Smitten Kitten

chapter six

     "HOW THE HELL is dropping your towel your instinctive response in this situation?"

     "I flail when I get scared! I'm pretty sure we've already covered this! Don't question my life instincts right now I'm naked!"

     "I'm quite aware of both those things," Noel says in a dry voice, neck craned and his framed gaze unwavering from the living room couch.

     My face glows as I haphazardly clutch the towel tighter to my body. As soon as I felt the breeze, I'd scrambled to cover up the most important parts, but in vain, only seconds too late for any salvageable dignity.

     I try to reassure myself that my near-naked body is barely a blip on his severely low opinion on my existence. Still, I can't help increasingly vulnerable sensation as his dark eyes burn into me.

     "Um, you can look away now?"

      His eyes narrow. "This isn't your house, if you forgot. I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but I'm not interested."

     My lips purse, and I try to tell myself the twisting in my stomach had been there before. "Oh my god, I am not coming on to you. And also- don't act like seeing me naked is the most awful thing in the world, okay? I do squats."

     I don't miss the lightning quick flicker of his eyes down the towel, causing an involuntary flush to creep up my neck. His mouth twitches. "This is Mark's house- probably keep the prancing around naked to a minimum. That would be the respectful thing to do."

     My teeth grit, and my gaze recalibrates into a glare. "Mark texts me before he comes over so that we avoid awkward situations like this, and also, another key point, he doesn't just materialize out of thin air like a fucking magician. I didn't even hear you come in!"

    A severe frown tugs at his mouth. "I'm not a magician."

    "Well, your face says otherwise."

    I have no idea what that means.

    "What does that mean?"

    Instead of dignifying his question with an answer I definitely do not have, I grasp the towel tightly to my body and turn on my heel, stalking down the hall. The burning has crawled up to my cheeks now, and I can't handle his scorching, sweeping gaze on my bare skin any longer. When I finally find solace behind a closed door, I sigh.

    From my peripherals, I catch my reflection in the full-length mirror propped up against the wall. With a slight frown, I drop the towel, scrutinizing the tanned skin and soft curves that meet my gaze. While I've admittedly missed squat day for some time, it's like Noel's eyes and his words are speaking to me on two different levels. And his coffee dark gaze wandering my skin only further reminds me that the last time I'd had anyone see me naked was Chad and Chad is an entire lifetime ago.

     Although I'm not holding my breath for Noel to work out his middle-school feelings to help relieve my sexual frustration, and I'm positive that Nat would actually murder me for even thinking of playing with that kind of fire so close to her wedding.

     Which, slightly fair. I clearly did not make the soundest decisions. I slept with and even dated a man named Chad, and despite his magical penis, his name is Chad, and that should be enough.

     At least the Bachelor and Chinese food can soothe my involuntarily celibate lifestyle.

     With a sigh, I trek over to the drawer and rummage around the mess of wrinkled clothes to find a semi-decent t-shirt and a pair of light grey sweatpants. I figure that the more general blob-like I am, the more I'll appease Noel and succeed in my Maid of Honour mending of unmendable relationships.