Repeal

Chapter 7

“Don’t like parties,” she dismisses.

“So you don’t like parties, cowards, me…snow….being sneaked up on…anything else I should know?” Chase eases closer slowly, til he’s standing at the edge of her bed. “Fire? Water? Drinking? People? Babies? Puppies? Fluffy kittens?”

“I hate them all,” Kiera says flatly. A smile tugs at her lips without consent, but she forces herself to stay emotionless.

“Really? Kittens? Fluffy little kittens?” Chase kneels on the bed, looking at her in mocking disbelief. “Even the little orange ones with white paws and cute ears and twitchy noses that make the most adorable meows? Impossible, there cuteness can’t be hated”

“I hate all things cute”

Chase sighs in defeat. He flops onto his back, staring at the ceiling. “So that’s why you hate me, damn, too cute for my own good.”

A smile cracks on her face. “You wish; dog-breath.” Carefully she leans over Chase, watching his eyes flick to her’s steadily. Even in the dark light, his eyes are almost aluminous, sparking with something she can’t name. 

Chase smiles softly, “so what do you like then?”

A challenge lies under his playful words, pulling at Kiera’s mind. She looks over his face, unsure how to answer the question. She spots the playful curve of him mouth, and spark in his eyes. “Evil cats, the ones that attack when you walk past.”

Chase laughs, rubbing a hand over his face. “Sounds like you.”

Silence descends on them. Kiera doesn’t know if it’s comfortable or not, and pulls back to lean against the headboard to get away from him. Chase stays where he is, looking at Kiera’s roof, seemingly peaceful. His brown hairs tussled, stuck every which way like he’d rolled out of bed. “Why’d you come over?”  She asks after a while.

Maybe it was something in her voice that startled him, but Chase arches his neck to look at her. Upside down, his eyes lock onto hers. He breaks away first, returning to the plain roof overhead. “Dunno. I was thinking that maybe I could persuade you to go to the party.” His eyes flick back to hers, despite the awkward neck arching. “But, now… I’m not so sure I can persuade you to do anything. And I doubt I can bribe you, since all I have is my charming presence-which you seem to hate, oh-so-much.”

She watches Chase, waiting for him to look at her again. When he doesn’t, she realizes he’s smiling again, the small, bitter smile. Kiera shifts to lay her head next to his, looking at the roof too. Her feet press against the headboard lightly. “I like midnight chocolate chip pancakes, extra fluffy and extra chocolate chips, drowning in maple syrup and ice-cream.”

Even though they’re not touching, Kiera feels his laugh through her body, as if his sudden sounds not enough. She schools her features into one of very mild amusement right before she feels his eyes on her. “I’d make them for you, but I can’t cook to save myself.”

“Didn’t you get any of your mother’s talent?” Kiera prods. When he says nothing for a while, she turns to look at him. Again he’s looking at the roof. Mentally she notes the return of the bitter smile. “Chase?”