sinking ships - succession

chapter eleven

Just friends.

       She had made it clear to Lukas after that night in the Bahamas that she wanted to be nothing more than friends. For the past twelve years, the only male presence she had in her life that wasn't family was Jack and maybe that made her bad at boundaries and knowing what came with friendship and what didn't.

         But she knew she wanted to only be friends. She wasn't ready for anything more.

         "Okay," he had frowned with a nod as he spoke softly but then he smirked as joked to lighten the mood. "Like friends with benefits?"

           "Lukas!"

          After that, it had been all water under the bridge. Nothing much had changed. He was still Lukas and he still gazed at parts lower than her face. He was still dirty but he didn't make any moves on her from then on. He was playing the waiting game.

For however long it took.

_____

Weeks after the Bahamas, Lukas came to New York. He complained about everything. He absolutely hated it. He was completely intolerable.

         Until she shut him up.

       "I hate Sweden. It's so third world. It has nothing to do," she mocked his voice as they sat in the back of the car driving them around. "It's a complete shit hole."

          He chuckled a bit as he scratched the back of his head, "Okay, I sound like an ass."

              "Yes, you do," she said before getting out of the car. "Now, come on."

           The car had been stuck in traffic and she was tired of being in there as Lukas called out, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"It's called being spontaneous."

He groaned and he quickly got out of the car and went after her. He followed her down into the subway that was filled with graffiti and he commented, "This is looks terrible."

She shrugged and kept moving down. She then got onto a subway car that looked just as bad. He looked around skeptically as they stood in the subway with their hands holding onto the handles hanging from the ceiling as he commented, "Are we going to get mugged?"

"I don't know," she replied.

"Murdered?"

"I don't know."

He immediately pulled her a bit closer to him by the wrist of her free hand as some other people that he thought were sketchy entered the subway car on the other side. She smiled a bit at his instinct to protect her. It was sweet.

But then the subway started to move. She gasped as she could feel it take off underneath her feet and she giggled a bit in excitement.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I've never ridden the subway," she had a wide, toothed smile as she stared in wonder.

He shook his head at her but his eyes never left her face. She took his breath away with that amazed smile. In the grimy subway car, she was absolutely stunning.

Since she'd never ridden the subway nor even gone anywhere without being driven around, they had gotten lost that night in New York City. And his desire for anything but her got lost in the subway car.

          _____

          Rose had Lukas stay in her new apartment. Her old apartment had been filled with memories of Jack and she just didn't want to be haunted by them anymore.

        One day she had cooked pasta for dinner. He had a little smirk as he leaned against the counter next to where she was cooking and he commented, "Ooh, another talent."

"Well, Jack taught me," she replied immediately without even thinking. "He was always cooking and I was always curious so..."

She paused as she realized that it was the first time she spoke of Jack since he died. The first time she spoke of him without wanting to curl into a ball and cry.

Lukas stared at her softly before he teased a bit to lighten the mood, "And were you a great student?"

She smiled, "I guess you'll find out."

           When the food was done, Lukas did think she was great. He slurped the pasta noodles into his mouth like he was starved as he commented, "This is fucking amazing."

          "Lukas," she giggled as she pointed to the pasta sauce on his chin. "You eat like a little kid."

            "Well, I mean, it's fucking pasta," he pointed out as he wiped the sauce away with a napkin. She smiled in amusement.

             When they were done, he commented, "Why do you always fucking have music playing?"

           Ever since he got here, she had music on low. He was curious. She got nervous at the question; she always had it on to drown out the quietness. Since she always had it on, she didn't really think about it too much anymore and that was it considered odd.

          "Well...I like it," she shrugged before she gave smiled. "Do you want to dance?"

           "What?" he said in surprise as she got up and turned the music up a little more. "No, I don't dance."

            "Come on," she gave him a pleading smile as she stood in the middle of the room swaying her hips slowly while her holding her hands out to him. "Please."

That smile had a chokehold on him. He took a large swig of his drink before he got up. Lukas did a little jig walking over to her and she laughed, "Oh my god. You really are terrible."

His cheeks had actually gotten a little red as he shrugged and tried to act cool, "Well, you know, not everyone can dance."

"You can't be that bad," she said. "Here. Let's try to slow dance. It's literally just swaying."

She directed him on what to do but he kept stepping on her feet. She was biting her lip to hold in her chuckles before she stated, "You are like my sister. You two can't dance to save your lives."

"Do you also laugh at her?" he asked a bit bitterly.

"Oh, yes," she said.

He hummed in acknowledgement as he twirled her out and back in. She smiled as she commented, "You weren't bad at that."

"No?" he smiled a bit.

She shook her head in agreement before she rested it on his chest as they slow danced in the middle of the room. There was the occasional foot stepping on hers as she commented, "It's a shame you're bad at it. I like dancing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It's funny, though. I only really started to like it after Jack, though."

He hummed before he spoke, "Well, I can always improve."

"Yes, you can," she smiled. "Does that mean you're going to always be my dance partner?"

"Or just your partner."

The comment knocked the wind out of her and she was silent for a moment before she spoke quietly, "Let's not get ahead."

"Whatever you say."

And then he spun her again and she forgot about the comment for a little while as he made her laugh. But at night it was stuck in her head. Partner. The ring around her neck seemed to burn her while she slept.