☆☆☆ Chapter 23 ☆☆☆
The Fit
*Ane's Point of View (POV)*
I was really pissed off. Here I thought Daniel wouldn't come back so quickly from wherever he went by the time I woke up, but no, of course I was wrong! He found me scrubbing a stubborn stain while cursing it out under my breath. It took me a little while to notice he was there though 'cuz he was so quiet, eyeing me, but when I did notice him, his face glowed with a warm smile that I couldn't deny had something off 'bout it. It didn't stop him from grabbing me by the waist and pulling me into to his chest, though.
"I love my sweaty, dirty princess," he purred. These moments── I somewhat hate to admit── no longer disgust me. Instead, they're... hot. I no longer mind when his pervy self comes out to play, and I don't know when it started happening, or if that was always the case and I just never wanted to admit it, but it is what it is. Wrapping myself around him, I allowed my heart to skip several beats. "I have something for you, and I want you to wear it all the time when my family comes."
"Okay?" I responded, tilting my head a bit.
He looked at me for a moment before finding the guts to tell me whatever he was going to say. "Before I give it to you, take a shower. You... you're so sweaty and it just really turns me on. Believe me, you don't want to know how hard I am getti── uh, I am... trying to control myself." What? Is he trying to burn me alive with his dirty talk? I just looked away and nodded, hoping it would calm me down.
At least now I know another one of his many kinks (and one of 'em includes my heavy breathing... but why── what's so exciting 'bout it?!).
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Why do I have to wear whatever he has for me around his family?
Is he trying to flex to his family that he showers me with gifts or something? If that's the case, what can it possibly be, then? Is it another dress? Earrings? A car── whoa, hold up Ane, he said wear not drive, and I don't even know how to drive anyway (I was too busy being a shut-in)! What about a necklace? Or... perhaps a ring?
Is... is he proposing to me?
Haha, nope, no way! That would just be silly.
I allowed my body to be kissed by the piping hot water spraying out of the nozzle.
I can't believe it. Is he really going to propose? He's not that crazy, right? Well, actually, he might just be. He did follow me around for years, after all. No matter how long we'll be together, he has known me for a much longer time than I have known him. At least he isn't the type of creep who's more than willing to hurt someone to get what he wants.
Scrubbing my neck with a soapy sponge, I couldn't help but imagine Daniel's presence in that small shower. Is he the type to watch their object of desire── or rather, subject of desire, take a shower? Would he lose himself when sneaking a peek into the window of my bedroom? How about when I dress up? As I sleep, does he watch over me, and maybe dare to poke or caress my cheeks? When I'm not in my room, would he tiptoe his way into it and... sniff my panties? Right at that moment, my mind fell into a seemingly endless loop of Daniel passionately having his way with my neck, and I lost the little bit I had of morality. I felt heat rushing down to my nether regions, but I couldn't really wrap my head around it. What was I supposed to do with that feeling?
I felt myself sigh, wondering if one day I'll die from whatever it is that the Daniel Fever makes me experience, or if I am bound to hurt Daniel himself from it. He's such a great guy, I don't care what some people in our neighborhood think.
A knock on the door dragged me right back down to Earth.
"Ane, I know you're in there. Can you hurry it up? You've been there for more than half an hour already. Surely your hands must be pruney by now." His soothing voice... it could easily make me float over to cloud nine. "Ane, hello?" So very dreamy! I hope he walks in, sweeps me right off the ground, and showers me with soft kisses and nibbles right against the bathroom wall.
Then what I believed to only happen in my feverish fantasies actually happened: the door opened, and in walked Daniel. My heart almost burst right out of my body.
I stormed out of the shower without thinking twice, wrapping my body in a towel, but by then it was far too late to save my dear boy Daniel from not seeing me. Even if it was for a millisecond, he saw it all 'cuz I got myself out of the shower, and even if I hadn't done that, he would've still seen something through the glass door of my shower. My entire body throbbed at the thought of it.
As if frozen in time, Daniel didn't twitch or even blink once, standing by the entrance of my bathroom with his face so flushed I could've sworn steam was coming out of his ears. I, of course, took advantage of it. By the time my hands were able to slide themselves 'round his waist, my lips were already on him, ready to claim everything that Daniel had.
Within moments of me pulling him towards me by the nape of his neck, Daniel was back in orbit with a certain glow in his eyes that I knew could make me feel all the more sensitive. He definitely had a spine now.
He lunged right at me with as much passion as I had, exchanging his heat with mine along with the nectar I craved from every single part of his mouth and vanilla lips, maddening the both of us. I didn't care if we stopped breathing for a minute or two if it meant that we were focused on each other. For that special moment in time, I was the entire world to Daniel, and Daniel was the entire world to me.
A daring, naughty thought crossed my mind as his fingers lost themselves on me and his adventurous lips and tongue messed around with my neck: what if I lift up his shirt?
He didn't stop me when I tugged at it, but I knew that if I continued, I was going to discover an entirely new world and feel the intimate parts of his skin── not just the arms or his neck anymore, no, it would be something much more different than that. God, even with that knowledge, my hands failed to at the very least try to restrain themselves, and shamelessly raised that boy's shirt to see... golden locks of thick hair, everywhere.
