Chapter 9
I woke up in yet another strange room. Except this time it was bigger and arranged differently, with a sofa sitting across the room. Stretched out on the sofa was Loki, all curled up and sleeping soundly. I slid out of bed and tiptoed over to Loki, kneeling down beside him and stroked his hair until his eyes fluttered open. I looked into those bright green eyes and said softly,
"Good morning sleeping beauty." Loki smiled, sat up and stretched, the dark green t-shirt he was wearing rode up to expose most of his stomach. I silently gasped inside, 'Ohmygod. He's so built.' My thoughts did not slip unnoticed past Loki. He grinned and said,
"Do you want to see more?" My eyes widened even further,
"Ummm no?" I said trying to pretend I didn't know what he meant. He grinned again and said slyly,
"I've seen the way you look at me Jenny, I know you want me." I slapped him across the face, not too hard but hard enough to sting quite a bit,
"You cocky bastard! Just because I didn't reject you for your stupid magic shit doesn't mean I want to sleep with you!" I yelled. I glared at him and growled through gritted teeth, "Get. Out." I stormed over to the door and held it open for him. He sat on the couch stunned and holding his cheek. "Well, GO!" I shouted. His face clouded and he snapped back,
"Fine! I'm going! Just don't come crying to me later!" He stopped in front of me and I glared at him and pointed to the door. He huffed, spun on his heel and strode out the door. I slammed the door behind him as soon as he crossed the door frame. My anger melted away and put my back against the door and slid down to the cold floor. 'What have I done?' I thought, 'You love him and you know it. What was that for?' I rested my head on my knees and folded my arms in front of me and cried for what must've been a good long while. I couldn't tell Thor what happened, if he was even back that was. This was between Loki and I and we were going to sort it out ourselves. I didn't want to risk getting lost in the palace so I decided to explore my new room. There was a massive walk-in closet and a bathroom with a toilet and sink, a giant pool-like bathtub and a separate shower, which was equally epic. I decided to go with a hot bath and looked in the bathroom cabinets for soap and towels and such. I found those and also some lovely smelling bubble bath. I started the water and put a good amount of the sweet smelling liquid in, once the tub was full, I sank gratefully into the sweet smelling bubbles. I rested my head on the edge of the tub and relaxed into the blissfulness of the hot water. I sighed, secretly wishing Loki was here too. I shook the thought out of my head, 'Well geez, I was the one who slapped him for hitting on me and now I want him in my bath with me?' I thought, 'Oh great...' I didn't know why I slapped him. I didn't really have a good reason too, I mean he's done so many nice things for me and that's how I repay him? I heard a knock on the outside door and sunk deeper into the bath and silently cursed whoever it was. However, not another noise came and I figured they went away. I had probably soaked long enough and rinsed off in the shower. I dried my hair and found a simple dark blue dress in the closet and slipped it on. I walked out of the bathroom and noticed a small piece of folded paper that had been slid under the door. I picked it up and unfolded it. It read,
Jenny I thought about what I did and I realised it was wrong. I shouldn't have taken advantage of the fact that you accepted me. I understand if you want nothing to do with me anymore. I wouldn't either if I was you. But I just wanted to let you know that you mean the world to me and that... I love you."
~Loki
I gasped and dropped the note. It fluttered to the ground and a beautifully drawn picture of me with the butterfly appeared on the back of the letter. I knelt down and gingerly picked up the paper and hugged to my chest, sitting in a ball on the floor, silently crying. After I had calmed, I got up and hung the picture on the wall beside my bed and looked at it for a long while. Then, surprising myself I dashed out the door, not even bothering to put on shoes and raced in the general direction of the library. I came across it by chance and tried to find the stairs to the window room. I remembered the way and ran up the stairs and found Loki just sitting, looking out the window.
"Loki!" I exclaimed, he looked around at me and stood up as I ran over to him. I jumped into his arms and whispered, "I love you too..." I stepped away from my embrace and he lifted my chin so I was looking straight into his face. He bent downward and our lips met in a soft kiss. A shiver ran through my entire body as I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist as pulled me closer. His lips sent a tingling sensation though me and tasted faintly of mint. We pulled away and stood together in each others arms, who knew such a small kiss could be filled with such passion and longing. I suddenly felt very weak and shaky and Loki and I sat down on a couch. He kept fussing over me and I assured him I was fine. I leaned in for another light kiss and pushed him back so he was laying on the couch with me on top of him. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes, "See? Fine." He smiled and brushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear and I rested my head on his chest and we stayed like that for a long time. After a while Loki sat up gently and said,
"I'm sorry to leave you but I have to go." I looked at him questioningly but when he didn't give an answer I decided not to push him too far.
