Chapter 62 - Warner POV (incomplete)
reuploading, minorly edited | originally written in 2015
I am standing outside her door. The unfamiliarity of being recently freed from my cell and the threat of being discovered in the womenâs wing after curfew has me looking over my shoulder as I hesitate. The length of the hallway that I can see is dark, motionless. Finally I rasp my knuckles on her door, quiet and firm. My heart fights to remain in my chest as I hear her footsteps hasten toward the door.
She throws it open and in the one second I see her face, I can tell Iâm not the person she expected to see. I allow myself a single second to feel the rejection, but then the door slams closed and I'm sobered.
âJuliette?â I ask, casting a brief look over my shoulder again to make sure the doorâs slam didnât attract any attention.
âWhat are you doing here?â she hisses back, her voice muffled through the door between us.
âI need to speak with you.â
âRight now. You need to speak with me right now.â
I almost sigh, but I relieve myself of the time it would take to do so.
âYes. Itâs important.â The door remains closed.
I continue, âI heart Kent telling you that those twin girls would be in the medical wing tonight and I figured it would be a good time for us to speak privately.â
âYou heard my conversation with Adam?â
Her voice grows slightly hysterical and I lose my patience, nearly interrupting her to explain, âI have zero interest in your conversation with Kent. I left just as soon as I heard youâd be alone tonight.â
âOh.â She pauses for a beat, still not opening the door. I almost reach out and do it myself. âHow did you even get in here without guards stopping you?â
The mention of the guards sends my gaze over my shoulder again. Restless to see her face, I say, âMaybe you should open the door so I can explain.â
Three seconds pass and neither of us has moved.
âPlease, love, Iâm not going to do anything to hurt you. You should know that by now.â
And then, miraculously, âIâm giving you five minutes. Then I have to sleep, okay? Iâm exhausted.â
I canât help but crack a grin at the compromise. âOkay. Five minutes.â
It takes her another full second until the door handle jiggles and half her face is visible from the emergency light in the hall. She shakes her head and I realize Iâm still grinning, so I duck into her room and sit on the bed across from the door, the one separate from the other two twin beds against the adjacent wall. Her bed. When she closes the door, all of the light in the room is extinguished, yet all of the tension is trapped inside. Her footsteps move to somewhere across from me and then the quietness sets in. Within seconds, it begins to smother me: things said, things unsaid, her uncertainty of me, of this moment.
I organize my thoughts in my head and rotate the ring on my pinky as she shifts near-silently. I can practically see her pulling her legs to her chest or running her hand through her hair, but itâs so dark that I canât tell what sort of fidgeting sheâs up to. Also unwilling to break the silence, my fingers fall to the sheet underneath me. After nearly a week of threadbare and uncleanly blankets, this simple cotton spread feels like luxury. I take a second to imagine what it would be like to have Juliette against me under this blanket and forget the war going on above us. Her voice chases away the fantasy, but my fingers still run over the fabric smoothed over her mattress. âSo⊠what is it? You just left earlier, in the tunnel. Even though I asked you to wait.â
I blink once, and then decide on a different subject. One that half my brain is already devoted to. âYour bed is so much more comfortable than mine. You have an actual pillow. And an actual blanket?â I look up at her and chuckle. âYouâre living like a queen in these quarters. They treat you well.â
âWarner.â Just my name, though formal, makes my breath falter. âWhatâs going on? Why are you here?â
The air in the room shifts again; I realize I canât keep dancing around my purpose in coming. But even though I can feel the tug of her anticipation and impatience, I find the indecency within me to hesitate. Finally, after a sharp inhale that splits the silence: âI want you to come with me.â
She doesnât respond immediately, and now that Iâve heard the idea out loud from my own tongue, Iâm desperate to defend it. To defend us. To protect her. âWhen I leave tomorrow, I want you to come with me. I never had a chance to finish talking to you earlier and I thought asking you in the morning would be bad timing all around.â
âYou want me to come with you.â Itâs not a question.
âYou want me to run away with you.â
This time, I purse my lips for just a moment, praying for her to understand, before repeating, âYes.â
âI canât believe it. You really have lost your mind.â I come to realize that Iâd expected an answer so like the one she gave, that an actual smile brims to my lips.
