𝑶𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 (𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑶𝒏𝒆)
ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝟑𝟒 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝟐𝟎, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝.
ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫
ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: 𝟏𝟖+ 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩, 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚛: 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕, 𝚜𝚘 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝙲𝚄 𝚜𝚘 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚓𝚘𝚋 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎.
𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑.
𝙰𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝙸 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝.
Baby, am I your little secret?
I’m old enough to keep it
“Y/N! Hurry up, please. Wanda is waiting for us!” You groaned as your mother yelled from the living room. You were fully aware there was absolutely no need for you to take so long to get ready; your mom’s best friend had invited you both to her house since her boys were at their father’s for the week. Your mom had politely asked you to cancel any plans you had with your friends since she believed her friend needed some company because of the messy divorce she was currently going through. You had pretended to huff and puff while trying to convince your mother to go over Wanda’s alone, but she had (luckily) insisted for you to go as well, which made you extremely happy due to the fact that you had an embarrassingly huge crush on the woman since you and your mother had come out of hiding.
It had been two years since the two of you had finally been able to come back to your birthplace. You had spent most of your life in hiding, and your mother had never fully explained to you why you had to go into hiding in the first place. The only thing you were aware of was that it had something to do with her job, which, again, you had no specific idea of what it was. You had met, in the last two years, her coworkers, but none of them had ever said a word about the job; not even Wanda had told you, and you had no idea why.
You had once heard a conversation between your mother and Tony, which was somewhat their boss from what you had gathered so far, but they were just talking about how much your mother was lucky that you had never seen or heard anything about what had happened before the two of you got into hiding, but you had no idea from whom you should’ve heard something since no one was even willing to talk to you about it.
Anyhow, you were now trying to look as good as possible to go over to Wanda’s, not that the redhead would even notice; sure, she was nice, but she was also your mom’s best friend, so she obviously saw you as her own daughter from the moment she reconciled with the both of you after 16 years. Wanda would probably make a comment about how you looked nice, grown up, or even like a lady, but she would never look at you as you wished she would. Sighing at your own thoughts, you ran your fingers through your hair, trying not to make them look as curly as the iron had made them. You didn’t want your mother to notice you had tried to look beautiful for an easy dinner as that was going to be. You ran down the stairs, grabbing your coat, and you saw your mother waiting impatiently at the door. You rolled your eyes at her behavior, and then you smiled happily.
“So, are we going?” You asked as your mother looked at you incredulously, almost giving you a piece of her mind because of how long she had to wait for you; you didn’t give her a chance though; you just opened the door in front of the two of you and went outside. Your mother followed you, sighing. You held your purse closer to your face as you roamed your hands inside. After a few seconds you took out of your bag your pack of cigarettes, and you brought one to your mouth, lighting it up.
“Care to tell me why on earth it took you so long to get ready? It’s not even like we’re going to some fancy dinner or place.” Your mother didn’t even bother to scold you for smoking; she was as sure as heck against it. The two of you had fought for almost as long as you had been smoking, even if you were in hiding when you started. She knew those years were difficult for you; you had no one to talk to beside her, you had no friends, you couldn’t make friends, you never went to school. Your mother had taught you everything you knew, which was everything she knew, everything she had ever learned, from talking to reading and writing. She tried to teach you as many school subjects as she could; she taught you grammar, math, history, and geography. The one thing your mother sure as hell knew and taught you perfectly were foreign languages; you had no idea how or when she had learned them, but she managed to teach you French, German, Russian, Chinese, Italian, and Latin.
“I did not take long to get ready; I just didn’t want to come.” You replied, taking a puff and smiling to yourself. Your mother had absolutely no idea you would have spent even more time to get ready to see Wanda, if only you could’ve been sure she would never get suspicious about it. You got in your seat and you fastened your seatbelt; your mother drove off while you rolled down the window.
