Chapter 29: 28- Fancy Feeling Like A Rapist

28

By ten in the evening Blake was feeling much better. Well he hasn’t been sneezing and coughing for the past three hours so I believe that’s a sign of getting better. I have been stuffing his face with porridge, and soup and Tylenol- maybe ‘stuffing his face’ isn’t the right term. It sounds like I have him overdosed on the product.

He’s temperature has lowered to normal, unlike earlier when I arrived when he was burning up. He didn’t look so tired and swollen anymore. He looked like the normal Blake and I had fallen in love with except that the messy clothes and hair makes him look ten times hotter.

Right now we were in the kitchen. He’s making hot chocolate and I have my ears glued to the microwave waiting for the popping sounds to stop. Officially we declared about five minutes ago that tonight was going to be a movie night.

Since I had brought up Robert Downey Jr. earlier while we were watching Safe Haven, and since we already watched the chick flick portion of the night, Blake announced we were having a Marvel Marathon starting from the one and only Iron Man.

A few minutes later we were on his couch, our feet propped up on the couch under the warm fluffy blankets with a humungous bowl of popcorn as we watched t film.

“Say ‘ah’” he said as he took a piece of the popcorn in between his thumb and index finger.

“Ah.” I opened my mouth so that he could toss it like shooting a basketball but instead he smirked and just popped it in his mouth leaving me to look like a fish. Grabbing the pillow beside me, I hurled it towards the laughing Blake who dodged out of the way with ease. “That was mean!”

“You should’ve seen your face!” he exclaimed in between laughs.

I frowned. “You not supposed to be eating popcorn. You’re sick. Your cough’s going to come back.”

He stuck his tongue out. “I’m all better now. But I would feel a lot better if you’re going to give me a sponge bath.”

“In your dreams.” I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm lightly. I do not want to injure the man who was burning up a mere few hours ago.

“Please?” he pouted. “Please?”

I diverted my attention back to the good looking Robert Downey Jr. on the screen to avoid his intensely cute face. “No.”

“A cake?”

“No.”

“Please?”

I turned to face him and he was still pouting, grabbing my arm like a little kid would do when they wanted to bug their parents. “You’re going to get sick again.”

“Cupcake?”

“Blake.” I stated, glaring at him. “No. You’re already eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate. Now let’s watch the movie.”

He finally settled down and shifted in his position and released one of his hands from my arm. A few minutes in, his hand that was on my arm slowly lowered down, inch by inch, until he reached my hands.

This time, I didn’t pull away. I let his fingers interlock with mine as we continue to silently watch the move.

A small smile crawled up to my lips and I had to bite down the urge to jump on the couch and scream like the girl I am. I could scream the place down but let’s not do that. I still want to hold his hand.

The pads of his fingers slowly rubbed small circles on my knuckles. We were both watching the movie, but the inevitable smile that we had on display was proof enough that we really weren’t concentrating on it too much. We were both too absorbed at the person beside us.

I started packing popcorn in my mouth with my free hand as the movie continued and Blake just chose that moment to call my attention. I looked like a squirrel with stuffed cheeks when I faced him.

Christ, I need to be more ladylike.

“Whoa slow down there.” He smirked. “Alvin and the Chipmunks want their faces back.”

“Hey!” Glaring at him, I grabbed another pillow and smacked in on his face. Fortunately, he was too busy laughing to move out of way and I hit him square in the face. Serves him right. “That’s mean.”

“But I like chipmunks” he grinned at me toothily.

My face heated up as I tried to think of a comeback but came back empty. Instead, I smiled at him, although I did try my best to not to.

He took my hand back to his, enclosing mine with the palm of his hands as we continued to watch the movie.

“You could sit closer, you know. I don’t bite” He muttered beside me, his eyes still on the screen. I pursed my lips together, wondering if I should. I decided not to. So he spoke up, “I feel cold Bethany. Really cold. If you sit closer, I’ll feel warmer.”

With my other hand, I fisted the blanket that wrapped us and pushed it towards him. “Enjoy.”

“But I want you.” He whined like a little kid whose mother wouldn’t buy him a toy. “I want you beside me.”

I like Blake, a lot, but I like my movies a lot too.  “If I move closer will be quiet?”

“Maybe.” He sang with a wide grin.

“Good enough for me.” Sighing, I moved closer to him until there was no more space in between us. I could feel his warmth immediately surround me as I did so.

Blake stretched his arm out and placed it over my shoulder. He didn’t stop there. With his hand on my shoulder, his arm around, he pulled me towards him, squishing me against him. Again, there weren’t any spaces left in between us when I scooted over so can you imagine how we looked right now? Like sardines in a can.

Oof. The sound came out of my mouth as I landed on his side. He ignored my reaction, watching the movie. I could feel his muscled chest against my own.

Sweet peas. I could feel all of my body heat rush up to my face. No doubt I was so red right now. Not only was I squished on him, my boobs (for one of those rare times I thank the heavens that I was not gifted in that area or this would have been super awkward) were smashed up against him so hard it started to hurt.

“Blake.” I breathed out. So maybe my hurting breasts weren’t the only thing having trouble. I was running out of oxygen supply as we speak. “B-lake.”

Now I just sound like a dying duck.

“Yeah?” he smirked, his attention still on the screen, oblivious to my boobs pressing up against him. Or is he just pretending?

With my lack of stuffing there, I doubt he’s pretending to not notice.

“C-can’t breathe.” I huffed out. “Boobs…squish…hurt…ouch…”

Maybe I should’ve just shut up. If it was still possible, the color of my face turned even redder, and it was getting really, really, really hot right now.

