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He walked back out to the car, and I watched through the window. He grabbed two large, canvas bags that I had seen Desmond and Allaysia carrying out while I was hugging my mom and dad.
"Anyone hungry?" Tallis asked, smiling as he walked back in.
"I'm starving to death!" Amelia gushed, prompting him to laugh.
She ran over to the kitchen as he unloaded the food from the bags.
Tallis knew that we hadn't eaten in a while. We had taken a nap when my family had gone into town to eat and gather supplies. They'd brought us back food, but we were a little distracted by all of the chaos.
I walked over to the kitchen with everyone else. Treating it like a normal night, we carried on casual conversation as we cooked pancakes. We all laughed as we cooked. It was comfortable and cozy. For a moment, I forgot there was anything even wrong.
Tallis was cutting up with me and touching me as if we were still together. Amelia smiled at me, feeling my emotions. Tallis looked at me, smiling and moving in closer.
He sat down beside me as we enjoyed our pancakes at nearly one in the morning. His body was so close to mine that our sides were touching. He kept looking at me, smiling here and there, making my heart do stupid, crazy things.
I was trying not to stare at him, but it was nearly impossible to do. I was so engulfed in our silent moments that I didn't even hear Amelia talking to me until her incredibly sarcastic voice mocked my distracted self.
"Aria? You in there? Anybody home?"
I snapped around to face her so quickly that I almost fell out of my seat. Embarrassed, I replied sheepishly, "Oh, yeah. Sorry. What's up?"
Amelia
and Henry giggled at my expense. Tallis was looking at his plate, still eating, but smiling, too. I think he either enjoyed the fact that I had gotten lost in my gaze, or I had embarrassed him, too. Amelia made an obnoxious throat-clearing noise when she noticed I had started drifting again. Tallis snickered this time.
"I was saying that Henry and I are about to crash," she said, sounding entertained and teasing.
"Oh, yeah. I'm going to crash soon, too."
I glanced over at the couch which seemed cozy enough. It looked dusty when we came in, but Tallis touched it and suddenly the whole room felt and smelled freshly cleaned. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere.
The couch looked comfy enough to sleep on now. I stood up and Amelia joined me in washing the dishes. We got down to the last dish, but suddenly it was clean before Amelia even put it in the water. Then all the dishes flew into the cabinets.
I turned around to see Henry and Tallis smiling smugly.
Amelia put her hand on her hip while throwing down the dish towel, puffing in irritation. "Oh, that's real cute. You would wait until the last dish to do that," she scolded.
Tallis smiled happily at his chance to pay her back for all her earlier snide comments. "Well, I thought if you could do it yourself, then it wasn't really magic."
He and Henry started laughing, and I couldn't resist joining in. Against all her best efforts, Amelia started laughing, too.
The guys got up and started talking about what to do the next day, and Amelia leaned in to whisper to me. "I really think I'm going to like having Henry all to myself. This whole 'cabin in the woods' thing is really perfect. It's been hard to get intimate with him with so many people around all the time, but now it's just us. He already planned on staying in the room with me for safety's sake. I've been baiting the hook for a while, and now I'm going to try to reel him in. What do you think?"
It was hard, really hard, not to laugh when I whispered back, "I think they just heard every word you said."
Henry and Tallis both burst out laughing, making it all the harder for me not to laugh. Amelia's face beamed red as she looked at me completely mortified.
I shrugged, still biting back the teasing grin that was trying to spread. "Super hearing. No secrets are safe. What can I say?"
She shook her head and retreated toward the dark rooms in the back. I heard her moving her hands up and down the walls, fumbling around for a light switch. A few muttered curses from her had me finally laughing.
"Really?" We heard her hands sliding around some more, until she reluctantly gave in. "Could I get a little help here?"
She knew the smartass comments that would ensue.
Tallis was all too eager to respond with his heckling tone. "Why don't you just flip on the light switch? You don't need magic to turn on lights, you know."
I heard her trying not to laugh. "You're hilarious."