“Y/N, it’s freezing outside.” It was the same argument your mother made every time to guilt-trip you into stopping your addiction to those cigarettes she hated so much. Not once did she actually manage to make you stop, but that never stopped her from trying. “So, Tony managed to find a way for you to take those exams we talked about.”
“He did?” You basically screamed and jumped in your seat. Your mother and Tony had been trying to find a way for you to actually not having to go through all those school years you had missed. You knew Tony was extremely rich and powerful, but yet you had no idea how he had managed to do such a thing. His plan was for you to take an exam for each subject that was considered necessary for basic knowledge and for the college you wanted to go to. When Stak first talked to you about his idea, you immediately refused. You had no idea how you were supposed to study for an exam; you had no idea what schools usually expected for exams; you weren’t even sure you knew enough stuff to pass it. Your mother, on the other hand, was enthusiastic with the plan; she was so sure she had taught you everything you were supposed to know; she even stated that you knew more than most of the population of the US, but still you weren’t sure.
Of course it was Wanda the one to change your mind; she made sure to plan out some mock exams for you, she made sure you were taught how to properly study, and she assisted you in everything you possibly needed. Your mother helped her do everything, of course, but it was her approval and her faith in you that made you a bit more confident in what you were capable of.
“Solnyshko, you are perfectly capable of passing every exam they could put you through. I’m already sure you are, but if you don’t have that much faith in yourself yet, I will make sure you find out how brilliant you are.”
And just like that, you called Tony yourself, and you asked him to do everything he could to let you take those exams.
“He’s Tony; of course he did.” Your mother smiled at you; you could see how she warmed up as soon as she saw how happy the news made you. You were so lucky to have her; despite your arguments, the two of you were everything you both needed to carry on; she made sure you knew that from the very moment you took your first breath alongside her. You knew the bond the two of you had was the strongest thing in the world. Even if during those years in hiding you suffered, and you were positive your mother suffered as well, probably more than you, she always made sure to let you know you were loved. She always reminded you of all those people who rescued you when you were a baby, who saw you take your first steps and cheered with her when you called her "Mom" for the first time. In those 16 years, she never once let a single doubt about how much you were loved even cross your mind; she made sure you had everything you ever needed, even if it meant sneaking into shops, bars, or movies. You were extremely grateful she was the one to choose to keep you when they rescued you; you didn’t even care if you had had to spend all those years locked away from the rest of the world because you had the most caring, strong, and important person with you all the way. “What are you thinking about?” Your mother asked, looking at you curiously; lately she had a hard time figuring out what was going through your head. When the two of you came back to your birthplace and finally managed to live a normal life, your mother knew that a lot of things were about to change. She knew you were going to start questioning a lot of things, that you were going to figure out a lot of stuff that you didn’t even know existed before, and most of all, she knew that all those fights the two of you didn’t have during your teenage years were going to happen all at once. She was ready for that; what she wasn't ready for was for her not to be able to understand you anymore.
“I love you, mom.” You blurted out without even thinking; it had been quite a while since you had said it out loud, and now you were regretting waiting so much to tell her because she was your whole world still, and you needed to remind her of that. You needed to remind her that no matter what had changed or what could still change, no matter what happened in the world or around you, nothing was ever going to break your special bond. You kissed her on the cheek before looking out the window. “Oh, we’re here. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I hadn't noticed.” You smiled at your mother before getting out of the car.
As soon as you shut the door, you heard the gate behind you squeak. You immediately turned around to find yourself in front of the woman of your current dreams. Her long, wavy red hair was let loose and was framing her face as if she were a portrait. Her green eyes were soft and kind, as you had always seen them; her smile was genuine, not as happy as you’d wished it was, but she was getting there; you knew it. She was wearing a pink minidress, which seemed more of a combined blouse and skirt, with a pair of not-so-high heels. She looked immensely beautiful, and you would’ve told her so if it weren’t for the tiny fact that she was 34 years old and you were 20, she was your mother’s best friend and coworker, and she was straight, recently divorced, and a mother of two.
