ᴱᴬᵀ ᵞᴼᵁᴿ ᴴᴱᴬᴿᵀ ᴼᵁᵀ.

             that an invitation?

❛ i wasn’t goin’ to touch it - ❜ she’s lying, she definitely is. as soon as the papers are placed in front of her, her eyes linger across the words. she’s tempted to take it, just to ball it up and trash it. but she keeps to her seat, eyes narrowing when she catches the LOOK he’s giving her, ❛ i ain’t a kid, y’can piss off with the superior bullshit. ❜

awh : (

       is he fucking brain-dead. or is he just like that on a regular basis. 

        veronica finds herself asking herself that question more often than not. as soon as the words leave his mouth, she tenses further ( she never really relaxes when he is around ), shoulders lifting in a defensive gesture, a look of disgust crossing over her features in one sweep. 

        he isn’t very close, but this doesn’t stop her from taking an exaggerated step back to keep the distance, ❛ how about you keep your fuckin’ hands to yourself? ❜

        she catches him staring. and the look on her face isn’t anything pretty, she squints in his direction, hands slide into her pockets, ❛ like what you see or somethin’? ❜

“ i’d like it if that were true. ”      as if hearing her previous question for the first time he suddenly has a new answer to offer;      “ i do like you though   —–   talking to you.   you’re interesting to be around,   so this is   …   ”      takes the bottle,   passes the pad of his thumb around the mouth of it  (not with any disapproval,   but an evidently neurotic attention to the dryness of it),   before drinking.      “   …   fun.   i don’t know if you’re a highlight,   but you’re entertaining.   the opposite of boring. ”

            this is the result nearly every time.  he says something with a little feeling  &  she’s quick to withdraw into herself.  quick to put up her defenses.  quick to avert her gaze…   he understands but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s dispirited by it.  if anything it makes him want to try harder.  to let her know he truly means what he says.  it isn’t bullshit ,  never has been.         the phone is free but it stays forgotten in his lap as he watches her shift away ,  as she pushes her hair from her face as a distraction to what he’s said.  the tenseness of her muscles is not missed either ,  his lips pressing faintly in thought.

             for a long moment he says nothing to her words before he reaches out ,  his free hand placed between her shoulders  -  smoothed up the back of her neck  &  down again.  it’s endearing  (  &  a little sad  )  but he loves her for it all the same.  wouldn’t change a single thing about her.   he uses the knee closest to hers ,  nudges faintly at her own as the smile creeps its way back over his features.       besides ,  despite the cold shoulder he knows deep down she cares about him too.  he’s got no need to force her to confirm it ,  he feels it every time she’s around.

            ‘ c’mon ,  veronica ,  it ain’t hard to believe.  i mean ,  look at ya? ‘  the hand no longer holding the phone lifts to her face ,  fingertips caught at the edge of her chin.  he doesn’t force her to turn her head though ,  instead he leans forward ,  lips caught at the edge of her mouth once more.  he doesn’t linger ,  mouth moved until it rests just shy of her ear.  he presses another kiss ,  two.  ‘ you were already gone when i got up this morning.  i’ve missed you since yesterday ,  yanno? ’  he leans a few inches back ,  lets the hand at her chin fall to his lap again.  ‘ it’ll be nice to eat dinner together after a long day. ’

        she’s already aware he’s far from finished when he doesn’t go back to punching in the numbers. veronica brings her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms loosely around her thighs - just in case he tries to get too close again. out of the corner of her eye, she can see he is watching her now, it almost makes her want to turn her head. but he doesn’t wait long, when he speaks up, she sits up straighter, teeth hesitating at the corner up of her lip for a moment before she feels his fingers on her chin. she thinks of snapping at him, opens her mouth a moment but closes it the next when she spots the look he is giving her. it’s a look she knows very well, that’s way too familiar - it makes her shift in spot, makes her itchy all over. but it’s not an anxious itch, it’s not something that she wants to go away. 

        he kisses her again, she keeps her shoulders raised - it doesn’t deter him though, his lips brush the shell of her ear, and she turns her head instinctively, her glare isn’t as harsh as it could be ( she didn’t realize it’d been awhile since he’d said her first name, it catches her attention way too quickly ). she doesn’t know when she started to allow this - this thing between them that felt too warm and too mushy to talk about out loud. but there was no backing out of it now, no changing it. she doesn’t think she wants to anyway. her eyes keep to his mouth for a moment, watching his lips form around each word before she looks back at him. 

        ❛ oh, bite me. ❜ she murmurs after a moment ( now that she thinks about it, she’s tempted to do just that to him ), ❛ i was busy with -- ❜ veronica does not know why she’s trying to explain herself, like she has to. which she doesn’t, he doesn’t ask, but she always ends up telling for some reason.