Butterflies flap

[Divine Points: 20]

Sol and Emily were in their living room, sitting on a couch with a book each in their hand—Sol had a manga with a bald dude in a yellow cape, and Emily was reading Social Studies Bullshit. 

They had a huge stock of muffin cakes, and they wolfed them down while studying. Emily had gone through many mood swings this whole day, and Sol wasn't too different.

In the end, though, Emily stopped letting him run wild and put an end to his random kisses whenever he felt like it with a simple gesture. As long as he stopped doing that, she'd be keeping his new weirdness from Mom. 

He was not some bully here to make her go through the whole cycle of Stockholm Syndrome. 

She was still his Emily, and the only reason Sol continued repeatedly doing it was to show her that he was serious—the fact that she seemed to like it didn't help, and her rejections were so half-baked that they only made him more skewed toward the demon on his shoulder than the angel.

But he didn't want to coerce her into this, to sell this idea to her. The first day would be the only day he would do this. If she hated it, hola amigo, he got one day he could remember for the rest of his life. 

If she vibed with it, well, add the rest of his life to the one day. In the end, he didn't plan to act differently towards her if she and he were to have different interests. 

In the end, he was still the Nerd's brother, and she could ask for her needs. She knew it from his actions; there was no need to explain it more.

But even he hadn't planned to kiss her more than 20 times today. There was not a single hard 'No' from her, and she seemed eager at times to make him kiss. He just couldn't stop himself, and this had caused them to kiss more times than he could count. 

His Divine Points counted it exactly, though, so he had a lot of points free now.

He even used two points to make Social Studies reach Medium.

"Mom's late," Emily said.

"She is always late. She only comes back at ten these days."

"True. Maybe she'd want muffin cakes, too."

Looking away from his manga, Sol focused on her face. He smiled.

"She hates sweet things. She is all about that sugar-free diet. Nerd, you really only care about studies."

Emily blushed. Then, she asked, "What do you like to eat?"

"I like… you."

She blushed so hard he could literally see the pretty girl go from white to red. If she could steam, she probably would have. He had the urge, and without any delay, Sol took her hand and pulled her into his embrace.

"So,"—she was now atop his chest, lying lazily without even an intent to move—"Tell me, am I being too much?"

Emily removed her glasses and placed them over his eyes. Then, she laid her forehead on his chest and closed her eyes. 

"You are being too much, yes. And I always felt stressed around you the whole day."

Sol's face changed slightly. He didn't want to evoke stress in her. He wanted her to feel protected. He felt immediately bad.

"It's as if you had suddenly become a stranger. It makes me… confused."

Sol had always been the adventurous, crazy sort of person. He had once tied a rope over a cliff and acted like Spiderman when he was just ten. She still remembered that. He was this crazy guy who'd do whatever he wanted and then laugh at the consequences.

He never ever cared about what he would leave behind in his wake.

"Let me sleep like this, and don't you dare kiss me. Or I will hate you." With that, she became silent, and he could do nothing but sigh and let her sleep. But then, he felt her chest pressing against his own and sighed inwardly.

Self control. He needed a lot of that.

Suddenly, the door clicked and someone opened the door. Then it closed soon after. Footsteps echoed into the room, and Helen walked into the living room with a tired expression. 

Unlike before, she was in a simple office dress and she was not wearing any glasses. 

"Did you get contacts?"

"Yep, Sol, where is Emily?" Putting a pack on a table nearby, she loosened her shirt buttons and lay tiredly on her comfy chair to the side. 

"Emily? She is on my chest."

Helen looked towards Sol for the first time, and a second later, her eyes grew tender. Her daughter was on top of her brother's chest, sleeping with a face full of weakness while he was lying on the big couch as nicely as possible so as not to affect her sleep. 

Her life had been worth it. Her tired work days had been worth it.

She asked softly, "You never do that with your mother, but you will let Emy sleep like that, huh? You were so much sweeter when you were young."

"You never asked for it. Emy did it on her own."

Helen smiled with an expression full of stars. Her children were the cutest thing ever to exist. She wanted to coddle them both up. Then, she sighed inwardly. Emily was asleep.

"Mom, can I get some more allowance this month?"

"Why?" Helen asked curiously. "Did you get a girlfriend?"

"I want to bring Emy to travel around when the Summer Break begins. We don't have exams all day anyway—and tomorrow's leave and I bet she'll spend the whole day studying if I don't drag her away someplace."

Helen nodded. "I'll add some more to your card, but don't bring her to do something dangerous."

"She'd rat me out if I do something like that, and you know that."

"She is my good daughter, after all. Unlike my unruly son." She paused. "So, are you going to sleep the whole night like that with her on top of you or want my help to get her in bed?"

"You mind your own thing, Mom, I've got this."

"Okay, but why are you wearing Emy's glasses?"

"To look nerdish and studious."

In a jiffy, with a chuckle, Helen was in the bathroom, and he was once again alone with Emily. No kissing was such a cursed condition—he could only last for so long before he kissed the top of her head.

At least, the sleeping Emily was honest. She kissed his chest in return.

Sol had butterflies in his stomach.