Grimsley Quake

Grimsley

The blossoms were falling again. I went in to hug her, to hug Tilly. My best friend.

Tilly

Distracted by blossoms drifting onto my hands and hair, Grim suddenly made a move to hug me, which was new to my life in general. We mostly just sat on a fence staring at his spooky apple trees, talking and reminiscing. But his body so close to mine, it didn't feel friendly. It felt like land masses colliding, crashing. It felt cataclysmic. Heat and hellfire and unabashed awesomeness. I felt it all but I had never felt it before, not for anyone else- not as such a frantic force between us. That reality made me instantly uncomfortable, like I would demand and beg for him to do something about it. To quiet the crave. And maybe regret my eagerness after he wove a spell on my heart and lips and body.

I was unable to pull away and admittedly, a large portion of me longed to feel his splendid arms surrounding me, yet I unapologetically patted. his. back.

Frippers!

How familial... Gasp!

How HORRID!

But it happened. I didn't plan it and... it happened.

Pat. PAT. PAT!

I might as well have said 'There there' to him, a motherly platitude devoid of romantic notions. Devoid of lusting hormones fueling my fingers and feelings.

But Frippery!

I went in for the multi-pat...

AND. I. FROZE!

Friend zone.

Nice. Nice work. Way to experience his ever-loving hug, Matilda! I scolded myself internally. Way to ruin what could have been a moment easily repeated sometime in our future. Like in ten minutes. After dinner. When I woke up next to him on our five year anniversary. Any of the potential times. I was ready. Sooo ready to be kissed and loved and more.

All while the blossoms floated and fell on us and all around us. Softly, quietly, falling.

Grimsley

"I don't think I deserve that." I lamented, pulling away... from HER! From my Tilly. Disappointment and frustration was evident in my tone, my face, the sudden slump of my shoulders. Shoulders that supported arms which could have still been wrapped around Tilly, like she was a present.

My present.

My gift to one day unwrap- all of the way. Or if she preferred to unwrap herself. Either way worked.

Not that I would expect that or press her for it. No. Not Tilly. She would only get everything I had to give when she came willingly to me, asking in plain words. To love her. To hold her heart.

I had wanted to hold her, hug her, for quite some time. Years. Always in the back of my thoughts would be a frequented trip to Loveland. Tilly’s kiss land, where we made out- in my mind. Only my mind so far. Thinking of her kissing me back fiercely, breathing heavily, calling me Grim. It made me even more frustrated about the gulf between us.

Tilly

His hair flared out in a snarling crown of tangles against my legs, brown, longer than was in style. Which of course- I loved. He didn't care about being on trend or... off trend. He was just Grimsley.

Rough around his muscular edges- sure.

A little bit lost? Yeah.

Slightly tortured? Also... YES.

But BRILLIANT.

I was minding my own business, running my fingers through his tangled brown strands, working out the knots of his day when he stopped talking. Just stopped altogether. Which was weird for him. He was a talker. He liked to vent and release the negative energy he had unwittingly surrounded himself with when he stumbled into his current job. Lots of dumb drama. People haunted by their pasts, weird stuff going on at the job site. All the time. Butt the unusual and weird and peculiar latched onto him and fed off his usual exuberance. Made him seem altered, burdened. Heavy.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried it was something terrible. Like he had died and never told me and I was only imagining this moment on an old fashioned couch made of blue velvet that matched his eyes. But that was weird and super morbid. Plus- I could feel the weight of him. He had to be alive.

"Mind if I throw a wrench into our relationship?" He asked quietly, all seriousness and universal contemplation.

Oh. My.

Grimsley Quake was alive. For sure.

But his question confused me. What did that mean? A wrench? “What kind of wrench?" I slowly asked, totally serious, each word becoming a minefield. Like maybe he couldn't be my friend anymore? Or he had an incurable something? But mostly- I really wasn't sure what he meant with his wrench question, so of course I tried to use humor to alleviate my nerves. “A torque wrench?" I offered as a choice, to ease the tension I could feel, from where his neck was laid against my thigh. The tension I felt throughout my body. Anxiety. Like I wasn't enough.

That I never would be.

That this would be the moment when he finally admitted that I wasn’t who he wanted. Even as a friend.

But my oldest guy friend didn't answer in words. He did something else... entirely.

Curling his hand around the back of my skull, which was weird- because he never actually played with my hair owing to me knowing it would lead me to loving him forever- his fingers were soft but insistent in my strands, until he pulled. As in- pulled my face down to... his... face.

My eyes widened in wild surprise.

I gasped!

This was Not a WRENCH!

This was NOT FRIENDSHIP!

My eyes fluttered shut. This was Grim's everything.

Everything I had ever imagined before. Grim's kiss. Smooth lips, framed by scruff brushed against my mouth, which was slightly open on my gasp at realizing too late what he meant. What he intended to do.

To me. Mmm.

He growled at my lips, nipping, pressing. Heat, melting. I was swooning, instant heat, heavy, tingles traveling through my thrumming body, Serious feminine persuading happening. I was instantly ready for more.

Holy HELLBALLS!

Grim was unraveling me.

He. was. the. wrench.

All this time. All these years.

Whenever he had been breathing or existing near me... he was the wrench.

The wrench... who would ruin me.

And the wrench who might ruin our friendship. Forever. Because he wanted his lips on mine. Because he wanted more.

With his friend.