Hello there, loves. This one's a bit shorter than then last few (though its still over 2500 words so we're good) but what it lack in length hopefully it makes up in content. I think you all will be super happy with this post (hopefully.) And that's all I'm sayin'. I want to thank all the lovely people who reviewed my last chapter (and who have reviewed other previous chapters too!) you guys are awesome. I live off of reviews; eat them like chocolate chip muffins. :D Read on!
Chapter 10
Josephine showed Sheriff Burns into the living room and motioned for him to be seated in the blue armchair next to Susan's chair. "Can I get you anything to drink? We have coke, Earl Gray..." antifreeze she thought venomously; maybe she was being a little harsh, but the police in her town were of the bumbling sort who usually mucked things up more than make them better. Also when she had been ten, this particular officer—who at the time wasn't sheriff—had falsely accused her of stealing a "Buncha Crunch" bar from the local grocery store. Childhood scars are unforgivable.
"No thank you. Please have a seat, girl." Josephine tried not to let her irritation at being called 'girl' show; the reassuring squeeze Caspian gave to her hand helped. They both sat on the sofa, across from the Sheriff—who was eying Caspian in the same suspicious manner that Caspian was looking at him. "And who are you, young man?"
"I am Caspian, Telmar. I'm an exchange student...at the university." He said stumbling a bit over the identity Josephine had previous invented for him.
Sheriff Burns frowned at their clasped hands. "How old are you, Caspian?"
"I have twenty years, sir, is there a problem with that?" He narrowed his near black eyes at the older man across from him. Josephine squeezed his hand in a waring; he may be used to being treated like the King he was back in Narnia, but here, he had better watch himself around those with more power. Josephine became suddenly aware of certain laws that dealt with words such as 'age of consent'; not that she and Caspian were doing anything—or even thinking of doing anything—that would violate those laws, still the way Sheriff Burns was looking at Caspian made her nervous.
"Of course not, as long as theirs nothing...ah intimate going on between you two." The officer shook his head and smiled; Josephine struggled to keep her cheeks from flaming red with embarrassment as images of an intimate nature flashed through her mind. She could almost feel Caspian's blood pressure and anger level rising at the man's suggestion.
"No worries, Sheriff, Caspian is very old fashioned. Anyway, what did you want to speak to me about?" she said tersely.
"Yes well, gotta keep doing my duty. Anyway, you're classmates with a Miss Michaela Carmichael, is that correct?"
At his question, Josephine felt herself relax; the little voice at the back of her head that had been telling her Susan was hurt or worse was silenced. "Yes, we both attend the same school, and we're in the same grade..."
"I'm here today, because she's filed charges of assault and battery against you. Is there anything you would like to say for yourself?" His last question came off like a grandfather admonishing a favored grandchild. Josephine knew enough about law to know that she shouldn't answer any of his questions with out either her aunt or a lawyer present.
"I believe that is it illegal to question a minor without their guardian's presence, or at least, their guardian's knowledge of the said questioning. I have nothing to say to you until my, ah, grandmother returns from her errands."
The old man's eyes narrowed slightly. "Where did you learn so much about law, young lady?"
Josephine smiled snidely. "Shouldn't a well educated citizen have some basic understanding of the law, or, leastways the laws that pertain to them?"
"Yes, well, went is your grandma fixing to be home?"
"I don't know, she's running errands, it could take all day." Josephine smiled innocently.
[~*~]
Eventually the Sheriff left, though not after insistence that Josephine call immediately when 'Phyllis' returned home, and a stern guilt inspiring stare in Caspian's direction. He and Josephine then stood around awkwardly in the hallway for a good two minutes; all the while Caspian became acutely aware of both the sound of his heart beat and the sound of her's. His depth-less black eyes traveled over Josephine's luminescent skin; he took an involuntary step closer to the soft, beautiful creature in front of him. She looked up suddenly, startled by his abrupt movement. Her strange purple eyes locked on his as he saw and felt her inhale sharply.
He wanted to touch the soft skin of her cheek so badly it almost hurt. Caspian decided in that moment to stop fighting himself on the issue; Josephine was special to him, precious even. He needed to be around her like fish needed to be around water. For one moment Caspian X stopped caring about his kingdom, the White Witch or his life; he simply concentrated the whole ordeal of being on this one, frail, star-girl. His calloused fingers, on their own accord, reached out slowly and, gently as he could, stroked the light infused flesh of her cheek, then down—grazing her ear lob—to brush across the silk of her jawline. "Josephine..." He breathed. Her rose-stained lips trembled as her lilac colored eyes probed his black irises for answers. She unconsciously leaned her face into his touch.
