Off Limits (Christoffer Schistad - Skam)

Part 5

It all happened in less than five minutes but it felt like an eternity to Mara who stood aside, doing nothing. She wanted to, but she knew better than to step between two boys fighting and she was so shocked that it took her a solid minute before realizing what was going on before her very eyes. She started screaming at them, demanding that they fucking stop, but it was hopeless, neither of them listened. Everyone in the entire house must hear her yells but Chris and the other boy were too caught up in their display of strength.

When the Penetrators finally intervened, they grabbed the rude guy who overstepped his boundaries with Mara and held him back. William wasn't there, he was nowhere to be found – he must have gone home with Noora. It was a blessing, because Chris would have been incapable of explaining his behaviour to him. Protecting Mara from a handy rude fucker did not justify causing such a scene. Chris was about to dive in and resume beating the guy even though he could no longer return the punches, when Mara stepped in, placing herself right between Chris and his adversary.

"Chris!" She shouted, raising her hands. "Chris, stop! Stop!"

The panic in her eyes made him realised what he was doing and he stopped dead in his tracks, lowering his fist and settling down.

"Come with me," Mara urged him, tugging on his sleeve. "Let's get out of here."

She led them both through the many rooms of the house until they found one which was empty. It was the bathroom. At least one of the bathrooms, it was hard to tell, but this one was still clean and fairly far away from the party. She locked the door once they were inside and turned to Chris, looking ready to slap some sense in his thick head.

"What the hell were young thinking Chris?!" She began to shout, not feeling sorry for his sore face one bit. "That was awful! Awful!"

"He was all over you!" Chris shouted back, leaning over the sink and turning on the mirror lights. "That bastard was- he was groping your ass, and-"

"Yes I know he was, Chris! I was handling it, what bad could have happened to me in the middle of a room packed with people?!" Mara barked back, hitting Chris' chest to push him back.

"You're telling me I should've let him go on? Garb your ass, touch you like that?!"

"Like what, Chris? He was drunk and I was pushing him back!" She was so terribly mad that her cheeks were bright red and her eyes shooting lightnings. "I. Was. Handling. It," she gritted through her teeth. It was still rather hostile but she was settling down.

"I know you can handle boys, Mara, but I couldn't handle it. It was too much to see him touch you like- touch you like-" Chris explained more calmly, apparently having trouble finding his words.

"Like what?" Mara asked again, short of breath because of the rush of adrenaline she received from this dreadful fight and all the yelling.

That, for once, was a question Chris felt like he could answer. Only a few hours ago, he wouldn't have be able to, but now that she told him that all that staging was aimed at making him jealous, he could say it. He was jealous. He had never been great at sharing his toys – and heaven forbids he ever considers Mara like a toy, but she was his own nonetheless.

"Like I want to," he eventually muttered, rather sheepishly. Like a little boy who admitted having a crush on his school mistress.

Mara didn't try to hide her smile. The corners of her mouth twitched upward and she broke into a wide grin which betrayed how eager she had been to hear these words.

"Do you have the slightest idea how unbearable it was to see you flirt with every boy in the school these last weeks? It fucking killed me, Mara! Why did you try to make me jealous if you already knew how I felt?!"