Hockey Pucks & Pixie Dust

12 - Rules of Dating & Common Ground

Sindri kept her back to the door and covered her face with both hands. What had she been thinking? She'd just broken every first date rule, and that wasn't even with magic in the mix:

Don't go into past baggage, including speaking of your ex. Whoops.

Don't let the first date go past ninety minutes. Not her fault during traffic, but she should have bailed the moment her wings appeared.

Don't pretend to be younger. Well... nope, couldn't avoid that one. Explaining she was a thousand years old would have been a long shot for anyone.

Don't cry. Epic fail.

Sucking in deep gulps of air, Sindri sank into a trembling heap. Of all the courtship rituals to go bad in her life, this was in the top three. It just hadn't mattered before because she didn't have as much at stake with the other men. Storm was different for more than potentially being the one to break the curse. They had connected and had a good time, despite the traffic and poor weather, but then she went and blew everything.

A knock on the door made Sindri jump and smack the back of her head on the wood. She hadn't expected Storm to stay after that fiasco. She hadn't had a chance to stand when he rapped again, speaking through the thin barrier separating them. "Emma? Can we talk about this?"

Sindri blinked through wet lashes as she tried to control her turbulent emotions. Sniffing, she angled her head so she could call through the door. "I thought you wanted time to figure this out."

"That doesn't mean I wanted to end the date," he reasoned. "Besides, you promised to feed me. Are you gonna leave a hungry man out in the cold rain?"

Sindri added another date rule she'd broken: Pay attention to the follow-through. She'd promised Storm dinner before ditching him.

"You're Canadian; you're used to the cold."

Storm chuckled on the other end, completely undeterred as he tried to convince her to open the door. "You should probably know I'm stubborn and like to talk things through. Do you really want to have this conversation where your neighbors can hear me?"

He had her there. There were some very nosy people on her street, and Sindri could imagine the headlines if someone called the police on the darling of the NHL for loitering on someone's porch.

She rose to her feet and unlatched the door, opening it an inch and peeking through the crack. Storm stood there, soaked from the rain and no umbrella, waiting in the silence between them. Sindri opened the door the rest of the way and stepped back, sweeping her hand toward the living room.

Once he stepped across the threshold, Sindri closed the door and leaned against it and hugged herself. "Most people would have lost their cool by now. You even said you needed to figure this out."

Closing the gap between them, Storm wiped another tear from her cheeks, remaining in her personal bubble while his hand found hers. "You know, it's kind of rude not to give a guy a chance to explain what he means before you run away."

Heat exploded across Sindri's cheeks, but what was she supposed to do when people only ever treated her with fear or suspicion? "And what did you mean if you weren't intending to run far in the other direction? How was I intended to interpret that?"

With nothing but calm patience in his stance, he reached for Sindri's hair and wrapped a loose curl around his finger. The contact instantly calmed her in a way his reassurances couldn't, and she found herself taking a step closer even though neither had established any sort of boundaries for what they wanted.

"For starters, you shouldn't jump to conclusions. If you were in my shoes, you'd probably feel confused too. Magic and fairies are supposed to be part of a bedtime story. So yeah, finding myself in another country was crazy when I'd literally been sitting behind an accident moments before. Can't I be allowed to have a mind-blowing moment?" He used his hands to mime an explosion around his head. Rain mixed with sandalwood and masculinity wafted between them as he moved, and his styled hair hung in dripping ringlets around his collar.

Sindri nodded, too embarrassed to speak. She had assumed the worst before asking questions but so many people had let her down until this moment. It was easier to run than it was to stand her ground and catch an opportunity with both hands.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, keeping her head down and burying her fists in her coat pockets. "I'd hoped the magic wouldn't come up." Or at least to be human before anything had a chance to go amiss.

"If it helps, I prayed you wouldn't be crazy. I've had some real weirdos try to score a date with a dumb jock," he mused while forming air quotes with his index and middle fingers. His tone suggested he'd experienced his share of disappointments too. "I try so hard to give people benefit of the doubt, but always find myself let down. Not on your level," he added with an awkward shuffle and glance at his feet. "That man didn't deserve you."

Moisture continued to gather in Sindri's eyes as she swallowed, overcome by Storm's kind words. He was obviously uncomfortable with the notion of magic — didn't know what to think — yet came back to speak rationally and attempt to understand. In the end, they both had more in common than she'd believed upon first glance.

"Those girls didn't deserve you either," she managed after a moment, touching Storm's arm through his wet coat. His muscles distracted her, and she released him before she did something stupid, like try to determine how big they were.

Storm tilted Sindri's head with a finger under her chin and smiled warmly, making that little dimple pop and Sindri's heart dance. "I have to admit, as far as first dates go, this is way better than what I had planned. I got to meet an X-Man."

A superhero. Not a monster, but an actual comic book hero.

Sindri's heart pulsed in her throat, urging her to kiss Storm. The only thing stopping her was that this was a first date, and she still didn't know him. Just because he was fine tonight didn't mean they wouldn't fall apart later. Things like this needed to move slowly.

Fluttering her lashes, she retreated with a demure smile before sweeping her arm to the living room. On cue, Buttons popped out of the hallway and bounded into the room, rubbing against Sindri's legs before leaning against Storm and closing her eyes as she arched her back.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said, removing her coat and folding it over her arm. "I'm about to make the best dinner you ever had." Then, with a note of mischief, she asked, "Have you ever wondered what we use pixie dust for?"

WC: 1149
Overall WC: 22705