forum Pretending Hearts (O/O CLOSED)

Started April 05, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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Arvil entered her apartment, slipping out of his shoes as he closed the door behind him.

“All right,” he murmured, already missing the way she felt in his arms. What was wrong with him?

“You can just leave your shoes by the door, but you can come inside further if you want,” Daisy said without looking over her shoulder. She stepped into the kitchen and began opening cupboards in search of a vase. When she finally found one, clear glass and wider at the bottom than at the top, she filled it with water and set it on the island counter that separated the kitchen from the dining room.

Arvil followed her instructions, setting his shoes neatly by the door and stepping further inside her apartment.

His eyes flickered around before they merely rested on the back of his fiancée, watching as she got out a vase, filled it with water and set it on a counter. He couldn’t remove his eyes from her, especially when he could still hear her worried and angry tone when he had called.

Daisy lifted her gaze to meet his, blinking at what she saw. He just looked at her so… intensely. Like— Like he saw something beneath her skin, that truth she tried to hide. The truth she hid even from herself.

“Well? Come put the flowers in here,” she said, gesturing to the vase. “And then I can give you a tour, if you’d like.”

Arvil blinked out of his thoughts. He shook his head, walking over to her and setting the flowers in the vase. When he was done, he lifted his eyes back to hers.

Had they always been this dazzling?

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he replied. “Otherwise, I think I liked it better when I had you in my arms.”

Daisy sighed, shaking her head with a roll of her eyes. “I bet you did, didn’t you? Did you enjoy making me worry, too?” she hummed the question, raising her eyebrows at him. She didn’t wait for him to answer before turning around and stepping further into the kitchen. “Something to drink? Water? Coffee? Tea?”

“Water will be fine,” Arvil answered as he followed her in. “And to your question, no, I didn’t enjoy making you worried. I was, however, extremely touched that you were worried for me.”

“Well, who wouldn’t be worried when someone promised to call and didn’t for two hours?” Daisy questioned, avoiding his gaze as she reached into a cupboard, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. She took a breath and let it out before turning around to face him, a neutral expression carefully pasted on. “Here you go.”

Arvil took the glass from her with a ‘thank you,’ eyes carefully observing her.

“I did tell you I was at a meeting,” he said. “Yet you got worried.”

“You said that you would call when you were free. I thought it was almost over,” Daisy explained with a shrug, stepping last him and into the dining room. “Did you want that tour now, or what?”

Arvil sighed. She was back to being that cold and cool woman, huh? Had he mistaken her worry, or had it been genuine?

“The tour sounds wonderful,” Arvil muttered. “But I’m actually exhausted. I should probably head home now.”

Daisy turned to blink up at him, a flicker of disappointment appearing and then disappeared again. She nodded slowly and glanced at the clock on the microwave.

“Right. Of course. You were just in a meeting, and it was probably far away,” she sighed. “You should definitely go home. Rest.”

“Mhm,” Arvil stifled a yawn, running a hand through his hair, missing the look she’d sent. “Unless, of course, you want me to stay with you. I’d gladly do that.”

“No. No, you should go,” Daisy answered, shaking her head. “But I will take your cup.”

Arvil blinked before looking at his hand. He still had the cup of water in his hand. He shook his head.

“I nearly forgot,” he muttered, setting it aside. “Well, Daisy, I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you,” Daisy murmured as she walked him to the door. Before he stepped away, before he left, she added, “Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

“Well, I thought they’d be perfect. You smell like roses often,” he shrugged. “Mostly vanilla, but you usually wear rose scented perfumes as well. I thought you’d like those, if that was the case.”

Daisy blinked at his observation. He’d really noticed the way she smelled? Interesting…

“That’s actually a combination of my perfume, shampoo, and deodorant,” she said with a shrug. “My shampoo is vanilla, my perfume is rose, and my deodorant is both.”

