I awake in Loki's arms. 6pm. I feel so at peace. A feeling I haven't felt since I was a child. I gaze up towards his face to find him staring at me warmly with a smile. I have never felt this kind of enveloping calmness in my life, again, since I was a baby in my mother's arms. For a moment, I thought I heard him speak, like he said, 'I am here Raven. I am here for you,' I ask him, "did you say something Loki?" he smiles and again, I hear 'no' but, IN MY HEAD. I perk my head up slightly and look at him bewildered. "Did you, just, talk to me, in my head?" I say aloud.
He smiles deviously, "Yes I did Raven, it's one of my many gifts. I didn't feel it was appropriate to use it just yet but after our encounter a little while ago, I saw fit to reveal it to you," he squints and continues that devious smile.
"Can I talk back to you that way?" I ask.
"Yes you can, simply think what you wish to say. I will hear it," he nods to me to give it a try.
And like the total dork I am I come up with this, "Testing, testing, can you hear me Loki?" I think.
He giggles, "Yes Raven I can hear you," he reaches for my face and slides his fingers through a few strands of my hair, then gently glides the tips of his fingers across the edge of my right eye and saddens his face.
I close my eyes at his touch, "I shouldn't have gone to his house. I knew it wasn't a good idea, but I did anyway," I begin to weep. As the first tear reaches the bottom of my jawline, he reaches out and gently wipes it with the tip of his thumb, then slowly pulls my head back toward his and kisses me. This time, it's slow, gentle, loving. His lips are so soft and inviting. I feel my neck start to kink, so I throw my left leg over his body, straddle on top of him and throw my hair over the left side of my neck. He places his hands on my sides then slowly slides them down my hips and rests them on the sides of my thighs. I feel as if nothing else around me matters, nothing, no one, at all. I pull up for a brief moment and peer weightlessly into his eyes, "I feel so close to you Loki, what have you done to me?" I cup his face with my hands.
He places his hands around my wrists, "No Raven, what is it that you have done to me? I feel like meeting you was not an accident. The circumstances surrounding our paths crossing were predetermined. It was destiny. I was meant to find you, and you were meant to find me. I feel like I must protect you. At all costs."
I begin to lose myself in his gaze when, once again, I notice the time, "It's getting late, I need to get dinner started because I want to go to bed early since I haven't gotten any real sleep this weekend. I gotta go to work tomorrow also," I lean up, still on top of him.
"What is your profession Raven?" he asks, his hands still on my thighs.
"I'm a waitress at a very nice restaurant," I reply.
"Wai-tress?" He asks.
I chuckle slightly, "I work at a place that serves very expensive Italian food. I take peoples' orders and then bring it to them," I smile.
"Ah, that sounds delightful. Do you enjoy it?"
"It's not too bad. The people that eat there are mostly rich so they leave good tips, er, very generous gratuities," I explain further.
"Ah, well you seem like a very strong willed young woman, I'm sure you're very good at your job," he reaches up and gently touches my left cheek.
I drop my left leg to the ground and throw my right up over Loki, stand up and stretch. Loki throws the blanket over his legs, looks up at me with the most gut-wrenching puppy dog face and pats the blanket next to his leg signaling me to lay with him.
"Lay with me a little longer, I was enjoying that," he smiles.
"I'd love to, but I think when Alice comes home and sees us on the couch, she might have a mini-meltdown." I think while half smiling and pointing over my shoulder towards the stairs. At which point, the door at the top of the stairs opens. "Speak of the devil," he cocks his head, "It's a saying meaning, 'Speaking of said person'" he nods in acknowledgement.
Alice gets to the bottom, and like Loki, her eyes widen at the sight of my eye, "Here we go," I think as I look back at him quick and back to Alice.
"What the fuck Raven! Did Tim do that?!" She screams while running to my side.
"Yea, fucking asshole was smashed when I got there, I barely got to say anything before he did this and I blacked out."
She grabs my face and tilts it towards her. Jesus, everyone wants to touch my face today, I'm sure she could see the shiner from where she was.
"We need to do something about him, you need to break up with him. This needs to stop Raven! The pushing and shoving is one thing but this graduated him to a new level of psycho," she belts as she waves her arms in the air.
"He is an evil man, Raven, you should listen to Alice and remove him from your life. He doesn't deserve you," I hear Loki say in my head. I look at him and he has a very stern yet reassuring look on his face. I look back at Alice.
"You're right, when I get home from work tomorrow and settle in, I'm gonna call him and tell him it's over!" Alice looks over at me with that, 'you freakin better' look before she makes her way to her bedroom and closes her door. I think she is starting to pick up on my interactions with Loki and also realizes he means me no harm, who knows, for all I know, Loki has been talking in her head too.
Loki looks over at me, "I really hope to decide to end things with him, If you'd like, I'll go with you when you do." He smiles at me.
"Thank you Loki, but that won't be necessary, I'm going to do it over the phone to avoid any further complications," I walk back over to the back of the couch, lean down and give Loki a kiss and run my hands down off his face as I walk away. His smile lights up from ear to ear. "So, are you hungry," I think as I wink at him.
"I'm famished Raven, yes I would love some food," he says aloud. I guess I was getting used to the idea of being able to talk to him without speaking, that for a moment I forgot that I could just, speak. I giggle to myself.
"What would you like me to make?" I ask.
"I WANT YOUR LEMON CHICKEN WITH RED PEPPERS!" Alice belts from her bedroom. As she finishes her sentence opens her door and prances out to the living room in blue spankies and a powder blue tank top and her matching running Nikes. She pulls out one of her ear buds from her ear and pauses her Ipod.
