the butterfly effect | l. garmadon

twenty (editing)

  Lloyd stifled a poorly-disguised snicker as I stalked to the kitchen. I turned course last minute and stomped into my bedroom instead, and he silently allowed me to steal him away. Upon reaching my room Lloyd perched on my bed and watched me pace with a grin.

  "You really don't like him," he noticed. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

  "No," I snapped. Each circle of my room was fuelled by a razing blaze of fury that took residence in my gut. "I hate him. He's an asshole, and-" my angry steps hesitated. "There's something unnerving about him. He always makes me feel so weird."

  Lloyd went quiet for a touch, and the silence settled over us like a blanket of snow. My anger simmered into a tumultuous sea of uneasy despair, brain foggy with the thick clouds of a sudden offense of uncertainty. I stood on my spot and wavered. It felt as though my brain itself had buffered.

  Lloyd's smirk was brittle when he finally spoke. "More unnerving than red eyes?"

  My glassy eyes turned to him. "What?" Then my mind cleared and any confusing fog and tide of my cousin was washed away. I sucked in a clarifying breath. "Lloyd."

  He looked away with a grimace, as if regretting his words. The familiar stench of curiosity drove me to ask - how did his eyes work? How did his fangs? How were they inherited, if they even were at all? But the dimness in Lloyd's green eyes forced the questions back down my throat. I would wait to ask them another day.

  "Sorry," Lloyd muttered, still staring at the knitted threads of my duvet. His shoulders were slumped, pulled down with muted and crudely hidden despair. "Don't know where that came from."

  I had an idea. Depths of insecurity so plaguing that it took root and exposed itself when his concentration slipped. It wasn't unusual. It was normal, even, to dislike a part of yourself. It was unfortunately, tragically human.

  "Lloyd." I stepped forward between his knees, inserted myself into his space. My palms cradled his cheeks and turned him to face me; his eyes lidded and hiding before finally meeting mine. I bent down to kiss each of his eyelids, then a lingering press to his lips. When I pulled back to admire his pretty face, it was flushed lightly with pink. "You're beautiful."

  His blush darkened. He avoided my gaze again, but this time for a different reason. His strong arms wrapped around my waist and he tugged me deeper into him. His cheek anchored itself against my stomach.

  "You're just saying that..." Lloyd's soft-spoken accusation trailed off. I carded my fingers through the messy locks of blond at the crown of his head.

  "Would I ever lie to you?"

  He audibly swallowed. His grip loosened a tad. "... no."

  "Exactly." Satisfied, I bent down to find his hidden face and stole another kiss. He hissed in a breath before chasing my lips. I kissed him until my bent legs began to burn with protest, and then kissed him some more. My legs could suffer for this. I would make them.

  Lloyd's gaze was dreamy when I stepped back. They followed my movements across the room. "Where are you going?"

  I stopped at my desk, delicately placed the kanzashi back into its box, and signed into my laptop. "Just pulling up something to watch until we inevitably have to deal with him again."