O, Fortuna

Chapter 13

Liam so rarely found himself without a verbal response to anything anyone threw at him and gaping openly before Grace now, his astonishment with himself seemed to be causing some sort on mental meltdown that was severely limiting his vocabulary

"There's not one reason, not one in particular, no" he offered up in reply, fully aware he sounded like an idiot. Grace's eyebrows lifted and she shook her head slightly, clearly expectant of further details. Liam inwardly groaned. "Did you want a full written report or will a point-form response be alright?"

Grace's eyes grew quite wide now, lifting her shoulders casually

"Or you could just..tell me now what the hell is going on. Up to you though." Liam looked away from her to give the options serious consideration, swallowed hard and asked

"How did you know I was not doing what I said I was?"

"That problem you needed to sort out" Grace smiled, maybe a little cockily "You went into absolutely no detail about what it was or what needed to be done. I may have only known you 48 hours but that's long enough to understand you go into detail. About everything"

"Fair enough" Liam nodded in concession but then Grace added

"Plus, I saw you arrive, knew you'd been standing there a while and heard you swearing when you decided to try and escape."

Liam groaned again, still not looking at her.

"I was trying to not be..well, you know, not to seem quite so much like a pervert." Grace giggled and Liam shot her a look of askance. She immediately sucked in her cheeks, trying to curb her laughter but her shoulders jiggled slightly, as did her-- "That's not really helping, you know..you.." he rolled his eyes, ready to give up on the discussion until he remembered "Hang on! Two days ago, you were all up in arms about my shorts, for chrissake! What am I meant to think?" he asked her, annoyed beyond belief, pointing his finger "Is this all a big joke to you?"

"No" Grace immediately responded, though she was trying not to smile.

"Try saying that with a straight face" Liam demanded coolly, only to have her smile widen to a grin. He shook his head, she really was a girl, the silly, giggly sort that had always annoyed him in primary school.

"Jeez, I didn't realise it was all so serious" Grace said with a heavy sigh, her humour fading "didn't realise you were so lofty and above having a little bit of fun, Liam.." she trailed off, turning to leave. Liam had to ask, if only to stop her leaving and thinking him a total fool.

"So I can wear my shorts alright, then?"

Grace came to a pause, almost around the corner and leaned back to answer

"Yes, as long as you understand that when you do, I will be having a parade of wicked thoughts in my head." She recommenced her departure and Liam felt he had to follow, his eyes firmly on her backside, even as he asked with undisguised exasperation.

"Where are you going?" Without looking at him, Grace responded as she moved to take the step up onto the edge of the pool.

"I need another swim."

"Need?" Liam questioned incredulously. Grace turned, left the edge of the pool and met him, face to face, as he came to a stop at the edge of the grass that met the step up to lower deck and answered

"Yes, Liam, need another swim" her eyes widened dramatically, leaning closer and all but whispered in explanation "to offset the various and sundry wants I'm having right now."

For the second time in just too few minutes, Liam was rendered speechless. Grace returned to the pool, stepping down into it slowly before pushing off the side, under the surface and away from him and he followed her lead, returning to the garage to unlock it and retrieve his bicycle. He was not entirely sure he would be capable of riding his bike without falling off it in distraction or being awkwardly uncomfortable on it just now and decided to wheel it alongside him while he stalked to the caretaker's house.