"Gethin, dammit, let me in!" He shouted. "Fuck! Geth! Let me in, god dammit!" He pounded on the door, so hard I was amazed it didn't crack.
"What in the hell is going on?" I jumped and turned around. Sally was sitting up in Gethin's bed.
Fuck. "Oh, Geth, I completely forgot you had company, I'm so sorry, I really am." I looked at him with contrition.
"It's okay, poppet, this is definitely more important."
"What?" This from Sally.
Gethin turned to look at her. "Look, I'm sorry, but this is obviously a family emergency, can we do this another time? I'll call the car to take you home, okay? And I really am sorry, truly."
"Are you having me on?" She sat up even straighter.
"No, I'm not, unfortunately," he said. "You're going to have to go, this is really serious. Again, I'm really sorry. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
I pulled on his arm. "I can go through to your dressing room and just spend the night in there, really. God, I'm so sorry."
He kissed my forehead. "Don't be ridiculous. You're dripping wet, and crying."
Sally flipped off the covers, gathered her clothes and headed for the bathroom. "You know what? Don't fucking bother, really."
While she was in there, Geth found me something to wear, a shirt that hung nearly to my knees. Teddy pounded on the door from time to time, asking to be let in.
"I just need to talk to her, mate, please," came his voice through the door. Geth looked at me. I shook my head.
Sally came out of the bathroom, ready to leave. Geth sent a text. "Car's out front waiting. And listen, I really am sorry, obviously none of this is your fault, please accept my apologies." She waved off the apologies, but did let him kiss her cheek.
"Now, that bloke in the corridor, he's not going to hurt me when I walk by, is he?" She asked nervously.
"No," Geth responded. "Theo? Sally's leaving now, so I'm opening the door. Just let her pass, okay, mate? And Tink's going to spend the night in here, so why don't you just go to bed, yeah? We'll all talk in the morning. Sounds like you might have had a little too much to drink, so this isn't a good time to talk, anyway. Get some sleep, mate, see you in the morning?"
He opened his door, let Sally out, shut it right away, and locked it. He turned off the over head light, leaving only the bedside lamp on.
He headed for the sofa, grabbing a pillow from the bed. I grabbed the pillow from his hand and threw it back on the bed, pulling the covers down on both sides. I climbed in and patted the other side. He raised his eyebrows at me. I nodded and patted the other side again. He sighed and got in, keeping a sedate distance between us, and turned off the light.
"So you want to tell me what happened?" He said. I scooted closer to him, lifting his arms over me, tucking my head under his chin.
I told him about what I'd asked about Teddy's past, about his response, about how the conversation had spiraled out of control and turned into him ranting about how he just took what he wanted without any thought as to the consequences, and about how he seemed to think I'd be better off without him. I finished with how I'd asked if he was breaking up with me because of the question about the bubble bath, and about how he hadn't denied it, just reiterated that he thought I'd be better off without him.
By the end of all of this I was really flipping. Geth drew me to him, patting my back and stroking my hair. I hooked my leg over his, pulling myself even closer.
"Gethin? Was he serious? Does he really think I'm better off without him? Are we really through?" I clutched at him. I was terrified.
"You boys know him better than anyone. Does he mean it?" I scooted closer.
He stroked my hair. "Ah, love, this is Theo. He takes strange notions sometimes. And he's been drinking. Whiskey, from the smell?" I nodded.
"He'll have to sleep that stuff off, no other way. His head'll be clearer in the morning." He kissed my forehead.
I snuggled in closer. "I'm so sorry I fucked up your date with Sally. She seemed awfully angry."
He gave a soft laugh. "She got angry about a lot of things tonight. I don't think we had much of a future together, to be honest."
It was so much easier to think about his problems than my own. "Aww, poor Geth," I said, mussing the hair on his head. "Anything I can do?"
He looked at me, eyes inches away from mine, reflecting the moonlight from outside. He shook his head. "To be honest, I think you should go, I don't think this is the best place for you to be."
"Oh. Okay." I started to pull back from him, thinking. Where in the world should I go? His house was huge, this was true, but I didn't know it very well. I could go to one of the other boys' rooms, I supposed. And if he thought I should go, why did he send Sally away?
"I'll go to Matty's room," I said to him. "He won't be back until morning, right?" At Gethin's nod, I flipped the covers back, but before I could go, he pulled me in for a long hug, and kissed my forehead.
"I love you, so much, little one," he whispered. "You know I only want what's best for you, right?"
I nodded, and he looked at me for a long, thinking time before releasing me. I scooted for the door, opened and closed it soundlessly. But once I was in the hall, my will deserted me, and I sank down on the floor, unwilling to go anywhere. It was freezing, but I didn't care. I curled up, pulling my knees close, under his shirt, and just sat, outside his door, and hoped Teddy didn't come back.
I didn't know how long I sat there, but I must have been dozing, because Gethin's door opening roused me.
"What the fuck?" I heard him say, and the next thing I knew he was picking me up, wrapping my arms around his neck, taking me back into his room. My teeth chattered when I tried to say something to him.
"Tink, are you out of your everloving mind?" He whispered. He laid me in his warm bed and lay down next to me, covering us up, and took me in his arms, pulling me close, tucking my head under his chin. My legs were pulled up between us, against his chest, as I was too cold to even think of straightening them out.
"Tink? Tinker Bell? Do you need me to put you in the bath?" He asked with concern. I shook my head violently, not wanting to move from this wonderfully warm place, from his wonderfully warm arms.
"This feels so nice," I managed to get out. Eventually I was able to straighten out my legs and hug myself to him, my chills lessening.
"Better?" He asked in a little while, and I nodded.
"Now, what in the hell were you thinking, hmm?" He asked, giving me a little shake.
