How Do I TEASE You? Let Me Count The Ways...

First of all, with teases. Duh :)

Then, of course, there's my first ever CONTEST. If you haven't entered yet, you must.

Okay, now for the main event. Tease #3 from my WiP entitled ALWAYS AND FOREVER (as always, comments are welcome and much appreciated)

Enjoy!!!

After raiding the kitchen to make up a platter of sliced apples, celery sticks, and peanut butter, we clamored upstairs and flicked on my ancient television.

“Seriously,” Kal grumbled. “This television is older than I am. I’m surprised it still works.”

“Quit dissing my TV,” I said, swatting him in the chest. “Gert still has plenty of good years left.”

He snorted out a laugh, shifting into a more comfortable position next to me on the bed. “It’s so weird that you name your stuff, Mia.” He pilfered a celery stick off the plate, swabbed the end in peanut butter, and held it up to my mouth.

A partially eaten apple slice already in my hand, I leaned forward and bit into the celery. Then, I held the apple out to him, my stomach tying itself into some very intricate knots when his lips brushed the tips of my fingers as he bit down. Our eyes met for one heated minute. The world could have fallen into complete chaos outside my window and I wouldn’t have known or cared.

Unfortunately, Horcrux, my morbidly obese yet very nimble black cat, chose that moment to jump up onto the bed, dislodging the plate from my hand and sending apple, celery, and peanut butter flying through the air.

With a sharply cried “Oh!” I jumped up in an effort to catch the wayward food, smacking my head into Kal’s in the process.

“Ow!” We both howled at the same time, our hands flying up to cradle our injuries. I dropped back down, moaning in agony as pain shot through my head.

“Mia?” Kal’s hands were on me, gently probing my temple and scalp, searching for any bumps or bruises. “Mia, are you alright?”

“I’m going to kill that cat,” I groaned, hand clamped on my head where it had kissed Kal’s rock-hard skull. Of course, having completed his task, Horcrux was now gone. “He’s evil. Pure evil.”

He barked out a startled laugh. “I told you he should have been named Voldemort instead. I do have a habit of being right, you know.” He smiled at me winningly.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, struggling to sit up.

Kal just pushed me back down. “You just relax. I’ll clean this up.” He scooped up the escaped food, shoving it all back onto the plate which he set on my desk. The sweater that the peanut butter had landed on got tossed in the hamper. Then, before he came back to my side, he flipped through my DVD collection and popped one in. “In honor of your evil cat,” he whispered as the opening credits to my favorite of the HP movies rolled.

“You’re the one who gave him to me,” I muttered.

“Shh, movie’s starting,” he admonished as he settled in next to me. I rolled onto my side so I could see the TV better, and Kal propped himself up on an elbow behind me, his body mere inches from mine.

As the movie played, he leaned in close, whispering the words in my ear like he always did, but this time, I didn’t laugh at the way he pitched his voice to imitate the different characters. I was too consumed with the heat from his hand on my hip, his chest pressed against my back, and his breath on my neck.

I wanted to roll over, wrap my arms around him, bury my face in his chest, and breathe in the essence of him. I wanted him to pull me in close, slanting his mouth over mine, do things to me that friends had no right doing with other friends.

But, I did none of those things because he was my friend. My best friend. And, whether I chose to believe it or not, I was most probably dying, and that was so unfair. Unfair to me, and especially unfair to him. I’d already hurt him enough. How terrible a friend would I be if I professed grand feelings of love and passion for him and then died? I couldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t.

So, instead of doing what I wanted, I closed my eyes and feigned sleep. A few minutes later, I heard the television click off, but Kal didn’t leave my side. He curved his body around mine, wrapping me up in his warmth. I wanted to say something then. I was about to, but before I could, the first of his tears fell, hot, salty demons sliding down his face and plopping onto mine. His pain poured out of him in never-ending sheets of acid rain, burning and corroding everything it touched, changing it forever. I didn’t know what I could do, what I could say to make it all better for him. I didn’t know how to soothe away his aches, take away his fears. I didn’t have the words to make the pain disappear.

And so, I stayed silent.