#blindsensed

x [ accepting ] || @blindsensed

She asked to go, because his companionship felt like a rare treasure to her. Perhaps the fact that he was so knowledgeable about space had been the first thing to draw her to him. And later, vague words that led to nebulous suspicions about just how human he really was, which lead to a curiosity that she sought to satiate. With time, there came comfort. She could be herself with him. There was no anecdote about her previous life she had to hold back, whether out of safety or concern that he would be bored. But now, there was an element of necessity, too. She knew the responsibility of maintaining a friendship would mostly fall on her–not just because of his busy schedule, but because of his social habits.

Normally, she didn’t see spending time with him as a chore. But considering he had mentioned his plans for the evening were to drink liquor, she wasn’t exactly thrilled. But he let her indulge in her interests so often, and she so often felt like such an immature child compared to him, she was eager to do something he liked. Not just for his own comfort, but also to assert how very sophisticated and mature she was.

That all, of course, went downhill after the first glass of aged whiskey. She hadn’t heeded the teeny tiny tilt of a smirk to the corner of his mouth when she chirped, “The same” to the bartender. But he hadn’t stopped her, either, so she wasn’t completely at fault for it. She suspected he had been curious to see what effect the alcohol would have on her, from a scientific standpoint. It certainly seemed like the sort of thing that would entertain a scientific mind like his. His observations would include the following:

1. Dizziness after two sips.2. Light flushing in the cheeks, neck, and chest.3. Mild perspiration along the hairline at the forehead, and the nape of the neck.4. Slurred speech, occasionally forgetting to speak Korean and instead speaking native language. With more and more sips, the time between catching herself and translating into Korean got longer and longer.5. Distractedness. In the middle of speaking, occasionally forgot where she was going with it and stared at a fixed point until she forgot she was supposed to be remembering what she was saying, and proceeded to go on to another topic. On the occasions she managed to say everything she was thinking (everything–so much oversharing), she stared.6. Frequent instances of physical contact. Thus far, an hour and fifteen minutes into their time: 5 touches to the back of his hand, 6 to the crook of his elbow, 3 to his shoulder. Leaning her head on his shoulder 2 times. Idle poking of his fingers holding his glass–1 instance of 4 pokes, one on each finger’s knuckle.

When they stood to leave, Vartouhi’s knees were not ready, and she immediately plummeted back down. She did manage to fling her upper body onto the stool she’d just slid off of, catching herself from falling to the grimy bar floor. She gave a pitiful groan at Kyungsoo’s quiet snort of amusement. “Dooooon’t judge meee…” The syllables were drawn-out, and there was a slight whine to them, unable to help it with how she felt like she was stuck in slow-motion with the rest of the world on fast-forward around her. It was disconcerting, to say the least. She saw him shuffle between their chairs, and then his hand gripped her wrist firmly, pulling her up and her arm across his shoulders. The arm closest to her curled around her waist to keep her up, and they began to walk out to his car. (Read: He walked while she stumbled.)

The time between the click of him belting her in, and the pull against that belt later as the car came to a stop in front of her apartment building, felt like a moment to her, as she’d fallen asleep. On waking, when she lazily rolled her head to the side to look at him, she forgot where she was. All she was thinking of, was that the car she’d been in the most was her ex-fiancé’s, and that the full lips her eyes had landed on were just familiar enough that it felt like a good idea to kiss them.

So she did.

[ meme ] - not accepting.