"Can you walk me back to my room?" I asked, he nodded, stood up and took my hand. We walked through the library and into the hallways back to my room. When we got there Loki placed a short kiss on my lips and departed. I entered my room and closed the door. 'Damn. That man is an amazing kisser. ' I thought to myself. I rubbed my forehead pondering what Loki's reason for leaving was. My stomach growled, 'Oh. I haven't eaten anything all day.' I looked around the room for some food and saw a bowl of soup on my bedside table, 'Just what I wanted!' I lifted the bowl up to my face and felt the water vapour from the steam settle lightly on my face. I took a sip, it was the most amazing soup I had ever tasted in my life. I didn't recognise the flavour but it was rich and creamy and warm and beautiful. I drank the rest of the soup and suddenly felt very tired. I curled up on the bed and fell asleep.
~ The Next Morning ~
I awoke to a loud knocking on the door. I groaned and managed to get out a 'What' before whoever was knocking broke the door. Thor sprinted into the room. He ran over to the bed and said,
"Jenny! Today is Loki's birthday! We have to make him a cake and get him a present!" My eyes widened,
"What?! Oh, um ok. How are we going to do that?" Thor calmed down a little and said,
"Well, I was hoping you knew how to bake a cake?" I nodded slowly, still looking at Thor with great confusion, he continued, "Great! I was also going to take you into town today to find a good present for Loki." I nodded again and said slowly,
"Ok. Umm can I get ready and we can go in like, maybe 10 minutes?" Thor nodded eagerly and basically skipped out of the room,
"Indeed! See you in 10 minutes!" As soon as the door closed I burst into laughter and hurried to get ready for our adventure into the city. After 10 minutes I walked opened the door and found Thor pacing back and forth in front of it. I laughed at him and said,
"Thor calm down. We have loads of time." Thor stopped pacing and replied,
"I suppose so, but I'm just so excited! Now, let the adventure commence!" I laughed again as Thor grabbed my hand and pulled me outside.
"Is it a long walk into town?" I asked, Thor laughed and answered,
"Who said anything about walking? We're flying into town." I gasped and he stopped walking and said, "Hold on tight!" As he put one arm around my waist I held onto him for dear life. He started swinging Mjölinir in circles and raised his arm into the air and we lifted off the ground and flew through the air. I screamed and buried my face into Thors' side. After the initial shock of actually flying I looked down and saw the most amazing scenery rushing past. I marveled at the huge open fields, the expansive forests, the clear blue rivers snaking through it all and then, finally, the city of Asgard. It was breathtaking. The buildings glinted in the sun and the streets below bustled with morning commuters and everyday traffic. Before I knew it we were right in the center of it all in what seemed to be the shopping district. I spun around trying to take in the amazing city all at once but soon got dizzy and stopped. Thor steadied me and said, "Stay close. It's very busy today and I don't want you getting lost." I nodded and Thor took my hand and we zigzagged through the crowds of people. Thor seemed to know where he was going so I let him pull me along while I got quick glances at the shops around me. We stopped at the entrance to a side street with all kinds of vendors and stalls lining it. I looked at Thor,
"We're shopping for Loki in there?" Thor nodded and said,
"Loki's kind of old fashioned, he doesn't like big or new things. He prefers simple gifts and things that he can appreciate." I looked back at the side street, 'Wow. Ok. That was deep.' Thor produced a pouch of money from somewhere and gave it to me, "You're allowed to go wander around and find Loki a present, but stay within this street area. Meet me back here in half an hour" I saluted at Thor,
"Sir, yes sir!" He laughed,
"See you in 30 minutes!" Thor went off to explore leaving me standing in the middle of the street. I walked towards one of the stalls to see what they had to offer, nothing much, just some cracked teapots and other miscellaneous items. I meandered around some more and didn't find anything really interesting. I was about to give up and just get him a book or something when something caught my eye. I hurried over to the stall to investigate. I picked up the object and it was a necklace of some kind with a curious stone on the chain. I held the stone in my hand and noticed it gave off a slight blue glow, just like the wisps and Loki's light thingy. I decided he would like it and remind him of the wisps, he seemed to be quite fascinated by them. I purchased the necklace and the vendor put it in a little bag. I thanked her and set off to meet Thor. He was waiting for me with a paper bag he was holding. I ran towards him eager to show him what I had got Loki and he looked just as excited as I did. As soon as we were in earshot we both said,
