Change of Heart [a Damian Priest story]

10 Splatter Date

Blair POV

I wondered what Damian had planned for our date. All he had told me was that I should dress casually and that he would pick me up at 2pm on Thursday. That was all.

But what exactly could you do on a mid-week afternoon? I knew that D was always good for a surprise, but not knowing always made me very anxious. I could only hope that it was nothing dangerous or something that would make me feel uncomfortable.

The only good thing about it was that the brooding distracted me from my grief really well. Of course I missed Mom like crazy, but I knew that she didn't want me to hide in my loss.

I couldn't think about it for long, because the doorbell rang. I went over to open it. However, I breathed deeply before once again. I hoped that this was really a good idea. Maybe we could manage that we could at least become friends. So far I hadn't admitted it to myself, but I missed this one man very much.

"Hi Damian." I greeted him shyly when I saw his bright smile.

"Hi Blair. How are you today?" he asked while reaching for my hand.

"I'm trying to distract myself as best I can. And right now I'm pretty curious to find out where you're taking me," I replied.

"Oh you'll see. Grab your bag and we'll be on our way. The sooner you'll see what I'm up to." he said and then gave me a little kiss on the forehead before letting go of me.

I went and got my bag. When I came back I saw his eyes wandering around the living room. I cleared my throat and immediately his eyes were on me again. His mouth pulled into a grin. That one particular grin that had little wrinkles forming around his eyes. I felt myself blushing once again.

"Okay, we are ready to go," I said softly.

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"Alright. Here we are." he said after half an hour as he parked the car.

I couldn't see anything special about this place yet. I looked at him questioningly as he took my hand in his before I could get out.

"I've been thinking long and hard about what we could do that might be fun for you. And since I know that you have a particularly creative and artistic side, I found something where you can live it out," he explained to me.

"And that would be?" I asked when I couldn't figure out his words.

"We have a Splatter Date. We have a room to ourselves. They give us a big canvas and paint. Non-toxic, of course. And we can do whatever we want with it. You can paint or just splatter and splash the paint on the canvas. There is black light as far as I know. Also chocolate and champagne." he continued, clearly proud of his plan.

"That is such a cool idea!" I replied.

"I was hoping you would say that. Oh yeah...afterwards we'll go to my place and have dinner." he said.

I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. This was the side of him I had fallen in love with. The loving, caring and considerate side. The part of him that made me feel comfortable.

Then we went inside where we got instructions. Afterwards we put on full body suits so that our clothes were protected. Although we were assured that the paint would come out in the wash without any problems.

I giggled when I saw Damian. He looked really cute in his overalls. That was mainly because it was a little too small for him. The sleeves and pant legs were at least 2 inches too short.

"Don't laugh, baby.... I'm about to be armed with paint. You might regret laughing at me," Damian said with a hint of mischief in his gaze.

"I'll try to be good," I replied, failing across the board to make my voice sound serious.

And as was to be expected, at least as much paint landed on us as on the canvas and the already paint-smeared walls. It felt so good to laugh and giggle. Even a little kisses we exchanged here and there with each other. I felt how much he was trying. I almost forgot everything that had happened.

Much too quickly the time was over. I could have spent much more time there. However, it was also nice to wipe the color from each other's faces. I was sure that Damian made an effort to clean my face perfectly while I couldn't help but take a few pictures of him beforehand.

With our masterpiece in our hands, we then made our way back to Damian's car. Hand in hand.

"That was so great. But I'm afraid you still have paint on your face." I giggled as he very carefully put the painting in the trunk.

"Is that so? Then you didn't do a very good job, Miss McLeod. Maybe you won't get anything for dinner." he teased me.

"Oh you better feed me if you don't want me to be in a bad mood." I laughed.

"Yeah, I remember. You're almost a different person when you're hungry. And I would never dare to do that." he replied, trying to look serious.

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"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked as I watched Damian whirl back and forth in the kitchen to prepare the food.

"Nope, you can relax. It's all fixed up. I just have to heat it up." he replied.

"What's for dinner?" I wanted to know as I tried to look in the casserole dish, but everything was covered in cheese.

"I got some mixed enchiladas and I'm topping them with cheese now. It shouldn't take too long." he explained to me.

"Oh yum!" I said as my mouth was already watering.

Luckily it didn't take long to finish because in the meantime I was very hungry. It smelled delicious.

But Damian managed to distract me well. We talked about so many different things. But especially about the past year. I knew that he wanted to find out if I had met with someone. I could tell that he didn't like the idea, even though he tried not to let me see it, that it hurt him.

I was able to calm him down quickly. Because I had had enough to do with my work and Mom. I had not thought about men in the least. And I even admitted that the thing with Dolph was only a small, insignificant flirt. I could tell that relieved him a lot.

"Here you go. Buen provecho." he said as we sat together at the table and he fixed me a plate.

"Thank you. It smells so good." I praised.

I started to eat, but after just a few bites I realized something was wrong.

My throat began to scratch. I coughed and then tried to take a deep breath. But it was getting a little more difficult with each passing second.

"D?" I croaked.

"Yes, Blair? What's the matter? Doesn't it taste good?" he asked worriedly when he saw my face.

"Could it be that there's any seafood in it?" I asked, reaching for my water glass.

"I'm not sure. It was a mixed variety." he replied, confused.

"Oh, so you're not trying to kill me then.... We should go to the hospital." I said quietly as I stood up.

"Pardon me? What do you mean?" he wanted to know as he followed me to the door.

"You seem to have forgotten that I'm allergic to seafood," I replied.