While They Were Away [Solo]

What the hell was he doing? Every rational part of his body and mind was screaming at him at full strength that this was a terrible idea. It was so bad that it rivaled some of the worst decisions Paul had ever made in his life, and that wasn’t exactly a short list. He had more girls than he could count who wanted his family jewels snipped and put on display for what happens to “bad” guys. He wasn’t really a bad guy, but sometimes, no matter how much he tried to make sure that there weren’t going to be feelings involved, a girl grew too attached. And when he stayed true to his original word and moved on to another one, well, the girl left behind wanted her vengeance, and a woman’s idea of vengeance rarely left the guy’s body or reputation in one piece.

Paul thought he had gotten better about avoiding situations where he combined passion and lust with feelings of affection. He made an effort never to sleep with a girl after she became his friend. That almost never worked out as he had found out in high school. If they became friends after fooling around, that was okay, but the reverse never ended well. Yet for some reason here he was, his tongue wrapped around the tongue of an incredibly beautiful woman who he knew was his Digital partner on some level, but his body was telling him that this was anything but a golden bird.

After a few seconds, though it seemed like an eternity, Paul managed to tear himself away from the embrace. His eyes immediately took in the sight before him. She was about two inches shorter than he was with bright red-orange hair that probably flowed down to a little past her shoulders but was currently up in two pigtails. Deep golden brown eyes stared out at him, filled with the unmistakable look of love. Her skin was delicately pale, covered by a black camisole with a white sleeveless vest thrown over top and a pair of very short dark maroon shorts, showing off her long, thin legs. She was by far one of the prettiest girls that Paul had ever seen, but not the kind of pretty that one sees on the runway. No, it was the kind of earthly pretty that one could make a connection, not the kind that seemed disconnected from the real world. There was nothing false about her, and she had Paul’s mind transfixed.

“Bi, look…” he started slowly, looking down at his feet, having managed to tear his gaze away from her. This was going to be quite a problem if he couldn’t even look at his partner without letting himself get swept away like some silly teenage girl over a boy band. He had been called Casanova in high school, damn it. He couldn’t let himself get tripped over a girl, end of story. There were some things that he was willing to try, but this was his partner and friend here. If he let things go any further, not even he could say that he would be able to resist, and once past there, there was no telling what the consequences of that might be.

“I don’t want to hear it, Paul. I love you, and I’m not taking no for an answer,” Bi said resolutely, the firmness in her voice causing Paul to look back up. The look in her eye had not changed a bit, still showing the same love they had a moment ago, but now there was an added element of determination. He had seen this look before, and it had only led to the worst break up Paul had ever experienced.

She had been his closest friend, a girl he had known for years. She had started acting like Bi had, growing irritated with him whenever he mentioned a new girl he was chasing after. Then one day while he was hanging out at her house, she suddenly kissed him. They had been in the bedroom working on homework, and well… it didn’t take much imagination to see where that was going to lead. For the weeks following that, the two became even more inseparable than usual and that first event was far from unique in its occurrence. Years of tension between the two flowed out in one passionate burst, but for Paul, it faded quickly. She was still his friend, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see her as a girlfriend. When he finally confessed this was how he felt, she slapped him so hard his jaw hurt for days. They tried to remain friends to some degree after that, but slowly they slipped away from each other. By the time high school graduation rolled around, they barely spoke at all, just the occasional hello from passing in the hallway.

He was not about to let the same thing happen here, not when Bi was going to be his partner until the day they died. Bi had indeed become his closest friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin that. But both of them needed time to cool down and clear their heads. Unfortunately that still left Paul in the situation of having to find a way to escape the stunningly cute girl in front of him who wanted nothing more than to throw him to the floor and do unspeakable things to him. The worst part was that a very large portion of Paul wouldn’t mind that in the slightest.