Love-Hate

“I love you, too.” She replied, with a smile which quickly zipped off as she realized what she said. Was it by instinct that she said it back, or…?

“Uhm. Heheh, whoops!” I started, to fill the awkward silence, and I looked away from her in a flustered stupor. She didn’t reply, so I just kept on going with washing the blood off her face.

The water really made her hair glisten beautifully, I noticed. And her eyes sparkled like diamonds as they reflected the water droplets falling from her mane. My lights started to go out, as per the curfew of my apartment complex, and a lone candle lit up her face and mine. I had lit it before she got here, in case I had an urge to go to the bathroom, little did I know it would be a romantic setting setter-er thing.

I almost let out a ‘wow’, but I decided against it. The last of the blood on her face was scrubbed off, and I stopped to stare at her. A tad bit later, she broke the silence I left up.

“Uh, Flux?” She called for me. “I think the blood’s all washed off.” She was doing this cute thing with her hair where she twirled it around the tip of her hoof and tucked it behind her ear. I was distracted by thoughts about her, but snapped back into it quick.

My hoof circled around her non-face bits, which were still spattered with blood. She jumped and grabbed the washcloth. “I-I can wash my own body!”

I laughed, looking at the washcloth stiffen in her hooves. “Ghostly, dearest, the washcloth?”

She lifted it up and stared at the new frost forming on said cloth. With a blush, she handed it back off to me, and I chuckled softly. The ice melted off in my hooves, quickly, until drops of water fell off the hairs of my forelocks. Ghostly looked rather surprised, and I caught this.

“You know, I can warm you up easily. I don’t really freeze like this poor cloth here.” God was I ever tired, my eyes were burning, and my eyelids were drooping.

“I think that’d be nice. To be warm, I mean.” She looked as if she was nearing me to cuddle and warm up, but she studied my face for a bit. Guess my tiredness really showed. She got up, and I felt her emotion of guilt.

Her hair was played with by her own fingers as she examined her locks, making a disappointed frown. She’d wanted to take a shower, but didn’t want to impose? Ignoring her not wanting me to do any more for her, I stepped out of the tub, and swaggered over to her, a little dizzy from having gotten up so quickly.

I tickled under her chin, and called out her name in a very soft tone. Like a father would do with a daughter. Ah, uhm, I mean, like a person would do with a kitten? Uh. Lover. Yeah, lover, we’ll go with that.

“Ghostly. Lookie?” I called, still tickling under her chin, and holding in the butterflies in my stomach.

She turned her head, with a slight smirk on her face, and she responded, giggling through her lips. “Yes?”

I pulled her into a kiss, a rather deep one at that. My eyes were closed, and I imagined hers were wide open with surprise. In the moment though, I felt a small warm spark travel from my lips to my core, and I got a small burst of energy. I pulled back, and looked at her face, completely covered in red. She was positively tomato-colored!

I studied her for a while, and then she stated bluntly, “I have to go home, now.”

Surprised and choked up, I looked at her pleadingly. “R-right now…?” I asked cautiously, upset that my time with her had to be cut short so soon.

Slowly, she added, “Yeah, I don’t want to intrude.”

“Bu-!” And she interrupted me. “Plus I have work tomorrow.” I looked up at her with puppydog’s eyes and my ears bent down. I saw her lip quiver and her stare break slightly, but she inhaled and gave me a smile. I sort of felt better, because I knew she genuinely didn’t want to go, and I felt a bit of love in that smile of hers.

“Well. If you really have to, then okay. Mind if I walk you home?” Nodding her head, she bumped into me and nuzzled my neck ever so swiftly and slyly, that I almost missed it.

I slipped on my jacket, and walked down the street with her. Most of the lights were off, save for the apartments that were holding parties. Now, normally I’d have gone inside and smashed the fuck out of their sound system, but I had to keep a good impression on Ghostly. If she truly was the one, or at least one I’d like to be with, I can’t have her thinking I’m a wife beater. Or a beater, in general.

The rap music playing in the distance, muffled by the layers of walls between us and it, was slightly calming. Just the beats of the music vibrating around me, I felt it in my hooves. Ghostly couldn’t, strangely enough, and asked why I was tapping my hooves randomly while I trotted along. It was called dancing, dammit!

Anywho, it was a cool breeze that night. Clouds overhead were moving with the wind, as was the rain that fell from them. It evaporated quickly on my skin, turning to a small puff of steam. Ghostly, on the other hand, had snow forming piles on her head and back. Weird how much different we were from each other.

It took a while, but we managed to get to Ghostly’s doorstep, with some help from her amazing knowledge of the city. Left of the Town Hall (I didn’t even know we had one!), straight ahead until the fountain, and I’d be there, at apartment number four-twenty-seven.

We stopped at her doormat, locking eyes for the longest time, taking it all in. I didn’t know when I’d see her again, but I’d hoped it’d be soon. “So um…” I began. “See you around?”

“Yeah… Take care of yourself, Flux.”

“You too, Ghostly. I…”

I wanted to say it. I felt an overwhelming urge to say it to her, and not have it just be a slip, no, I wanted to say it to her fully knowing that I said it, and have her know how much I meant it. But for some unknown reason, I couldn’t utter the last two words. I stood there for a good while after she had gone back inside. Tears started to form in my eyes, and they were quickly boiled over and turned to salty steam.

I had nothing left to do but go home, and hope for the best. A few hundred tubs of ice cream might soothe my nerves and regret.