Freaks and Fortune

"Wake up."
"Mmm?"
"Ivy..." Cal called in a singsong voice.

I felt a weight at the end of my bed. The weight shifted and I felt Cal rest his head on my stomach. I pulled the blanket over my head.

"Wake up, Ivy!"
"No!"
"Come on," he pleaded, squeezing the ticklish spot just above my knee.
I squealed. "Give me one good reason!" I demanded.
"Because it's Wednesday!"

Wednesday was the only day that Cal and I both had off. I sighed and opened my eyes, pretending to be annoyed. But, in reality, when you get to wake up and immediately see Calvin Orion, you don't have much to complain about. Especially when it's just shy of eleven o'clock and he still has bed-head and he's smiling like he just won the lottery.

"I'm up," I pouted. "This better be good."
"It is!" he promised. "Get dressed."
"What?" I asked, sitting up and trying to conceal my smile. "Why?"
"Because I'm taking you on a date!" he cried, bounding up and down. "Put on your nicest dress, we're going out in style!"
"For real?" I squealed.

"No."

I smacked his shoulder, but he just laughed.

"You idiot! You got my hopes up!"
"Aw, poor baby."

I stuck my tongue out and blew a loud raspberry at his face.

"Oh, what a lady I've chosen."
"Hey, hey. I'm the one who chose you, fire boy."
"Debatable," he teased, sitting up and expectantly holding his hands out to me.

I kicked the covers off and crossed my legs, taking Cal's hands in my lap. He leaned forward and kissed the top of my head as I unbuttoned the straps of his gloves. He took special care to close his hands into fists once they were out of the gloves, his palms being a hotspot.

When I'd removed both of his gloves, I sighed.

His clenched fists rested lightly in my lap. I pried the fingers loose, turning his right fist into an open hand.

"Ivy..." he warned.
"Just concentrate," I said quietly, tracing the creases in his palm.
"You're making it difficult," he muttered, squirming.
"Lower your body temperature. You can do it."
"You know what happened last time."
"You can do it," I repeated forcefully.

Cal gave me a hard stare, but slowly closed his eyes in defeat. His hands gradually grew colder. There was something warm stirring in my stomach. I couldn't help but smile at the way he was trying. Trying to be good and safe... For me. I placed my hand on his cheek. He tensed, but didn't flinch away. His temperature continued dropping.

"Ivy?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Guess how much I would hate it if you kissed me right now?" he mumbled, distracted.
"I don't know." I feigned unawareness. "How much?"
"None."

I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his. His temperature wobbled into warm, but he quickly gained control. He was smiling, partly because I'd just kissed him and partly because he was immensely proud of himself -- though he'd never admit to that out loud.

I moved so that I was curled up in his lap, my shoulder resting comfortably against his chest, and my knees drawn up. Cal was concentrating on breathing slowly, and I tried not to laugh. I could feel his breath rumble within him and vibrate down my side.

I found myself thinking of us as pieces of an incredibly complex puzzle. We were the two oddly shaped pieces in the middle; the ones that nobody put side-by-side until the very end of the puzzle. We weren't easy to find like the corner or straight-edged pieces... But once we were together, it was hard to see how we could have fit anywhere else.

I reached up and took hold of his shoulder, steadying myself so that I could kiss his chin. He laughed under his breath, thinking of something funny.

"Guess what?" he said, reluctantly allowing me to trace patterns on his bare palm.
"What?"
"I had a dream you were dating Ravi."
"You have the weirdest dreams," I snorted.
"Yeah. Especially because I wasn't talking about the human Ravi."
I blanched. "You dreamed I was dating an elephant!"
"Yep," he said, grinning wryly. "And you'd probably be better off with him in real life, too."

I sighed.

"What are you talking about?"
"Well... At least you'd get to kiss an elephant."
"Oh, yeah. Because that's every girl's dream."
"You know what I mean."
"Somehow I think the trunk would get in the way..."
He laughed humorlessly, ignoring my attempts to avoid the "I'm too dangerous" conversation he wanted us to have. "You know what I mean," he repeated.

"I can kiss you," I retorted. "I can kiss you whenever I want. And in my professional opinion -- Don't laugh! I am a professional! -- You, sir, are a much better kisser than any elephant could ever hope to be."
"Why, thank you."
"You're very welcome," I sniffed, then grabbed his ear, yanked his head down, and kissed his lips.

He ran his knuckles against my jaw, sighing. I got up on my knees and refused to break the kiss, even when Cal muttered a warning under my lips.