Just your average-looking relationship.
As you approached Wanda, her smile widened, and yours did too. She opened her arms in your direction, waiting for you to fall into her embrace, just like you always had done. She obviously had no idea the reason why you loved her hugs so much. She had no idea you loved feeling so close to her; you knew it was the only way you had to feel it. She had no idea you loved her perfume—the one you were so obsessed with, the one that was all her. Most of all, she had no idea if it were for you; the embrace would last forever.
“Oh, how are you, detka?" The redhead asked you, and you shivered hearing her accent. You briefly wondered if she could feel it too, but you tried to shake those doubts off because you knew you couldn’t get too lost in your thoughts when you were with her; it was like she could hear them, as if she had a gift.
“She’s stubborn as always, Wanda. Can you believe she took more than an hour to get ready just because she had wanted to do something with her friends instead?” You heard your mother’s voice behind you, and you rolled your eyes as you took a step back from your heaven. You felt guilty for letting Wanda think you didn’t want to come, to let her think you would put anyone before her, when she was the only thing you could ever think about, from the very moment you opened your eyes in the morning until you fell asleep. Even then, more often than not, you would dream about her.
“You should stop putting your daughter in awkward situations, Nat; I’ve told you this before. Anyway, I can totally believe she took more than an hour to get ready. Ty vyglyadish' prekrasno, sulnyshko.” You looked up from the very interesting spot you had found on the ground, and you stared into those beautiful green eyes. Wanda was smiling at you, and you had no idea what she had told you; her dialect always reminded you of Russian, but you knew she was Sokovian, and you didn’t know a single Sokovian word. You knew she was talking to you because you recognized the pet name she had started calling you as soon as you and your mother had come back. Sulnyshko meant sunshine, or little sun, which was the literal translation and also the one you preferred. She always called you that, and each time you blushed heavily, you could feel the warmth reach your ears, and you knew she noticed it every time too, because after feeling your face and ears get warm, you’d notice her smile widening.
“Shall we get inside?” Wanda asked, her gaze shifting from looking closely at your reaction to looking at your mother and gesturing for the both of you to get inside. Your mother nodded, and the three of you entered her house. It was warmer than you had expected; you didn’t know if it was because the redhead knew you would be there or because she was getting better at taking care of herself and not basically almost freezing herself to death.
You knocked on the door; you knew you shouldn’t be there, but your mother had just finished telling you that the day before she had gone to Wanda’s, she had found the woman curled up on the couch, staring blankly at the TV screen, which had been off.
You were worried; you knew she hadn’t invited you to her house, but you needed to see her; you needed to know she was at least managing. You had no idea why the joint custody of the boys seemed to be a problem; it was one of the many topics no one seemed to want to explain to you. The only thing you knew was that Vision might get full custody, and you were sure Wanda was not taking it well.
It had been some minutes and no one had answered the door. You didn’t know if you needed to be relieved, if maybe she went somewhere with her children, or if you had to be even more worried than you already were. You tried knocking again.
The door swung open in front of you, and you found yourself looking at the woman you loved had a huge crush on; she seemed angry, stressed, and sad all at once.
“If I’m not answering, maybe I don’t want to be bo - Malyshka. Hi, what are you doing here?” She stopped her yelling as soon as her eyes landed on you. You wanted to disappear from her porch cursing yourself for bothering her, but she was now looking at you with so much love and affection that you couldn't do anything else than hug her.
She didn’t hug you back immediately; you felt her body stiffen at first, but slowly you felt her arms circle your figure and her own loosen up; you almost felt as if you needed to support her before she fell to the ground.
You hugged for what felt like hours, days even, but you didn’t let go; you never would’ve.
“May I come in? I was worried about you, to be honest.” You mumbled into her shoulder; you heard her sigh, she didn’t like to be rescued. Wanda let go of your body and gestured for you to get inside. You gave her an apologetic smile as you stepped into her house. As soon as Wanda closed the door, the slight warmth coming from the sun was gone, and you found yourself in a freezing room.
