Life With Lacey

E1 - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?

Luc

My heart is pounding as I wait for Sophie to knock on the door. I keep checking over the place, even though I know it's fine. Sophie won't care if the place is a mess. She never does. But this time feels different. We only worked things out the other day, and if she can't handle this...

I don't even want to go there.

Finally, she knocks. I race to the door like a little kid waiting for their birthday present to show up. Honestly, she's the best present I could get, so it pretty much is like that. I open the door quickly, and she's standing on the porch, looking as nervous as I feel. Dang it. I hope she's not having second thoughts.

"You're here," I say, stupidly. Could I be a bigger idiot?

"Yeah, I'm here," she says as she shrugs. We both stand at the door, staring at each other for another minute. "So... are you going to let me in?" she asks finally.

"Oh! Yeah, of course. Sorry, I guess I'm nervous." I can't believe I just said that.

"Me too," Sophie admits. "It's not like I haven't stayed here before, but it feels different this time."

I shake my head in disagreement. "Nope. Not different. It's exactly the same, just staying over. No big deal." I have to keep it in her head that she isn't living with me. Otherwise she might freak out, like she already has. I can't go through that again so soon. Something tells me, however, that life with her will include occasional freak outs. And I'm going to need to let her have them. As long as I can support her, I will.

Sophie smiles at my reaction. "Right. No big deal." Then she brings her bag in, filled with just enough clothes and items to stay a week. We had decided to have her go back to her house every few days to "live." As in, make a meal, wash her clothes, and feel like she has everything in order. Then she can come back to stay with me.

It was better than not being with her at all, and maybe it would work. I had already planned on the fact that a few days with me might end up being just one, that maybe she would have a hard time transitioning.  It couldn't hurt to expect things to be bumpy at first, with Sophie's need to have order and my disorganization.

"Wow! Things look pretty good in here. Almost too good, I might not be able to relax," she comments as she looks around. It sounds light hearted, like she's joking with me, so I decide not to be concerned.

"I hired a cleaning company to get the place ready for you. I wasn't kidding, Soph. I'm having them come every Wednesday."

"What? Luc that's too much! I'm not even helping out with bills because I have to keep my own place going. I can't ask you to pay for that too!" She looks so concerned as she tells me, but there's no way I want her to worry about that.

I step closer to her, grabbing her bag and putting it down next to us. Her hair is pulled back away from her face, and her eyes look like she could shed a tear if she blinks. I cup her cheeks with my hands and lean in to kiss her mouth, letting the feeling of having her close calm my nerves.

As I pull away, I answer all of her worries. "First of all, my job is to make sure you are comfortable here, and I have absolutely no problem paying for the cleaners so that you can afford to keep your place. Second, I'm basically loaded, so it's no big deal."

Sophie's eyes widen at my confession. "You're what?"

I just shrug. "Loaded. I have a few million here and there. I own some stuff, I saved some stuff. The typical money story."

"Wha...Wha...Does Travis know?" She seems shocked. I guess that's pretty much expected. "And if you have so much money, why do you live here?" She gestures to my condo.

"Honestly, I'm not sure that Travis knows. I have no idea what he makes, so probably not. And I live here because I don't want to blow the money on stupid crap. I want to enjoy life, not live to excess. This condo is fine, and now that you're here it's even better.

Sophie starts laughing, then she throws her arms around me and kisses me, the best kiss she's given me in a week. "Babe, you're crazier than I am."

"Nah, I'm just crazy about you, and you are super crazy about me. I think we make a good pair."

"The best." She agrees, then I give her one more kiss before not moving her stuff into my place so we can not live together. Cause I am not in love with her. Except that I am.

^^^^^

Gah!! Luc is just so cute!! Even if I do say so myself...

Clickbait will be up later, sorry about that. 💋🎄