"Mm.."

She shifts only slightly, rolling her shoulders and curling her toes.

"That's what someone who's following me might say."

But there is a note of amusement in her tone, encouraged by the relaxation seeping into her tense muscles. She sighs, the exhale coming directly from her toes. The woman's eyes remain closed, her lips drawn in a perfect line, but she does not appear the slightest bit annoyed having him in her presence.

In fact, it felt natural.

"You should try relaxing, Bo. That is what this is for, is it not?"

She can hear his labored breathing, feel the static between his shoulderblades that only a man who bears a heavy weight could possibly carry. She knows that static all too well.

GmirJiUT

heat points: 961

boruta maher

She can hear his tongue click, and she's thankful for the cushion for hiding the flicker of amusement.

With a forced exhale, Emma relaxes further into the chair, shoulders touching her ears. But her eyes open abruptly when his voice bleeds through once again. It strikes a chord in her she isn't prepared for - and for a long minute that stretches - she is silent.

"..."

And then she inhales.

"No. I.. you can keep talking."

LksNeQw1

heat points: 895

boruta maher

Emma was so difficult to read that she had stopped learning how to read herself. The hesitation in her voice had caught herself off guard just as much as it had him.

And now that he didn't have anything to say, the air felt even more tense than it had a moment ago.

He apologizes, and somehow that makes everything worse.

"Why?"

O74sr9Hz

heat points: 855

boruta maher

Emma is silent for a while, but hidden beneath the curved, soft cushion, she is stifling laughter.

Why?

Because she was an old dog that was struggling to learn new tricks: the art of socializing without looking a fool. Some people made it look effortless, but it was anything but. She's spent a life of solitude surviving only to wake up one day anticipating the touch of another and it was then she realized she'd been killing herself slowly.

And then when he'd left, the world had spun upside down and sideways and she'd had to relearn things she thought she'd mastered long before she'd ever met him.

God, she hated people.

And it's then that she bursts into laughter, shoulders shaking with the effort to keep it muffled and hidden. The warm rocks against her bare skin shift and a few fall to the ground in a loud clatter.

Relaxation, as if either of them had ever known how to experience that.

qDHrVOqR

heat points: 795

boruta maher