Something metallic clanged against the tiled floor of Nyyrikki’s small kitchen, rolling away to stop against a stool leg. Resin blinked up at him lazily, obviously not amused that this was causing an extra lag in the serving of food, but Rikki ignored the jox. In the days since writing the break up letter, the reaper boil had almost returned to a normal schedule, and dropping s**t everywhere was definitely normal. He didn’t let himself think about the letter or Lil. If he did he would just feel sorry and mope about.
However, the break up had only been step one in a multi-step plan. It was now Spookday, over a week since he’d seen Danny, and he had yet to begin the second part of his plan; telling her how he felt. It seemed like a monumental task – maybe worse than the break up, if that were possible. He couldn’t even pinpoint when his feelings for her had transformed. Had I been all those times they’d cuddled and fell asleep together at movie club? That seemed so… well… normal, it didn’t make sense for that to be the cause.
But there was another reason that Rikki knew he could blame it on. It had happened on the island field trip too, when he’d lost Lil’s hand and she’d gone missing. In the haunted house, going down the slide with Danny’s smaller hand tucked inside his own, he’d lost her. The hold he had on her had been a promise to keep her safe, and he had failed. She’d come back to school acting strange and upset, and while she seemed better now, he knew that the issue would never have occurred had he been better at keeping her safe. So was it guilt that made him feel so strongly about her? He’d like to say so, but he had a feeling it was more complex. In fact, he’d considered that maybe the reverse was true. He was just destined to fail all of the girls that he fell for.
He finished pouring the food for his minis and cleaned up the kitchen as much as he could be bothered; that was, not at all. With all the important chores in the dorm done (the ones needed to sustain life there) he had little else to do. Except to stop being a ghoul and to walk up to Danny and spill his guts. If he hesitated any more he would never do it, because the longer he waited the more the weight of what this could ruin crushed his confidence. If he did this Danny could stop wanting to hang out with him. She could feel awkward around him, avoid him, think he was a creep. The entire effect would be the loss of a friendship he didn’t want to kiss goodbye.
But that blush. It convinced some part of him that Danny felt the same.
He opted for a navy blue wife beater rather than bare chest this time and paced out of his room with a determined prowl to his step, refusing to let himself look back. He’d do it, get it over with, and hope for the best. He barely noticed the faces he passed as he marched out of the reaper dorms and into the halls filled with demons. This was the second time he’d just barged through, but they paid him as little mind as they had on the first occasion. He made it to Danny’s door almost on auto-pilot.
He pounded on the door with the same rigor he had the last time he’d stood there, but instead of the drift tones of her welcome, he was met with silence. He twitched anxiously and knocked again, fingering his chains as he waited for a response.
Nothing…
Did he just go home? If he did that he was afraid he’d never build up the balls to do this again. He took out his phone and slid his fingers over the keys in a swift question.
Quote:
where r u?!
It seemed to take agonizing minutes for the response to come. When it did, he didn’t even bother to life his forehead from where he’d begun resting it on the door frame.
Quote:
trying on dresses for a party ))):
His lips twitched momentarily. Danny? Trying on dresses? The idea was a little far-fetched, but he’d bite. Though, he hadn’t heard of any parties on campus lately. Maybe he could just go there and drag her away to talk to her…
He clicked out a response and sent it.
Quote:
What party?
The reply didn’t seem to take as long to come back to him this time, and he scowled at the answer on his screen.
Quote:
i gtg. vincents telling me to go!
Who in the blazing pumpkin was Vincent? He’d thought he had enough competition from Nahm, but apparently some other boil had taken Danny to the party. Why did that make him so angry?
Not angry.
Jealous.
He tightened his fists until he felt is nailed digging into his palms and pocketed the phone. Well, if she was on a date with another boil, there was no reason for him to be there. He trudged back to his room, slammed the door, and face-planted in bed. If he was woken up within the next twenty-four hours it would be far too soon.
