Between Us Comic Novels & Stories

. . . ADELINE The room felt stifling once again as Aurora and I froze, staring at the door that had just opened. Standing there, leaning casually against the frame, was Christian, his familiar smirk plastered across his face. “Good job lying, sweethearts,” he drawled, his voice laced with amusement. Aurora’s shoulders sagged in relief, her wide eyes narrowing into an exasperated glare. “I didn’t lie,” she retorted, rolling her eyes dramatically as she crossed her arms.

Her from the weight of me that she carried and me, probably from the tiredness. Our eyes meet and we gaze at each other for a few seconds. Then we're off like anything. I can't control it and nor can she. We laugh until the whole apartment is filled with our laughter. We laugh so hard, our stomachs start to hurt and we're wheezing if only for some air. I don't know when we quiet down but when we do, our eyes meet again, smiling. Like everything in the world was okay again. Like we were okay.

That was the understatement of the century. A nervous laugh escaped her. The sound settled something restless inside me. "I think that's one way of putting it." The corner of my mouth lifted. "Fair." Another small smile tugged at her lips. It was brief, tentative, but there. Seeing it felt like winning a battle I hadn't known I was fighting. Neither of us spoke for several seconds. This time, though, the silence felt different. Easier and less fragile. Like we were both trying to find our footing on unfamiliar ground.

breast. It's just Justin and me. At first we sat on the couch, looking at a section of New York City that was lit up below us. The stillness between us was reassuring, despite the lack of words. "Miguel?" Justin finally broke the half-hour impasse that had persisted between us.

“We can start there. A team.” A small, easy smile she hadn’t seen in years appeared on his face. “A team. No more running. No more secrets. Just us.” The world outside the window was still a flurry of business and ambition, but inside the quiet office, a different kind of deal had been struck. One not of assets and profits, but of second chances and two hearts finally finding their way home. They had so much to talk about, so much time to make up for, and so many forgotten moments to share. But for now, just being in the same room, with the walls finally down, was enough.

Knows to hold me. The bond hums between us

“Uh, who?” “Kai, of course. Who else?” Leah’s eyes brightened. The pot lid rattled from the steam. She turned to adjust it, giving me a second to breathe. “Not really,” I said, rolling my eyes to the side. “He was out most of the day.” “Funny how you two seem to get along now,” she said with a small laugh. “Remember the first two months? Y’all were like Tom and Jerry. I genuinely thought the hatred would never die.”

"Look. I'm sorry. I'm just really...upset. Okay. I admit it, I am upset." "It's okay. I was being stupid. If you didn't want to talk about something, I should have understood. I'm sorry too." I smiled at him. No matter how infuriating Brian might be, he was understanding and liked that about him. "It's not your fault." I assured him. We had reached quite far away from our group. They were still visible to us. And they hadn't stopped what they were doing before. A comfortable silence settled between us. I looked at the sand below, imagining shapes in it that weren't there.

One of them said the word curse twice. Caelum's voice cut through the others each time he spoke. By the time the doors opened again about fifteen minutes later and the council members filed out past me without making eye contact, I had a fairly clear picture of the room. Caelum came out last. He looked at me for a moment, then reached out and touched my cheek, just lightly, the backs of his fingers against my face, and the gesture was so unexpected that I genuinely did not have a prepared reaction for it.

Hardin breaks the silence. Turning to face him, I replied "yeah. We do this once every month. Sometimes we skip a month, usually the exam period. But I'm not always allowed to come though. Most of those times, Ashley's over at my place and we just watch stupid old movies together. Our life's pretty the boring one" "I think it's fun" "You think?" "Mhm" he nods with a liplined smile. "You have never met my family" I replied, not really knowing why I said that a split second later.