Adrians POV
I cursed whomever was calling me, when I recognized Lissas number on my phone.
"My queen, how can I be at your service" I asked with a smile.
Sydney gave me a completely confused look.
"Adrian, finally. Do you have any idea how many times I´ve tried to call you?" Lissa asked.
"Yea, sorry. I had... business to attend" I said nonchalant.
"Business? What kind of business?" she asked.
I watched Sydney starting to pack our stuff and looking at me from time to time, while I thought about a response that wasn´t to far fetched.
"Well not exactly business" I began "more like investigate" I than said.
Sydney raised an eyebrow at the word investigate but kept on packing.
"Have you been drinking?" Lissa asked in a soft voice.
I could hear genuine concern in her voice. Thinking about it, it was an assumption on her part, that used to be true more times in my past than I wanted to admit to myself.
"Can´t say I have" I said "So, you just wanted to chat or is there a specific reason for your call?" I asked.
She sighed "I just wanted to check in with you. The last time we spoke you were... ehm kind of angered" she said.
I remembered the last time I´d talked to her. I had been trying to get her to help finding Sydney. She´d told me that she couldn´t and that alchemist business wasn´t her place to interfere and I hadn´t taken that well to say the least.
"I know. Sorry about that. I´m good now" I said.
"Okay... I was worried when I couldn´t reach you. I know how it is, sometimes it can be... overpowering" she said. I knew she was taking about spirit and I couldn´t argue with here there.
"Are you coming to court any time soon?" she asked.
"Maybe. We´ll see" I said evasively.
It wasn´t like I could just come to visit with my girlfriend. The girlfriend nobody knew about there and my girlfriend the alchemist, or better said ex-alchemist.
"Don´t be a stranger, okay?" she said.
"I won´t" I promised and after saying goodby we hung up.
Sydney was next to me in no time. She had finished packing and had watched me curiously the last couple of minutes.
"Queen?" she asked.
Right, I hadn´t exactly elaborated about that. It just hadn´t seemed important.
"Yes, yes I did" I said looking at her.
She gave me a look that said she needed more information.
"You know, you have Obama, we have a queen" I said nonchalant.
She crooked her head "For real?" she asked.
I nodded.
"So you and the queen... is she your... friend?" she asked.
"Lissa? Yes, she´s my friend. In fact, she is the sister of Jill" I said.
Sydney sat down next to me on the bed "I need to make some kind of index cards or... I don´t know. How can I possibly keep up with all of that?"
"Index cards?" I said chuckling.
"Well yea, it helps me to stay on track" she said like it was completely normal to do so.
"Of course it does" he said, still softly laughing.
Sydneys POV
A queen? Really? And not just to be representative like in Spain or Belgium?
I remembered him talking about something like that before. About Jill and how important it was to keep her safe. I remembered that it had to do something with a queen, I just hadn´t thought about it that much. Somehow this topic had seemed not that important at that moment. Considering we were talking about vampires, alchemists, kidnapping and memory erasing.
Maybe I didn´t need those index cards after all.
"Everything okay?" Adrian asked pulling me in his arms.
I was standing next to him in front of the bed and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
I nodded "Everything okay" I said "We should leave now" I went on.
For a moment I thought he was going to argue again, but he finally nodded and got up.
"We should" he said.
His hand cupped my cheek and he gave me a soft kiss, that once again made my knees weak.
We were on our way only a few minutes later.
I was driving this time and once again I was thrilled about the car.
The way the steering wheel felt in my hands, the sound it made when I pushed the gas pedal and just the feeling driving it. This car for sure had a story to tell.
We were headed to St. Louis, Missouri. It was a 6 hour drive there and we made good time.
When we passed Effingham, Adrian insisted to make a stop and eat there, just because he thought the name was hilarious.
"Sage, it´s Effingham like F*ing ham" he elaborated after I was left dumbfounded about his reaction.
I gave him a look that was supposed to be objurgated, but seeing him so full of joy, just because of the unfortunate name of this city made me laugh with him. Not because of the name, because his joy was so infectious.
"I´m feeling like fondue" Adrian suddenly said when we passed the city boundary.
"Fondue?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
Sometimes his chains of thoughts were beyond me.
"Fondue is just the best meal ever" he said still smiling and taking out his phone, obviously to check if he could get fondue somewhere in Effingham.
After a few moment he made a sound of approval.
"Guess it´s our lucky day" he said.
"Fondue?" I asked.
"Fondue" he answered.
He guided me through downtown Effingham until we reached a restaurant called `The Melting Pot´.
I parked the car around the corner and taking my hand, we entered the restaurant.
Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was pretty dark. Heavy dark curtains covered nearly the whole windows and barley any lamps where installed. The room was lit by candles and I had to admit, it was pretty romantic.
We were seated in a small booth and to my surprise, the restaurant was well patronized.
My eyes grew big, when a huge pot of melted cheese was positioned in the middle of our table.
Around it our waitress had put several bowls of vegetable and bread.
"Vegetable is healthy" Adrian said and I noticed, that he must had been watching me.
"Not if you dip it in that" I said nodding in the direction of the pot with melted cheese.
He gave me a crooked smile.
"You really like fondue, don´t you?" I asked.
He nodded and I gave him a smile.
"Okay than. Let´s indulge" I said more convincing than I was feeling.
His smile was worth it and we began to eat.
To my surprise the fondue was delicious and after a few bites of cheese covered tomatoes, I managed to put my bad conscience about the fat content away.
"I could really get used to that" he said gesturing around when we finished eating.
"What? Eating fondue?" I asked.
He chuckled and pulled me closer, so that he could put an arm around me.
"I love fondue, but I was taking about us, being together in public, doing this..." he said putting his index finger under my chin and lifting it, so he could kiss me.
Like always I melted, just like the cheese we had been eating only minutes ago.
It hit me than, that it would be different when we reached Palm Springs. We probably had to hide and maybe even pretend to not know each other or being brother and sister at times. I pushed that thought away. I would think about that when I had to. In this moment, I just wanted to enjoy every second I had with him.
"We still have a couple of days" I said when our kiss ended.
"We do" he said kissing the spot between my ear and my neck.
It sent spirals of goosebumps down my spine and I wished to be somewhere else with him. Not in such a public place.
Someone cleared his throat next to us and I blushed as I saw the waitress standing in front of our table.
"Can I get you anything else?" she asked feeling as uncomfortable as I was feeling.
"No thank you. Just the bill, please" Adrian answered and she nodded and walked away.
Adrians POV
I payed the bill and we left a few minutes later. I was eager to reach our destination. Sydney had been right, we still did have a couple of days left and I would enjoy every second of that time being with her, preferably alone.
Our stop at `The Melting Pot´ had delayed us, but by 8 pm we reached St. Louis and had checked in at a small motel near the city boundary.