âWhereâs your face? I feel like Iâm talking to a ghost.â
The bed creaks before she responds again, âIâm here.â
I join her on my feet and step forward, continuing, âI still canât see you. Can you see me?â
âNo,â she says, inches from my face, but the word is full of something other than truth. The waver in her voice clogs my throat. Just a girl, is what my father said to me. I remember the gun in my hand as I was told to point it at her. The ache in my chest at that moment was just a flutter of emotion in comparison to the inferno that torches in the realization that she is allowing me closer without trying to get away. Beckoning me closer.
I reach my arms toward her, needing to reaffirm that sheâs actually here. My fingers brush her biceps, and I realize for the first time that the shirt she wears exposes her arms all the way up past her shoulder. The unexpected rush of energy that overcomes me makes me bite my tongue. It has only been a few hours since the last time her energy spun down my spine but I have already forgotten how potent it is. Distracted by the invisible flames flickering between our conjoined skin, I donât realize that my hands have slid down to her waist until I also comprehend that she hasnât tried to stop me.
We are both silent. Only my hands move. Her breath has ceased and mine is half way there as my fingertips find the skin underneath the hem of her shirt. Just then she sucks in a hasty breath like it hurts to use her lungs.
Suddenly, I donât want to talk about what I came here to talk about. Another topic plagues my mind. âIs it even possible that you canât feel this between us?â I whisper instead. My hands return to her wrists and the hum of electricity reignites, singeing my fingertips and causing my eyes to clench shut. I step forward as my fingers trace up the silhouette of her arms before coming to her shoulder. I find the strap of the tank top sheâs wearing. My teeth catch my bottom lip as my fingers edge restlessly underneath. Push the material completely aside.
My fingers are still against her shoulders, waiting, waiting
for any response, but she gives no protest. I canât make sense of her thoughts. I canât make sense of my own. I canât comprehend why Iâm leaning down to her ear, past her ear, until my lips find the warmth of her newly-exposed shoulder. The swell of energy against my lips is intoxicating; Juliette takes preceden of all of my thoughts. I donât want to be gentle anymore, but I canât help but feel like Iâm holding a glass figurine in my hand, fragile and priceless.
I still canât see her face in the darkness, but now that Iâm close, itâs easier to guess where the features are. So when I remove one of my hands from her shoulder, my index finger lands directly on her bottom lip, moist like sheâd just been worrying it. My finger follows the curve of her lip, my limbs shaking from restraint and caution. And Iâm waiting. Waiting for her to end it, waiting for her to shove me away and call me names and throw me out of her room and report me to Kent or whoever else she thinks could save her. But instead, her lips part against my finger and it takes all in me not to throw her onto the bed behind me. Instead, I return my hands slowly to her back, our stomachs nearly touching.
I am buzzing again as I lean down toward her ear, and whether itâs from her or my own feelings, I canât tell.
Running away is the last thing on my mind now. All I can comprehend is her nearness, that she isnât trying to end this, that she might have forgiven me. My chest is rising and falling quickly, and I donât remember being this invigorated from a workout in my entire life. Finally, words find my lips.
âYou.â I say it quietly. The word comes from somewhere beyond my voice box; it requires an entire breath to expel the syllable.
I have never found it hard to be direct with her before, but it takes all of my concentration for the next words to surface. Quietly, yet explosive with honesty that I hope sheâll recognize:
I can feel the war within her, I can taste the exhalation running through her veins. I donât know what she wants me to do, I donât know what she wants me to say, I donât know if sheâs ever going to speak. She stands in front of me, so small yet so brilliant. I want her to go to bed thinking of me, and I want to be selfish and believe that she does so. I want her to tremble for me as badly as I tremble for her in the nights I wake up with a dream of her still imprinted on the back of my eyelids. I want her to know. And so I say so.
âJuliette,â The name is so familiar on my tongue that Iâm not sure if I even said it out loud or not. âI want you. I want all of you. I want you inside and out and catching your breath and aching for me like I ache for you.â My voice strains toward the end, so I swallow haphazardly then continue quickly, desperately, âItâs never been a secret. Iâve never tried to hide that from you. Iâve never pretended I wanted anything less.â
Then finally, her voice. âYouâyou said you wanted f-friendshipââ
âYes,â I say, swallowing again. âI did. I do. I do want to be your friend.â I nod emphatically, then continue, âI want to be the friend you fall hopelessly in love with. The one you take into your arms and into your bed and into the private world you keep trapped in your head. I want to be that kind of friend. The one who will memorize the things you say as well as the shape of your lips when you say them. I want to know every curve, every freckle, every shiver of your body, Juliette-â