A huge thank you to everyone who has enjoyed my story so far! There's so many directions I can take it in but I do have a destination for Loki and Erin. While I've tried to get a chapter out every day or so, I want this story to actually become enjoyable for it's readers, so I may work on it a bit the next week and by Friday I'll try to have a good amount for you. Please, if you have any comments, reviews, ANYTHING, leave them for me. I value what you all think of Show Me Love. Now, without further ado, please enjoy Chapter 3. :)
Erin was pulled from her slumber as the sunlight broke through her window. She shifted in bed for a few moments longer but it was useless. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and felt the ever present hangover. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
As if to torture her further, her cell phone went off. Groaning, she lifted herself from her bed and went on a search for the source of the noise. She entered the living only to trip over her bag, where she was able to find her cell phone. She picked it up to see that she did not recognize the number. "Hello?"
"Hey chica, how's your morning going?"
"Ungh, Anna? How did you get my number?"
Her laughter rang through the phone, the sudden loud noise irritating Erin. "We exchanged numbers last night. I thought this was before you had that fifth shot."
"Apparently not."
"Yeah well I thought you could use a little wake up call. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to go out and grab lunch? Hubby's spending the weekend with Susie Homemaker next door in upstate New York. He, of course, told me that he had a business conference."
Erin shuffled around her kitchen, finding the kettle and heating up some water. "Er, I don't know about today, could we rain check?"
"Any time chick, talk later."
"Yeah, thanks. Bye." She hung up.
Erin poured herself a cup of tea and started to prepare herself for the day. She found a dark pair of jeans and a winter green sweater that hung off her shoulder. She snatched her scarf from yesterday and looped it around her neck and pulled her boots on before returning to the living room to check the mail from yesterday that she neglected. Flipping through bills, political campaigns, and take out menus she found a small white envelope with intricate writing addressed to her on the front. Opening it, she pulled out a simple blue card with a toddler's face on the front. Below his name in the same writing as on the front of the envelope read:
Come celebrate Wyatt's very first birthday!
The celebration will be held at our home in New York
On February 24th at 2 pm
We look forward to spending this very special day with you.
RSVP before the 8th
The paper bent and crinkled under Erin's ever firming grip as she tossed the card onto the coffee table. Wiping her eyes she grabbed her keys, wallet, a pair of sunglasses, and made for the door. She closed it behind her a little harder than intended and began her walk through the streets. The shops where she picked up her groceries were nearly a twenty-five minute walk from her home, but she didn't mind. Erin was vastly independent, and living in such a small city, everything was pretty much within walking distance for her so she saw no reason to drive herself anywhere. Driving also meant risking losing your on street parking, and Erin was not going to let that happen.
The sun was almost at its highest point in the day, its rays burning a hole in the back of Erin's head as she kept her face shielded from the light. "That's the last time I drink that much on a weekday, I don't even care if Iron Man is in town," she muttered to herself, feeling the full effects of her migraine kicking in.
She finally felt the cold burst of air as she opened the door to the Memphis May market, a little hole in the wall store that contained all your basic amenities. That was one thing that Erin loved about the neighborhood that she lived in: it was small and close knit. Maybe other more established people would call it a ghetto, but Erin called it home. Everyone looked out for each other like family because this was all they had.
Erin started her stroll down each aisle and plucked some things off the shelves that she knew she'd be needing for the week.
"Hey Erin, surprised to see you out and about after last night."
Erin turned and was face to face with Gabe. "Oh yeah, I'm pretty surprised myself. It sure was rough last night." She scratched the back of her head, clearly embarrassed that she had let herself get out of hand. "You working tonight?"
"Yeah, Jen quit the other day..."
"Oh shit, really? Damn, she was a bitch anyway."
Gabe laughed, "You really tell it like it is, don't you?" He shifted the basket to his other arm, Erin cleary able to see his muscles rippling through the black hoodie he wore.
"Yeah, no filter. Sometimes it gets me into more trouble than I'm prepared to deal with."
"You don't say," the corner of Gabe's mouth lifted into a smile.
He sure has perfected that look. Ten out of ten on the smoulder scale that's for sure, Erin thought to herself.
"So, yeah, Jen's out and we're just looking for someone to hire part time. I don't mind the work, pays great and I know the people from the neighborhood, but I'm gonna need a break soon."
"Yeah, I hear ya...Well, good luck to you. Maybe I'll stop in tonight for a night cap," she sensed that it was the end of their conversation and decided it was time to make her move.
"I look forward to seeing you if you do. Oh, and Erin," he stepped forward, his breath tickling her cheek as he whispered in her ear, "I hope to hear more come from that mouth soon." With that he continued on his way down the aisle, leaving her frozen in the produce section.
Uh, what? Erin made a face and mouthed his line, "'I hope to hear more come from that mouth soon.' Give me a break!" She continued on, quickly forgetting about Gabe the Bartender and focusing more on what she would be eating that night when she got home.
She reached the front door to her apartment in near record time for the amount of groceries she was juggling in her arms. Her front door opened with ease as she walked in and closed it behind her, making her way to the kitchen to set down all the bags. She turned on her stereo to empty the silence from her apartment.
