He surveyed the room as he stepped down from the stairs to look for his blind date. Not a sign of anyone else home but himself and the staff.
'Perhaps I'm losing my mind?' He pondered to himself as he continued searching the room.
A voice finally asked, "Excuse me, but would you happen to be my date for the evening?"
He looked to his left and saw Cleo as stunning as ever standing next to him. The sight of her was mesmerizing and the thought of a date with her...It was nearly impossible for him to process such a thing! He finally stuttered, "Y-Yes, I am."
"Oh! H-Hey Deuce...I-I didn't expect you to be so...so..."
"Disgusting compared to you?"
She shook her head and admitted, "Sexy."
He was surprised she found him attractive. In his opinion, he didn't compare to the god-like appearance his date had.
"Are you sure I'm that attractive?"
"Actually, your way past that." She quietly admitted.
He lightly chuckled to himself at how timid and shy the usually talkative and outgoing mummified beauty was being. Finally, she asked, "By the way, are we just having dinner or doing more?"
"Whatever you want to do."
"OK, Great! Because I was thinking perhaps you could take me out to dinner...?"
"You do realize I cook like you design, right?"
"Oh...Yeah, that's right."
She giggled a little until the lights turned from bright to dark in a flash. Then she screamed and whimpered, "Deuce, you know how scared I am of the dark!"
"Still?"
"Yes! Can you come hold me?"
"Fine, if I must. Should I also turn on a- Oh, duh!"
"Don't you have a scartop and bitflix?"
"Yeah...?"
"Well then get that going!"
"Well, in my opinion bitflix isn't all that great anymore really." He complained.
"Any other options?"
He knew he had been buried into his own hole by his date and her replies. There weren't many more options for entertaining such an upscale woman like he was dating other than cuddling up with her while watching a movie and eating whatever top-scale restaurant food he could think of.
"I'll go get the take-out menu."
Cleo grinned about her small victory and asked, "Could you go get a blanket while your at it?"
"Sure, anything else?"
"Well, order 3 or 4 bottles of whatever drink you can think of because I'm not leaving till' sunrise."
"What are you-"
He could barely see it, but her grin grew and she lightly rose her eyebrows.
"Cleo, I don't think you want me to do that-"
"Why not? It's a perfect opportunity to do so..."
"I just don't want anything to occur if we were to venture further into this."
"Ohh quit being such a mouse! I know you can do it pretty damn well!"
"Cleo, now isn't the perfect time to do it! Really!"
"Tell me why."
"No, it'll get you to run out of the door in a flash..."
"I won't run, I swear. Just please Deuce! Just once?"
"Cleo, no way. Not going to risk it."
"PLEASE?!"
"Well, there is a price you gotta pay in order to get it on with all this as you think..."
"What's the price? 10 million dollars? A new yacht?"
"Nope, you gotta move in."
"Why?"
"If you agree you'll see why."
The young business empress thought about the deal for a few moments. She felt he was the one, but it always happened in the beginning...Should she wait a little bit?
"Can I reserve a day?"
"Whatever you want."
"Alright..."
How long would she wait? A week? A month? Or perhaps even a year or two? He saw a war raging in her head about it and commented, "You do know we don't have to make this deal, right?"
She nodded and replied, "Well I just feel a spark...But I don't know if your my pharaoh or if it's simply a false alarm..."
"Well, why not wait a bit and see if it winds down or just grows?"
"But how long though?"
He stumbled over to her and carried the scartop, icoffin 9 and the blankets and dropped them on the sofa next to him. She felt his fingers gently run through her long hair and sighed, "Well babe, that's the part we're unsure about."
"We're?"
"Does this make our dream relationship a reality?"
Moments later, he gently pressed a kiss on her lips. He let go and she quickly kissed him back.
"Yes...Yes it does snakehead." She cooed.
"Can you please not call me that?"
"Whatever you want..."
"OK, so when you say that, do you mean anything at all?"
She nodded and reminded him, "Your not the only multimillionaire in this town."
"Alrighty, so if we do end up belonging I can steal some of your money when I don't want to spend mine?"
"Yeah, right. I think I'll be stealing from you." She laughed.
"Not unless your pregnant OR it's something important."
"Uhhh, I don't think either of those are going to happen. Especially the first one."
"Well then you might want to wait until I'm more...open about things."
"Why?"
