Of Gods and Fame

We were sitting on the see-saw, slowly bobbing ourselves up and down in the air. My phone had been ringing non-stop for the past half hour or so, so I’d switched it off and put it back in my pocket. Nate had put on a pair of sunglasses to hide his identity — blue ones, this time, although I think we both knew that the notion was ridiculous at the very least. And I suppose I found myself thinking that — that Nate really wasn’t someone you could simply walk by, and then I wanted to bang my head against the handle of the see-saw and never see the light of day again.

Because it wasn’t that I hated him; I just wasn’t good with friends. Or being friendly, for that matter. Not to say that I was a mean-spirited person, because I wasn’t; I just avoided people when I could. Avoiding people made it easier to live in my head, where things were relatively predictable and straightforward. Living in the outside world… well, that was always a danger.

“Naja?”

I looked up, frowning slightly when I saw the look on his face. “What?”

He smiled faintly, lifting his sunglasses so that his vibrant blue eyes were staring straight at me. “You don’t talk much, do you?”

My face scrunched up slightly as I looked at him, digging my toes into the tanbark and dragging them across the ground. “People don’t tend to like the stuff that comes out of my mouth,” I replied, and his lips curled up into a lopsided smile as he tilted his head to look at me.

“I think it’s refreshing.” I flushed at his words, looking away. “Plus… what do they expect — coming from the God of War.”

I grinned despite myself, glancing up at him through errant strands of frizzy hair. “I suppose that they should expect it.”

It was silent for a few moments before his lips tugged into a wicked smirk and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Speaking of which…”

“I don’t think I like where this is going,” I warned, pushing myself backwards on the see-saw.

His smirk grew. “I looked up your name on Google.”

Huh? Oh. Oh crap.

I flushed a furious red, batting away my hair as I pushed myself off the see-saw. Glancing at my watch and avoiding his gaze, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pretended to read a text message. “That’s mum,” I started, my voice croaky as I tried to fight away the redness on my cheeks. “I have to head home. Lovely seeing you.”

“Your phone’s switched off.” There was laughter in his eyes when I looked up, and my hands became clammy as I clenched my phone more tightly in my hand.

“Is not,” I defended roughly.

“You’re holding it upside down.”

Glancing down, I winced slightly when I saw that he was right. “They teach you that in University. Uh… backwards reading. In case you… er…” I searched my brain furiously, “it’s a… secret?”

He laughed, looking at me in amusement. “Right.”

I glared at him, shoving my phone back into my pocket. “You never even went to University, so I wouldn’t expect you to know that.”

His lips twitched as he fought off a smile. “Backwards reading?” I flushed, but bit my lip and nodded. “Man, I really lucked out.”

My eyes narrowed into a glare at the obvious laughter in his eyes, and I pushed my hair out of my face. “I’m going home. I’d say it was lovely seeing you, but that make your head grow even more.”

He laughed, pushing himself off the see-saw and walking over to me. “I have a question first, though,” he said coyly, watching me with curled lips. Sighing, I nodded, giving him permission to ask it. “If you’re this good at the whole ‘war’ part of your name…” I started walking backwards, my eyes begging him not to finish his sentence. He grinned slyly, obnoxiously looking me up and down. “I’d be honoured to see how good you are at the ‘sex’ part.”

Moments passed in silence. “Why you little…!” He took off into a run across the grass and I furiously chased after him, hating myself for eating those chocolate brownies while we were waiting for him to show up when I felt my stomach clench tightly in protest. Sucking in air through my mouth, I narrowed my eyes at his back, pumping my legs as quickly as I could to catch him. “I’m going to kill you. I don’t give a damn if it’s all over the media and your mobs of rabid fangirls come and murder me in my sleep, I will rip you-” Breath. “-limb-” Breath. “-from limb.”

He laughed, glancing over his shoulder and meeting my eye. “Tired already, sweetheart?” he taunted, ignoring my furious glare.

Letting out a yell I leapt at him, grabbing him around the shoulders — my weight throwing the both of us to the ground. He let out a startled yelp as I landed on top of him and stiffened slightly, as though he hadn’t expected it at all.

I heaved in breaths as I sat on top of him, my legs resting on each side of his as I used his back to push myself up. He let out a laugh as he bucked his hips, causing me to jolt upwards enough for him to roll over so that he was facing me, my legs still straddling his body. My cheeks were flushed as I tried to catch my breath, my legs sore and weak from running.

After a few moments I realised that he was staring at me, a soft look about his eyes and his lips curled slightly. I began to turn red as I realised the position we were in, stilling when I felt his stomach rising and falling with his breaths. My heart started racing and my mouth went dry, and I couldn’t seem to get myself to move, or even to look away. I wanted to say something to break the silence but my throat was thick and my chest was tight and I could barely breathe.

Slowly, he lifted his hand and cupped my cheek, his touch gentle and warm. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t look away, and though something inside me was screaming for me to get away I couldn’t. I couldn’t move because his gaze was so soft and tender, and up close I could see the freckles on his cheeks and it made him look so undeniably human. He grazed his fingers against my cheek, eyes lowering to look at my lips as he swallowed thickly.

Before I knew what was happening he was dragging my head down and I was letting him, and his lips were grazing mine ever-so-slightly, so tenderly that my heart caught fire and my lips trembled against his. His eyes were slightly closed as he pulled me down further, deepening the kiss so that my stomach started to clench and my hands started to sweat, and his spare hand softly brushed against my leg. His lips were fiery and tender, and I felt like my skin was on fire and my lips started to tingle and I couldn’t breathe or bring myself to pull away.

Slowly, he pulled his head away, looking at me with hooded eyes and lowered lashes. His thumb grazed my lip and it began to quiver, and I couldn’t look away from the intense look in his eyes. “Naja,” he whispered.

His voice brought me back into reality and I started to panic, my breathing becoming ragged as I pushed myself away with red cheeks. My legs were like jelly and I tumbled backwards, and when he reached out to steady me I flinched away.

“Naja,” he warned, sounding uncertain. “Naja, what are you… don’t!”

But I wouldn’t look at him, because my heart was thumping and I could barely see and I hated myself so much in that moment that I felt like crying. So I just backed away, jerking away from his arm when he reached out to touch me as I begun to walk hastily in the other direction.

“Naja….” I could hear the soft desperation in his voice, but I wouldn’t even look at him. “Naja, wait!”

I broke out into a run, my chest so thick that I could barely breathe and my feet thudding against the ground.

I heard him calling after me, but I didn’t look back until I made it home.