Dexterous Blades, Pt. 6 - From Here On Out

Kat looks at Orion as she wakes up, cuddled against him. She sees him still sleeping and can’t help but smile.

When they had realized how late it had gotten, Kat had asked if he wanted to watch a movie before he left. He had agreed, and she slipped into comfy clothes to relax more. When she came back, Orion had chosen an action movie, one that she had seen a couple times and enjoyed. At some point, he had sat against the wall on the bed and she snuggled up to him...and evidently, they stayed that way throughout the night.

Blushing a bit, Kat reaches up and brushes his lips with her fingertips. “Hey, sleepy kitty. Time to wake up,” she says softly. His nose wrinkles a bit, and she grins a little more. He’s made her feel so many emotions over the span of one afternoon, some of which she didn’t think were hers to feel...

“Mmm, morning,” he answers, kissing her lingering fingers lightly. “Looks like we didn’t finish that movie, huh?”

“Nope, but it gives us something to do next time we hang out.” Kat sits up and smiles at him, still buzzing with a happy feeling she’s not familiar with.

Orion grins back. “That’s very true. I take it you don’t mind spending time with a cat like me?” He playfully raises an eyebrow at her, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

Scooting back a bit, Kat sits up straight and pretends to be serious. “There are worse things I could do with my free time.” She looks at Orion sideways, fighting off a smile. In the blink of an eye, he’s up and moving for the door, pulling on his jacket. Surprised, the elf springs up as he shuts the door, rushing over and yanking it open. But there’s no sign of him in the hallway. He’s already gone. “Smooth move, Kat...” she sighs, shuffling over to the bed and sitting on the edge. “His confidence probably hides insecurity, which you probably just shattered.”

She lets herself fall backward onto the bed, and finds herself staring up at Orion’s face, grinning at her as she lays with her head in his lap. “Or that was a test, which you definitely passed.”

With a yelp, Kat jumps up and stands on the other side of the room, her face red from embarrassment and humiliation. “You...you tricked me?! You made me think I hurt you!!”

“To see if you fell for me as much as I fell for you. And I’ve gotta say, you passed with high marks.”

“I’m gonna kick your...wait...” Kat’s expression changes from angry to questioning. “As much as you’ve fallen for me?”

“Well, yeah,” Orion says, standing up. “I know there’s a clear age gap between us, and I wanted to see if it was enough to keep you from following me if I walked out..” He stuffs his hands in his pockets, watching the floor with occasional glances up at her face.

Kat smiles, relaxing. “Orion, I spent a night curled up at your side. And I’m not an easy girl to win over. I like you, and you keep giving me reasons to trust you...except when you tried walking out on me!” She throws her shoe at him, nailing him in the shoulder. “How did you even get back in without me noticing?”

Rubbing his shoulder, Orion points at the window behind him. “The window in the hallway has a slight sill on the outside, so I climbed out, hung from it, jumped to your window, climbed in while praying you didn’t turn around, then sat on the bed just before you laid back.”

“I can’t believe you went through all that trouble...” Kat hugs him, chuckling.

He hugs her back. “You’re worth the trouble.”

Kat pushes him back, giving him a disappointed look now. “That was REALLY cheesy. So cheesy, it hurt.”

Orion winces. “Yeah...it was, wasn’t it? I’m sorry, I’ll try to avoid cheesy phrases in the future. For both our sakes.” He chuckles and turns around. “Now, get dressed so we can catch lunch together before people question what we did all night.” Laughing more, she gets dressed into her normal clothes and tosses her shirt onto Orion’s shoulder when she’s done. “Alright, you,” he says, turning around and offering her his hand. “Shall we?”