Haley shamed Lucie into going to the Stardrop with her. Claiming she was a terrible friend who spent all her time with Shane and not anywhere near enough time with Haley. At least it was a Friday, so someone could plausibly be used as an escape if need be.

So, here she was, sat at a table with Haley and Alex, trying very hard not to make eye contact with Shane. But he was right in her eye line, his face visible right over Alex's shoulder. And Alex was just talking about grid ball, which Lucie knew embarrassingly little about. Lucie couldn't help but make eye contact with Shane, and his raised eyebrow made her grow warm. She filled with the necklace at her throat, then glanced at the drinks at the table. She took an opportunity to jump in, when Alex paused for breath. How Haley could sit there and listen to this non-stop, Lucie didn't know.

"Drinks?" She offered. Haley grinned and named a concoction that Lucie had never heard of, whilst Alex thankfully asked for something much more simple; a 'yeah, just whatever'. "Great - but you need to pay me back for this round, because I'm broke." Lucie sang the final word and scooped up empty glasses.


Lucie was going to the bar. Shane glanced down at the glass in his hand, drained it, and then sidled up to Lucie, feigning surprise to see her there. She smiled warmly at him, whilst Emily promised them she'd only be a minute.

"Hey," Lucie smiled.

"Hey, yourself." Shane tapped his fingers against the bar, slightly nervously. Lucie took a step slightly closer to him, fabric whispering against fabric as her skirt brushed his trousers.

"You could join us, you know," She offered, gesturing with her head towards the table where Haley and Alex leant together conspiratorially.

"I don't think they'd like that," Shane protested. Lucie tapped his arm with the back of her hand. It wasn't quite a swat, but the intent was there.

"I'd like it. And I'm inviting you over, so if they have a problem then its their problem." She looked over at them, then back at Shane. "And to be honest, they're more interested in talking to each other."

That brought a smile to Shane's face. He wasn't the only one who'd noticed Haley and Alex's budding relationship then. He was about to respond when Emily slid towards them and beamed at the two of them.

"What can I get you?"

"Whatever the hell your sister's drinking, and three," Lucie glanced up at Shane who shook his head slightly. "two beers, please."
Emily nodded her head and looked at Shane inquisitively.

"Sparkling water, again. Thanks Emily." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He tried not to notice the smile that Lucie tried to hide behind her hair. Emily seemed to be taking a long time to get four drinks.

"If you promise me Haley won't start on about my hair, I'll join you." Shane spoke before he realised he was having the thought process. Lucie laughed and scrunched her face in confusion.

"Your hair? What's wrong with your hair?" She reached a hand out as if to touch it, but with drew it quickly. "I like your hair."

"Apparently, it looks like a dead raccoon." The deadpan delivery made the comment the funniest thing Lucie had ever heard - or at least, that was how she acted.

She placed a hand on Shane's arm, and promised him that if Haley commented on the hair, she would duel her on Shane's behalf.


"You've never been to a grid ball game?"

By Yoba, why did this have to be the thing that Shane and Alex bonded over?

Lucie shrugged, and picked up her beer.

"I never went when I was in college, and here we are. Grid ball game-less," she said lightly, trying to drown her embarrassment in the beer. Alex looked at her like she'd just told him she had three heads and he was trying to work out where the other two were. Shane was much more straight forward to read - he was simply amused by her.

"But - but how could you have just never gone?" Alex spluttered. "It's a rite of passage! It's like, the highlight of every week!"

"It's basically an elaborate game of fetch," Lucie countered. "I'd just much rather spend any day off with a good book and the cat."

"What's your cat called? Sallust?" Haley raised an artfully sculpted eyebrow at her. Lucie glowered jokingly at her.

"A. If you don't stop making fun of Diogenes, I will never tell you the name of my goat, and B. That was a very intellectual joke, I am very proud. But you should be careful or people will realise that you are an even bigger dork than me." Lucie crossed her arms and sat back as Shane grinned at her. Haley opened her mouth to retort, then snapped it shut again.

"I don't get it," Alex frowned. Haley patted him on the arm, as if to tell him it was okay he didn't get it, but his frown only deepened.

"I named my chickens after Greek philosophers, because the first one I got I named Diogenes. You know the -"

"'Behold! A man!" Chorused Shane, Haley and Lucie.

"dude?" Lucie completed. Alex seemed to shift through his memories, and Haley moved to promise to explain it later, but Alex's face lit up.

"The plucked chicken thing?"

"Yeah!" Lucie beamed. "It's a good name, right?"

