A/N: Last one, I promise. I have excuses coming out the wazoo about why I didn't do any updating this summer, but I will spare you and just apologize to anyone who was actually reading this. I'm sorry. Thanks for sticking with me. Now, since I was such a tool I expanded this story into a few chapters so as to make it flow better… the original one chapter ending was a bit of a cop-out anyway. So I'm adding them all at once in hopes of making amends. I'm never adding another story to this site without it being complete ahead of time. That way long update waits can be avoided. Once more, thanks for following my little story and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know at the end, either way. Praise and criticism are both welcomed.
"Watch this side; you're dripping!" I exclaimed as I lifted our joined hands to point at the cone Sara held in her free one. She quickly twisted the cone around, spotted the sneaky glob of ice-cream attempting to escape and dipped her head to catch it with her tongue. As she straightened up again, satisfied that that side of the cone was secured for now, I choked on my own mouthful of vanilla. Sara had managed to get ice-cream on the tip of her nose during her last manoeuvre. "Hang on," I spoke after I had managed to swallow my treat. I tugged on her hand to signal for her to pause for a moment and shifted the rest of my ice-cream and a bag of random merchandise to our joined hands so that I could wipe it off her face. I used my thumb to gently remove the cold drop and held it up to show her. She flashed an embarrassed grin.
I thought for a moment about popping the finger into my own mouth or, better yet, trying to get her to lick it off, but then I remembered all the stuff I had touched in the last store we had gone into. I shuddered slightly as I thought of all the germs plaguing my thumb and wiped it clean on the napkin surrounding my cone. I shifted some stuff back to my free hand and we continued on. "Anywhere else you want to stop?" I asked, tipping my wrist slightly to consult my watch but being careful not to spill my ice-cream.
"How much time do we have left?" she asked leaning closer into my side to peer at my watch as well. I noted with some pride that she didn't return to her initial distance after she had seen the time.
"We can stop at one more spot, I think. Maybe two, but we'll be pushing it." I wanted to show up to work on time. While it wasn't actually important to me, as we already established I'm not exactly known for my punctuality, Sara was always there on time… actually she was pretty much always there, regardless of time. "Hey," I voiced suddenly, "How is this going to work at the lab?" The question had nagged me a few times throughout the night, but I had delayed asking it so that I could prolong the wonderful simplicity that came from being with her. Hmm. That didn't come out quite right. I mean that when I'm with Sara everything else in the world becomes easier to take on. Happiness comes naturally. Just being becomes simpler. That still sounds a bit shady, but trust me, I mean it in the best possible way.
"What do you mean?" she asked as she began guiding me. I assumed that she had decided on the last place to visit and complied easily. I had finally made it to the cone of my ice-cream and tossed it away. Those plain cones taste like Styrofoam.
"Our relationship. Do we announce it to the others right away and get it over with? Or do you want to be more discreet? Or hide it all together?" I began listing the options, looking over at her feeling slightly worried. There was no way the last two would work for me. I wouldn't be able to hide my affection anymore than I could lessen the goofy grin that had decided to take over my face for the foreseeable future.
"Well, a formal announcement seems a little silly… and honestly, I hate talking about this stuff as much as you do. Let's just be ourselves, however feels right, and hopefully they'll each ask subtly and separately and we can let them know that way. Avoid all the fuss?" she suggested carefully. I agreed and leaned over to kiss the side of her forehead as she continued leading me down the street.
"So, time for the second question that I've been meaning to ask all night: why was your phone off the hook?" I watched her reaction intently as she swallowed her mouthful of vanilla and tried to compose an answer.
"The telemarketers kept phoning. I kept telling them that…" I ignored her words as I noticed the skin between her bottom lip and her chin quiver. She was lying.
"Okay," I cut her off in mid-babble, "How about the real reason?"
"What makes you think--"
"You have a tell," I replied before she finished her question. "And no; I'm not going to say what it is because then you'll be able to hide it." She pouted in response. "So why was your phone off the hook?" I persisted.
"I was trying to avoid a couple of phone calls. No big deal," she shrugged, acting nonchalant. Acting being the key word.
"You're lying again," my matter-of-fact tone left no room for debate. Her lip had clearly twitched when she said "no big deal."
"This isn't fair. What is it? Do I blink my eyes? Oh. I scrunch my nose, don't I?" she brought her hand holding the ice-cream up to her face and held her wrist lightly against the bridge of her nose to feel for any ticks. "I love to eat rare steaks. Orlando Bloom is a good actor. Crime really does pay. Tom and Katie are in love." I chuckled appreciatively as she listed off as many outrageous lies as she could think of while moving her wrist to different areas of her features in search of her tell.
"You know, this'd be a lot easier if you'd just tell me the truth." I felt my lips squish off to the side of my mouth in a smart-ass smirk.
"It'd also be easier if you just told me what gives me away," she feigned annoyance as she continued to prod at her features. "Is this how you always beat me at poker?"
"Sara," I stopped walking again, quickly becoming concerned. "Please. Who phoned?" I hated the pleading quality in my voice. I sounded so weak and whiny; most of which was because of the scenarios that had started flashing through my mind at her first attempt to side-step the conversation. All the worst possible reasons why Sara wouldn't want me to know who phoned kept surfacing in my brain. I was feeling very insecure.
She lowered her hand away from her face. "Hank," she admitted not looking at me and without a single facial quiver. That had been one of the scenarios.