Sweet Burden (10 page)

“Not really,” she shrugged.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Obi replied as she heard his feet shuffle. She didn’t dare look at him, but she swore that she could feel him closer to her.

“It doesn’t matter. I really wasn’t expecting someone over.”

“I can go,” Obi said flatly.

“No,” Hitomi said much too quickly and lifted her eyes up to his.

“Who was that guy who dropped you off?” his eyes narrowed.

“Huh?” Confusion filled her.

“The guy? The one whose car you got out of?”

“Oh, um…” Hitomi bit her bottom lip. “Just a friend.”

He made a little grunting sound and nodded. He walked around her and started drying his hair off with the towel as he went back into the living room. Was that a twinge of jealousy she felt coming from him? She followed after him, unsure of where he was headed next in her house. She went into the living room and found him sitting on the couch. He had taken off his jacket, hanging it on the coat hooks by the door and sunk into the floral cushions. He looked so out of place in the overly feminine room. Obi placed the towel on the coffee table and looked up at her.

Hitomi wasn’t sure what to make of the dark mystery sitting before her. Yesterday he had been yelling at her to leave him alone and now he was comfortably relaxed in her house.

“What changed your mind?” she blurted out.

“About what?”

“About me,” she replied softly somewhat embarrassed as she sunk down to the floor and sat down.

Obi glanced around the room. “There are other perfectly good chairs.”

“You’re avoiding the question,” Hitomi grinned. She almost saw a hint of a smirk sneak across his mouth.

“Who says I have changed my mind?” Obi replied as his gaze pierced hers. All she could muster was a shrug in reply. “I don’t scare you, do I?”

“Should I be afraid of you?”

“Very,” he mumbled dropping his head.

Hitomi bit at her lip and continued to watch him, not sure how to gauge his words. He had saved her after all. How could she be afraid of someone like that? All she wanted to do was push his bangs to the side so she could see his face again. She clenched her fists in her lap fighting the urge.

“Well I’m not afraid of you,” Hitomi continued to grin.

Obi let out a slight huff and ran his hand through his hair brushing it from his face. Hitomi held back a sigh, already feeling better that she could see his face again.

“Obi?”

He lifted his head back up to her. She was nervous to ask him about that night. He had been so adamant about not wanting to talk about it, but she needed to know.

“You were the one who saved me, weren’t you?”

She watched him as he suddenly became uncomfortable. Hitomi was clenching her fists so tightly, terrified he might leave. Her entire body tingled waiting for his answer.

Obi hesitated for a second and staring into her, he slowly nodded his head. Hitomi felt her breath catch in her throat. She wanted to explode with questions, but she wasn’t sure if that would send him running out the door. She reluctantly bit her tongue still completely content that her thought had been confirmed. She could wait for more answers just to keep him around.

“I don’t think I could ever be afraid of you,” Hitomi mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you sitting on the floor as far away from me as possible?”

“Um…” she mashed her lips together unsure what to say. What could she say? She was sitting away from him to get a better full look at him. She sat on the floor to avoid touching him. She stood up brushing imaginary dust from her knees. “Maybe I am a little hungry. I’m going to go make a snack.” She avoided looking at him and turned to go back to the kitchen.

“Who’s avoiding the question now?” Obi murmured.

Hitomi couldn’t help but hide a smile and continued into the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what Obi would do, but she was hoping that he would follow her in. She got into the refrigerator and riffled around pulling out a few items. She laid them out on the counter and got a knife from the drawer. As she started slicing up some carrots she heard footsteps enter behind her. She could feel him nearing her and then settled next to her in front of the sink. Hitomi watched him from the corner of her eye.

Obi grasped the countertop and stared down. He let out a slight sigh. “I should probably go.”

She didn’t say anything and resumed cutting up the carrots into thin strips. Hitomi didn’t want him to leave, but she couldn’t very well just say that. She wasn’t sure if he’d continue to be around or if their short time together had decreased his interest in her. She stopped paying attention to what she was doing and put a nice slice into her left index finger with the blade.

“Oh, ouch!” Hitomi dropped the knife and it clanked to the ground as blood began oozing out of the gash and dripping onto the cutting board. With the blink of an eye, Obi grabbed her wrist, turned the faucet on, and pushed her hand under the water. The red water streamed down into the drain.

“Are you alright?” Obi asked in a panicked tone. She looked up at his face and he looked just as terror stricken.

