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Fear nipped at her insides and the fluttering in her stomach was more like the bite of mosquitoes than the gentle hum of butterflies. The splintering wood of the ancient porch swing dug into her back and she leaned against it, rocking slowly with her hands twisted into the pockets of her jacket, trying to keep the warmth in. She was watching the field that stretched out in front of her, as if she could coax someone to save her from the encroaching darkness. There was a light tap on the screen door and she glanced towards it, smiling a real smile when she saw the tall figure behind it. He opened it slowly, and the creaks burned her ears like a fire never could. She wondered if maybe he was here to stop it, to stop her swelling heart from growing any further, to shatter it like glass on the wooden deck underneath her.
“Hey,” he said in the sugar-sweet voice of his, settling down next to her and putting a warm arm around her. “Your mom told me you were out here.”
She nodded, leaning against him, breathing in his soft coffee scent. She always loved how he smelled, one day like vanilla and the next like clove cigarettes, as if his scent changed with his environment. “It’s getting cold,” he commented, tracing his fingers up her arms, over her shoulder and across her collar-bone. She shivered, replying with a low “Yes.” She didn’t want to talk today. All she wanted to do was kiss him so hard that it hurt, but she didn’t. She sat there, staring over the field, where tall stalks of grass were bitten with frost.
“You’re quiet today,” he commented. She nodded, not bothering to look at him. She knew that in his eyes there was the frozen ice she’d become so afraid of, the look that killed her very insides. He was the male counterpart to the Ice Queen when he became like that, his skin like frozen teardrops and his lips like burning fire.
He pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, and she shivered again, so violently that he pulled away, and she could feel the concern oozing out of him. “Just do it and get it over with, okay?” She whispered, squeezing her eyes closed.
“I won’t if you’re-“
“Just do it!” She hissed, turning to look at him. He caught her gaze and it was as if the world stopped for a moment, and all she could see was the never ending blue. She looked away again and he bent his head to her neck, and then there was the sweet sharpness she’d come so accustomed to. Iciness seemed to bite at her insides and she went limp in his arms, trying to control her heart, which was beating rapidly against her ribcage, shaking her entire body.
Then, the cool darkness closed over her head and sugary euphoria washed over her, but it only lasted a moment.
All she could hear in her head was his whispered, “I love you.”
