Excellent: he had Monty’s full attention now. His confused attention, at least; Ishmael wasn’t sure why it always felt like a victory, to have Monty’s attention. It always did, and always had. And it wasn’t the time or the place to be playing games like this, or to really get into it – they were supposed to be on lookout for a reason – but right now Ishmael wanted him more than anything, so he didn’t care.
And Monty was pretending that nothing was wrong between them, so fine, Ishmael raised an eyebrow to really test the theory. “So, we’re past that, then?” They both knew what he meant by that, their argument, and surely Monty had relived it as often as he had; he didn’t need to spell it out again. “You’re over it?” He wanted Monty to be: he wanted to get everything that he wanted, for things to be easy and ever in his control and for Monty to understand without Ishmael needing to say anything else about it.
So he reached out now, stepped closer, slid his hand up Monty’s arm in a supplicating caress. (To see whether the months apart had softened him, whether they could go on as before – although, in his throat, Ishmael still felt sure that Monty hadn’t forgiven him, and couldn’t forget it.)
And Monty was pretending that nothing was wrong between them, so fine, Ishmael raised an eyebrow to really test the theory. “So, we’re past that, then?” They both knew what he meant by that, their argument, and surely Monty had relived it as often as he had; he didn’t need to spell it out again. “You’re over it?” He wanted Monty to be: he wanted to get everything that he wanted, for things to be easy and ever in his control and for Monty to understand without Ishmael needing to say anything else about it.
So he reached out now, stepped closer, slid his hand up Monty’s arm in a supplicating caress. (To see whether the months apart had softened him, whether they could go on as before – although, in his throat, Ishmael still felt sure that Monty hadn’t forgiven him, and couldn’t forget it.)