“Do you want some tea? Or coffee?” The redhead asked you, acting as if nothing was off, as if her house couldn't compete with Santa Clause’s; but you were there to make her feel better, and you were going to do just that.
“Let me take care of that; is that okay? Maybe you could wait in the living room or on the couch, whatever you prefer.” You smiled at her as she nodded; she went off to the couch, and you went to the kitchen, starting on making some tea. As you wandered around the kitchen looking into the cabinets to find something to eat along with the tea, you decided to just bake some cookies. Wanda had not much to eat.
You added that to the list of things to worry about, and you started to make the dough. You were so lost in cooking that when you turned around and found Wanda sitting at the counter, you jumped and almost screamed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just didn’t want to be alone on the couch knowing you are here,” the redhead explained to you, and you smiled at her. You took her hands in yours and nodded. You then turned around once again and grabbed two mugs. You poured some water into them and placed Earl Gray in her mug and orange cinnamon in yours.
You took your seat beside her and waited for the tea to cool off a bit. You noticed Wanda was grabbing the mug tightly, as if she were trying to warm herself up; you wondered why she wasn’t turning on the heat if she was cold.
“I was wondering... do you mind if I turn on the heat just a little bit? I don’t know about you, but I would love it a bit warmer in here.” You tried it this way; maybe if you made it about you and not about her, she wouldn’t feel like you were trying to help her or rescue her and would agree with you.
“Oh, I’m sorry, it didn’t occur to me you might find it cold in here. I’m used to it; I don’t usually feel that cold, but if you want, I can turn it up for you.” You nodded gratefully and smiled victoriously as you watched her make her way to the thermostat. She was soon back at your side, and you both drank the tea in silence. You looked at her from time to time, but she was always looking down into her mug, as if she had found something interesting inside.
When you were both finished with it, you grabbed the mugs and washed them. You looked at the time and noticed the cookies still needed 20 more minutes. You didn’t want to overstay your welcome, but you wanted to make sure she was going to eat something. Conflicted, you tried to make a good impression anyway.
“Can I leave the cookies to your care? I think-” Wanda didn’t let you finish your sentence; she grabbed your hand as she noticed you rising once again from the chair, only this time there were no mugs to wash. You looked at her concerned and found her eyes looking at you hopeful.
“Can you stay some more time? I don’t feel like being alone, and I really enjoy your company.” Her lip was quivering, you didn’t want her to cry; she probably wouldn't have done it anyway, not in front of you. In that moment, you had to take complete control of yourself and try not to stare at her lips when she needed you.
You erased the distance there was between the two of you and hugged her once again; she immediately responded to the embrace this time, hugging you tightly.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The dinner was pleasant, not that you ever had any doubt about it. Wanda was an amazing hostess, and your mother had always been amazing to spend time with. You had tried once again to ask them how they met; they both rolled their eyes at you, and while your mother laughed at you for never giving up, Wanda smiled at you apologetically. You were sure she wanted to tell you something—anything of the things they were all keeping you out of—but probably they had made her swear she wouldn’t.
You had noticed Wanda was restless that evening; she kept looking at you and then looking away, like you burned her with your gaze. She often blushed, and you had no idea why; she even had to pop a button of her dress or two open, but you didn’t even have time to fully appreciate her beauty that she buttoned up again, in a rush. The redhead kept blushing, she kept fidgeting in her seat, she was always moving; even your mother noticed and asked her if everything was okay. Wanda just nodded and told her she was hot, brushing it off as nothing. You just didn’t believe her; something was off, and you had no idea what that could be.
Every time your mother and her friend talked about things only the two of them could understand, your mind trailed off, wandering to places and universes in which you and Wanda were together, in which you could admire her in all her beauty. You wished you really could see all of her; you wished you could kiss her every day, multiple times a day; you wished you could kiss every part of her; you wished she would kiss you too.
