flora
Her grin flashes at his comment, because they both know better than to linger too long in some made-up fantasy; with her habit of dragging half-baked dreams into reality in all the wrong ways, it’s a dangerous game to play, all the moreso right now with the pair of them equally vulnerable and grasping at straws like they were liferafts.
The grin fades as she studies the floor, dragging her thoughts into some fragile order so they don’t start spilling faster than her mouth can catch them. One arm curls tight around her middle, not quite defensive but close enough, her hand pressing into the soft fabric of her shirt as if it could hold her steady. She swallows hard before she begins, her eyeline somewhere near Jack's feet. "Things with he and I didn’t turn into...more, after that night," she says carefully, words stitched tight together. "Because I wasn’t over you." There was his side of things with Caly, which was an extra wrinkle in all of this, but Flora wasn't sure that was relevant to how she was feeling now. Her inhale trembles a little, and when she tries again her voice dips softer. "But after the House of Midnight—when things were really over between us—"
Her teeth catch the inside of her cheek hard enough to scatter whatever fragile focus she had, heat rushing into her face until she can’t even risk glancing his way. "After that, I did want him." The admission barely gets passed her lips, shaped more by breath than sound as it was. "I think...maybe I even started down the road of falling in love with him, before..."
She trails off, the air leaving her in a sigh that drags her shoulders with it. Her hand gestures vaguely, almost helplessly, as though he can fill in the mess of details better than she could string them together; Caly’s birthday, all the drama, all the sharp edges caused by the distance between them. "If not for what’s happening right now, between us," she says at last, her voice thin and unsteady, "I’d have seen where things went with him."
Her fingers press harder into her side, as if she can't hold the truth in place now that it’s finally out. "I’m only telling you this," she adds softly, "because those feelings aren’t just...gone, despite everything you and I are trying to figure out."
The grin fades as she studies the floor, dragging her thoughts into some fragile order so they don’t start spilling faster than her mouth can catch them. One arm curls tight around her middle, not quite defensive but close enough, her hand pressing into the soft fabric of her shirt as if it could hold her steady. She swallows hard before she begins, her eyeline somewhere near Jack's feet. "Things with he and I didn’t turn into...more, after that night," she says carefully, words stitched tight together. "Because I wasn’t over you." There was his side of things with Caly, which was an extra wrinkle in all of this, but Flora wasn't sure that was relevant to how she was feeling now. Her inhale trembles a little, and when she tries again her voice dips softer. "But after the House of Midnight—when things were really over between us—"
Her teeth catch the inside of her cheek hard enough to scatter whatever fragile focus she had, heat rushing into her face until she can’t even risk glancing his way. "After that, I did want him." The admission barely gets passed her lips, shaped more by breath than sound as it was. "I think...maybe I even started down the road of falling in love with him, before..."
She trails off, the air leaving her in a sigh that drags her shoulders with it. Her hand gestures vaguely, almost helplessly, as though he can fill in the mess of details better than she could string them together; Caly’s birthday, all the drama, all the sharp edges caused by the distance between them. "If not for what’s happening right now, between us," she says at last, her voice thin and unsteady, "I’d have seen where things went with him."
Her fingers press harder into her side, as if she can't hold the truth in place now that it’s finally out. "I’m only telling you this," she adds softly, "because those feelings aren’t just...gone, despite everything you and I are trying to figure out."
you're under the feeling like teenagers in cars
it ain't robbing or stealing if the moment is ours
it ain't robbing or stealing if the moment is ours
