Taint, Time and Tangents✔️

≑ Chapter Thirty Seven

To mikanyuki, you know why. ILY :)

∞ 37 ∞

CALLIE

It was a poorly-drawn sketch - a sketch of a deer behind a huge oak tree, his antlers gleaming under the scant light of a full moon. Its oval dark eyes looking back at me, staring, as if he knew I was making a portrait out of him.

I recalled how I drew him in a litless forest while waiting for Zeke. It was around March when he said he was going to be late because of some activity at town.

He came around midnight with two bottles of lollipops. He said it was his prize for a color game. We then ate them for the rest of the night while searching for a good fishing spot. The next day, he was out due to severe toothache.

My eyes lingered a bit more at the deer before taking a step to my right – advancing to the next frame. It was another sketch - this time, of a sunflower bed under the glimmer of an early moon. The stems seemingly alive had casted shadows beneath them – their hands reaching for something invisible.

My eyes trailed to the next picture then to the next - to all my sketches which were encased in different colors of frame. They were attached to a spotless white wall, arranged to form a shape of a heart, or so it seems, since some of the frames where still neatly piled up atop a desk around the corner.

Zeke must have retrieved my sketchpad at school and displayed them on one of his rooms.

Proceeding to the rightmost part of the display, I peered at a sketch of a ten-year old Zeke working on a shovel while burying something. It was a dead squirrel from what I recalled. He saw it along the highway and was probably hit by a vehicle. He felt sorry for the squirrel for it only got lost and ended up dying. I asked him why he was feeling sorry for he used squirrels as traps. He said it was different.

I remembered how we got into a heated argument, with me throwing handful of soil towards his direction which ended up getting into our eyes. He was so annoyed, he refused sharing his freshly-baked muffins with me.

I was in the depths of memories when I felt strong arms snaked around my waist from behind until I was pulled into a rigid, damp skin.

"Hey, you." An alluring voice came knocking on my right ear, warm breath tickling the sensitive lobes. A shiver run through me as I felt his warmth against the thin white shirt I hastily pulled from his closet.

I could still recall my utter surprise upon finding that he has only limited colors of shirts – three to be exact: white, gray and black. And, as expected, he had arranged them in an alternating color pattern with the smallest on top.

I turned within his grasp and looked up at him. He smelled fresh from shower with his hair wet and sticking on his forehead and nape. Mid-morning sunlight struck his tender eyes, letting me see its shade of light blue with specks of black, bordered by dark thick lashes.

"Hi," I muttered and reciprocated his warm smile.

Seeing his head lowering to catch my lips, I tiptoed and placed my hands on his arms for support. Our lips met for a gentle kiss, supposedly a short and sweet one, but when I tried pulling away, his lips chased mine to deepen our intimacy – his arms tightening around my waist.

My breath hitched as I felt one of his hands lifting the hem of my shirt and squeezing my bottom – his fingers skimming the edge of my panties.

My face flared up upon remembering what transpired between us last night. I had been wanton, even letting him take me at the coffee table and in that position.