Chapter 3
Sportacus returned from the train station to fins Stephanie sitting on the couch in the living room. She apparently was lost in thought due to the fact her eyeballs were glued to a spot on the wall. He came over and waved his hand in front of her face. This snapped her back to reality and she smiled at him.
"So what are you thinking about?" He asked.
"How could you tell I was thinking? Was it that obvious?" She asked.
"Well the drooling and staring off into space kind of tipped me off." Sportacus joked.
"Ha, ha, very funny." Stephanie playfully gave him a shove.
"In all seriousness, what were you thinking about?" He got back to the topic at hand.
"I was just thinking about how sorry I feel for Bessie. That and I know we wanted some alone time but this was not how I wanted to get it." Stephanie explained. Sportacus smiled at her and said,
"I know what you're talking about. That is the one thing that bothers me about being an above-average hero. I can save people and help people but I can't help people emotionally. It makes me feel so helpless. A hero feeling helpless. It doesn't even belong in the same sentence. You know there was another time I felt helpless. It will stay with me for the rest of my life."
"When was that?" Stephanie asked, her interest piqued.
"When I thought I lost you. Last summer was absolutely devastating to me. First I told you it was over, then you losing your memory, and then of course Robbie had to interfere. I felt completely helpless. I felt I couldn't tell you the truth and it almost cost me the one thing I love most, you." Sportacus turned to her and kissed her cheek. She snuggled close to him and gave him a hug. The two sat in each other's arms for quite some time. Then the doorbell rang and Stephanie got up to answer it.
"Trixie! How are you?" She exclaimed.
"I'm fine. I came by to see how you were holding up. I heard about Bessie's mother and I just wanted to offer my sympathies." Trixie told her.
"Thank you Trixie. I'll tell Bessie when she gets back. Do you want to come in?" Stephanie really didn't want her to come in but she was trying to be polite.
"No thanks. I was just on my way to Stingy's house. He promised me we'd go out today and do something special." Trixie said, happily. Stephanie could tell by the look on Trixie's face every time she said Stingy's name how much she cared for him. She smiled at that thought and said goodbye to Trixie. Closing the door, she went back to the living room.
There she found Sportacus doing some pushups. He just can't sit still, she started to giggle. Sportacus stopped when he heard her giggle and got up.
"What's so funny?" He smiled at her.
"Oh I was just thinking about how you never sit still unless we're together. Even then you have a tendency to wiggle." She laughed. Sportacus made a face and scooped her up into his arms.
"Well then if you're going to be that way." He said sarcastically. Bringing her head up to his, Sportacus started to kiss her. Stephanie gladly accepted and kissed him right back. They were in the middle of feasting on each other's lips when the phone rang. Both ignored it until the answering machine kicked in and they heard the Mayor's voice. Quickly Sportacus broke their kiss and went to the phone.
He picked it up and had a long conversation with Mayor Meanswell. Stephanie sat down on the couch and waited for him to get off the phone. Sitting for what seemed an eternity, she finally got up off the couch and went into the kitchen.
Sportacus was still on the phone, when she walked in. The look on his face was hard to describe. Stephanie could tell that something wasn't right. A few more minutes passed before Sportacus said goodbye and hung up the phone.
"What's going on?" Stephanie asked.
To Be Continued…