not that she truly expected it to. The infatuation she had with Peter would last until it ran its course. That was one thing she loathed about ardors–them having to run their course. Why couldn't feelings just be switched off when the timing was wrong? Why were they forced onto you even when they couldn't be acted on? Why was such agony permitted in someone's heart? That's what Trystan wanted to know. She didn't want to like Peter, at least not in that way. It would only lead to heartbreak, and yet, while knowing this, her heart still yearned.

Neal wasn't sure how to talk to Trystan when she entered the recording studio at half-past noon. Knowing what he did about Peter's feelings for her, it was as if he was seeing the woman in a new light. She didn't act any differently than she normally did–ever bright and teasing–but Peter's laughter toward her and the multiple glances in her direction held an affirmed meaning. Their was a look in Peter's eyes that wasn't there when he looked at Kimioko, a stretch to his smile vacant in his fiancee's presence.

This dude is in way over his head, Neal realized when Peter made it an effort talk and sit next to Trystan as often as he could. It was as if the revelation at the bar open Peter's gates of feelings to spill through, and it didn't look as if his buddy was trying to put a stop to it. To the average eye, it would appear as noting more than an amiable friendship, but knowing what he did now, Neal could tell their friendship held much more than it put on.

If he were being honest, no one in Peter's small group of friends cared for Kimioko and would much rather see Peter with someone like Trystan, but that simply wasn't the case. Neal, too, wished that the universe had brought the two together before Peter went and claimed him eternal love to a woman who probably didn't deserve it.