Second Fate

5

Exhausted, I pushed against the door with my whole upper body. It was an old thing, warped by time, temperature and a dozen different residents pulling on it. It gave way with an ugly creak, and I stepped inside my two-bedroom-flat, trying not to linger on who was following me.

"I have to warn you, I'm drunk. If you have anything serious to say, this is so not the moment." I couldn't resist a quick gaze over my shoulder to where Vine remained standing in the middle of my living room. He wasn't sitting down on the couch. "If you want to make any more offensive deals, then I need a nap beforehand."

"I'm not here for a deal."

"Okay then."

Without asking him, I decided to get us some water. More precisely, I needed some water, and he wouldn't mind me being a good hostess.

After I had locked the front door, I passed through the living room, my thoughts a tangled, thorny mess.

What the hell was he doing here? There was nothing that Vine would need from me. We hadn't been very close before the promise and after ... well, we'd really never talked to or looked at each other after it. I had stolen a glance at him now and then, but he had never returned my looks. He'd been like a shadow in the corner of my eyes. Hard to see and harder to catch.

Why would he want to see me now? Hadn't he made it clear that he hated my presence – to the point that he'd force a promise like that?

Perhaps there was an emergency with the pack, something related to Cara. While I didn't hope for her to be in trouble, it would be the only explanation for his sudden appearance.

I could feel him watching me intently, while I was half walking, half stumbling into the open kitchen. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, but outwardly I tried to keep my calm.

"It's late", I commented without any other goal than to fill the heavy silence in the room. The tension was unbearable, even though a part of me was strangely excited by knowing him in my apartment, on my couch. In my space.

I stretched to get us two glasses from the cupboard and for a moment, dizziness took hold of me. Too much movement for the amount of gin I'd had.

Darkness washed over me and for a few seconds I could see nothing but sparkly dots of light.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find Vine standing behind me when my vision returned. His hands weren't touching me, but they were in place to catch me, had I lost my balance.

"Thanks", I croaked.

He nodded but his hands stayed up. "Are you that drunk?"

A small laugh escaped my throat. "It's okay now, you can stop. You almost sound worried."

"I am."

"Yeah, right", I said with a little sneer. He might've saved me from breaking my neck but that was probably more due to reflex than actual desire to keep Nina Patel alive. "Go sit down on the couch, I'm fine."

Letting go immediately, he took a step back. He put his back against the fridge before he said: "You look tired."

"I look drunk."

"That too", he admitted, and one corner of his mouth twitched. "Why are you drunk?"

"Well, you know, when a person goes and drinks something with alcohol in it, then –"

He waved his hand as if to say that I had misinterpreted his question. "Not what I meant. Why did you want to get drunk? You haven't been drinking like this in a long time."

"Are you trying to shame me?", I asked defensively.

"Not at all."

"Because you have no right, appearing at my door like this and making me feel bad about having a completely nooormaaal", I drew the syllables out, "night out on the town when you're the –"