Day 3: Invite

Lucy worried her bottom lip soaking in the massive specialized tub she'd actually paid for herself to have fitted in the only bathroom in the house. Sometimes a good soak was necessary like right now. She was not hiding. Absolutely not!

Ok, maybe just a little but this was the first chance Lucy had at being alone since the water gun incident to actually think about what had happened. Of all the times to let her mind wander it had to be when her soul listening crush was already on top of her in a completely innocent way.

Lucy leaned her head against the edge heaving a heavy sigh. Could Erik be attracted to her like she was to him or was he like many of the guys in the guild just looking for sex with a nice hot piece of ass…?

As soon as the thought entered her mind she violently banished it. Cobra could definitely be an arrogant ass and give no fucks about the vast majority of Earthland's population but if her time living with the man taught her anything he was also considerate and didn't like drama in his personal life. She was just not the lay 'em and leave 'em type nor was she the fuck buddy type either so if either of those had been his intention…Drama would have been the least of his worries and her knew that. He knew her.

And therein lie the problem.

Could Cobra actually like her back? Before all this began, before she moved into this modest and secluded home, she had allowed herself to like him freely without worry of getting too attached. He was a dragon slayer with a mate somewhere out there. As if the likelihood of her actually being said mate wasn't unlikely enough, he'd also had a seriously fucked up childhood with trust issues a mile wide probably exacerbated by the fact that he could hear if someone was lying to him even about the little things.

Lucy wasn't naive or stupid enough to believe that people were always honest. She hadn't even be surprised to hear about all the disturbing, disgusting or down right evil thoughts people had daily; it was one of Erik's favorite games to play. He'd ask, "Who in this aisle is thinking about taking a dump on floor then having sex with that guy in the mess?" or "Which one of the nannies in the park was contemplating choking out her charge she was being paid to watch?"

Admittedly the both of them had decided to take action to get that woman arrested when the next week said little boy had a fresh bruise near his neck. They put some serious effort into setting up that horrible abusive woman for a serious of high profile thefts that got her soundly locked away for 5 years. They thought she deserved longer but at least with her record she could no longer get a job around children.

Still, he had looked and acted in a way that day that could not be denied. Had Daturas not been mistaken and defended her Lucy knew last night would have ended a whole lot differently which meant…Did Erik really see her as his potential mate?

It had her mind running in frantic circles trying to redefine the reality she thought she knew to incorporate what was incredibly unlikely and because of that yesterday and this morning had been incredibly awkward.

The blonde dunked under the water holding her breath as long as possible hoping the physical change in perspective would settle her mental one into a workable realm where she didn't act like an idiot all the time. Lungs burning, she surfaced pushing her bangs back when her eyes focused on a hand slipped through the crack of the barely opened door. A pint of ice cream sitting flat on its palm.

"Triple fudge strawberry coconut," Cobra said working his hand like those people do on infomercials. The invitation was obvious. Traditionally tonight was their monthly horrible movie marathon where the pair, now trio, stayed up all night eating ice cream and candy watching the worst movies known to mankind trying to one up each other on their commentary.

It was also exactly what she needed. Erik was still Erik. She was still Lucy. Nothing had changed except a little seed of hope started to take root in her heart.

Almost jumping out of the tub Lucy called, "I need 10 minutes."

Cobra smirked as the insanity of Starshine's soul finally calmed. Operation Falling Star was a go.

I've always liked operation/code names especially when they hint at the hope to achieve goal. Whether this is something writers made up or if that's real life I don't know. I just like it and come on...Falling Star? Coolest operation name to me or do you think you can do better? Let me know in the comments after you've fav'd and followed.

Much Love, Blas