Griffin's Salvation

Chapter 11:Ju-ri

I was startled awake by a very loud gasp from Kian’s old roommate

-oh my gosh, I knew you had girls over! Kyle yelled

-It’s just the one Kian responded, I knew Kyle couldn’t see my face since it was buried in the crook of Kian’s neck, so I didn't move in fear of being found out.I gave you a key for emergencies only, why are you in my room at seven in the morning?

-I found feminine products in your bathroom yesterday so I decided to investigate. Kyle said.

Dude, you got yourself a girlfriend?

-Something along those lines, Julie you remember Mark.

If I could I would have killed him, the little fucker just threw me under the bus. I’ve met his damn friends so much, there was no way Kyle wouldn’t recognize me. I pinched his side in retaliation and he just groaned grabbing my hand.

-this was going to happen sooner or later and Mark is the type of no-chill dude who’ll stay standing at the foot of this bed for as long as it takes him to find out what you looked like, I’m just cutting off the middle man here.

-That was not cool, I said leaning up on my elbows to peer down at him.

-I promise you it was inevitable in the human way.

-What do you mean? Kyle asked puzzled

-Inside joke you had to be there.

-Hello Mark, how are you this fine morning I said turning to him so he could see my face.

The results were as I expected, he stood there moving his lips while no sound came out for so long it was comical

-that’s your mum’s friend

-She was mine before she became my mom’s friend.

-What? What’s happening, what is this? Kyle screeched his eyes bouncing between Kian and me.

-Exactly what it looks like Kian said again unhelpful

-Just go back to sleep you’re no help. I groaned smothering him with my unused pillow. Kyle, it’s complicated and need to know only,

- does it have anything to do with the fact that you haven't aged a day in the six years we've known you?

-no why do you think there needs

to be any sort of explanation? Six years is not enough to notice any sort of change

-I don’t know why but something about you looks frozen in time.

-How?

-I’m not sure, it’s probably just my mind playing games with me. My mom said I used to talk to people who were not there when I was little. Kyle said with self-deprecation, shaking the thought out of his head. Anyway, should I worry about you grooming my best friend over here?

-I hope not.

-Julie stop that, you know there’s nothing to be worried about! Kian groaned snatching the pillow away from his face. Kyle, my friend get out!

-But…

-Kyle!

-Fine but this is not over

-I know

Kian eyes didn’t leave my face, even when his friend backed away from the room the way you do in hostile situations where you try to keep your eyes on the enemy for as long as you can. The fact is that I’m still extremely sensitive to the fact that even inadvertently I may have groomed him, he didn’t react the way you’d expect a twenty-year-old to. What if all the years I’d convinced myself he wasn’t aware of my existence, he’d picked up on my likes and dislikes and molded himself into something he wasn’t?

-you know that’s not what happened, how could I mold myself into something if I don’t know what that thing is, you shut me out exactly six months into me being able to read your mind.

-But if you do something I don’t like you will know

-I also know how free will works

-I can still have an influence on you

-I’m not saying you had no influence on me growing up, that would be idiotic, I’m saying it wasn’t to the extent of grooming and whatever it was we can’t change anyway because it would mean you'd died.

-Maybe if I didn’t let you bite me

-Did you know that I got into a very bad accident with my dad the day after we got back from Korea?

-What? She gasped clutching at my fingers

-Mom was jet lagged from the flight and my brothers were with my grandparents, I didn’t want to leave Mom alone because Dad had the habit of breaking into our house to beat the s**t out of her, he somehow always found us even after we moved and multiple restraining orders. He didn’t want Mom that day, he stole me from my room, and in the car, he threatened to take my little brothers instead if I wasn’t nice to my new owner.

-I didn’t know anything about this, how do I not know about this?

-Mom doesn’t like to talk about it and neither do I, he was a gambling drunkard, and I don’t even like remembering him. I brought him up to make a point. He opened his arms and I curled up on his chest, we both needed the support the next bit wasn’t going to be pleasant. Anyway, the sperm donor was drunk that day too, and in a hurry to get me to my new owner. We were following this final destination-looking truck with steel pipes hanging out the back. In his drunkenness, he was following the truck way too closely and when it stopped abruptly he swerved just enough to avoid being speared by the pipes. I was in the front passenger seat, my side wasn’t spared, I ended up hanging off those pipes after I went through the chair and the back windshield. neither of us was meant to survive that year if we hadn't met Ju-ri, these are the cards we were dealt lets just deal with it. pun intended.

-then I'm glad I let you bite me, it would have sucked to meet you and then lose you in such a short span of time. I'm glad none of us died.

-It would be a shame to deprive the world of the greatness that is me.

-I like how delusional you can be.

- you have work in a few hours. I'm going to lean down for a kiss feel free to leave if you're still not ready to take that step.

-why would you warn me like that?

-because enough of our relationship so far has been grey, I want the next part to be black and white. I don't want either of us to wonder if we coerced the other into something they weren't ready for. I don't want to f**k this up.

Kian leaned down until our mouths were an air breath away from one another and paused for a moment. He was giving me the time to run away like I've been doing so far, but I was tired. surely I could be forgiven for faltering now, I've been good for so very long, just one second would be okay, wouldn't it? I leaned in the rest of the way and pressed my lips to his, I let out a relieved sigh because damn it was a long time coming. a few seconds later he pulled away, Kian stared at my lips with avid curiousity, leaned a bit to the left, and kissed me again. he was on an exploration journey that I was finding very pleasing, he would lean this way or that, put a little tongue here and there, some light nibbling. and every time he would stumble on a combination I liked, he would lean into doing more of that. I was drunk on all those sensations, trying to get closer to the person who was making my body sing, that I straddled his lap pressing up against him.