"I don't know," I whispered. "I just didn't want to leave you. I didn't want to be alone. Please don't make me leave, Geth." I lifted my head and looked into his eyes, which I could see pretty clearly, now that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness in his room. "You want me to sleep on the couch? I'll go if you want me to," I said softly.
He shook his head. I leaned forward to kiss his mouth, but he pulled back, so I stopped, and looked at him.
"I'm sorry," I said, moving to disentangle myself from him. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, honest." But he stopped me, holding my hands and arms, pulling me back in very close.
"No, no, I'm sorry, little one, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I've been giving mixed signals all night, I know." He leaned forward and gave me a warm kiss, which made everything better immediately, and he stroked me and petted me and comforted me.
I sighed and relaxed and turned in his arms, kissing him back, smiling and thanking him.
"Ah, Tink," he whispered, "you don't even know what you do to me." He leaned forward and kissed me again, a bit more of a kiss than last time, but nothing weird, just nice, comforting, being close, and it felt so, so good after the awful feeling of being attacked by Teddy in the bathtub.
I looked at him after, touching his mouth with my finger, saying his name, though no sound passed my lips.
And I knew what was coming next, though I did nothing to stop it. He lifted his head, tilted it, leaned forward, and kissed me, like for real kissed me, mouth open, tongue searching, feeling for mine. I reached with mine, meeting his, touching a little bit. He tasted pleasantly of mint toothpaste. He sat up a little more, to get a better angle, and pushed in a little farther with his tongue, touching the side of my face with his hand.
"This okay with you, Tink darling?" He asked softly, looking at me again. I nodded. I felt him smile as his lips met mine, and he shifted his body so that he was kind of on top of me. He put his hands in my hair, holding my face, and sighed as he kissed me again, really pushing his tongue into my mouth this time, kissing me over and over, turning us so we were side by side, his strong arms lifting me. He ran his hand down my side, sending shivers up my spine, which I know he felt, and when he ran his hand back up, it was under the shirt; his large hand was cool on my warm skin, shooting waves of electricity through my body. I exhaled a shuddering breath against his mouth, and felt him stirring, his excitement more obvious with every passing second. His hand found my breast, and he squeezed softly, making a small, happy moan as he did. Then he trailed it down my torso, until he was touching my sex.
I jumped with surprise. Only Teddy had ever touched me there.
"Ah, you're intoxicating, making love with you must be glorious," he said softly, pulling his head back to look at me as he removed his hand, reaching to stroke my face. He sighed and rolled off me to look at the ceiling.
I was silent, realizing what had almost happened. I drew a deep breath that turned into a sob and turned over onto my stomach, crying into his pillow and my forearms.
"Oh god, Geth, I'm so, so sorry," I said in a shaking whisper. "I thought I could, I really did. I mean, he told me to fuck off, he practically sent me here to do this with you, you know? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you probably think I'm some sort of-of-ppprick tease or something. Fuck."
"No, no, don't say that," he said, sitting up and lifting me into his arms, cradling me. "It didn't feel right to me, either, that's why I stopped." He stroked my hair. "Shh, shh, don't cry, you haven't done anything wrong, you haven't, not to me, nor to him, poppet, you haven't, you haven't." He rocked me back and forth, waiting for me to calm down. I continued to cry. Guilt. Massive quantities of guilt over what had nearly happened.
"I had no right to take advantage like that, Tink," he said to the top of my head.
"Geth, please!" I sat up and looked at him in the dim light. "I came to your room wrapped in a towel, I forced you to get in bed with me, I crawled into your arms, and I kissed you, multiple times. So who took advantage of whom, hmm?"
He smiled at me, smoothing my hair away from my face. "You were in such a state, love, when I opened my door, anyone could see that. I had no business responding the way I did to you, giving you any encouragement at all. You weren't in any shape to be strong, so I should have been, and instead I just reached for you and almost took what wasn't mine and never has been mine." He kissed me, a chaste, brother's kiss. "You belong with Theo. Everyone knows that."
I shook my head. "I told you what he said. 'Go, Foster. Get the fuck out of here.' Those were his exact words." I drew a deep breath. "I don't know what happened. He doesn't want me anymore." I looked into Geth's eyes.
"If you want me, I could stay. We could try again--" I started.
"Hold on, hold on," Gethin said. "This is not about whether or not I want you. I think that was quite obvious to both of us, wasn't it?" He smiled, giving me a little shake. He pulled me close, hugging me to him.
"Choosing who you love isn't like flipping a switch, little one, you of all people should know that," he said, stroking my hair meditatively. "You love Theo, you have practically since the day you met him, and you can't stop just because he said some harsh words to you while he was drunk, can you?
"And I know he's loved you very nearly since the day he first saw you, and there's no way he's stopped loving you because he got stupid pissed on whiskey and made a complete arse of himself in a bathtub.
"Why do you think he came roaring after you down the corridor, hmm? It wasn't so he could shout more abuse at you, that's for certain. I know he regretted what he said as soon as he said it.
"And I know he's back there in your room crying over you right now, little one."
I lifted my head to look at him. He looked back at me, nodding.
"You should go back, talk to him, try to work things out. If you stay here with me, who knows what'll happen? We'll start talking and snuggling and kissing, like we did before, only what if we're not strong enough to stop this time? And then going back to him won't be an option any more, will it?"
"You really think so?" I touched his chest. "What if he won't even let me in?" I drew a shaky breath.
He kissed my forehead. "I know him better than just about anyone. He'll let you in. I guarantee it.
So? Opinions? Did she do wrong? Go too far? Did he push her into it? Were they "on a break", to quote Ross? And what's in store for our couple? Some of my early readers thought this was no big deal, they wanted Tink to be with Gethin, anyway...Thoughts? Conjectures?