Instead she replied "You're scared of me again.Instead she replied "You're scared of me again." Nickolai could hear tears in her voice. He nodded. She turned, kneeling before him, straddling his body. "Nickolai, unless underneath it all you're a crazy maniac waiting to kill me, nothing is going to happen to you that you don't want to happen to you." "I didn't want to fall in love with you." Furry's eyes widened. "What do you mean by that?" "I mean... I mean when I first met you, I just wanted to get to know you. And then... that kiss in the game room. "Furry," he said, continuing, "You, yourself... you're so fast, so strong, so powerful. And then you've got all this," he gestured widely, "behind you. Two days ago, I felt like I couldn't say 'I love you' because that didn't say enough, you know what I mean? And now... Now I don't know what to feel. I want you, I want you so much. But I can't make that click with the thought that the.. the 'you' I want is a meter- and-a-half-tall Pendorian mouse." "Markal." "You look like a mouse, sweetheart." "You called me sweetheart again," she said, teasingly, even through the sadness and pain in her voice. "Yeah, I guess I did," he said, pulling her down gently and hugging her close. "Are you upset by what I just said?" Furry was silent for almost a minute. "A little," she finally answered. "But not really. I'd like to think I understand how hard it is for you to understand. But when I'm with you, I never feel in doubt. I just know that I want you, and I love you. Remember when I said 'let's just be friends'?" He nodded again. "The worst four words in the vocabulary of relationships," she chuckled, "and I said them. But I meant it. When we talked in the pool, I knew I needed you, just as a friend, and you would just be my friend, I would be happy. |