"Ivy, be careful."

I pushed myself on top of him, and he laughed in surprise. He cocked an elbow, propping himself up on the bed. I scissored one of my legs between the both of his and ran a hand through the back of his messy hair. He was losing his concentration, fast. His body temperature rose and his breath became shallow.

"Ivy, if you don't-"

I had been using one arm to hold myself up, but I let it relax. I rested all of my weight on top of Cal. His breath caught and his speech stopped as I pressed myself against him. His hand found my hip and then traced it's way to my ribcage. I could distinctly feel each of his fingers burning me through my oversized night shirt. His lips bit into mine and his heat was making the both of us sweat.

His kisses were hungry. His eyes were closed, trying to catalogue this moment, trying to preserve it in his memory. Each time he saw me, each time he kissed me, touched me, talked to me, he counted it as his last. He kept telling me that he was waiting for me to come to my senses.

He smiled through our kiss and I pressed my thumb against his jaw. Then, swiftly, softly, I ran my tongue across his teeth. He reacted so violently that I cried out. His temperature rose drastically and my body reacted like it would as if I was thrown onto a hot stove. I gasped and leapt away from him. He was well aware of his mistake, as it had caused flames to dance across his fingertips for a second. I wasn't burnt, but my white bedspread caught. Cal hastily stubbed out the flame with his thumb, and winced when he saw that it had suffered a small scorch mark.

His eyes flitted up to my face and horror flashed across his eyes. He jumped in surprise and tumbled out of my bed. He hit the floor with a thump and turned over, grinding his forehead into the ground.

"Ivy!" he yelled angrily. "You're supposed to say something!"
"I'm fine!" I protested weakly. It was a feeble lie. I could feel my lips stinging and various parts of my body were smarting with pain.
"I can't believe..." he trailed off, turning over and curling himself into a ball on the floor.

Panicked, I looked quickly into the mirror. It really wasn't that bad. My lips were swollen and my face was red, but I was just a little over-heated. It looked bad, but I'd be alright in a few hours, even if everything did feel like it was throbbing slightly.

"Cal, get off the floor," I said.
He didn't say anything, he only brought his hands up to cover his head.
"Come on, Cal..."

I got down on the floor next to him.

"I'm okay... Come on, look at me! I'm not burnt... I'm fine!"
"God, that tongue thing! I'm sorry, Ivy, I'm sorry..." he said thickly.

I tried to take his hands away from his face, but he started when I touched his skin. He got up and scrambled away from me, turning his face away in an attempt to hide his red eyes from me.

I followed him across the floor, determinedly.

"Don't!" I barked, my own voice thickening. "Stop that!"
"I can't, I can't," he mumbled, getting to his feet and backing away from me. "Ivy, don't come any closer."

I snatched his gloves from the floor and threw them at him. They smacked his chest.

"There!" I yelled. "Put them on! Put your stupid security blanket back over your eyes and maybe you can talk to me for once!"

He hung his head and guiltily put his gloves back onto his hands. His hair fell into his face and I could see his chest shaking.

"Sorry," he choked.

I got up and stumbled over to him, my own eyes welling up. He felt more comfortable with his gloves on and he swept me up, wrapping his arms around me and pressing a hand to the back of my head when I nestled it into his neck.

"Just got a little scared there," I said, my voice hitching. "We're okay now."
"I hurt you," he moaned.
"It's my fault. I never should have-"
"Ivy!" Cal interrupted, pretending to be offended and pulling me back slightly. "Never apologize for anything your tongue does."

I laughed, but I could see that he was joking to cover up his guilt. Crystalline tears clung to his bottom lashes. When I reached out a hand to wipe them away, Cal jerked his head back.

"I'm not... crying," he muttered weakly.
"It's okay."
"Don't touch them," he warned, resigned. "They're boiling."

He wiped his eyes with his thumb and then held the tear up to my face. My cool breath made it hiss and steam. It slowly evaporated before my eyes.

"Oh." I blinked heavily.

Cal gave a watery smile.

"I love being with you more than anything else in the world," he said awkwardly, as if letting me in on his darkest secret. "But being with you also scares me."

I looked into his face. There was no playful light glinting in his eyes. His lips were set into a tight, grim line.

"If hurt you, babe..." He shook his head. "I don't think I'd ever forgive myself."

And... Just then... I got the eerie feeling that maybe, just maybe, he really had let me in on his darkest secret.