Coffee and Books 2

The Countryside - part 1

"Do you want to do something typical Dutch?" I look at Loki expectantly, eager to tell him of my plans. He is staying with me and my family before we'll travel to the new Asgardian settlement in Norway. So far he had met my mother, step dad, my step brother, his wife and their new baby and my best friend from college, Sofie. I want to show him how my life was here in Holland, before I went to New York to work in the coffee shop where I met my Asgardian prince. So, I want to do something with him that I did every summer since I was a little kid.

Loki looks up from his laptop to me, he had been checking his email. Now the Asgardians lived on Earth, they used Earth tech. Loki was better at it than Thor, the King of Asgard could just barely send an email or call someone with his smartphone. Still, I had to help Loki every now and then too. But now he closes his laptop and turns to me.

"What do you want to do, little wolf? Stand in a field of tulips and smoke marijuana?"

I roll my eyes in response. The images you get when you Google my country aren't all flattering, or correct, for that matter. "No, I want to go camping!"

Loki frowns and looks a little confused. "What do you mean with camping?"

I hop on the kitchen table, next to his laptop, letting my feet dangle. "You know, sleep in a little tent, at a campsite. Didn't you ever do that on Asgard?"

"We did," Loki says slowly. "But only when we had survival training or went to war." He cocks his eyebrow at me. "Do you want to go to war?"

"No!" But I stop when I see his face. "You miss the action, do you?"

My dark haired prince shrugs. "I don't know. All I get to do is fight Thor or Heimdall in a gym. You humans are all so fragile and squeamish."

I swing my leg over so I can drop myself to straddle his lap, grabbing his shirt in my fists as I do. "Do you call me squeamish?! Or fragile?" I try to make my voice sound menacing, but fail miserably. Especially when Loki puts his cool hands under my T-shirt.

"No, but I do call you ticklish!"

I let out a high squeal and try to fight Loki off, but he's too strong. Besides, he knows where to find all the right spots. For tickling, but also for other, more pleasurable things. I still in his grasp when he finds a particularly nice spot with his lips, right below my ear.

"Does camping mean I'm going to be in a little tent with you?" Loki purrs. He nips at my earlobe, his hands travelling up against my bare skin.

"It does," I say softly, before finding his lips with my own. I slide my arms around his neck and arch myself against him.

A polite cough behind us makes us lose our grip on each other in an instant. I look up to see my mother standing in the door to the kitchen. I can be 28 years old, but it's still awkward.

"Hello, Astrid," Loki says, turning his head to her without losing his grip on my hips. I want to get up from his lap, but he's holding me down. There's a sparkle in his eyes when I glare at him, he's not called the God of Mischief for his love of playing nice all the time. But as his girlfriend, I have some tricks of my own.

He hisses and pulls his arm back, rubbing the red imprint of my nails on the inside of his lower arm. I stick my tongue out and step away from him. However, I do blow a kiss to him behind my mom's back.

"Are you guys going to visit Bert and Wilma tomorrow?" my mother asks, turning on the coffee maker. She holds up a cup to signal if we want some too.

"Tea, please," Loki answers. "Who are Bert and Wilma?"

"My grandparents," I tell him. "The reason we're going camping." I explain to him my step dad's parents have a permanent spot on a campsite in the countryside. "As soon as the temperature goes up, they drive to the campsite. They actually live there for at least half of the year. It's a small campsite on a farm, it's great there!"

"Camping, a farm, this just keeps on getting better," Loki mutters.

"Not everybody grew up in a palace, prince Charming," I throw back at him. "And you'll love my grandparents, they're wonderful people!"

The next day we're in the car, driving to the campsite that is my grandparents' home for a large part of the year. In the trunk is an overnight bag for the both of us, two sleeping bags and my small tent. It's like a small igloo, just big enough for two people. I haven't told Loki yet we'll be sleeping on an air bed, he was pouting enough as it is already.

I'm behind the wheel, as Loki refuses to learn how to drive. I'm not exactly sure why, but it has something to do with not wanting to become 'too human'. He does a lot of other things that are perfectly human and down to earth, like making me breakfast, so I just let it slide. I don't mind driving anyway. I did have to get used to it again when I came back to Holland after living in New York for over a year, in the city I mostly used public transport or a taxi.

A biggest hits album of Oasis is playing on the car stereo. Loki picked it out from the stack of CD's in the dashboard. What can I say? This car is my mother's and she has a thing for British bands.

When Loki saw the little green car for the first time when I picked him up at the airport he almost hurt himself laughing. He stopped when I threatened he'd have to walk home if he didn't treat 'little pea' with some respect. He managed to hold in his laughing about the pet name for the car until we were on the highway and it was too late for me to kick him out. Not that I would actually do that, I was way too happy to have Loki with me again, we spent six weeks apart and it had felt like six months.

"Bert and Wilma unfortunately don't speak English, so I'll have to translate for you. Do you remember how to say it's nice to meet them?"

Loki humors me and carefully pronounces the Dutch phrase I taught him. He knows how much I love my grandparents and he's willing to make an effort. He's been doing that from the moment he met my family. They were not exactly supportive when I started seeing Loki, as it turned out to be rather dangerous to be close to the prince of Asgard. But the heart doesn't always listen to reason and after a while my parents accepted my choices.

"What do they know of me?" Loki wants to know.

"Very little," I admit. "That you're from New York and that I'm going with you and your family to Norway."

"My family?"

"Yeah, that was easier than explaining you and your people came from outer space after your world was destroyed by an enormous fire demon, in order to stop your killer sister."

"You seem to have no problem explaining that," Loki chuckles.

"Loki! They're almost 80 years old, I don't want to give them a heart attack!" I swat at his leg and he grabs my hand to hold it, weaving our fingers together.

"Don't worry. I'll play along. So, no magic, I take it?"

"No, and don't you dare telling them about my abilities too!"

Only my mom knows about that and she barely believes it. As far as anyone else is concerned, I'm just regular old Ylva. Of course most of my family knows Loki is from Asgard, it had been all over the news worldwide that the people of Asgard found refuge on Earth after their realm was destroyed. Thor and Loki were kind of the poster boys for the Asgardian people, giving them a celebrity status.

But my grandparents have not connected the dots yet, so I'll just keep it that way. They were already impressed by the fact my boyfriend lives in the United States. It doesn't matter anyway. They're lovely people and the only grandparents I have left, I just want to introduce them to the man I love.