AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Simultaneity is two things occurring at once. The relativity of that occurrence changes based on the observer’s plane.” She tilted her head at my explanation and leaned closer. “Removing the principles of physics and applying the thought here, at some point lust and love do cross. The days that I lust for you, are also the days that I love you.” I turned my head and kissed her wrist. “Relative toyou, you can see the lust on the axis visible, and it worries you.”
“It does.”
I removed her left hand and entwined it with my right. Our rings faced out, side-by-side.
“But if you change your perspective of the axis, you can also see and feel the love I have for you.”
“That’s poetic. I wasn’t aware you were a physics major,” she said as I kissed her fingertips.
“I’m not, but someone I viewed as a mentor was very invested in the sciences. He would tutor me on things without me realizing. He’s actually the reason I’m miserable and in this frat house.” She sat back on my waist, lightly trailing the muscles from my chest down.
“You know, there’s a lot of things I don’t know about you.” She paused. “I regret I wasn’t more aware.”
“I have a lifetime with you, Bexley.”
“Well, first I’d like to know what your major is. Also, whyareyou here? This frat house is the worst. You’re way too good for these guys,” she declared, and I laughed at her perception of me.
“I don’t know if that’s entirely true, love. My major is business with a minor in communications. I don’t hate it; there’s definitely benefits for the future. The frat house is more of a means to an end.” I paused, thinking over the last pieces for her answer. “Essentially, I’ve come into some benefits.”
“Benefits? I heard some things over the years about your parents, but I thought you were pretty much alone?” She kept doodling invisible designs across my body and traced over the ink already there.
“Yes, that is the whole truth for them. Growing up, before I moved into our district,” I said, gesturing between us, “I lived in a shitty neighborhood. All of the kids came from some kind of broken home lifestyle, and it really said a lot that they were scared to playbecauseof my father. My mother left when I was a toddler. I wrote her off as dead whenever I was old enough to process it all. It took a few years before my father was violently abusive toward me. While I was still little, he was mostly verbally horrid. His specialty was degradation, and when my spiteful ass grew up and learned not giving in to his words brought him dissatisfaction, he quickly turned to physical assaults.”
“That’s awful,” she offered.
“Yeah, I didn’t have too many people to talk to. He managed to keep my injuries mild enough to not warrant hospital visits, and my personality fit the bill of a rambunctious child always into mischief and trouble. This abuse was consistent through grade school and on. He was always drunk, always gambling, and never reliable. My dad somehow turned things around at random times, and when he did, it was good for a bit, but awful in the end. I don’t care to know how, but we eventually moved into that neighborhood with the big ass cemetery across the street.”
“I know that one, Milton Manor!” Her smile made my heart skip.
“That’s the one and only. When we moved in, I was sixteen or seventeen, and by that time, the kids in those neighborhoods already had their cliques. They were thinking politically, strategically planning their lives, and creating their circles because they watched their parents do it. So, once again, there was no one to hang out with.” I palmed her thighs again and returned the touch she had been giving me.
“Is that why you’re a bad boy?” The way she mocked the statement put me in a fit of laughter.
“Are? I feel like I’ve had enough redemption regarding my behavior. But yes, Iwasa troubled kid because I was verybored,among the other things.” I smiled. “One day, I found myself in the cemetery. It was hot, so I stayed in the tree line by the stone benches. There was an old man there, at least in his seventies? He was the first person from that entire neighborhood to strike up a conversation with me. It was so therapeutic, Bex. You have no idea how relieved I felt every time I went home after our bench talks. It was so nice to be heard. He couldn’t do anything, not really, but just knowing that one person wanted to hear me made everything manageable.”
“Who was he?” she asked.
“Ellis Milton.”
Her mouth fell open.
“Ellis Milton as in the Miltons, who were responsible for the foundation of our city? He was the Milton legacy?” She was far more into this than I ever cared to be.
“Yeah, but you remind me of him in some ways. He never cared about those things; he just wanted to be himself.” Her fingers strayed and swiped along my ribs. “Hey—ticklish!” I called out as I jerked.
“You’re ticklish?”
“Most normal people are,” I mocked her statement from earlier. Her hands shot to both sides, but I snatched them away.
“Ha, no, ma’am.” She tried to pull them out of my hold. I took both wrists in one hand and trailed the other along her waistband. “Behave,” I teased.
“I’m on my best behavior, sir,” she sassed.
“So, Ellis. We talked all the time up until a few months before graduation. No one knew that we’d formed this mentor/mentee relationship, so no one told me what happened. It was the morning after graduation, and I was worried over college: affording tuition, staying in housing, commuting even. I actually started undeclared.” I laughed and released her. “But that morning, I went to the cemetery. Probably out of habit, but I’d also felt drawn there. It took time after his passing, but they had erected a tribute to him. That’s how I found out.”
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry. People are such cunts,” she stated with full conviction. It caught me off guard and I covered my face as laughter shook my body.
“You’re amazing, and yes, they were very much cunty people. Not long after, I started here with the rest of you. Probably two weeks in, I received a call to come meet with the administration office. I thought they were kicking me out, honestly. I hadn’t done anything, but still. Instead, when I walked in, there was a team of lawyers, a pissy old woman, and admin.”
