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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of the Sue Thomas F.B.Eye television series.
Jack looked up as Sue approached him. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes caught hers and he had to quickly look down again to hide his response. He hoped that his reaction was imperceptible. Being near Sue both exhilarated and calmed him. These conflicting emotions had been occurring more and more recently. This was the reason why he had come to dinner on such short notice and this was the reason he was still here even though he was tired after the long flight from Paris. He hoped he could keep these sentiments well hidden from the rest of the world. He watched her now as she opened and prepared the Scrabble game and then gracefully beckoned them closer. He shook his head as if to clear it and focused on forming his tiles into a word to start the game. An inadvertent glance at Lucy made his choice of the starting word simple. He manipulated the letters allocated to form the word SCHEME on the board, saying as he did so:
"The best laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry".
Never one to back down (one of her favorite maxims as a teenager was "The best form of defense is offense"), Lucy decided upon the word ACTION with the casual quip to the room "There are many, nowadays, who are slow to act no matter how important the circumstances". She totaled up her score and then turned to Myles.
"Your turn", she said.
Oblivious to any tensions around him, Myles placed the letters "L" and "A" to form the word: LEA and then began to explain the origins of the word. He was summarily interrupted by Sue, whose turn was next. She found that she was just able to form the word: NOSY. She placed her tiles on the board with a significant look at Lucy who blushed slightly.
Jack, with a playful smile, used his second turn to organize his tiles into the word MEDDLE. Lucy continued the mental sparring with the word SCARED. She aimed a mischievous glance at both Sue and Jack.
Myles, who finally realized that there was more to the game than the obvious, announced his intention to create the word STRATEGY. He, however, found that he could not and settled for the word SAD instead.
After the laughter had died down, Sue had a sudden brainwave. She used her tiles to form the word YEARN. She looked directly at Lucy and then raised an eyebrow delicately and glanced deliberately from her to Myles. Lucy looked at her, a shocked look on her face. She glanced at the guys. Myles was busy maneuvering his tiles into different positions but Jack was looking at her. He winked.
Lucy's reaction surprised even herself. She blushed and suddenly jumped up from her seat, mumbling the words "Going to get more cookies". The abrupt action startled the others and even Levi who was lying at her feet. He sprang up and knocked over the coffee table spilling its contents.
"Lookout Jack!" cried Sue and Lucy at the same time.