Hero » l.p. au

Chapter 25

"Great. I'm glad," He nodded, a bit of an impressed look on his face as he continued searching for anything pretty. I, on the other hand, didn't know if I loved how casual and chill he was being, or hated it.

"So... where'd you get it?" He asked in his damned flat voice, "Like, a clothing store, or... your pants?"

I blinked twice at the side of his face, my lips a little parted so I was gaping at him, "Wow," I said loudly when his words sunk into my brain, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," He gave me another weird look, but was again clearly trying to hold a smile back, "I'm just curious."

"Well then," I began, still watching him the same way; I knew he was joking, obviously, but that didn't mean I'd have to find whatever he said funny. "You aren't getting anything for Christmas."

"What?" This time not even he could contain a laugh, "I said I'm just curious, no need to take away what I love most."

Sometimes his choice of words would make me boil on the inside - like what he said barely a minute ago, and other times it'd make me smile like an idiot.

Good thing I was able to bite my smile back now. "Correction, you're being a curious twat."

He frowned, as if hurt, "Well that's not very nice."

"I wasn't intending to be nice, either."

The amused look on his face disappeared; I could sense that he was beginning to realize his words had an effect on me. "Nothing new there, I suppose."

Well, I guess I was wrong.

I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, "Dipshit," I muttered to myself. On the other hand, it's not like I was expecting him to apologize for making me feel like a whore, or anything. He wouldn't have done it even if I told him to.

"Oh, come on," I heard him say, with a smile that was definitely on his face, "I just wanna know whether I should pretend to be happy because it's a piece of clothing or something, or be actually happy because it's..."

Dammit, there he goes with his smooth word choice.

"You know what?" I managed to push my flattered thoughts aside as he trailed off, "You shouldn't be either of those."

"How come?"

"Because you're not getting anything," I explained and walked further down the shop, toward the exit. I was sure my 'anger' would be long forgotten by Christmas; hell, it'll be forgotten in fifteen minutes, but I just wanted to see how he'd react upon not getting 'what he loved most'.

Damn, I still smiled whenever I repeated those words in my head.

"Sal, would you take a teddy bear from a crying child?" I stopped in my tracks and frowned harder than before, as I turned around to face him again.

"What? No, why'd I do that?"

"Then don't take you away from me." He gave me a lopsided smile as he walked toward me, probably proud of how he worded that. "You're my teddy bear."

"Because you like playing with me?" I raised my eyebrows when he reached me, and he grinned as he pinched my cheek.

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

"Well, to be fair," I narrowed my eyes at him, once again refusing to let him know his words made me melt a little on the inside, "You do look a lot like a crying child."

"Wow," He laughed as I started to walk away, biting my lip even though he couldn't see me, "Here I am, trying to be a Romeo, and you're, you're just... not being a Juliet."