“Ah,” Arvil blinked tiredly. “Well, it smells nice. Anyway, I’ll see you around, Daisy. Sleep well.”

He smiled at her, nodded once and turned around to walk to his car. Before he sat in, he turned back to look at Daisy. Finally, he started his car and drove off.

He had hoped Daisy would tell him to stay. He didn’t really know why.

[TIME SKIP: THE WEEKEND]

Arvil had a pretty bad start. He woke up in the morning after three hours of sleep, and he woke up a little later than he usually did.

Now, that wasn’t a bad thing in itself. Arvil wasn’t a good chef, but he never missed breakfast. He certainly never missed his morning coffee, either, because the lack of caffeine made the adult very hard to handle. It was a problem. But he missed both his breakfast and his morning coffee. That was a bigger problem.

Now, he went to work and found out there were lots of papers to be looked over and signed, three different games to be checked, and a meeting to attend. To make matters worse, he had lunch scheduled with Daisy’s parents. Again. Life had been hard, but it just became harder. At least he had managed to get some coffee, but five hours later, Arvil managed to finish more than half of his work and got done with the monthly meeting with his employees (which, might he add, gave him a severe headache).

All that work had made Arvil very annoyed, and an annoyed Arvil was never a good thing. But here he was, dressed up appropriately, looking fresh, in front of the Riley’s front door.

He rang the bell and waited.

Daisy definitely did not want to have this meal with her parents, and she was still feeling incredibly awkward around Arvil. They kissed one time, and that was all it took for her head to be filled with thoughts of him. And then the thing the other day happened with him not calling her and the flowers and her being worried and whatnot…

She sighed as she crossed her legs, leaning back on the couch. Her parents had let her in and told her that they were just waiting on a couple more people. One of them was obviously Arvil, but who was the other?

The unasked question was answered a few minutes after the journalist had sat down when the doorbell rang. Her mother got up and answered it, then led a painfully familiar man into the room.

“Gavril?” she breathed, her eyes shooting between the man and her parents questioningly. “What— What are you doing here?”

The doorbell rang once again before anyone could answer, and Daisy’s mother came back with the man posing as her fiancé. Gavril and Arvil stood next to each other, and Daisy shifted uncomfortably.

When Arvil entered and saw Gavril, his sour mood had escalated. What was he doing there?

Both males stared each other down, neither backing off until Arvil rolled his eyes and stepped toward Daisy. He pulled her to him, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. This action seemed a far more intimate one than they’d ever shared. Aside from that kiss, of course. For Arvil, that is. This woman had just become far more enchanting.

“Hey,” he murmured, caressing her cheek lovingly. “Sorry I didn’t call you today. Work had piled up endlessly, and since we got to see each other now, I hope I’m forgiven.”

Before his fiancée could answer, the man Arvil found most annoying cleared his throat.

“Well, then, since we’re all here,” he drawled, “Should we have a seat?”

Daisy blinked up at Arvil, shocked by the way he just so casually held her close. And he’d like used her again. Not in the lips this time, but still… Her forehead burned with the touch.

She slowly pulled away from his grip and took his hand instead. Her parents watched her with the men, their expressions carefully guarded. She knew what they we’re thinking, though. Twenty-six years of knowing someone gives you the ability to know that sort of thing.

“Yes, let’s. The food is done now and sitting on the table. Why don’t we go in there?” Daisy’s father suggested, brushing his pants off as he stood.

Arvil squeezed Daisy’s hand, knowing he’d made her uncomfortable again. It wasn’t like he wanted to. He just saw Gavril and how he looked at Daisy and it had boiled his blood.

“I’m rather confused,” Arvil started, eyes brushing over Gavril as if he was mere dust. “What is that man doing here?”

“Oh, we ran into him on our way home from the store and invited him for dinner,” Annalise explained with a shrug as she reached for her husband’s hand. “We thought you could both get to know each other better. Gavril’s family are long time family friends of ours, after all.”