Chapter 23

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Recap:

Louka didn’t reply as he stopped at the last door of the floor and knocked. A couple seconds later a brunette girl in pajama shorts, a pair of thick mismatched socks and an oversized sweater opened the door.

“What are you doing here?” 

Thanks to the way the light was hitting them they couldn’t make out the features of the speaker until she stepped out in to the hallway. When she did Nathaniel barely had time to hide his surprise.

“Zoey never mentioned she was dating two guys at the same time tonight.”

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There was an awkward silence in which Lucienne watched delightedly as the boys thought of a way to explain themselves.

“I’m just kidding, come in.” She winked at both of them as she held the door open so they could pass. Nathaniel went in first, giving a dirty look towards Louka’s nervous figure, the reality of what was happening finally settling in.

Seeing no way out of the situation he had put himself and his roommate in, Louka followed.

Even if they were all Special Stars and in the Dangerous abilities type, which meant they all had the same standard dorms, what the girls had done to the place was something to behold.

Before, the walls had been painted white, and they still were, but now they had an intricate design of painted black trees. You could catch glimpses here and there of silvery blue birds, red apples and golden leafs. Bookshelves had been built in here and there already overflowing with books and knickknacks, reminders of a life that no longer existed.

“When did you do all of this?”  Louka asked as he picked up a framed photo from one of the shelves. The picture held two little girls, a brunette and a blonde, no more than 5 years old.

 It seemed that they had attempted to climb a tree, and failed as they had been portrayed lying on the ground; with a bunch of red leaves, broken twigs and fallen apples surrounding them. Despite their failure they were laughing as they held hands, two girls without a care in the world.

“You would be surprised what a couple hours with a paintbrush, enough junk food and cola pop can do for a girl in a mood.” Zoey came out of her room and even Nathaniel had to admit the girl was beautiful.

With her blonde hair up in an artfully messy bun and minimal makeup, she looked like a modern day princess, minus the tiara of course. Her outfit only emphasized the fact; a cream colored sweater with a light purple peter pan collar tucked in to a high-waisted skirt the same shade of purple as the collar on her sweater. A pair of brown leather boots finished her look.

“Well sis you clean up very well, even fire boy looks impressed.” Lucienne smirked at the star truck boys. Zoey smiled delightedly at Louka and frowned a little at Nathaniel.

It was like a bucket of cold water for Nathaniel when both of the girl’s rings flashed in the lamp light but before he could say anything, or better, get the hell out of there things came crashing down on him.

“So, umm, is Nathaniel coming too?” Zoey asked timidly as she grabbed her coat and purse from one of the couches. This snapped Louka immediately in to action putting his master plan in play.

“No, he’s actually staying here with Lucienne…” Before Nathaniel could make any sound in protest Louka quickly hooked a hand behind his back effectively obscuring the girls view from his transformation.

Were fingers had been there now stood 5 perfectly sharp talons, ready to slash in to Nathaniel’s back at any moment.  He stiffened but stayed quiet and let his friend continue as he could see no way this could end without potentially setting the whole girls dorm on fire. Resigned, he settled his face in to a scowl.

“… We thought she could use the company, so she wouldn’t be alone.” Louka finished gallantly. Zoey seemed delighted at the prospect; Lucienne only raised her eyebrows in mild surprise.

“That’s so nice of you.” Zoey said while putting on her coat.

“Well shall we go then?” Louka smiled brightly, giving Nathaniel one last sharp warning before retracting his claws, his hand morphing back in to its original form so he could take Zoey arm. In a blink of an eye they were out the door leaving Lucienne and Nathaniel alone in the dorm room.

Nathaniel was already devising a way to get out of there, but Lucienne interrupted his train of thoughts. “You don’t have to stay here you know.” Lucienne was studying him intently, almost like she could see in to his soul and read all of its intents and purposes, after all, hadn’t he just been thinking about escaping having to spend time with her?

At a loss for words he sat at the couch as calmly as he could, bringing up the façade he knew how to portray so well. “I said I would didn’t I?”

Lucienne must have found something amusing about his act because she didn’t even try to conceal the smirk that followed. All of a sudden, Nathaniel didn’t want to leave, he wanted to wipe that smirk of her face by actually doing what Louka had forced him in to, if not for his own selfish reasons, just to prove that being there didn’t bother him in the least, just to prove that that woman’s memory didn’t have the power to hurt him anymore.

“So what are we doing all night?” Lucienne couldn’t hide her shock fast enough at the fact that he was actually planning to stay there with her, the smirk that followed now graced Nathaniel’s face.

Two can play this game, Lucienne thought, as she bent over the oven to take out the lasagna. Nathaniel mouth watered, and not necessarily because of how good the smell of fresh pasta was. He had almost forgotten how attractive this girl was and the effect he had on him; her pajama shorts only emphasized the fact. 

“I don’t know about you but I’m stuffing my face with lasagna if you still want to hang you can join if you want.” Lucienne turned around with the pretense of looking for the cutlery, not giving him time to answer.

She was afraid that if she did he would see how much his presence was affecting her. After all they were alone in her dorm room, no adult supervision and probably no one else at all for about two hours straight. Much could be done in two hours.

Slapping herself internally for the road her thoughts had taken, Lucienne tried to reach for the plates from the cupboard to no avail, but before she could use her powers to make them come down a pair of hands neatly plucked them off from above her head.

Quickly turning around she found herself nose to nose for the second day in a row with the same British hottie.

In a sudden moment of crystal clarity Lucienne realized she didn’t need this. Her family had died not even more than a month ago, she had been pulled out of the life she had known all of her life with only her best friend to keep her sane, only for her to find someone she liked and actually wanted to date in the shit storm they were living in. Now Lucienne had been left all alone with a boy not even a nun could be able to resist.

Well even if Zoey was ready to try and regain a semblance of normality in her life she sure as hell wasn’t. She was Lucienne Lucnar, a girl other girls couldn’t help but envy and the girl boys couldn’t ever get, not yet at least. And not even the devil, even with the most adorable British accent, could ever change that, not until she deemed it to be so.

“Why thank you Alfred but I’m not Bruce Wayne I can get my own stuff.” She elbowed him out of the way and placed the plates on the table, heading towards the freezer she took out two pints of ice cream.

“Do you want Rocky road or Mint chocolate chip?”

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