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i. amity
Heloise, despite herself, cannot find it within herself to hate Jimmy.
He’s everything she isn’t: peppy, naive, and frankly, kind of… not that smart.
She should dislike him. She should, but she doesn’t.
When Jimmy waves to her in the morning, Heloise finds herself waving back. When Jimmy tries to make neighborly conversation with her, Heloise responds. When Jimmy smiles at her, Heloise finds it in herself to smile back.
And when she smiles back, he doesn’t run away.
“I knew it!” he beams, “oh, I knew I could get you to smile!”
Somehow, Heloise made a friend.
It’s nice.
ii. scintilla
Aside from being a good friend, Jimmy also makes an excellent test subject.
“Put this on,” Heloise says, handing him a headset.
“What does it do?” he asks.
She grins mischievously. “You’ll see.”
He shrugs, putting it on, and immediately starts screaming.
Figures. A VR game that arouses the sensation of falling would invoke that kind of reaction, after all.
…Why does she feel kind of bad? That’s strange.
“You can take it off, now.”
When Jimmy hands Heloise the headset back, their fingers brush together.
Dizzy, he leans on her shoulder for support. Her whole arm seems to burn.
iii. limerence
This is creepy, Heloise knows.
She just doesn’t care.
There’s a microphone she put in Jimmy’s house. She could come up with a million excuses as to why she put it there, like that she just wants to hear if he’s in trouble. That’s true, sure, but really she just wants to listen to him.
He’s asleep. She can tell, from the steadiness of his breathing, and his light snoring. It’s rhythmic, almost hypnotic.
As Heloise lies down, she holds the receiver by her ear. If she ignores the static, it almost sounds like Jimmy’s lying down next to her.
iv. osculate
Jimmy gets jealous fast. If Heloise chooses to humor (ugh) Peep’s… advances, Jimmy gets so clingy. It’s adorable!
And maybe she likes to take advantage of that. Is that really so wrong?
“Don’t,” Jimmy says, holding her arm, “please don’t go with him.”
“I wasn’t,” she rolls her eyes. Coyly, she adds, “why, were you worried?”
He huffs. “No! I just…”
Jimmy doesn’t meet Heloise’s gaze.
“I don’t want to share you. You’re… special to me.”
“...How special?” she asks.
“The most,” Jimmy mumbles.
It doesn’t matter who leans in first, or who kisses who first. Just that they do.
v. redamancy
There are times where Heloise has wondered if Jimmy’s passion for her matches hers for him.
Seeing as he’s currently occupying himself with smelling her hair as she tries to work, this is not one of those times.
Jimmy takes a fistful of her hair and brings it to his nose, inhaling deeply. “This is all I want to smell for the rest of forever.”
“That good? I should keep using my new shampoo.”
He shakes his head. “The shampoo’s nice, but that’s not it.”
“What is it, then?” Heloise raises an eyebrow.
“You,” Jimmy answers, smiling, “it’s all you.”