fandomhigh | Library [2-18]

"Does it matter?" Karla asked, impishly.

And then relented. "Yesterday morning. I stopped by to check on Emma and Beka was there, getting ready for work."

Ah, nothin' t'worry about then, he decided. Since Beka hadn' mentioned anythin' t'him in th'afternoon.

"I heard she wasn' a rat any more," George said, still totally amused by that fact.

"Ermine," Karla corrected, trying not to smile. "Being person-shaped again won't stop Emma from biting you if she thinks you deserve it."

And, since she was Emma, her threshold for 'deserving it' was fairly low.

"But, anyway, Beka and I were talking about it being nice if the four of us--you, me, her, and Jonas--all went out and did something together. Like a d..." her courage fled "...a dinner? Maybe do something about town?"

"Emma can try t'bite me," George told her. He just didn't think she'd succeed.

He frowned at the explanation, getting that Karla was nervous but not quite understanding. "Why would we do that?"

"I'm so not going to get in her way if she does," Karla warned. "I have a healthy sense of self-preservation, thank you."

"I--oh." Karla kind of deflated a little. "Because it would be fun?" she mumbled. "You know. Hanging around. Just, you know, friends."

"Lucky I don' look t'ye fer defence then, Karla," George teased.

He frowned, rubbing his hand back through his hair as he tried to untangle it. "I'd like it if you would?" he tried. And he was trying to picture Beka suggesting it and wondering if she'd hit her head. Hard.

"Not when you have it coming," Karla countered. "If you poke a beehive, you can't complain about stings."

"You don't have to," she said, trying to sound utterly casual. So he preferred them just being friends. That was fine. No problems. "It was just an idea." She began portioning out some of the lunch, handing him a plate. "We said we would need to check with you and Jonas before making concrete plans anyway. Did you want fries or chips? I got both."

Totally not a subject change.

"Didn' say I would complain," George said. "Jus' don' think I'd get stung."

Beka had said something about an ego, right?

He frowned at her, not even starting to believe that. "I'd rather jus' go wit' ye. But if we'd rather wit' Beka an' her cove, twould be fine by me."

"Beka was right," she muttered, also thinking about the ego comment.

She stopped scooping out fries to look at George like he was daft. "Of course I want to do these things alone with you, too! I would love to go out to dinner with just you or to a movie with just you or even spend time in our rooms talking with just you! But--" she abruptly shut up, feeling more than a little foolish. "Never mind. It's dumb. Bottle of juice or a can of soda?"

"What's dumb," George asked instantly, reaching to try to catch her hand and distract her form the whole food situation. "But what?"

Karla put down the food, since it was clearly a less-than-perfect means of distraction, but couldn't actually raise her eyes to meet his. She felt dumb for saying it and didn't want to see him come to the same conclusion. "I like being alone with you," she repeated. "But...sometimes...I want to be with you around other people, too. If that makes sense."

Karla had gone past bright and into incandescent.

"Oh." He thought about that for a moment. Beka still seemed like an odd choice for her t'be hanging out with her friends. Emma, maybe, "I'd like that then. I didn' realise tha' was why."

"Beka is important to you," Karla said softly, tucking her hair behind an ear. "So are your other friends. Monopolizing your time is hardly fair."

Cause that was totally the reason why. Uh-huh.

George eyed her, not bothering to try the Sight but not really believing her either. "Ye don' monopolise me time," he pointd out. "Any more than I do yours."

"True."

It had been a lousy excuse anyway.

"Well, who says I don't wanna?"

Wait, no, that sounded even worse. Not saying there wasn't an element of truth to it, but still, sounded worse.

"Well, if you're with me, in front of your friends, there isn't much of a question if you're with me. Right?"

There. That was true. Incomprehensible, but true.

He opened his mouth and closed it again then tried to speak again.

"You - aye, but -"

No, seriously, what?

"'m sorry, lass. I didn' mean t'make ye think ye weren't? Or we weren't?"

Smooth in this aspect wasn't in his lexicon.

Karla shrugged. "See, I told you this was dumb." She sighed, blew her bangs out of her face, and then leaned forward. "I like you. A lot. I like being with you, whether we're kissing or not--though I really like kissing. Nothing else really matters beyond that. So...don't worry about it, okay? I don't need to be more than a friend you kiss."

Wanted to? Sure. Needed to be? Not really.

"It's not dumb," he said instantly, serious enough that his accent faded a bit. "D'you -" George took a breath too. "I like ye a lot too. An' talkin' t'you an' kissin' you."

He flashed her a grin, not completely uncomfortable now. "So we - d'you want t'be more? I would like t'be, I think."

There were lots of ways Karla could have answered that. She could have asked him if he were sure, if he wasn't just saying that. She could have jumped up and down and squealed and clapped her hands. She even could have said, 'Sure, okay; juice or soda'--though, admittedly, she wouldn't have been able to stay that deadpan for long.

Her answer instead was to lean over the counter and attempt to kiss him breathless. If he could feel any of what she was, it would be answer enough.

He was kissing her back and trying not to grin so much that he had to stop kissing her.

Kissing was the best possible answer to any question.

Well, those that didn't involve eating.

See? They had so much in common!

Karla ran her fingers through his hair, and then brought her hand back to cup his cheek.

Mmmm...kissing was very nice.

After a few more minutes, she reluctantly pulled away. "You're at work," she said. "I don't want the librarian to get angry at you..."

"He's probably sleepin' in his office," George told her, cheerfully slandering Mr. de Tamble. "T'won't matter."

"Still, just to be safe, maybe I should stay over here," she teased.

And then used just the tiniest bit of Craft.

Suddenly, there were a trail of whisper-light kisses being pressed against George's jawline. A pair of phantom hands tangled themselves in his hair, while his earlobe got gently nipped at.

"See? I can behave," she said, even as she leaned in again.

He scowled at the invisible touch, turning around t'smack whoever that was. If they touched his pocket, they'd be in trouble.

Turning back to her, George was still frowning. "'m likin' different kinds of misbehavin' better," he argued.

Karla blinked a few times in surprise at his reaction. And then laughed, feeling very cheered for reasons she couldn't quite fathom and didn't want to think about too closely. "Well, if you're sure Mr. DeTamble won't mind," she said, moving in to kiss him again.

There wasn't a lot that could stand up to the promise of kissing when one was ~~fifteen~~ ~~sixteen~~ a teenager.

Library [2-18]

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