🥺🛹💖:
you me date today
Sent 8.40am
🥺🛹💖:
as in a date not todays date
Sent 8.41am
🥺🛹💖:
im taking u on a date today
Sent 8.41am
"It seems that I now have plans," I said one Saturday morning just after coincidentally lamenting the fact that I had no plans for after Aisling left.
The girl herself lifted her head from where her chin had been snuggled into the crook of her elbow whilst lying on my unoccupied second bed in my lone dorm. Her expression was glazed with exhaustion from the movie marathon we had the night before.
"That's nice," she murmured. Her eyes were hazy and tired. "With who? What time?"
"Lloyd," I answered, and upon the buzz my phone made just that second, I continued; "... he said 'now'..?"
Aisling's eyes sharpened.
"Now-?"
A rapid, precise knock on the window had Aisling falling from her bed with a shriek. Her phone went sliding across the floor. I, being more used to ninja boyfriends announcing their presence while participating in the near-impossibility of scaling buildings instead of using the damn door, approached the beaming blond with far more nonchalance.
Lloyd's fingers regripped the window frame as I swung it open. The chilly autumn air swirled past him and made his blond hair flutter.
"Well, hello, stranger," I greeted while shivering. He lithely slipped inside with a cheerful, chirpy reply before shutting the window behind him. The red-haired girl stumbled quickly to her feet, face flushed and panting.
"H- hhhh- hey, Lloyd," Aisling stammered before cursing herself from under her breath.
"Hey, Ais," Lloyd replied. He crossed his arms with a leisurely smile. "How are things?"
"Good- ahem, yeah, good," Aisling nodded. "Yes. Good. Great. Um. See ya."
Lloyd blinked in confusion as she picked up her bag and turned to scurry from the room. He lifted a hand just before the door could shut.
"See ya."
Lloyd's pleasant smile dropped when his gaze turned back to me. I turned the lock and bunched my hands into the long sleeves of his hoodie I wore.
"So," I began quietly, staring the carpet. "Violet was part of the gang."
Lloyd dropped his head, rubbed his neck, and sighed. I took a seat, perching on the edge of the bed beside him. The subject was still fresh - we'd only talked about it last night (hence the need for a movie marathon with Ais), and even then, it wasn't a thorough chat.
"I didn't want to freak you out," he confessed, still staring at the ground. He seemed as if I caught him breaking a rule in preschool.
"I thought our communication was better, now," I said while I picked at the threads on my large, green hoodie. "We haven't improved one bit." I glanced up at him. "Do you really think that it would've been best to keep me in the dark?"
"No... maybe..." Lloyd dropped his head into his hands with a groan. "I don't know."
I watched him quietly. He lifted his gaze when he realised my silence and continued.
"I just... I have to make the right decisions all the time," Lloyd said, slumping onto the spare bed. "But you're the tough one. If I get one thing wrong, then... I don't want to freak you out."
"Lloyd." I reached forward to rest a hand on his knee. "I'm not a mission. I'm your girlfriend."
"No," he corrected with a dry, guilty smile. "You're both. If I don't keep you safe then you die. That's the hard and fast of it."
I huffed. He had a point.
"Still," I pressed. "I have a right to know things. How long did you know? How long have you been avoiding me? Because we both know that you can't lie to me to save your ass. Not anymore."
Lloyd's amused smile was soft and sad. He lifted a hand to brush against my cheek and hold me, and I found myself sinking into his palm - like every time he'd done it before.
"A couple of weeks," he admitted. "I'm sorry."
I exhaled. Yeah, that seemed right. That, plus his usual missions, would've kept him busy. I glanced up at him and found him fiddling agitatedly with the hem of his shirt. I placed my hand over the one on my cheek. He dropped his cheek to my neck.
"What'd you do when you found out?" I asked.
"Panicked," Lloyd replied instantly. "Panicked a lot. Called all your guardians to make sure that you were still at college and that at least one of them was with you at all times."
Ah, so that's why they tightened their shifts.
"We did a sweep of the city but nothing came up," Lloyd continued with a frustrated sigh. "Just the thought of her being alone with you... living with you..."
His clenched arm was suddenly coated in a thick sheet of ice. Lloyd jumped, taken aback by his own slip, and retreated back in on himself. My cheek felt cold without his palm, my body empty without his embrace. I watched on with worry as he thawed his arm with an annoyed frown.
