Fragile Little Things ?

10 want

Mae cringes. I turn, dropping to my knees so Indie can crawl onto my back. When she does, I stand to my full height, my hands under her the back of her knees. She brings her arms around my neck, and even though it’s the second time tonight, this time, it’s…different. This time, her touch doesn’t know peace. It’s chaotic. Messy. And when I feel her soft exhale on my neck, I stop breathing for a second.

I focus on other things, like the glow of the streetlights on the pavement, the rush of the cars that drive past, the exact shade of the black sky. The city is alive, flickering, breathing. There’s people and sounds, laughter and gentle humming, but somehow everything brings me back to the overwhelmingly obvious presence of the girl on my back.

I’m reminded of close her body is right now, pressed up against me. Her slow, gentle intake of breath — how the cool skin of her arms feels around my neck. And just when I think I’m used to it, she leans her cheek against my shoulder and mumbles, “Kidney.”

What? I ignore it, because maybe I’m just hearing things, but then— “Renal pelvis.”

Mae is biting back a smile as she glances at me with a sympathetic look. “It’s anatomy. Just ignore her.”

 “Ureter, urinary bladder, urethra…”

“You’re both in pre-med?” I ask.

“Inferior vena cava, abdominal aorta...”

Mae ignores Indie, nodding. “You?”

“I was in engineering.”

“Was?”

“I dropped out to work at Charley’s.”

 “The motor repair?” Mae scrunches her features. “Why?”

“Common iliac arter, liver, large intestine...”

“Money, mostly.”

I expect her to drop some comment about how I shouldn’t have dropped out, but she just nods and keeps walking. Indigo’s still listing all the components of what I’m pretty sure is the human urinary system. “Adrenal gland vessel, renal artery, renal vein…”

Blood surges to my veins when she adjusts her cheek on my shoulder, and her lips touch my neck unknowingly. “Pelvis.”

Thankfully for my sanity, we’ve reached the white door of our apartment. It’s small, but big enough for two people who spend little time in it. I pass the keys to Mae, and when she unlocks and swings the door open, Eli looks up at us from the couch where —you guessed it, he’s playing a video game.

Then, his eyes settle on the girl on my back, and drift to Mae behind me. His lips spread into a slow grin as he pulls his headset off.

“I see you took the whole threesome thing a little too seriously, Valentine.” His gaze settles behind me, on Indigo. “Seriously? She’s out of it, man. And you never bring girls to the apartment. I thought we agreed this place is sacred.”

I clench my jaw. “Shut the fuck up.”

Turning, I offer Mae a silent apology, and she gives me a look that says we’re even.

I walk over to the bathroom door, but when I try to set Indigo down, she clings to me, trying to sleep on my shoulder. I manage a smile. “I think it’s time for you to put all those body parts you listed to work, sweetheart.”

“Hmm,” she mumbles.

I ease her off me, but she slips off me to the floor, only proceeding to wrap herself —literally all her limbs — around my left leg. Like a spider monkey. I pause for a second, huffing a laugh. This girl’s something else.