Sitting at my dresser, removing my makeup and brushing my hair down, I sighed in annoyance. I was offended and upset and knew that I had overreacted. Kurtis may have been hot headed and in the wrong with regards to punching the man, but I should never have argued with him like that when all he was doing was offering help. And wasn't it actually better that he had, rather than just standing back?
I wearily put my things away and then dragged myself to the bed, climbing in, flicking off the light and settling down. I wasn't intending to sleep just yet. Hopefully I wouldn't have to apologise. Hopefully we'd get up in the morning and everything would have blown over. Restlessly, I went over the evening's events in my mind before turning to the wider picture.
Memories of Kurtis searching me in the Louvre, the subsequent chase, his playfully condescending salute as he walked off leaving me locked in the airlock, the frisking I'd given him, his face when he'd asked, surprised, if I was trusting him, the way we watched each other's back when we were first met with Boaz, the way he'd touched my face when I'd found him bleeding to death just outside the Strahov, apparently unsure that I was real and that he was still alive – it all came flooding back in a mixed and confused mess.
We were alike, kindred spirits. We both thrived on the chase, the adventure, and we were both strong and ready and able to take on whatever came our way. We could make a formidable team – we had made a formidable team, in the Strahov. But, I sighed to myself, it seemed it also worked against us. As if to illustrate it to myself, my mind flashed back to Kurtis throwing the first punch in the alley, and then to the moment that I had seen Kurtis unconscious in the clutches of Gunderson, and the way he had pushed me away when I had gone to him after he'd been thrown in the arena. We both wanted to give protection, not take it.
I pushed away my slightly drunken mental ramblings and closed my eyes. With the memories of my initial introduction to Kurtis, when he'd held me at gunpoint and robbed me, bought to the forefront of my mind by my musings, I turned and attempted to sleep, still buzzing from our night out and the remembered feeling of his hand sliding down my arm.
I rushed out of my room the next morning under the influence of false adrenaline, brought on by my mental preparation for the tough training I had decided on for myself that morning. Moving with too much speed and too little focus, I almost crashed into Kurtis on his own way down as I came out of my door. He jumped back, staring at me in wonder, obviously wanting to know just what I thought I was doing.
I smiled, embarrassed. "Sorry." I bit my lip in anticipation of being dragged into another argument, but Kurtis just smiled and carried on his way, brushing my wrist with his fingertips as he passed me.
"Be careful, huh?" He continued down the stairs still grinning at my hectic state, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god, he'd let last night slip. Hopefully he'd realised just as well as I had that we were both to blame.
Clattering down the stairs after him, I quickly overtook him. "See you at breakfast," I called behind me, but took off across the hallway and into the kitchen at a fast trot, my body still mistakenly believing there was a reason to run.
By the time Kurtis made it into breakfast a mere two minutes later, I was just leaving, still chewing on my toast, feeling the slight tug of indigestion setting in from the rest of the toast that I had hastily swallowed.
"Lara, do sit down and finish your breakfast properly!" Hillary called after me like a parent calling to a child, but I had long gone, leaving, I imagined, Kurtis' hair swaying in my breeze.
"What's the rush?" I heard him yell after me.
Running to the swimming pool, I dove in, in full training dress, and trod water for a while, getting used to the temperature and awaiting the arrival of Bryce, who I had earlier called on the internal telephones to inform him of my plans.
"Bli-mey, Lara," he said loudly as he strode into the room and came to stand at the pool's edge and look down at me, "Do we have to get started so early?" He had clearly just got out of bed, and didn't seem too happy about it.
"Bryce, I'm prepared, I haven't done this in a few months, I want to get it over and done with whilst I still feel ready for the challenge."
"Are you sure you're ready for it? This is the toughest course in the whole mansion."
"Bryce, I'm ready." I spoke succinctly, still easily treading the water, impatient for Bryce to get going.
"I'm just – I'm worried, Lara."
"You know as well as I do that it's perfectly safe." He continued to stare at me, unsure, and I spoke again. "Bryce. Bryce! Let's go." I raised my eyebrows and spoke firmly, stating in no uncertain terms that I was in charge, and I wanted to do this. At his resigned sigh that said that he was still clearly unhappy about the whole business, I asked uneasily, "You got rid of the virus from the computers didn't you? Everything's under control?"
"Yes, yes," he said, moving to sit at the control deck for my water course, "The systems are clean, it's all working, it's safe." He didn't sound particularly enthusiastic, but I had no doubt that he was confident that it was safe to continue, at least on the part of the technology.
Dipping myself back under the water to rewet my face and adjust my eyes to the wetness, I smiled at Bryce encouragingly and swam over the side of the pool where it all began.
Sorry it's short, but the next chunk fits better in one single chapter. Which is going up right now...