Erin loved her home, she really did. Living on her own only solidified the fact that she was more than capable of taking care of herself without having to rely on anyone. Erin hated feeling like she had to owe something to someone; that had grown from how her parents had treated her, making her feel as though raising her as their daughter was a job that they should have been compensated for. Because of that upbringing, Erin sought out somewhere to call her own that she could afford to live in without those worries. However, she couldn't always fight the loneliness that lurked behind her, resting it's cold grey fingers on the nape of her neck. She tried to fill her time as much as she could with hobbies or people she considered friends, but those same cold grey fingers always found their way to her at night as she stared at the four walls of her room, which would eventually lead her to a stool at the neighborhood bar.
Her phone vibrated in her back pocket and she pulled it out to find two messages, one number she recognized as Anna's.
We're going out tomorrow night! Don't try to get out of it because this girl has got to party! I'll meet you at your place, just send me your address. See you tomorrow chica! 3
Erin sent her reply, optimistic about going out with her new friend.
1419 Tulip Street. 3 blocks from Anything Goes, see you tomorrow night! :)
She viewed her next message:
Mom
Hi. How are you? Too busy to call your own mother I guess.. Would it really hurt you to just send a single text?
Erin closed her phone, refusing to reply to the message. She knew what her mom was doing when she texted her messages like that.
She decided not to let the text affect her any more than it already did and continued about her day, pulling out pots and pans and starting to cook herself an early dinner. She stopped in her bedroom to changed into a more comfortable sweatshirt when she noticed her books that were on her bookshelf were laying haphazardly on the floor, making a semicircle. She had to admit that she was a little unnerved by what she saw, but settled with picking them up and placing them back on their shelves. Her hand froze over the last book on the floor, reading the familiar title as clear as day: Anna Karenina. Her face contorted into one of confusion, recalling that she never took the book out of her bag, which was still laying against the couch in the living room. Her breathing nearly stopped as she picked up the book and held it to her chest, slender fingers caressing the pages and and sending the faint smell of pine into the air around her with faint hints of lavender, the same familiar scent that surrounded her when she fell from the ladder the day before. Erin couldn't say that she was afraid, but she sure couldn't say she was exactly comfortable with all of the events that had occured in the past week or so. She didn't have any answers for what was happening to her, but instead of fearing the unknown she had decided to simply try to understand it. She took the book and placed it on the nightstand beside her bed before continuing back into the kitchen to finish cooking.
Loki watched Erin, labeling the emotion he held for her as pity. Throughout the day while she was out, he investigated her small cramped home. The living room was hardly bigger than her bedroom and the bathroom across from her bedroom could barely fit two people containing a stand in shower, toilet, and sink with minimal counter space that held hair products and makeup. He browsed her books, taking Anna Karenina from her bag and leaving it among the rest, in hopes to gain some sort of reaction from her which he was pleased to see did. When she finally returned home he was almost relieved for her presence, for the walls of her home were soon reminding him of the prisoner holding cells in Asgard, where he would have stayed if it wasn't for Frigga. Watching her, this place seemed like her prison. She used as much of her energy as she could to fill it, but maybe the constant emptiness took a toll on her. He sat at the table, laughing at her poor singing and dancing as she bounced around the small kitchen, swaying her hips ridiculously as she cooked. Once she was finished, she sat at the chair across from his with her food, the smell filling his senses and making his stomach cry out for it. He was unaccustomed to the overwhelming feeling of hunger that he was experiencing, his body needing sustenance for the magic that was draining his body. He could feel himself losing weight from the lack of food he should have been eating while he was on Earth. His energy was slowly diminishing and he found himself acutely aware that he needed to do something to fix it soon.
That night, as Erin lay sleeping in her bed, Loki watched over her for a few moments. He brushed a lock of red hair from her face, it spilling around her like a pool of blood. Her skin appeared creamy in the moonlight, glowing as softly as the stars in the night sky.
"I could end your life at this very moment. I wouldn't even need to use my hands," he whispered to her, his fingers fluttering over her slender neck, dancing along her collarbones.
"Loki, my dearest."
Jaw clenching, he turned to face his mother. She stood before him in all of her beauty, her golden hair outshining the moonlight that illuminated their faces. "Mother."
"I hope you are faring well, my son."
"Is this what you wanted mother? To make me as weak as Thor had been upon returning from this pitiful realm?"
"Thor returned to us stronger than he has ever been. He learned much while he was here among these people."
"The only thing he learned was how short and insignificant these lives are, of course it makes him stronger - to be among things that we are so superior to."
"Are we though?" Frigga watched her son stand in front of the girl sleeping silently in her bed, his stance tall and protective. "You seemed to have grown fond of this Midgardian woman, as Thor has grown fond of his."
Loki stood silent, willing his guard to not even waver before his mother. "She is a pet, a toy to keep me entertained while I carry out this sentence on this waste of a realm."
"Because you are a frost giant, doesn't mean you have to be so cold, my son." She stepped toward him and caressed his hair. "I love you, Loki, no matter whose son you are."
Loki, unable to meet his mother's eyes, looked to his boots. His brows furrowed as he bit his lips to keep them from quivering. "I love you, Mother." He chanced a look at her, only to find himself once again alone in an empty room, Erin's deep rhythmic breathing the only sound ringing in his ears.