Chapter 30: Steady to the Shore — Part 10

“Paige swallows.” ChoCho is matter of fact, quiet about it, and immediately starts to blush, afraid that, despite his fishing for words, he’s not only said the wrong thing, but also said too much, and said it in a bad way.

Jynx giggles, a sound not entirely comforting, considering the source. “Can’t compete with that.” She blurts out and then starts giggling again.

“You can’t tell her I told you that.” ChoCho says. “She might be delicate on such matters.”

“My lips are sealed.” Jynx says, zipping her lips with her fingers, the evil little giggle creeping up toward the end.

“Things are going to get weird.” ChoCho says.

“Things got weird when you were still in junior high. Now they’re almost surreal. It might get tense at times, but I think we can set things right. Paige and Kevin and I have to work a few things out, probably.” Jynx says, catching a hint of concern on ChoCho’s face. “Don’t worry like that. It won’t be that kind of a discussion.” Jynx says. “I love them too, after all.”

ChoCho, who had been pouting a bit, smiles as he hears this. It’s such a genuine thing for him to be loved and to love that he can’t imagine having to hold back with the three people closest to him. Not with Jynx, Kevin/Paige, or even with Daria. Of course with Daria he knows there will never be sex. It’s not just a rule, but a necessity: Daria’s too rough for him, and she doesn’t know how to hold back, not like Jynx does. He’s so quiet, so internalized that he hardly notices that Jynx has crawled over him so she can go to the door and pull the catch. She’s back in bed, lying down next to him, staring at his features in the lamp light before he fully realizes that she’s moved. Jynx likes to watch his expression as his mind calculates objectives, split from the world around him. It is as if he is daydreaming with a purpose. She loses herself in his face, in his eyes, in the distracted pucker of his lips.

“I love you.” He says suddenly, breaking the spell.

“I love you too.” Jynx replies.

“So what’s going to happen on ship?” ChoCho asks suddenly. “There isn’t much space there. Not for what we four are.”

“If we had to hide it, it would be unbearable. But we aren’t hiding anything from anybody, now are we?”

“So you’re saying we’ll take it as it comes?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We just have to be right about our duties on ship.” Jynx says.

In a few moments more, ChoCho is nodding off, and she turns her back to him, letting him spoon her into a quiet sort of a catnap.

I’d imagine that I could smell her on you, but her scent is in everything around us, and I like it that way. Jynx thinks, maybe even whispers it, she’s in that sleeping state where she can’t tell one way or the other.

The amount of time in passing is indistinct, but at some point Jynx hears a quiet tapping on the door, the distinct slide of its rollers, followed by the muffled thud that can only result from somebody trying to be polite. A few moments pass, and she feels somebody plunk onto the mattress behind ChoCho, and a chill arm crosses ChoCho’s body, all so the she can be included in the embrace. She thinks maybe it is Paige, except that when her eyes flutter open, Paige is all she sees. Paige is sitting at the edge of the bed, knees tightly in place, waiting, apparently, for Jynx to say something. Her hands are on her knees, and she is dressed down for a nap, her skirt discarded and replaced with silk pajamas.

Jynx snags Paige by the wrist, inciting Paige to yelp, and yanks her under the blankets, pulling her close. Jynx kisses Paige on the back of the neck as a courtesy, holding the girl as her mind wanders back into the happy warmth that is an afternoon catnap.

There will be plenty of time for words . . . She starts to think, the end of the sentence becoming lost in the garble and jangle of a mind unhinged by sleep.