Chapter Twenty Nine - You Set Me Free - Part Two

She looked at him strangely, then decided to ignore it and smiled as they clinked their glasses together.

"Hmmm..." She mumbled in appreciation of the wine. "This is nice." She said as she put the glass down.

"It's the only wine I drink. It's from Croatia."

"It's really good." She said sipping some more.

"We used to drink it once a week. That was our treat, we didn't have many." He said sadly, but then took another sip.

"My treat was watching The Brady Bunch once a month when my Dad was mowing the lawn." She joked as she took another sip.

Luka laughed at her comment, she always found a way to make a joke of things, or make things look or feel better than they should. He guessed that was why he enjoyed her company, she put things into perspective without them seeming completely dull or depressing.

"Do you wanna sit down?" Susan said as she pointed to the table she had frantically set before she jumped in the bath.

"Sounds good. Can I use your bathroom first?" He asked politely as he moved over to the table next to her and set his glass down.

"Sure. Down the hall, last door on the right." She replied smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

"I hope she'll be alright." Abby said as she paced the living room floor.

"You know her, she'll be fine." Carter said uninterested as he flicked through the channels.

"Yeah but come on, it's Luka.".

"She'll be fine. Stop worrying you're burning holes in the carpet." He said jokingly as she gave him a glare and plonked herself down next to him on the couch.

"I'm just worried about her. She seemed really distant earlier."

"Okay." He said switching off the TV and slamming it down on the coffee table. "You went out with Luka right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, what was he like?"

"I don't think I wanna go where this is going John.." She said worriedly.

"No I'm serious. Come on Abby when you went out.."

"You mean dates?" She said exasperatedly.

"Yeah.was he nice?"

"Of course he was nice!"

"Yeah but, nice enough for Susan?"

"Well..yeah."

"There you go then."

"What?"

"If he's good enough for you, he's gonna be good enough for her. She cares about what you think, and what you don't think, so she won't be jumping into this head first. I think she's just testing the water. And plus, we don't even know if she likes him that much yet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

"So he just ran off and left you?!" Susan said laughing.

"Yes! And I was left there, holding this dirty rug and a hubble bubble in the middle of the street!"

"Oh my God..people sure take you for a ride!" She said still laughing.

"Well how was I supposed to know?! I was in a new country, looking for a place to stay, I needed a friend!"

"So you decided to put all your trust in a black guy who lived in a box on quite possibly the wackiest street in Chicago and hold his large bong?!"

"Well..yeah pretty much." He replied slightly embarrassed.

She laughed again, not realising how much fun she was having. She shook her head, still not believing anybody could be so stupid as he settled down again, feeling the heat of embarrassment now as he took another sip of wine.

"Did you not realise what it was?"

"No. Not at first anyway. But by the time I realised he'd run off and the next thing I knew the police were there pulling me over and telling me to get my hands.." He put his wine glass down and put his hands behind his head. "..like this, behind my head. So I tried but then they said drop everything so I did and they broke and..it was just madness." He finished smiling.

"You poor guy. But I still wish I could have been there."

"Thanks." He said sarcastically.

"The look on your face must have been a picture."

"It probably was. But I was busy being pushed up against the police car to really notice!"

"God I'm sorry I shouldn't laugh." She said, fighting back the laughter.

"No it's okay, it was supposed to make you laugh. At the time I didn't find it funny, but you've got to laugh at these things."

"Exactly. Stories like that are there to be told and then laughed at!" Susan chuckled.

The laughter settled down, and there was silence as they sat enjoying each others company. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, like most, it was just easy. Susan never could stay quiet for long, but it felt right this time.

"I'm enjoying being with you Susan." Luka finally spoke up.

"I'm enjoying being with you too." She admitted, blushing slightly.

"Would you mind if I kissed you?"

"Not at all." She replied, their heads moving closer together.

And so it began. A new friendship moved to a new romance, and it didn't scare either of them.