“I’ll be fine. I’m always getting cuts or scrapes,” she replied really not concerned with the cut. More occupied with his hand around her wrist, she focused on the fact that he was touching her. Her pulse went into overdrive.

After a few minutes, he turned the water off and grabbed a dishtowel wrapping it around her hand. He kept her wrapped hand tightly in his grip between his hands. She could feel the heat of his palm with her fingertips poking from the towel.

“Do you have anything to cover it up?” Obi asked keeping his head down.

“Yah. I’m sure I can find something. It’s not that bad. At least I heal quickly.”

“Not bad? I should probably take you to get stitches.” He finally looked up from their hands.

“It’ll be fine. If I need to my mom can stitch it up when she gets home.” Her gaze carefully monitored the concern on his face. He gave a nod but still did not remove his hands from hers. “Obi?”

“Hm?”

She smiled up at him. “I’m going to go wrap it up.”

“Oh. Yah.” He dropped his hands and stuffed them in his pockets. “I was just trying to keep pressure on it.”

“I’ll be right back.” She clutched at the towel and went up to the bathroom. Behind the closed door, she drew in a deep breath. Hitomi felt she needed to get away from him before she pushed herself into his arms. With her back leaned against the door, she took in another deep breath and unwrapped the towel from her hand. The bleeding had already stopped and the gash wasn’t even painful. She rubbed her fingertips together remembering the feeling of his skin.

Hitomi shook the thought from her head and went about covering up the cut with some gauze and tape. She headed back to the first floor and abruptly stopped on the stairs when the living room came into view. Obi was sitting on the couch with the television on and munching on the sliced carrots. Hitomi was frozen on the steps.

“Are you going to come eat your snack?” he asked without even looking at her.

Snapping out of her trance, she made her way over to the couch. She was nervous to sit next to him, but eager to prove she wasn’t afraid of him. Acting as nonchalant as she was able to pull off, she plopped down on the couch next to him and grabbed a carrot from the plate sitting between them. She glanced up at him, but he was refusing to look at her as he continued staring at the television. She wasn’t even sure what he was watching because she couldn’t take her eyes from him.

“Where do you go to school?” Hitomi blurted out unable to contain her questions.

“I don’t,” Obi replied shortly.

“You’re out of school,” she nodded completing his answer. “Do you live around here?”

“Sure.”

“Do you live with your parents?”

“Nope.”

She sighed frustrated that she wasn’t learning much more about him. “You don’t like to answer questions, do you?”

“Not really. Do you?” he finally turned and looked at her.

She grabbed another carrot and shrugged. “Ask me whatever you want.”

Obi raised an eyebrow and brushed his hair away from his face. He shifted his body so that he was facing her and rested his arm along the back of the couch. “Where’s your mother?”

“She works a lot. She’s a nurse at the hospital,” Hitomi replied smugly as she turned her body facing him as well.

“And your dad?”

“I never met him. He passed away a long time ago.” She nibbled at the end of the carrot.

“I’m sorry,” Obi mumbled.

“It’s okay. Any more questions?” she raised her eyes back up to his.

His head tilted slightly. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen. Almost 18. You?”

“Nineteen. Why aren’t you out with your friends tonight?”

Hitomi bit at her bottom lip and shrugged. “My best friend has a boyfriend.” She wasn’t really sure what other way to answer the question. She observed him waiting for more of a response. “Kerry is my best friend. We have been best friends since grade school. We used to do everything together. Every weekend we basically lived at my house. But as we got older, Kerry got the boyfriends and I got left at home. Not that I blamed her. We’ve just kind of grown a bit apart. But she has a great boyfriend now and they invite me out all the time. I just always feel like a third wheel I guess. I wish we were closer, but people eventually drift away from each other when priorities change.” Hitomi had just divulged feelings that she had never said out loud. At least she left out the part of her jealousy towards her best friend. But still, she was telling Obi things that she would never dream of telling anyone else. She wondered what compelled her to share her emotions. She felt close to Obi, tied to him in some way. She felt she could completely trust him.

Obi slightly pursed his lips as he thought and watched her intently. She wished that she knew what he was thinking. He never let emotion take over his expressions. She was positive she was an open book with her looks. Hitomi needed to know more about him. She wanted to know everything about him. There was something different about him. Something seemed off, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. Right now she wasn’t concerned with the oddities. Hitomi just enjoyed being with him.

Much to her delight, Obi changed the subject sensing her discomfort. “Besides photography, what do you like to do?” he broke the silence.

“Read. I don’t get to do much else.”