"Look at you, my little academic."
I whined when somebody grabbed the book I was reading, hands following it like a child who'd gotten their favourite toy taken away. Lloyd chuckled at my pouting expression as my legs slipped from the rock I was sitting criss cross applesauce on.
"Give it baaaack," I whined, reaching forward. He simply placed a hand against my forehead and I was beat.
"'Twilight'?" Lloyd spoke the name from the well-loved little paperback aloud, thumb keeping my place in the book. "Isn't this what you told me about before? The werewolf imprint thing?"
I sniffed. "Yes." Twilight was my guilty pleasure, so sue me. I had a thing for it since I was twelve.
"You're into werewolf boyfriends?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow at me with an amused grin. "You're such a cliché."
"I'm a cliché?" I scoffed, reaching out again for the book. He lifted it away and I groaned in defeat. "You should take a look in the mirror. Besides, it's actually a vampire boyfriend, not a werewolf, so shut."
Lloyd snickered, opening the yellowed pages with his fingers and scanning the words. I watched his face, cheeks beginning to burn. It wasn't my fault that I was a hopeless romantic for star-crossed lovers. I was just born that way.
But then Lloyd started reading the book out loud, hand on my forehead softening until it was just resting atop my hair.
"'I don't want to have to explain it to Charlie.' 'Oh, right,' he grinned. I hesitated, my hand on the door handle, trying to prolong the moment," Lloyd began, voice a melody that instantly had me hooked as he spoke. "'Bella?' he asked in a different tone - serious, but hesitant. 'Yes?' I turned back to him too eagerly. 'Will you promise me something?' 'Yes,' I said, and instantly regretted my unconditional agreement. What if he asked me to stay away from him? I couldn't keep that promise. 'Don't go into the woods alone.'- smart. That's smart. I like this dude."
"Are you an Edward kinnie?" I teased, raising an eyebrow. He handed me back my precious book and I took it carefully, hugging it to my chest.
"I don't know what that means," Lloyd admitted before giving a shrug. "But sure, I guess."
My grin grew wider.
"You should watch me train," Lloyd suggested eagerly, leaning forward and pressing his hands on the rock on either side of my thighs. "I'll throw in a few special moves just for you."
"To show off?" I snickered, brushing away a bit of grit that had found its way onto his cheek. He hummed. "I'm fine, thank you. I want to savour this sun while I can."
"Oh, your loss," he hissed in mocking disappointment. "'Cause it's definitely going to get hot and sweaty and I absolutely will be taking my top off."
"Tempting," I snorted, tapping his shoulder with the book. "But I can get you out of your shirt whenever I want."
He gave a chirpy laugh, cheeks flushed red.
"Besides," I continued with a smile. "I'm helping Jace and Isla put out the washing. It should be done soon."
"Reading and doing the washing?" Lloyd echoed incredulously before giving a shake of his head. He straightened, fingers slipping from the rock. "I didn't realise I was dating such a loser."
"You're the one who fell in love with me," I pointed out, opening my book back to where I'd left off.
"That I did," Lloyd sighed before changing the subject. He hooked his thumbs through the belt of his gi leisurely and I tried not to have a romantic panic over the attractiveness of the simple move. I stared hard at the words. "What are you wearing tonight?"
My brow furrowed at the sentence I reread for the third time.
"What's tonight?"
Lloyd crouched before me. He placed a finger on the top of the book and gently pushed it down with a pout. My eyes followed the word I was stuck on.
"Day of the Departed," Lloyd reminded and my gaze jumped to his in shock. Already? Today? With everything that's happened recently, I totally lost track of the date. "Yin-Yang eclipse, too. Only happens once every three-thousand and something years."
"Oh, uh..." I struggled to think before giving a shrug. "Dunno. Jeans and a shirt, I guess."
"Er..." Lloyd scratched his chin in awkward disagreement. "I guess you do your celebration differently."
"We just make a lot of food and pay our respects, I guess," I said, putting a bookmark in place as Lloyd crouched before me, because it was clear that he wasn't going to let me read while he was around. I leant my hands back on the rock. "Why? What do you guys do?"
"We have a festival," Lloyd replied, looping his arms over my knees and resting his chin on them.
I blinked.
"A- a festival?" I repeated, just to make sure I heard him right. "As in a whole festival?"
He nodded. "For my grandad."
"Oh, right," I said, it suddenly making more sense. Of course there'd be a big celebration for the first spinjitzu master. He made the world we were walking on. "What do you usually do in it?"
