Innocent Temptation

PAST.

PAST

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Aira hummed as she walked down the familiar path to the Colson house, her heart light with excitement. Clutched in her hand were two friendship bands she had made the night before — one yellow and one pink. The yellow one was for Zurich because he was her best friend and since he had come to live with the Colson’s, he had been like a protective big brother and had never left Aira’s side in school whenever he thought that Sarah was planning something nefarious. She had been grateful for him for all the times he was there and shielded her from worst of her bullies cruelty, but sometimes she had missed the presence of his brooding big brother.

And now that both Zurich and Mac had passed and started to live their adult lives after graduating while she was still in school, she felt alone without any of them to protect her. But somehow Zurich always finds time to keep tabs on her and to threaten anyone and everyone in the school to stay away from her. And she couldn’t be more grateful to him, because one thing Aira didn’t know how to do was to be confrontational and to deal with heartless bullies on her own. God knows when she’ll learn to do so, she wondered there was a school where she could learn this capability of standing up for herself.

Reaching the door, Aira took a deep breath and knocked. The house was quiet, but she knew they were home. After a few moments, the door opened and Zurich stood at the threshold. Even though they didn’t share blóôd, he was sometimes just like his brother in the way he glared and how tall he was. But Aira never felt anything except brotherly affection toward Zurich, unlike the intense attraction she felt for Mac and at fifteen she was afraid her feelings were going far and beyond just a mere crush.

When Zurich saw it was her standing there, his face relaxed and a soft smile curved his lips. “Aira, come on in.”

“What were you doing?” She asked, her eyes searching the living room and kitchen but there was no sign of Mac.

She sighed in disappointment but her best friend read her like an open book and said, “He is upstairs.”

Aira almost jumped the way he whispered into her ear from behind, taking her by surprise. When she looked at him, he winked at her. She rolled her eyes and said, “Today’s friendship day, I made you bracelets.”

“Seriously, I am way old to have friendship bands.” He shook his head and stepped back with his hand up in the air.

“Oh, shut up. No one is too old to have friendship bands and look…. I have a yellow one for you.”

“But, I see you have a pink one too. Give that to me.”

“No,” She replied, instantly hiding it in her fist.

“Is it for him?” He asked, waggling his brows and Aira couldn’t help but smile as she nodded. “Then, I should call him. I want to see how he reacts. Mac! Mac, come downstairs!”

“Zurich!” She hissed. She needed a few more minutes to prepare herself.

But then she heard a door open above stairs and then she felt the heavy weight his eyes on her as he descended the stairs. “Why are you yelling like crazy?”

She almost shuddered as his deep voice surrounded her. She clasped the lock on the band that she was tying around Zurich’s wrist and then slowly turned around to face him. The man who appeared in her dreams and kissed her senselessly was now standing there looking as tall and as big as the house itself. Even though she hadn’t had her first kiss yet, she imagined him giving her that first kiss every night because she had promised him it will be for him and she was going to keep that promise.

“Mac,” she whispered, afraid he could see the hearts in her eyes the way they appeared in the eyes of the cartoon characters that her brother liked to see. He was dressed in his usual T-shirt and jeans, his arms crossed over his chest. At twenty one, Mac seemed like a giant to her. His dark hair was tousled like he had just woken up, and his expression was, as always, unreadable. She licked her lips and said, “Happy friendship day.”

He came to stand on the bottom of the stairs and regarded her for a whole minute until she started to fidget under his gaze. She had worn her pink dress that wrapped around her and had ruffles near her knees. Now that she had started to loose weight, she’d begun to wear form fitting dresses and she hoped that he no longer saw her as a child anymore.

“And?” Startled out of her thoughts, she blinked at him. Mac looked at her, one eyebrow slightly raised, waiting for her to continue.

She said, “Well… I made you a friendship band.” Flustered, she held out the friendship band with pink beads, it was simple and nothing outrageous. But she had wanted it simple so that he could wear it and also to make sure that it didn’t break easily.

He picked up the band from her open palm, making sure not to touch her. He held it up between them and murmured, “Pink, huh?”

She said, “You like pink, don’t you?”

Aira remembered him saying that. She was six and she was playing at his house as Mrs Colson had brought her over. He was searching for his pink shirt and when his mother told him that she’d donated that shirt, he’d been angry. He had yelled that it was his favorite shirt. And since then Aira’s obsession with pink had started because as long as she could remember this man has always fascinated her.

His dark eyes travelled down her, taking her in and then he responded, “Pink isn’t my favourite color, I hate it. But thanks for the band.” And, with that he turned around and went back upstairs.

Aira stood there frozen as seconds ticked by, watching him climb the stairs and then disappearing out of sight. He hated pink. She looked down at herself. At the dress she had chosen to wear today. And had to blink hard for tears blurred her vision.

A familiar, comforting arm draped over her shoulders and she sucked in a shuddering breath. “Don’t mind him, he is an arsehôle.”

“I— I should go… I h-have…”

“Hey…” Zurich cupped her face and swiped a thumb under her eye. “It’s fine. Don’t take it to heart, you know how he is.”

“He said he h-hates pink…” She mumbled, her hands going to her dress.

“He lied.” Aira’s eyes widened in disbelief. Zurich nodded. “He is a liar. He is just finding ways to push you away.”

“B-but, why?” She almost sobbed, not understanding.

“Aira, you are fourteen. And he’s turning twenty one next month.”

She sniffled. “So, our parents have that age gap too?”

Zurich smiled and wrapped an arm around her as he tugged her toward the couch. “It’s different for our parents, munchkin.”

“How? And, what does that mean for Mac? You know I like him, right?”

He chuckled and flicked her chin in affection. “At this point I think the whole town knows that you like him,” He looked up, his expression changing for a split second and when Aira turned around to see what he was looking at there was no one. And her last hope that Mac might’ve come back to apologise was dashed too. He said with a shake of his head, “Except maybe him.”

“Should I tell him?” She asked, snuggling closer to him.

“Maybe when you grow up a little more, munchkin, so he doesn’t have to fight it anymore.”

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A. Gupta