“Boobs? Shit, sorry.” He muttered, blushing as he released me immediately. I took most likely the largest breathe intake for my entire life when he let me go.  “A massage then maybe?”

My eyes widened so much I bet they are the size of saucers. I turned my head slowly to Blake. I just restored the oxygen supply of my body back to normal and he says this?! Massaging my boobs?!

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

“Shit.” He cursed and closed his eyes, covering them with his forearm. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. Not your….boobs. I’m not some sick pervert. Jeez what I meant was….you, you know…”

“I don’t.” I said, still shocked that he somewhat offered to massage me there.

“Not there, I mean… Jesus…I should just shut up.” He groaned, still covering his eyes and I could see his cheeks turn a light shade of red. So adorable. “This is embarrassing. You know what I mean..”

“I do?” I asked innocently. So I caught up on him and what he was trying to say but I was not missing out on the chance to tease Blake.

“You wouldn’t give me a sponge bath, or bake me a cake. So…a massage maybe?” he removed his arm from eyes giving me a sheepish smile. “Please?”

I narrowed my eyes at him like I didn’t trust him, playfully of course. “Nothing else?”

“Nothing else.” He shook his head followed by a smirk. “But if you want me to massage your breasts then I’m all up for it.”

That my dear friends earned him a punch on the arm, although it seemed like it didn’t hurt him as much as I wanted to because he was laughing.

“Okay, okay!” he cried out, tears on his eyes as he raised his hands up. “That was indecent of me.”

“You got that right.”

“But in all seriousness though.” Blake smirked. “If you want to get them massaged, I’m just a call away.”

“Blake!” another punch, followed by another pillow. Wow, Blake has a lot of pillows on his couch.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed, covering his face.

“You should be!”

“Though you should be the one apologizing for breaking my heart.” He declared dramatically, placing a hand over his heart for an added effect. “That hurt a lot. I thought I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life and get depression and have to go to rehab.”

A pang of guilt instantly hit me as he said those words. I remained silent. I didn’t what to say. I knew how much I hurt him because I hurt myself too. I looked down at my intertwined finger.

How can he forgive me after that? I certainly couldn’t forgive myself.

“Stop overthinking things Bethany.” Blake sighed and pulled my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. That was-”

“No.” I interrupted him, cutting his words short. “Don’t be sorry. I deserved that. I deserve more. You should lash out, vent it all out to me. I understand. Don’t hold any of your anger in. It’s all my fault. If you want to shout at me, go ahead. If you want to hit me, I’m not stopping you. I deserve your hatred after what I did.”

“Bethany.” He released my hand cupped my face, pulling me to face him. He looked so handsome, with his disheveled hair, his deep set steel gray eyes…as if angel carved out his face. “You don’t deserve any of those things you just said. You were scared and I understand. You’re unsure, always in doubt, of everything and of everyone. The reason behind what you did isn’t rocket science. I won’t shout at you, and not in a million years would I think of hitting you, let alone actually do it. Never.”

“But Blake what I did was-”

“Ssh.” He said, not letting me finish. “I love you. I would always forgive you no matter what you do. However, I haven’t forgiven you just yet. Are you willing to do anything for my forgiveness Bethany?”

“What? Of course not.” I snorted.

“Really?” he asked, disappointed. “You won’t?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “You might want to be to go streaking outside carrying a watermelon yelling ‘internet!’.”

“One thing’s for sure: life’s not going to be boring with you.” He stared at me wide eyed before breaking into a huge smile. “As much as I would want to see you streak, I’d rather you do it indoors, specifically my house when Allie’s not around. I do not like sharing Bethany. And this isn’t uni, so no streaking.”

“Did you go streaking in uni?” I asked even before my brain could stop my mouth.

“Uh, well…” he mumbled, turning into a cute tomato as he blushed severely.

“You did!” I cried out, shock was clearly on my face. Lucky girls.

“Hey you’re off topic!” he scowled. “For your apology, you could…”

“I could?”

“You could...”

“I could what, Blake?”

“I would ask you to kiss me but then I don’t want you getting sick and it would feel like I raped you in some sort way if I forced you to kiss me and I do not fancy feeling like a rapist.” He calmly stated like we were talking about the weather. “So I won’t.”

I, on the other hand was screaming internally. He wants me to kiss him! Sweet corn, holy guacamole! My brain is going haywire.

“Uh..I.uh….um….” I started stammering, my cheeks flushed. “Um…”

“Shush.” He said, gesturing with his hands telling me to shut up, closing his eyes for more dramatic effects. Then, he opened his eyes and with huge schoolboy grin, he said, “You could go on a date with me when I’m all better.” And followed it with a wink.

A date!

A date?

A DATE?!

“A date?” I said, saying my thoughts aloud. I sound like a parrot right now.

“Yes, my beautiful Bethany Hamilton. A date.” He continued grinning, the smile reaching his eyes. “Now, if you say no, then I guess I won’t forgive you then, even after I said I always will.”

I found myself smiling at the handsome yet cute man in front of me who just asked me out on a date for my apology. “A date then.”

“It’s a date!” he exclaimed, followed by a loud hacking cough and a series of sneezes.

“Ew.” I scrunched up my nose and jumped two feet away from him. I’m not into sharing germs thank you very much.

“Sorry about that.” He sniffed and wiped his nose with a ridiculously thick wad of tissue paper. The amount of snot must be scary to use that many. “Oh that’s disgusting. You want to see?”

“No!” I answered sharply, jumping another two feet away from his, off the couch. “Who would ask that? Who would even say yes? What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” He grins. “I’m just joking around Bethany.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well it’s a gross joke. Ew.”

He chuckled, throwing his head back. “You’re so cute Bethany.”

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