Page 53 of Rock Me

"Why are you laughing?" she demands.

"I'm not! I'm smiling, because, I guess you're right. Love sucks."

"You wouldn’t know. You just told me you’ve never loved. Have you forgotten?'

"You sure you should be asking me if I’ve forgotten something?" I nudge her foot with mine, playfully.

She gasps, but there's laughter in her eyes.

"Too soon, Cyrano, too soon!"

"Cyrano?!"

"Those notes! I know Robbie wrote them."

"Yeah but he was supposed to say they were from me."

"Oh, was he? Well, he didn't. I thought our night nurse was sending me love notes"

"That rat! I'm going to buzz his button twelve times tomorrow during his precious baseball game!"

She giggles and the room fills with music even more heavenly than her singing.

"Just kidding. Of course, he said they were from you. That's why this one, "she pulls a piece of paper from her pocket. I can just make out the words "Autumn Leaves" scribbled on it, "is all scrunched up. You're lucky I read them at all."

She's right. I am. So I tell her so.

"I'm the luckiest man in the world right now."

She stops giggling, and her hands fall into her lap, a smile still dancing on her lips.

"Why did you have Robbie write them?" she asks.

I don't say anything, and hold out my hand and slowly try to make a fist. Sweat springs out of every pore as I bite back a yelp. Every muscle, every joint in my hand screams, begging for release. I stop when I can't squeeze any tighter and there is a still a gap between my gnarled fingers and my palm.

I shrug and release and let my arm fall down to my side.

"That's why."

She reaches out and slides her hand into mine.

It's an action completely unexpected. And familiar all at once. Tiny, microscopic tremors skate up my arms and through every atom of my body. One touch. That's all it takes.

"Your fingers and my brain would be great friends," she says, softly.

And my fingers twitch, aching to mold around the small fingers laying alongside them.

My eyes travel from her eyes to her lips. She's biting the bottom one, gently. There's the slightest flash of white from her tooth digging into the plump, beet colored cushion of her mouth. It's the most alluring thing I've ever seen. I feel my body inch forward of its own volition. My head lowering to her, my eye fixated on her heart shaped lips.

I'm going to kiss you, Noémie. My mind tells her. And my heart performs a tango in my chest at the anticipation.

I'm going to kiss her.

Right now.

Finally.

"What in the world? What in hell do you two think you're doing? It's almost 1 a.m.!" Robbie's loud and gruff voice cuts into the quiet and he flicks the light switch on, flooding everything in the harsh neon light.