"I have to show you what I got Loki!" We laughed and Thor pulled a book out of the bag and I took out my little pouch with the necklace in it. Thor looked at me strangely,
"You got him a little bag?" He questioned. I laughed and said,
"No silly! His present is in the bag!" Thor frowned and said,
"Oh. Right, of course." I laughed again and asked,
"Ready to go back? I still have to bake that cake." Thors eyes widened,
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Thor handed me the bag he was holding and I put my present in and held on to Thor. We took off again and landed back in Asgard within 5 minutes. Thor and I ran to the kitchens and found a recipe for chocolate cake (apparently Loki's favourite) and got to work. I measured out the ingredients and Thor helped me mix the batter. We each tasted some and decided it needed some chocolate chips so we threw those in and poured it into the cake pan and slid it in the oven to bake. Next we made the vanilla frosting from scratch and put in the fridge to keep until the cake was ready. Then Thor and I sat down at one of the tables and took out our gifts for Loki. Thor had managed to get his hands on a small box painted to look gold and a length of dark green ribbon, some dark green wrapping paper and gold ribbon for himself. I took the necklace out of its bag and Thor gasped,
"Jenny that is incredible! Where ever did you find it?" I shrugged and said,
"I don't know it was just at one of the stalls and I thought it would look cool on Loki." Thor gaped as I gently laid it in the box, closed the lid and tied the ribbon around it in a bow. Thor wrapped his book for Loki and asked me to tie the ribbon for him. As I was doing so I asked Thor, "So how old is Loki turning anyways?" Thor answered
"Today is his 133rd birthday!" My jaw dropped and the ribbon I was holding slipped out of my hands. Thor laughed, "No, no. It's fine, Asgardians live for thousands of years." I gaped at Thor. After several minutes I asked,
"Well, um, how old would I be in Asgardian years?" Thor looked at me and sighed,
"Oh I'd say around the same age. Maybe a little younger, 128 maybe?" I smiled and said,
"Cool." Thor laughed and I finished tying the bow on Thor's gift to Loki. The cake had about 10 more minutes to go and so Thor and I talked about where he had run off to for the past 2 days. I filled Thor in about my past two days but left out the kiss and the fight. By that time the cake had finished baking and I set it on a cooling rack to cool for another hour. Thor being the impatient soul he was, decided that was too long and went and got a fan to cool it off faster. Needless to say, it worked and I took the frosting out of the fridge and got a piping bag. I cut the cake in half and filled it with some of the frosting and put some raspberries in between the two halves. Then I put the other half of the cake on top of the raspberries and frosting and frosted the outside of the cake. I put a little bit of yellow food colouring into the remaining frosting and piped along the edges of the cake. Finally I found some dark green lettering icing and wrote 'Happy 133rd Birthday Loki!' To finish it off. When I was done, I let Thor look if he promised not to eat it, he agreed and was thrilled.
"Jenny, Loki's going to love this! This cake is a complete masterpiece!" I giggled,
"Well thank you, but I can't take all the credit. You helped you know." Thor's eyes lit up,
"I did didn't I. Haha! I helped make a cake!" Thor raised his hands triumphantly. It was funny because he was holding his hammer and it looked like he had just won an epic battle. I laughed and said,
"Where are we going to have our little birthday party? And how are you gonna get Loki there?" Thor smiled,
"We're going to have it in the dining room just up the hall there. I'm going to ask Loki to come for a walk with me and I'll lead him there." I clapped my hands,
"Oh yay! Can I jump out and surprise him as another present?" Thor laughed and agreed. I carried the cake to the dining room and put it in the middle of the table and put our two presents around it. Then Thor went to go get Loki and I stuck a couple candles around the cake. I heard the brothers voices in the hallway and I lit the candles and ducked behind the table. Loki walked into the room and said,
"What's all this?" I jumped out from in back of the table and shouted,
"Happy Birthday!" Loki laughed and said,
"You guys didn't have to do this for me." Thor and I looked at each other,
"Of course we did! You haven't had a proper party in years." Thor said. They both walked over to the table and I said,
"Make a wish and blow out the candles." Loki closed his eyes for a moment, opened them and blew out all the candles.