Two Way Street

I plopped down on the couch, letting my right arm drop over the armrest, the left gesturing for Mara to join me.

She rolled her eyes, but followed my directions, planting her butt right next to me. “You’re not getting shagged tonight, just so you know.”

I shrugged. “Contrary to your high opinion of me, I actually do think about things other than sex.”

“Oh, really?” Mara turned to me with an eyebrow raised. “Like what?”

“Like…food. And football. And sometimes sleeping.”

She burst out laughing. “God, you are such a guy.”

I gave her a giant grin and followed up with, “Would you prefer if I was more of a girl?”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s totally not the point.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No.”

I scrunched up my nose at her playfully. “I think it might be.”

Instead of giving me an answer, she reached across me to pick up the remote off the side table. “Are you going to say anything worth listening to, or can I watch Doctor Who?”

“I probably won’t, but you can’t watch Doctor Who.” With that, I plucked the remote out of her hand and stuffed it under the cushion under my butt.

“And why can’t I watch Doctor Who if you’re not going to give me a good conversation?” she questioned seriously.

“Because it kind of bores me,” I admitted.

Her eyes grew to saucers as she repeated, very slowly, “It…bores…you…?”

“Kind of.”

She got up off the couch and crossed her arms, glaring down at me. It was kind of embarrassing to admit, but she scared me a little. “Just a tick.” Mara took a deep breath and started again, her voice controlled. “My boyfriend doesn’t like Doctor Who?”

“Not really,” I responded, trying to sound nonchalant.

“How is that even possible?!” She threw her hands up in surrender. “And how could you sit through Project Runway, but not Doctor Who?”

“Hey, I only sat through Project Runway because I was shocked at how mindless it was,” I defended. “But, with Doctor Who, it’s not mindless or funny. It’s just…boring.”

She shook her head and let out a loud sigh. “Alright, we’re no longer talking about this. Because you’re just making me sad.”

“Awww,” I cooed as I reached forward and grabbed her hand. She tried to fight me off, but I kept my grip tight as I pulled her up against the couch, staring up at her. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”

“You should be, you wanker,” she snapped before smirking a little.

I stretched up, reaching to hook my hand around the back of her neck to make her meet me in the middle.

Her lips were soft on mine and my heart sped up as she straddled my legs, sitting in my lap. I rested my hands on her hips, my grip tightening as her tongue started to mingle with my own.

I sighed into her mouth as her fingers wrapped in my hair, tugging gently.

After a few minutes, she pulled away and rested her forehead against mine. “I hate you,” she breathed into my face.

I let out a soft snort of laughter, knowing that she wasn’t serious, as I clasped my hands behind her lower back. “Why’s that?”

“Because you’re leaving me,” she admitted. “Why didn’t you say sooner that you were going on tour?”

I let out a long breath, my shoulders slumping with guilt. “Because I figured that the second I said it out loud, it’d be real.”

She shook her head, probably about to say something, but before she could say anything, I rushed, “Do you think this is going to be awesome for me? I’m going to miss you like hell. And I just got you to declare that we’re official.”

Mara hit my arm playfully, one side of her mouth turned up into a smirk. “Shut up. It’s not like you were letting me know that you wanted to be official.”

“I didn’t want to force you into anything.”

She kissed me for a second before sighing. “I appreciate that. But I still hate you for leaving.”

“I hate me for leaving, too.”

For a few minutes, we stared at each other in silence. I wanted to lean up, connect my lips with hers, get lost in the feel and taste of her, and forget about the whole conversation.

But I knew that wouldn’t be appropriate and that she’d probably have slapped me.

“Unless…” I started slowly, gnawing the inside of my cheek, “you came with us.”

There was no hesitation before she shook her head in denial. “I can’t, Liam. I have a job.”

“You have a shitty job,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, well, it still took me forever to land my shitty job,” Mara shot back before letting out a breath. She rubbed the back of my head a couple of times, resting her forehead on mine again. “But I wish things were so simple that I could just pick up and go with you across…where are you even going on your tour?”

“Worldwide,” I mumbled. “So we’re going to be gone for a long time.”

“Perfect,” she muttered. “That makes everything so much better.”

I saw the tears start to pool in her eyes, so I moved my hands from her hips to her face, cupping her cheeks and wiping my thumbs under her eyes to get rid of the wetness.

She let out an embarrassed laugh. “God, I hate crying.”

“So don’t cry,” I whispered, planting a kiss on her forehead. “Look, we still have two weeks. We’ll deal with this when it rolls around, okay? There’s no need to worry about it now.”

“Okay,” she agreed softly, reaching up to wipe her tears away.

When she finished, I pulled her face back down to mine, and she quickly reciprocated the kiss, leaning into me and wrapping her arms around my neck, while mine traveled back down to her hips.

She pulled away after a few minutes for air, so I let my lips travel down her neck, feeling her soft skin and her racing pulse.

In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to stop time to keep away from the dreaded deadline hanging over our heads.

Too bad that wasn’t possible.

I closed my eyes tighter, pulling Mara closer to me, trying my hardest to ignore all of the troubling thoughts and ‘what-ifs’ racing through my head.