"If I tell you it's a great name, will you go to a grid ball game?" Alex asked, grinning at her. "It's an experience! Come on!"

"I thought we'd moved on from grid ball!" Lucie protested. She hid her face in her hands as Alex continued to promise her she'd enjoy it. She stayed hidden until Shane spoke up.

"I mean, I accidentally bought two tickets for next week's game," he said. Lucie slowly lifted her head out of her hands. "So, you could always come with me. I'll tell you when to cheer."

Lucie looked only at Shane, her eyes falling to his lips as he spoke despite her best efforts.

"Okay." She said quietly. She cleared her throat. "I mean, I'd hate for a ticket to go to waste."


Haley and Alex took advantage of Lucie going to the toilet to round on Shane. He'd picked up his drink, trying to delay having to think of something to say to them, when Alex turned to him, grinning madly.

"Tickets for next week's game don't go on sale until Tuesday," he pointed out, entirely correct. Shane told him to shut up. "You like Lucie."

Haley rolled her eyes, but she too was smirking at Shane.

"Come on, Alex, everyone knows that he likes her," Haley drawled. She seemed to sparkle with the opportunity to tease Shane. She turned more to Shane and leant towards him. "You know, on your birthday, she demanded that I helped her dress for your 'not date'? It was cute."

This conversation had taken a turn for the interesting.

"Have you bought her flowers yet?" Alex asked, before doubting himself and turning to Haley. "Girls like flowers, right?" Haley patted his hand again. That seemed to be a common occurrence of hers. Shane made a mental note to keep his hands well away from Haley when she looked like she might pat him. He did not need the condescending pat.

"Yes, Alex, girls like flowers. Lucie likes hyacinths if you're getting her a potted plant, and if you're going for a bouquet then she's basic as hell and like lilies." Haley had turned to her nails as she told Shane Lucie's favourite flowers as if that was something he ought to know. Shane almost felt like he ought to be jotting down notes. Haley lifted her gaze from her nails and looked at the two men. "And, for the record, I know what she's named her goat, and she is not as funny as she thinks she is. It's called song, and the next one, I guarantee, will be named tragedy."

"What tragedies are we talking about?" Lucie asked wryly from behind Shane, causing him to jump. His face flooded with warmth, as she continued to stare at Haley. Shane could feel her hand resting on the back of his chair, her fingers lightly touching his back. She withdrew it, but it was quickly replaced with her other hand as she stepped slightly around Shane's chair.

"Just the tragedy of your animal naming skills," Haley said, smiling innocently. Lucie's hand withdrew from Shane's back and landed heavily on the back of the chair once more. Shane felt as though he could breathe now that her hand was gone.

"Who told you?'

"No one told me."

"Was it Marnie?"

"No one told me, you're just not as funny as you think," Haley retorted. She raised an eyebrow at Lucie. "I mean. Goats… named song and tragedy? Instead of tragedy being goat song? It's pathetic."

"I hate you," Lucie said as she sat down heavily. When she pulled out her chair, she'd managed to move it closer to Shane, and when she sat her knee brushed against his. Was it deliberate? Shane didn't dare move his leg, just in case it was an accident and she withdrew it. But then she looked up at him and smiled.
What was that smile? What was he supposed to think about this? She'd seemed so relieved when he'd told her that he didn't remember that afternoon, that he didn't remember her telling him that she loved him.
But now?


Shane walked Lucie home. It seemed the right thing to do.

And also Lucie had told him to, and he was fairly certain Marnie heard, so he'd incur the wrath of two separate women if he said no.


She faltered in the doorway. Lucie had asked him to walk her home, sure that he'd get the hint. She'd brushed up against him at every opportunity - although that was only semi-deliberate. She teased, and complimented, and smiled. She did everything short of holding up a sign which read 'I AM FLIRTING'.

She didn't do this often, and it was so painfully obvious. She lifted a hand to the back of her neck and rubbed, hard. She was sure there would be red lines across the back of her neck now, but she didn't care. She only cared about the man standing in front of her, down a step - no, two - so that their eyes were level. Lucie left the door open and moved the single step towards Shane. She was so close to him she could feel his body heat, feel their heartbeats meet mid air and tangle together.

"Would you like to in?" She asked quickly, her words coming out too fast. Shane smirked at her, and she felt yet another one of her heart strings snap from tension.

"I think you were missing a verb in that sentence," he teased. Fuck, she had forgotten the word come. Of all the words. "But, okay. I would like to in."

