Chapter Two

"Lucy funny seeing you here." he says. Lucy's speechless. The one man she chooses just happens to be her ex-faux fiance.

Could this day get any worse?

"What are you doing here?" he inquires, a confused smile plastered on his face.

"Uh, I-I'm just hanging out with some friends." she manages to stammer out; gesturing to the other end of the bar. Noah glances past her at Wyatt. He scowls then directs his gaze back at her.

"Well, it's nice to see you, and you look great by the way!" he observes flirtatiously. Lucy smiles out of politeness and thanks him for the compliment. "Can buy you drink?" he asks enthusiastically. Lucy hesitates before nodding in acceptance of the offer.

Noah waves the bartender over as Lucy takes her seat on the stool next to him.

X X X X X

Lucy had spent the last 15 minutes of the competition with Noah. He had encouraged her, so she willingly drank two more scotches.

Was he trying to get her drunk?

Lucy didn't have much time to think about this before Jiya comes up behind her to inform her that time is up.

Lucy bids Noah goodbye and follows her friend obediently to the booth. When they finally sat down they found the boys eagerly awaiting the results of the contest.

"Alright, so who wants to go first?" Jiya asks, anticipation kept in her voice. Rufus opens his mouth as if to speak but Wyatt cuts him off before he can say anything.

"I got 9!" he declared confidently. Rufus sighs in defeat. "What? What did you get?" Wyatt inquires. The tech looks back up at him pitifully. "I was two behind. I got 7." Suddenly, destroying the silence, Jiya's laugh breaks through the air.

Everyone turns to her, confusion written over their faces. She then pulls out a handful of paper slips. "Read 'em and weep boys!" she exclaims. Lucy quickly spreads the slips out and counts them. "You got 12 guys numbers?" she questions. Jiya nods excitedly.

"How many did you get Lucy?" Wyatt asks almost nervously. The professor stares at her twirling fingers for awhile before answering his question. "I-uh, I didn't get any." her whispers drowned out by the laughter in the bar.

When the noise started to die down Wyatt repeated his question. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" Lucy sighs, then she turns her gaze up to meet his. "I didn't get anyone's number." she confesses.

Everyone suddenly goes quiet. Even the activity around them seems to have died down, making Lucy gulped at being the center of attention. Thankfully Jiya tries to draw some of it off the current subject. "I noticed that you were talking, and drinking, quite casually with a certain gentleman over there." she says, gesturing to where Noah had been.

"Uh, yeah. That was the fiance." Lucy informed her using air quotes to emphasize the looseness of the term. Jiya nodded sympathetically. There was a long pause before Rufus started conversation up again. "Well, I guess that means Jiya won."

They all said nothing; silence filling the void. Finally, Wyatt couldn't take it any longer. "So what do you win?" he asked impatiently. An innocent smirk appeared on her lips. "I get a date with the man of my choosing!"

Rufus's eyes suddenly went wide. Almost bulging from his skull. "What?!" he barked. His girlfriend started to giggle deviously. She glanced across the room when her eyes finally landed back on Rufus. "I think this strapping-young-lad right here will do the trick." she declared confidently.

The tech's anger slowly melted away at the woman's words. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" he warned. Jiya laughed, as they both leaned into each until their lips met.

Lucy looked away from love-sick couple. She was so jealous of what they had. It felt like no one could ever love her like Rufus loved Jiya. Lucy was dragged from her thoughts at the sudden feeling that someone was watching her. She jerked her gaze over to find Wyatt staring at her wordlessly.

Was that sympathy in his eyes?

Lucy couldn't tell from her angle, but it was very unnerving. She didn't know how long they were like that, but it must have been long enough for the couple across from them to notice.

Rufus cleared his throat. "Well, I guess we better be heading out." Jiya chimed in without hesitation. "Yeah, we'll see you guys later, okay?" Lucy nodded in consent and glanced back down at her still anxious fingers.

The two slid out of the booth and headed toward the front door, hand-in-hand.

Once they were out of sight Lucy could feel the soldier's intense gaze still on her. She was about to accuse herself and leave the bar when Wyatt grasped her hand with purpose.

"Lucy . . ." he starts. But Lucy's too quick and jumps in. "No Wyatt!" she scolds. He's taken aback. His hand slowly slipping away. "I don't want your sympathy." she tells him, looking away so he won't see her tears.

The soldier's brows knit together in confusion. All he wanted was to help her, and she just kept pushing away.

Maybe she was afraid of being hurt like she had with her mother.

"You don't know what it's like to feel unwanted." she said finally. The tears began to fall harder and faster this time. "When she told me about what she was apart of, what I was destined to be apart of" she paused to collect herself. "I felt as if a piece of my heart had been torn from my chest." she confided.

Wyatt tightens his grip, using his other hand to wipe the stray tears from her face.

"Hey, everything is going to be alright." he says comfortingly. Using his fingertips to lift her chin, he forces Lucy to look into his eyes. "I will never leave you." he promises.

And in that split second her lips connected with his. It was gentle, yet intense and demanding. Wyatt pressed his hand to the small of Lucy's back. Bringing her body close to his. Her lips parted, allowing Wyatt to tease them with the tip of his tongue.

The deepening of the kiss elicited a satified moan from Lucy. And eventually the need to breathe became to great. They reluctantly pulled away, but only slightly. Wyatt lowered his forehead against her's, sporting an ultimately proud smile.

"So" he began breathlessly. "Noah was hitting on you, huh?" he asked with just a hint of jealousy in his voice. Lucy chuckled, her breath warm on Wyatt's lips. Then after claiming one more chaste kiss, pulls away once more.

Lucy had a quizzical look on her face. "What?" Wyatt inquired. Not quite sure what she was thinking about. Lucy sighed. "I just can't jelp but wonder if this was Jiya's plan all along. To get us together." she answered.

Wyatt looked down at their now intertwined fingers. He inspected them for a few seconds before replying. "Well, of it was, it certainly worked."

The two of them sat there in silence thinking about how long it had taken them to get to this. But in the back of Lucy's mind was a tiny thought whispering "Maybe Valentines Day is not so bad after all."