FicWad

Sitting down to dinner, Hannah realised that this was as easy as it was going to get and she had to accept it. Jason's dad sat at the head of the table, his mom at the opposite end. Christi sat to her father's right, Jason to his left. She sat between Jason and his mother. They ate in silence, despite everyone's best efforts to make conversation. Hannah's awkwardness was so apparent that it made everyone else nervous. Christi, being the daring one she is, tried her hardest to make this awkward for everyone but her, but she failed.
"What a lovely awkward silence," Mr Way said.
"Gerard, please," Mrs Way said.
"What? It is," he said.
"Dad you are such a freak," Christi said.
"OMG like no way!" he said. Hannah giggled behind her napkin. She felt Christi give her evils but she pretended not to notice. Mr Way smiled down at his plate, probably happy that there was at least one teenager who still thought he was funny.
"Oh god, look at the time! You two have to get to choir practice!" Mr Way said, getting up and bringing her plate back into the kitchen.
Christi groaned and stood up. Hannah hid behind her napkin and tried not to laugh.
"Choir practice?" she said to Jason, letting out a giggle.
"Mom made us join the church choir," he said with disdain. He got up and dragged his feet along the floor and out the door after his sister.
Mr Way chuckled in his seat. Hannah looked at him and smiled.
"I really wish you wouldn't make fun of church choir, Gerard," Mrs Way said, coming back into the room with her coat on.
"I'm sorry, I've just never been into the whole church thing, Lorraine," he said.
"Well I don't want you encouraging the twins into your way of thinking," she said.
"I'll keep my mouth shut from now on," he said.
She walked briskly out of the room, leaving Hannah and Mr Way alone once again.
"They'll be back in about an hour, if you wanna wait. I'd drive you home but I can't find my licence and I can't risk getting caught without it again," he said.
"It's okay, I can wait," she said. She wouldn't particularly mind spending an hour alone with him. He really enticed her, the way he just didn't fit into this scene and yet was so at ease. He was easy on the eye, too. Very easy on the eye.
She heard the front door close with a bang. Either Mrs Way was on edge or the wind had picked up. Either way they were very much alone now. Mr Way was smiling. He smiled a lot, didn't he?
"I'm sure you wanna move somewhere more comfortable. These chairs are more like instruments of torture than anything else. Would you like to go through into the lounge? It's just through there," he said, indicating a door behind her. "I'm just gonna go get a glass of water. Do you want one?"
"No thanks, I'm okay," she said.
"Okay, cool, I'll be through in a minute," he said. He got up and went into the kitchen and she watched him to make sure he was gone before she attempted to get up. She had never been very graceful and she liked to disguise it as much as possible. She went into the room he had indicated. She looked around for the most comfortable place to sit. She chose the two-seater couch in front of the empty fireplace. The room was pretty and distinctly feminine. She doubted Mr Way had had any say in any aspect of interior decoration in the house, unless he had some strange poppy fetish.
He came in with his glad of water. He was smiling politely as he came towards her. She assumed she had been right in choosing that particular seat since he seemed set on the space next to her. Despite the ease with which he crossed the room, he must have forgotten about the rug under his feet. He tripped. Not enough to send him flying, just enough to send water cascading down from his glass onto her. She jumped up with shock as the cold water penetrated her skin. She bumped into him and he grabbed her arms to keep from falling backwards.
He held her longer than he should have. He felt that once he let go, that was it. That was the end of this brief closeness he had with her that he could never have again. He didn't want it to end so soon. She didn't seem to be pulling away. As the cold of the water became less intense and she became less rigid, she seemed to melt into him. He wished he could make time stop, just so they could stay like this forever.
"Kiss me," he whispered right into her ear. He took the opportunity to smell her hair, take in the scent of apricot and mandarin. He kissed her cheek and let his lips linger against her skin. She turned and met his lips with hers and kissed him, slowly at first. He put his hands on her back and held her as close to him as he could manage. She put her arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to get him closer.
Time seemed to stand still, until they heard a car pull up outside the house. They broke away from each other and tried to recompose themselves. Their hearts were going a million miles an hour. Mrs Way, Jason and Christi walked in.
"Sorry we took so long, practice ran long," Jason said.
"Were you gone long? I barely even noticed. I guess time flies when you're enjoying your company," Mr Way said.
"So what did you two do while we were gone?" Mrs Way asked.
"Talked mostly," Mr Way said.
"You know what, I've gotta go! My mom will be calling me soon," Hannah said.
"I'll drive you," Jason said.
"No, thanks. I think I need the walk. Thank you for having me over," she said, then dashed out the door.
"Nice girl, a little shy though. What do you think of her, Gerard?" Mrs Way said.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, she's nice. I like her," he said.