"Well, like werewolves, gorgons sorta have their own wild season."
"Which occurs?"
"Once a year obviously. Don't worry though, you'll know when it is."
"Why?"
"The season is on now, but it'll end in about a week."
Cleo shuddered at the thought. No wonder he kept refusing her, he simply didn't want her business or empire to be hurt or crumble into dust.
"So you didn't want my business to go in flames?"
"Nope. As much as I want to right now, I don't want you to leave."
"Well you kissed me just fine."
He pulled up bitflix and sighed, "True...But that wasn't really physical interaction."
"Yes it is! Your lips touched mine! That was physical!"
"Not in my opinion...When I think physical interaction, I think of more than an inch of connection...That and if you opened your eyes, you'd see I was holding my instincts back..."
"Whatever! Just start the damn movie already!"
"Alright, alright, I'm getting there!"
"Good, put on whatever movie you can think of."
So, he just put on a movie he remembered from high school and Cleo reached for the blanket.
"Cold already?"
She shook her head.
"No, just grabbing it for later."
"OK...Now, just give me a sec."
He got up, grabbing the menu and icoffin. But before the call was made, he asked her, "Cleo, what do you want from...Panda scarpress?"
"Eh, just get me their orange chicken and surprise me on the rest."
So he sighed and placed the order.
"OK your order will arrive in half an hour." The employee informed him on the other line.
"OK, Thank you."
He hung up and got back to his date to make sure she wasn't whimpering. Thankfully, she was simply laying there, watching him with the only light being his icoffin and scartop.
"So, when will we get food?"
"Half hour."
She groaned and complained, "What are we going to do in the meantime?!"
"Uh...Watch the movie?"
"Can't the movie wait?"
"What do you want in the meantime, your highness?"
"Maybe a little more love."
"Your kidding, right? I just warned you about now..."
"I know but would one or two kisses hurt anyone?"
"Yes. It would." He growled.
He saw she was frustrated with his rejection. Sure she had to learn to accept the answer no, but did he really have to be like that to her? It wasn't like she wanted the world, all she wanted was something to do.
"This date isn't going to go well, I'm out of he-"
Before she stepped away, without thought he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, begging, "Please don't go. Just please. I loved you since high school and I'm not letting you slip out of my hands that easily. Just please don't leave me!"
"Prove it. Prove yourself worthy of my presence."
He pulled her down onto his lap and lightly tapped her lips. She chuckled and kissed him back in a playful tone. One thing led to another as Cleo lightly unbuttoned her shirt to reveal the build underneath.
"Temptation kicking in yet?"
Deuce suddenly knew what the young mummy was doing and back away, stuttering, "N-No, I can't go on...I told myself I wouldn't make out with you and now we're going further than that..."
"Oh come on, show me who's the alpha of this household!"
"N-No, you don't want me to do that."
"Oh really?" She teased him as she whispered in her softest voice in his ear.
"Y-Yeah...How's about we wait a year and see what happens then?"
"You sure 'bout that?"
'Don't give into her...She doesn't know what I can do to her if I have full control at THIS time of year...'
"Not even just a little rub?"
"No Cle-"
Finally, the doorbell rang.
"Thank Athens."
"You've got one year to decide if I'm worth it or not...I mean, it is a once in an unlife deal for you..."
"Can I just get food now?"
"Fine, answer the door."
So, he rushed to the door and opened it up. Surprisingly, it was an old high school classmate who was delivering the dinner. The monster was none other than Toralei Stripe.
"Toralei, I thought you worked at Monster high as an advanced clawculus teacher..."
"I do this when I'm not dealing with them...Teachers don't make much you know." The orange werecat snarled.
"Ah...How's Meowlody and Purrsephone?"
"Them? They ditched me a week after high school graduation for Manny and Andy."
"Ah...I'm usually so caught up in my cooking I sorta forget to check facespook and check up on everyone..."
Cleo snarled, "Ahem! If you want news, ask me, but for now, wrap it up!"
"Is that Cleo?"
"Yeah-"
"Are you two, y'know, married yet?"
"Married?! I'm not even close to engaged!" She pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Ohh, you are dating though, right?"
"That's classified information, Toralei... Deuce hurry up and pay for dinner already!"
The gorgon sighed as he pulled out his wallet, "Alright, what's the damage?"
"Hm...$25.79."