They were but a few inches away; he could smell her rose and sunlight scent radiating off her skin. Caspian could hear her heart bet speeding up as he felt his do the same. He knew his thoughts were madness; there could be so many problems, complications, from what he was about to do. Caspian realized he simply didn't care—he hadn't for a while, though he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when is attitude has changed.. He bent his head down toward her sweet face, hesitating millimeters away from her parted lips. His fingers were now resting against the hard bone of her jaw and the soft skin of her neck. Josephine had closed her eyes in anticipation.
With the swift determination that which only fools and hero posses, Caspian gently pressed his full lips to Josephine's velvet mouth. He instinctively wrapped his other arm around her slight waist; protectively pulling her ever so slightly closer to him. She moved willingly, closing the gap between their bodies; her long fingered hands resting against his biceps. Time seemed to crystallize, freezing the perfect moment.
Which was perfectly ruined a moment later when the loud sound of the kitchen door banging open and closed startled them. Josephine jumped away, guilt strewn over her lovely face. Her fingers fluttered to her lips as she looked at him cautiously; a strange emotion was written in her eyes. Nothing but the sound of their breathing and Susan rummaging around noisily in the other room could be heard. He knew he should say something, but he couldn't find his voice; or the right words. "Princesita..."
[~*~]
"Josephine! Caspian! I'm back...oh!" Susan shouted, seemingly towards the upstairs, as she finally made her appearance into the hallway. "Sorry didn't mean to shout in your ears. I thought you were still upstairs." She smiled apologetically. "Well, why are we all standing around in the hallway? Lets go to the living room, we've lots to talk about."
The older woman went about herding the younger two into the aforementioned living room, all the while shooting perplexed and concerned glances in Josephine's direction; the way those two had been standing and looking at each other when she came in made Susan wonder if their had been another fight. When everyone was finally settled—she in her usual chair, Caspian in the green chair, and Josephine awkwardly perched in the middle of the white a blue sofa—Susan got down to business. "So, what have you learned about the fae since I was gone?"
Josephine grimaced. "Auntie, there's something else you should know before we got on to that." She glanced quickly in Caspian's direction, but continued. "Sheriff Burns showed up a while ago, apparently Michaela filed charges."
Susan frowned, mulling over what her niece had told her. "Well that certainly throws our plans off kilter. I guess, Josephine, you need to decide if you want to wait out all the red tape and possibly a trial before disembarking, or if you'd rather flee." She could tell from the look on the girl's face that Josephine wasn't sure if Susan was serious or not. The younger girl glanced again in Caspian's direction.
"Well, I don't think Caspian can wait..so, how does one go about fleeing charges?"
Susan smiled. "Its a good thing I got both of you fake passports and I. D.s." Josephine raised her eyebrow. "Don't look so surprised, a student of mine got expelled from one of his high schools for making fake identifications, I promised to pass him if he made them for me; they should be done tomorrow. I will also purchased airline tickets for both of you under those names. I think with this new development you two had better leave as soon as possible, tomorrow if we've lucky. But for now, I believe we can put off calling the good sheriff until tomorrow."
Susan quickly assigned them tasks to do; she told Caspian to decide what clothes he wanted to take—she gave him one of Josephine's old school bags. Josephine was given the task of packing for herself and the random items that they both might need, such as first aid.
[~*~]
While her aunt was giving orders, Josephine was still in a bit of a daze, it wasn't until the older woman strode off into the kitchen to make dinner and other provisions for the trip that Josephine became aware of her surroundings fully. As she walked up the stairs her thoughts swirled around her head like a golden hurricane. He kissed me! Caspian, King of Narnia and Telmar, total stud muffin, kissed me! And it was a great kiss too. Wow. Ack! He looked worried after he did it, what if he regrets kissing me? What if I had bad breath, or worse, what if I'm a bad kisser?!
Josephine was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she forgot to turn on the mid landing on the stairs and instead walked straight into the wall. With an alarming thud, her forehead smacked into the cream colored surface; she stumbled backwards, her sock clad foot slipping on the lip of the top step. Josephine windmilled her arms around wildly, trying to keep her balance. Despite that she quickly fell backwards, just managing to catch the banister, which, unfortunately, did not slow her progress down the stairs, instead, Josephine's body was jerked to the left and there was a sickening crack as her upper back made contact with the hard wood. With surprise—and a scream—she accidentally let go of the banister and tumbled down the rest of the flight, landing in a heap at the floor, hitting her head in the process.
Red stripes washed over her vision as she heard two sets of shoes—one sounding like heavy boots and the other, a softer, trainer—come running into the hallway.
"Josephine!" That must be Caspian, Josephine would recognize the lyrical lit to his voice anywhere.
"Did you fall down the stairs again?" That sardonic request had to be Susan.
