Love over Blood - Bucky Barnes

Chapter Three

Bucky's POV

The weekend flies by. As soon as I got home Friday night, Steve was waiting for me. He wanted to hear every detail. I love Steve, he's a great friend and he has been since we were kids. He told me she sounds great and that he's glad I've finally taken an interest in someone. We spoke for a while about the old days until Steve got tired. He's normally asleep by 10pm and it means a lot to me that he stayed up just to hear about my date. Saturday morning everyone badgered me with questions and normally i'd be furious but for some reason I enjoyed the teams intrusiveness this time. I liked telling them all about Opal and how our date went, this things we spoke about and every detail of her I noticed, like her pouty face whenever she doesn't get to be independent. I thanked Tony for letting me use his car once again too. That was a life saver, I can't believe I didn't think of transport. There was no way Opal would've been able to get on my bike in that dress.

It's 8am Monday morning and me and Steve are waiting on Sam- like always. "Sam, shift your ass before we leave without you!" I call up the stairs. "Coming, sheesh".

We start our usual rout that takes around an hour to complete. I think of what it'll be like to see Opal today. For someone who hates using his phone, it's been difficult not texting her, Tony said it will makes me look desperate if I message this soon after the date and that it'll most likely put her off. I start to feel butterflies in my stomach as we approach the coffee house.

We walk through the door, panting and sweating. Steve orders our usual from Cindy as I scan the rest of the store, but Opal is nowhere to be seen. "She's ill" Cindy calls over. All of a sudden I feel embarrassed. Sam laughs "Nawh, Bucky Barnes how cute". I punch him in the arm and take my coffee from the counter.

It's my idea for us to walk back to the compound. "I just think it's a nice change of pace, plus it gives us chance to drink our coffee's properly". Sam and Steve look at each other before coming to a stop. Steve has that annoying look on his face, you know, the face he makes every time he figures something out and is internally proud of himself. "Go" he says, "You're clearly thinking of checking up on her so do it". That son of a bitch, how did he work that one out? "Won't it make me seem desperate though? Tony said-", Sam interrupts "Fuck what Tony said. If you have to hold back from showing someone that you care then you're not with the right person. We have never seen you this enthusiastic about a women before. Go charm her ass off", "Thanks Sam".

I stop back at the coffee house and ask Cindy to make whatever Opal's favourite drink is, she doesn't question it. After I grab her coffee- which is a Toffee laté, I stop at the soup store. I assume she's gotten the flu as it's September and the weathers already starting to get colder. I go with the safest option, tomato soup.

I'm still all sweaty from the run, my hair's wet and stuck to my forehead but I don't over-think it. I'm just dropping off warm fluids to a sick 'friend'. I knock on her door. She takes a little longer to answer than I expected. When she opens the front door, she looks as if she's seen a ghost. "Sorry for just dropping by, Cindy said you were ill and- I guess I should have asked first. I brought you coffee and some soup", Her face relaxes a little but she's still clinging to the door, it's only open enough for half of her body to fit through. "Awe James, you didn't have to do that". I smile at her and hand her the cups "It was no trouble". I hear a noise from inside and she immediately closes the door a few more inches. "Was this a bad time?" I ask, "uh, thank-you so much for stopping by, but I've really got to uh...you know" and the door shuts.

My walk back to the compound is filled with a lot of emotions and questions. Someone was clearly there, she didn't look ill to me and I'm a little devastated. I know I don't have the right to be, we've only been on one official datel. I just thought she was different, she told me she hadn't dated in 6 six years. I am so confused right now.

I get back to the compound and head to the elevator immediately, 'Hey, how'd it go?" Steve yells from the couch. He's with Nat, and Peter. I sit down with them. Now, normally I would storm off and isolate myself, but I really need advice, I need to be told that I'm over-thinking. I explain what happened, the fact that she wouldn't open the door wide, she looked terrified to see me and the noises coming from inside. Nat tells me it's fine if she's seeing other people and that it's normal, Peter tries to convince me that maybe she has a pet, and Steve just comforts me. "It's okay to be upset Buck, but don't call things off with her. Like Nat said, it's normal to see other people". They're right, but that doesn't make me feel any better.

I spend the next few hours in my room, thinking things through. I decide to go against my better judgement and call her. As I go to press 'call' my phone lights up. What a coincidence. I answer "Hey", "Hi" she says. "I'm sorry for how weird I was acting earlier", she sighs, "I know you probably have a lot of questions". "I did, but it's fine Opal. We've only been on one date, you don't have to explain anything to me". I'm surprised at my maturity surrounding the situation, especially considering that I was just about to call her and ask who this man is and were I can find him. "I really appreciate that James. I actually called to let you know that it doesn't look like i'm going to be any better by Friday and I'm so sor-" I hang up.

I head down to tell Steve that she cancelled our date. "Great, so you can come to the party I'm throwing" Tony gleams. "I guess".