You had recently found out about certain things you had not known before, the way one can enjoy a bit of pain during the pleasure, and the way sometimes it enhances the pleasure itself. So, each time Wanda would use her hands while talking, you would picture those hands gently closing around your throat while she soothes you but also pleasures you.
Your mind was so far gone during that dinner, and you were glad neither your mother nor Wanda noticed anything, except for when Wanda would occasionally look at you with those big green eyes, which seemed bigger than usual, just when you were thinking about things extremely explicitly. So then you felt guilty for thinking about such things involving her.
“So, since it has been two weeks, do you have any news for us?” Your mother asked her friend, and you wanted to curse at her. You knew what she wanted to know; she was waiting for Wanda to tell you how her week with her children was, if she had seen Vision, and if they had talked. You were worried Wanda just wasn’t ready to talk about it, and, also, you really didn’t want to know anything about the sperm donor.
Your internal cursing at your mother and Vision was interrupted by the sweetest laugh you had ever heard. Wanda was looking at you, and she was genuinely laughing. You had no idea why; you hadn’t talked or, wait...
“Did I say that out loud?” You asked extremely embarrassed; you were now sure that all those efforts not to make your mother or Wanda suspicious about your feelings towards the redhead were now useless. How could you have been so stupid to—
“No, lisichka, I think Wanda here is being a little silly, isn’t she?” You knew very well that tone; your mother was warning Wanda, and you had no idea why, but you didn’t like it. Whatever was the reason that made the redhead laugh was okay; she was laughing, and there was nothing more beautiful in the whole world. You wished to be able to hear her laughter every day, to be the one to make her laugh, to be able to laugh with her. You wanted to be able to sneak up to her, tickle her, and watch her squirm against your fingers—
“I- I think I need to go check on the dessert; excuse me for a moment.” The redhead unwillingly interrupted you again. You noticed her blush a little before she made her way to the kitchen; you were now confused. You had expected for her to feel either intimidated by your mother or angry at her tone; you had not expected for her to blush and hide away. Your mother excused herself as well, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. You nodded and took that opportunity to stand up and follow Wanda to the kitchen, already planning to use as an excuse the fact that you wanted to see if she needed help.
As you entered the kitchen, you stopped your steps to look at the woman in front of you. She was leaning against the counter, both hands gripping onto it; she looked just beautiful. You got closer and you caught a glimpse of her legs, so smooth and long, and you lost yourself in your thoughts. The way you wanted to kiss them so badly—to touch them, caress them, feel them tremble against—
“You need to stop.” Her voice was trembling; you had no idea what she was talking about. She still wasn’t facing you, but you could see her whole body quivering, and for a moment you were worried she was hurt, that maybe she hurt herself in some way, so you made your way to her. As you got closer, her grip on the counter tightened, and her breath got more labored. “The things you do to me, with your stares, your looks. You have no idea of the way you look at me, like you want to devour me. And then your thoughts... I just-”
“My what?” You were now looking at the woman confused; why was she walking about your thoughts? Sure, you always thought it was weird for her to always know what you were thinking about, but you always assumed it was because she knew you better than most people. Wanda turned around; she was now facing you; her eyes were dark, darker than you had ever seen them, and she was looking at you intensely. She started to walk towards you; she was merely inches away. You could feel her breath on your face, and you wanted to feel her even closer. She closed her eyes, and as she opened them again, everything was gone. You heard your mother walk close by and Wanda walking away.
“I burned the dessert, I’m so sorry. Nat, I think it’s better for the two of you to go now. I’m sorry. I just need some time alone; I feel tired right now.”
And just like that, you and your mother were on your way home; Wanda had not said goodbye to you the way she used to. She didn’t hug you, and you missed it. She didn’t kiss your cheek, and you missed the feeling of her lips against your skin. The redhead didn’t even explain to you what was happening before your mother came into the kitchen. You had no idea what you had done, but something had changed.
