The other way around
After dinner, Chris invited May to the study - to show her the job he had asked her to come for. He tapped on the keyboard for a while, his eyes focused on the screen while May sat on the couch and looked around. She remembered that place, and it hadn't changed much during the few days she had been away.
The only clear difference was that one of the bottles on the mini-bar was almost empty. She clearly remembered it filled to half, a few days ago. Had Chris had stressful days since then?
«I have retrieved the data,» Chris said, and she moved her eyes to him. He did look tired, behind that handsome face. She had been distracted by everything else to notice, but there were pale circles around his eyes.
«Those we were talking about last week,» he added. «Do you want to see them?»
«Sure.»
She got up from the couch and stopped by his side. She glanced at the monitor and noticed the data in columns. She smiled instinctively. She loved numbers.
«I need to clean up first, but there should be something interesting,» she said.
«Clean up?»
«A lot of this data is garbage. Some might be duplicates and others are simply useless. I can't use raw data. I'll also normalise to get rid of measure units.»
«Oh, whatever you want!» he said. He gave up on understanding and decided to simply believe her. He didn't want to annoy her with too many questions, so he got up and let her sit at his place.
In that chair and at his desk, she did look like in the right place. He couldn't move his eyes away for a long while. There was something special in a girl typing so fast.
And her expression while she was focused... That was from another world. Did she even know how beautiful she was, at that moment? How could she survive all the suitors at the university? Unless they were scared of her, Chris thought. That would have made his life easier. Other than that Jude Morrison, the other guys in the university seemed quite wary of May.
When she took out her laptop to work even faster, he decided to become useful and brought her a cup of hot coffee. He couldn't stare the whole time; he also had his tasks to finish. And it wouldn't be good if May noticed.
«Those records are good,» she said, at some point. She had just finished her coffee and was ready to return to working in silence. But first, she turned to him with her eyes shining content.
Chris had never seen her so relaxed, in her element. If he knew that some numbers could make her happy, he would have found them sooner.
«I suppose so,» he sighed. «I've retrieved the data, but I wasn't the one collecting them. Some people from the party were in charge of it. Do you need anything, by the way?»
«I'm writing the program myself,» May said. «You can't trust the services on the net because they all - and I mean, all - report to the Government. You would pay for it, but the Prime Minister would have that information for free.»
«Isn't it too much, though? Writing it on your own...»
«Not really. I'll be done soon, don't worry.»
He just let her do and worked on some documents in silence. He first sat in front of her and then moved to the armchair. It took him a couple of hours to reach the couch and sit more comfortably. As time passed, he realised he couldn't keep up with her rhythms. She had been typing without break for hours, and he was tired from just reading. His pride should have hurt for not being able to stay on par with a young girl, but he was exhausted even for that.
He closed his eyes just to rest for a bit, but he fell asleep.
May heard his cadenced breathing and looked for a blanket to cover him. She ensured he didn't feel cold and crouched in front of him. It wasn't the first time she saw him sleeping, but it was always such a difficult challenge for her heart. His facial muscles had relaxed, releasing the worry of when he was awake.
She stayed there, crouching in front of him, for a few minutes. She admired his features and wondered how could he be so appealing even while sleeping. Even when he was as tired as to fall asleep in a matter of moments.
Even though the fatigue was visible on his face, it was unfair how it didn't cloud his beauty. Even the eyebags, light and not really visible, made him only more fascinating.
His eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheeks, and his lips were split. His hair was messy, which made May want to sink her fingers in it and feel the texture.
When her urges became too strong to just resist, she caressed his face. Since he didn't move, she moved to his lips and felt the shape once again. Just like that time when he had fallen asleep while warming her.
She couldn't get enough of that. His lips were soft, so much so that she wondered how they would taste. And it scared her. How could a man have such a strong effect on her? She wasn't like that, usually!
She woke up from her daze before losing herself forever, and she went back to her work. She needed to finish writing the code, then test it and finally deliver the results. She had quite a few hours before dawn, but she couldn't afford to waste time watching a handsome man sleeping.
When the sun rose, she finally moved the keyboard to the side and stretched her hands and back. She was tired, exhausted. Ans Chris hadn't moved a single muscle for the whole time!
She had even forgotten he was there, at times.
She packed her things while the computer continued the elaboration. It would need quite a few times to produce results, but she had seen that Chris could read those without her help.
Before she could leave, though, he woke up.
«Done?» he asked. His voice was affected by slumber, and he was trying to get up but needed time to remember how to move every muscle. Sleeping on the couch had not been a good idea, all in all. His back hurt, and he hadn't rested as much as he wanted.
«Good morning, Senator Lindt,» she said. «Yes, I'm done. Your results will be ready in a few hours. Don't turn the computer off and don't worry. They will be saved in a file on the Desktop. I worked on the layout, so they will be displayed in a reasonable way. You won't need me to interpret the data for you.»
«Awesome,» he hummed, but he didn't seem convinced. «I'll send you home, then. Or to the dormitory. Where are you going?»
«Don't worry, Senator. I'll take the subway since it opened quite a while ago.»
«There's no need to. I can take you wherever you're going. Just give me a minute. Or you can sleep a little and go later. There's no need to walk alone at this hour.»
«The world is waking up. I want to avoid the reporters, and waiting makes it more difficult. Right now, they're still sleeping.»
«Let me drive you. You won't be spotted by anyone, like that.»
«Oh, but it would be worse if we were seen together! I can't even imagine how my grandfather would react.»
«Isn't it exactly what he wanted, though?»
May chuckled, looking him in the eye. Her laughter died as she remembered how she had touched his face while he was sleeping - for the second time. That man had the talent to make her do things she would have never done. He was turning her into a criminal!
However, the memory made her stop laughing and hide her eyes, glaring at the floor. She blushed, but Chris could not guess the reason for her reaction.
However, it was too cute to just stay there and watch.
He reached out to her hand and held it, hoping she wouldn't run away afraid. He entwined their fingers, and seeing May didn't retreat, he got up to step closer to her.
Once in front of her, his free hand trailed up her forearm. He was planning to hug her. Or maybe just make her relax. He wasn't sure himself what he wanted to do... But the thought of letting her go just like that was painful.
As a result, though, May noticed there was something wrong. He could read it on her expression at the exact moment when he thought about it.
He just hoped it wouldn't be too much of a shock for either of them.
«It should be the other way around!» she claimed. She didn't push him away just yet, but her confusion made him want to really hug her - like a bear.
What was supposed to be different, though? What did she mean, exactly?