As he laughed, Lucie could feel the air around her move. She just had to lean towards him to kiss him, it was barely a centimetre between them.

"Okay," she breathed, lost counting Shane's eyelashes. She squeezed her eyes shut, then stepped to the side, and gestured for him to walk. "After you."


Shane wasn't quite sure why she was flustered, but she was. She apologised about the size of her farm house, then at the state of her kitchen - although, kitchen was generous. It was a stove, a mini fridge and a kettle. Her food was stored in the cardboard boxes that she'd brought her stuff in.

He stood still in the middle of the room whilst she flapped around him, shoving things away - including two suitcases that seemed to still have clothes in them, which were hastily shoved under the bed.

"I'm so sorry about the mess, I just got caught up with all the farming stuff and never bothered to actually unpack properly. I supposed I should do it soon, or Haley will never let me hear the end of it -" she cut off as the kettle let out a shrill whistle, and skidded around. "Oh! The tea!"

"Lucie?" Shane spoke softly as he followed her to the kitchen. She looked up at him, with large, deer-caught-in-headlights eyes. "You've seen the state of my room. I'll forgive you any mess."

She burned and turned back to the tea.


Lucie didn't have a couch. She should have thought of this before she invited someone around - oh, god, she said that she'd have Marnie, Lewis and Shane for dinner one night and she didn't have a dining table.

That was a problem for another time. Right now, she had two mugs of tea slowly melting her hand to goo and nowhere to put them down. Nor anywhere for Shane to sit.

"I'm sorry. I didn't really think through the no-couch issue," she apologised. At least her voice had calmed down to a normal pitch and speed. "I hope you don't mind sitting on the bed?"

Don't blush. Do not blush.

She caught sight of her reflection in the dark window pane. She was definitely blushing. She needed to stop thinking of the less innocent connotations to her words.

Shane was already sat on her bed, and she tentatively sat down next to him. She brought the mug to her face and paused, slowly breathing in the tendrils of steam that rose from the mug.

"It's really cute how you do that."

Did he just call her cute? Oh, there was no hope for her poor face now. It was going to be the colour of a tomato forever.

She looked up at him questioningly. He nodded to the mug that she still held in front of her face.

"The way you breathe it in before you drink. It's sweet." Shane looked away quickly, and drank from his own mug. Then, he looked back at her and added: "Plus, when you sit like that you look like a squirrel."

Lucie hit him.

By Yoba she wanted to kiss him.

He said she looked like a squirrel, and she wanted to kiss him. Logic was obviously not going to be at work tonight.

"You didn't have to invite me to the grid ball game - I don't have to go if you want to go alone," she said, just to fill the silence. Shane looked at her, scrunching up his nose in confusion. Great, now she wanted to kiss his nose as well as his lips. She wondered if they were as soft as they looked - stop it, Lucie!

"Why wouldn't I want you to go?" He asked. She dragged her eyes to his own.

"Who'd want to go with someone who'll ask you questions every five minutes?" She answered, lightly laughing. Why was she laughing? By Yoba this was getting ridiculous, pull yourself together woman. Luckily, Shane laughed too.

"Lucie, you do know that I normally go with Jas? I always go with someone who asks a 100 questions." He smiled at her kindly.


Something clicked in Lucie's head. Her eyes widened slightly and she stared down into her tea. A smile spread over her face.

Shane nudged her lightly with an elbow.

"What?" He asked. Lucie bit her lip and then looked up at Shane.

"You normally go with Jas?"

"Yeah…?"

"But you 'accidentally' bought two tickets?" She raised an eyebrow. Now it was Shane's turn to go red. He muttered something and turned away. Lucie frowned and poked him in the back. He sighed and then repeated his muttered answer.

"Tickets don't even go on sale until Tuesday," he admitted sheepishly. Lucie beamed at him. She swung her shoulder into his, bumping him lightly, forcing him to look at her. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her, but she kept grinning at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason." Lucie sang her answer more than said it. She tried to ignore the way her heart ruffled its feathers whenever their eyes met, she tried to ignore the clock that told her that she ought to kick Shane out before Marnie started to worry, she tried to ignore the pulsing of blood that she could feel through all of her veins simultaneously. Her whole body pulsed.

Shane left, and Lucie tried really hard not to be disappointed. She'd see him again tomorrow, but there was something about being alone with him in the night that made her heart ache. In a good way. In a way that she never wanted it to end. She wanted to find excuses to touch him - not sexually, just a hand on his arm, brushing his hair out of his eyes - just to feel the warmth of his skin. Just to know it was real.