So, he pulled out thirty and sighed, "Keep the rest as a tip."
"Thanks."
"Welcome."
He shut the door and walked back with the food, sighing, "Alright there's your orange chicken, diet skulla and whatever else you want to eat."
"Thank you." She chimed as she reached for a piece of chicken and her soda.
"So, I've got a year and nothing more nor less?"
She nodded as she sipped the beverage. He turned on the movie and within five minutes, knew this wasn't going to end well. One monster had already died and a normie was running around the town for another victim while the police searched for the victim's cause of death.
"Hey Cleo, want to watch something else? I don't want to make you scared or anything..."
She snorted so hard soda almost spit from her nose and laughed, "Me? Scared of a little movie? Please, I've seen worse..."
"O-OK, just checking..."
The conversation went cold after he checked on her at the beginning. Until about halfway through the movie when the rising action came into...Well, action. A male mummy was going to their sarcophagus to sleep, until he heard something. The mummy was of corpse alone and the noise was coming from the hall. So, naturally in every horror movie, he saw the normie and had his gauze undone, claiming another victim. Deuce looked to Cleo who was horrified at the part despite having been at the premiere and not freaking out the first time she watched it.
"Uh...Babe, you OK?"
She didn't respond or move a muscle.
"Cleo? Yoo hoo? Anyone home in there?"
She quietly whispered, "I'm scared now."
"Do you want to stop the movie?"
"I don't care."
He sighed and turned it off for her sake, sighing, "Alright, wanna go home or stay with me for-"
"Stay. I'm staying."
"Uh huh...Well my bedroom is upstairs so I suppose it would only be right to you if I carried you...Right?"
She nodded and admitted, "Actually, do you mind sharing a bed? Just for tonight?"
"Sure, just sleep lightly, alright? I'm not sure if I get the urges while I'm asleep or if it's while I'm awake."
She again nodded and lifted her arms, letting Deuce pick her up. He sighed and watched his step, having Cleo hold his icoffin for light. Minutes later, the couple arrived in his bedroom and she had to admit, it was rather nice. His bed was a canopy bed with white translucent curtains and gray and white bedding while the mattress was a pure black. The poles were even engraved with light swirls and a few fake vines here and there. Meanwhile, the floor was hardwood, the walls were painted grey, and next to the bed was a small computer desk with papers scattered everywhere and a small chair.
The alarm clock read 8:09 PM in big, bright red letters. It was kinda early, but then again she probably had some issues going to sleep and needed to turn in early for the next day of work. It was no walk in the park running in the business, he should know because he runs one. Finally, he sighed, "So which side do you want?"
"Whichever one you want me to be on."
"I'm going to go change, do...Well, whatever you need to."
Since there probably wasn't any pajamas in her size sitting around, she simply took off her shirt, skirt, hosery and stilluetos which left her with her emerald green Scartoria's Secret bra and panties. She couldn't tell why but for some odd reason she always had a thing about the color green...Was it because of the gem Emerald? Or did it have a deeper meaning? Even then she could never seem to figure it out.
"Whoa, OK, I'm going to have really hard time tonight keeping to myself." Deuce admitted as he kept glancing at her nearly naked body.
"O-Oh...I can borrow one of your shirts if you'd like me to if it would help..."
"Nah, I'll take a challenge any day of the week."
"OK, if you say so..."
So he crawled into the bed, trying to keep his eyes off her to prevent temptation. Unlike him, Cleo just plopped onto the bed and tossed the blankets on top of her despite his warning. Her long, silk-like hair tickled his back as she tried to get comfortable.
'Why must her hair be so damn long? I mean, come on! I'm trying to keep fro-OK, I should stop thinking about it and think about something else...'
But despite his attempts, she wasn't getting out of his mind anytime soon. Moments later, the movement stopped and she was asleep.
'How come it's so easy for her to sleep and it's difficult for me tonight?'
He could feel his instincts wanting to kick in, and the urge was bad. He started growling to himself, trying to keep to himself and it didn't help how in the field she looked.
"Deuce, you awake?" The young mummy groaned as she lightly raised her eyelids.
"Yeah, I can't sleep."
"I tried but it simply wouldn't work."
"Oh?"
"Yeah...What time is it anyway?"
"3:04."
Silence filled the room as the two pondered on what they would say next. But before they could say a word, they fell asleep without knowing it.