"Grawggah..." Josephine tried to sit up, but something stronger than she held her down. She closed her eyes for a moment then slowly reopened them, hoping the red had cleared from her vision—it had. Josephine saw that Caspian's hand was resting on her shoulder, keeping her from sitting. He was crouched down next to her, a concerned look on his handsome face. Susan was standing above them, also looking worried. Josephine tired to sit up again, this time Caspian allowed her to do so. She tenderly felt around her head, making sure there was no blood. "I think I'm okay, and yeah, I fell down the stairs again."
Susan glanced at the staircase. "There's a crack in my banister!" She exclaimed in alarm. Josephine grimaced—both at the high pitched noise and the fact that she broke the wood with her spine.
"At least it is not a crack in her spine." Caspian murmured, echoing Josephine's thoughts from the moment ago. Her heart gave a flutter when he moved his arm so it was around both her shoulders.
Eventually, Caspian helped her to stand up and Susan made him walk with her up the stairs. She also charged Caspian with doing the 'heavy lifting' while Josephine packed.
"This is utterly ridiculous. I am perfectly fine!" Not to mention she felt like a fool for needing help walking up the stairs. Not that she needed the help, but Susan thought she did. Caspian chuckled at her antics.
"Don't worry Princesita, its my job to help damsel in distress." He said, half joking. She simply scowled in reply.
Once she was in her room, Josephine turned to face him. Caspian was learning against the closed door, arms crossed over his broad chest. His black gaze fell heavily on her, and Josephine found herself blushing. She turned away and sat on her bed. "Can I ask you something?" She didn't dare look up at him.
"Of course." His ever lyrical voice was gentle. She couldn't help but turn her violet gaze to him.
"Do you like me?" The stupidity of her question dawned on her the moment after she asked, she fought the blush that rose quickly to her pale cheeks, she refused to lower her gaze.
He smiled softly. "I believe I do." He slowly move to sit on the bed next to her, and Josephine couldn't help but smile—to herself and at him.
"That's good, because I like you too." She murmured. She looked down to see his hand was but a hair's breath away from her own.
"May I court you?" The oddness of his words confused her for a moment, Josephine glanced up quickly, tilting her head to the side, a quizzical look on her pretty face.
"You know, most boys would just ask if I wanted to be their girlfriend."
He grinned at her words. "I am not most boys." She couldn't help but giggle at his words. "So may I?" He pressed.
Josephine stifled her laughter and smoothed her face into a look of seriousness. "You may, but..." she paused, feeling a bit silly.
"but..." he prompted. She smiled.
"But, ah...take it slow?" She felt ridiculous; most girls, in her position, would have already been half naked on the bed with him, though the little voice in the back of her head comforted her with two thoughts, firstly, Caspian wasn't with those girls, he was with her, and secondly, she was sure he wasn't that kind of guy. As she had told the Sheriff earlier, Caspian was a old fashioned by this world's standards.
He leaned towards her, kissing her forehead. "As you wish, mi Princesita." He winked at her when he invoked the reference.
She couldn't help but tease him. "I though you said Wesley was an idiot?" Josephine put a mock disapproving look on her face.
Caspian laughed quietly. "He had a few things right, and besides, I am taking your advice."
They talked for a few more minutes before getting to work on packing. Josephine refused to let Caspian do anything besides get her massive hiker's backpack down from the top shelf of her storage closet. It didn't take very long, all she decided to take was two sweatshirts, a pair of jeans, two long sleeved shirts—one black with an Asian design on the front and sleeves, and the other white with a peace collage—, she packed the first aid kit, a few toiletries, and all of her fake gold costume jewelry.
"What's that for?" He questioned, pointing to the lock box containing the necklaces and such.
"Well, if we go to Tir na nÓg, I figure we'll need something of value to trade, and hopefully they don't notice its not read gold."
She also threw in the books on fae that neither of them had gotten to. "I guess that's everything."
Before either Caspian or Josephine could speak again, they heard Susan's voice from downstairs. "DINNER TIME!"
[~*~]
As they made their way downstairs, Caspian couldn't help smiling to himself. Kissing Josephine earlier had been wonderful and he was glad that he had done it, because, now he knew that she felt the same way about him as he did her. He knew, at the back of his mind that things could get very complicated and messy, but at the moment he really didn't care. Besides, Josephine belonged in Narnia; if there was nothing he could do to keep her away he might as well stop trying.
As they stepped into the hallway, Caspian captured Josephine's small hand in his larger one, a smile still on his lips.
Bahaha. You all thought I was going to kill off Susan, didn't you? Well, I'm not that mean. Anyway CASPIAN AND JOSEPHINE SNOGGED! WOO! *does happy dance* haha I've been waiting to tell people that. I hope you liked it. Review?