He had thick hair everywhere, too.
A scream tore itself out of a throat that I could not recognize as mine and stabbed a heart I could not feel as mine. The world began spinning and shaking and spinning and shaking and spinning and shaking and a brain I could not restrain as it was not mine not mine at all I swear 'cuz it's not fuckin' mine and both you and I know it is not mine 'cuz Ane is not like that she is not like this or like that shoved heavy pictures of mean things right into my throat but tears bleeding out of my eyes and all sorts of hell coming out of my nose scared the crap out of me and the hands picked at moments of savage desperation and fading hope straight out of the spilled beans and wrapped, wrapped, wrapped it all around pretty little Ane's neck and they all mocked me as my impending doom reached for the broken pieces of all that was once me, myself and I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I──
Slappity slap! "ANE!"
Teresa! Hi Teresa! Do you know how much I love you, big sis?
⥂⤻⥉☆↖↡↺
Teresa was there with me on the bed, and her eyes were swollen and tired with tears still trying to come out of them, but she nevertheless brought me to her arms after giving me the longest kiss possible on the forehead.
In between our silence, Teresa's voice cracked. "Ane, do you think it'll ever end?"
I didn't know what to tell her, but the silence that resumed afterwards spoke words far more meaningful than what I had in mind.
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When enough was enough, I walked out of the room with a pair of long sleeved pajamas and flip flops in the hopes to escape from the constant rewinding of what had happened earlier, which fed itself off of every time I even dared to peek into my bathroom door. Teresa encouraged me to do so as well, so it was all the more of a reason. My main goal, though, was to find something to do rather than just stroll around Daniel's residence, but that was bound to be a huge challenge that I was just too drained in the head to really follow.
It was still pretty early into the night, but I was convinced my day was already wasted.
I didn't want to go anywhere where people could possibly be, so out the window the cafeteria went as well as the employee hub, and so I headed over to the pool.
The last person I wanted to talk to was there, with his head buried in between his legs.
Believe me when I say that my intention was to walk away as soon as my eyes spotted him, but something within me refused to leave him all on his own, and so I found myself right next to him.
"Hey," I forced myself to say.
"Hey." The same could be said about him.
Knowing that the both of us weren't planning to say anything any time soon, I leaned onto his shoulder and let myself sink on it── or at least I tried to 'cuz Daniel was pretty stiff. I found some small forms of entertainment while resting on him, with one of them being the pool itself. If seen in a certain angle, the pool looked like it was empty 'cuz the water barely moved, like Daniel.
The bushes several yards away from us were an interesting bunch. They reminded me of Dad's unbelievably bushy eyebrows and I couldn't help but giggle. Daniel jerked a bit from that though, and it stopped me from continuing. We sat there in silence for far longer than my fingers could count, 'til I finally found a voice from somewhere deep within. "Y'know, many people out there that never did it before someone took advantage of them say that they're no longer virgins afterwards, but I think being a virgin is much more different than that── that it's only lost when you do it with someone you're alright with at that moment, someone that you care about and trust with your body."
I immediately realized that I may have stepped on a landmine.
Still as stiff as a rock, Daniel popped his head out from his little shell. He looked like a sad, sad mess. "It doesn't mean that the person has moved on, though." The littlest of frowns sneaked its way onto his lips. "But I understand. It's not something that can easily be shaken off... and Ane, no matter how much you don't want me to help you, I want to help you, especially now. The scars I have seen on your body... they showed me just how cruel he was to you, but I... I had no true understanding of your pain until today, when you── " He sighed, closing his eyes for a bit before continuing. "That person hurt you. I don't care if you don't want to see him. I'm going to hunt him down and catch him, or at least know if he's behind bars."
I felt the heat of adrenaline rush itself all over me. "N-No, Daniel, you don't understand. Don't do it── "
He crushed right through me with a sudden wild glare. "Ane, for all of the gods' sake! WHY? Tell me, why?! How can I not want to do that when just by looking at my body you... you... !" His eyes were swelling up with heavy tears. "I'll never forget that look of pure fear in your eyes, Ane; the look of someone's eyes right before their soul is lost forever." His words were in agony, and so were our hearts. "I felt so disgusted with myself, so very ashamed that I wasn't able to do anything for you. Ane, at least let me give you a ride to a therapist. I know a really good one across the street from Opera's Diner. Just one session, please."
I shook my head, rubbing one of his trembling hands. "I don't need one." He was ready to counter that, but before he even started it I placed a finger on his lips. "I only need you."
He cared about me, of course he did, which is why he solemnly put my hand down, and just like Teresa, he tenderly kissed my forehead for more than a handful of seconds. "No, no you don't. What you need is to heal, and I can't make that happen on my own. I'm just a simple man. I can help and support, but that is all. The one person you really need is you. Only you can save yourself, Ane." A teeny tiny smile tugged at each end of his soft lips. "Which is why, for your own sake, you need to talk things through with a professional."
I hated just how well he could sweet talk his way into my head, but his logic wasn't wrong. "I... I'll think about it."
"Fair enough," he said in between sighs of relief, wiping some tears away.
We held hands all the way 'til Daniel left to sleep.