"Pleeease roomie, I love your chicken," she insists as she jumps about like a little kid.
"Sure I could go for chicken," I look over at Loki, he nods.
"Yay! Ok I'm going to go for a jog. I'm sure it will be done by then," she pops her ear back in and heads up the stairs.
I look over at Loki and smile coyly as he stands up and walks towards me. He stands for a moment in front of me as our eyes lock and puts his arms around me. His arms enveloping like a warm blanket. He holds me for a moment before letting go.
"I couldn't resist but to walk over and hug you, you looked so inviting," he smiles deviously down at me. I don't know what he is talk about, I'm still wearing the same pjs from this morning.
"You are too cute Loki, now let me cook other wise Alice is going to come home and wonder why the food isn't done." I lightly touch his chin with my pointer finger and thumb as I turn around towards the kitchen, rolling my eyes as I walk away. I open the fridge and take out the package of chicken breasts and the jar of marinated red peppers slices as well as the lemon juice. Pulling open the drawer from under the stove, I take out a flat pan. I preheat the oven to 375. I grab a bowl from under the island and take out the chicken. As soon as I peel back the cellophane from the chicken, Toby, whom had since been MIA this entire time, decides to jump on the island to investigate.
"Dammit Toby! No!" I shoo him off the island before he reaches the chicken. Toby is a pain sometimes, but I love him. He is a brown and black striped tabby mix. Our little ball of mush. I take each piece of chicken out and wash it off before putting them in a bowl. I then pour in a bunch of lemon juice, powdered oregano and the pre-marinated red peppers and let them sit. I walk back over to the couch and kneel against the back and prop my head and hands on the top. I gaze into Loki's eyes. "You have very beautiful green eyes, Loki. I can't stop looking at them. They captivate me,"
"Thank you Raven, that means a lot to me. You have very beautiful eyes yourself. The most vivacious color green, like the grassy plains of Asgard," He says back.
"So what's Asgard like?" I ask.
"It is a wonderful place. It is a place unlike, I'm sure, anything you've ever seen in your life. It is basically a continent floating in space. The city is filled with tall gleaming buildings, magnificent statues, beautiful gardens and bustling streets. The rest of the continent is a mix of forests, deserts, glaciers and the likes of that," he says with a smile as always.
"You mentioned earlier that you were royalty, are you a king, or, what are you," I ask.
"I am not the king, my father Odin All-Father is king of Asgard. My mother, Friga, is queen and I am a prince along with my brother, Thor," he replies.
"Would I ever be able to go to Asgard or is that a big deal, a human going there?" Asgard sounds wonderful, definitely better then where I am.
"It is possible. However given the circumstances of my banishment, I would have to gain permission from my father, that is if he decides to call me back," his face drops slightly at the thought.
"I'm sure he will. All in good time Loki," I wink at him as I stand up and turn back towards the kitchen at the sound of the oven dinging. I put the chicken on the pan and put them into the oven.
30 or so minutes go by and the chicken is ready. Alice has just returned from her jog and is finishing up a shower.
"Can you hand me 3 plates from that cabinet Loki?" I ask as I point to the cabinet. He walks over and pulls down 3 plates and sets them on the kitchen table.
"Mmm it smells so freakin good in here," Alice chimes as she comes out of the shower in her pjs, hair still wet.
"I am so hungry," I say looking back at her.
We all sit and dig in. Loki seems famished. Sheesh, he must be used to big royal banquets. Not too much is said at the table, we were all pretty hungry. We all finish up the chicken and it's now 8pm and it's time to retire. I clean off the plates and put them in the dishwasher. Alice puts away everything else.
"I gotta get up early tomorrow for work, how bout you Raven, what time do you need to get up," she asks.
"I don't have to be there til noon so I'm going to try to get a much sleep as possible," I reply.
"Ok, well goodnight everyone, and remember, you better call Tim tomorrow," she says while pointing at me and making a 'phone' gesture with her hands.
"Don't worry, I will," I say with a wink. She turns to her room and closes her door.
I turn back to Loki who is picking at his shirt as if it is sticking to him.
"What's up Loki?" I ask.
"Well unfortunately, these clothes I came here in are a bit ripe, do you have anything that might fit me?" He asks with a look of 'sorry to bother you, but.'
"I have some of Tim's clothes. I know its weird, but you could wear them for now and tomorrow when I get home from work, I could take you shopping." I reply.
"That's fine, if it's all that's available, then I will make it work," he smiles.
"In the mean time I can wash the clothes you're wearing now so at least you'll still have those," I say as I turn towards my room to get the clothes. I go to my room, to the closet and grab the laundry bin that's filled with his clothes. I pull out a grey t-shirt and black Adidas sweat pants and head back to the living room. And there, standing in my living room, is Loki in nothing but his boxers. Jesus Christ he is ripped! His physique is not that of a crazy body builder, but that of someone who just takes very good care of his body, and occasionally works out. I snap myself back to reality, as has become my custom around him. I walk over to him and hand him the clothes. He takes them from me then places them on the couch. He pulls me back towards him again and kisses me. This time a quick peck.
"I caught you gawking at my declothed body. I don't mind. I just figured I'd give you a little something for the trouble," he says as he smiles that devious smile.
"Trust me, you're no trouble at all Loki," I say as I kiss him back. "Sleep well Loki," I say with a smile.
"You too Raven," he says aloud. I turn around and slowly walk back to my room and close the door. I flip the light switch off and fall onto my bed and throw the covers over me. Good night world.
