Hooked [Complete]

26. The Morning After... Six Weeks Later

Author's Note: Let's check in with Dru, six weeks later and see how things are developing with Sean...and Hearne, ha!

Song for the Chapter: Bright by Echosmith...Dru's working hard to stay in a good place in this chapter...she's growing...getting brighter...

Dru awoke to the smell of coffee and some kind of meat mixed with onions and garlic. She checked her phone. It was 4am.

What the hell, Hearne?

She knew Hearne wouldn't come to the bedroom, and force her from the bed, but he knew full well that the aromas and the noise he was making in the kitchen would make sleep impossible. He was like that...never exactly bossing her around, but doing damn well what he wanted to do, and expecting her to go along. She couldn't really complain, though, because everything he did while they were together was almost...in some indirect way, in service to her. He was the most unusual creature she'd ever met...frustratingly willful, obnoxiously arrogant, an immovable force, but also tireless in his creating of things, and almost eternal in his vigor and optimism.

It was hard to keep up with him. Hard for Dru to be vigorous, optimistic, or even hungry at 4am.

Still, today was a big for day for Hearne, and she wanted to share in that with him. It was Ostara for him...the Spring Festival for the rest of campus. And she'd been working hard and looking forward to it, too. Or she would be, when she'd had some coffee. She threw back the down comforter walked to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and rose, shock rising as she realized she had slept naked. She didn't remember going to bed, but now the entire night came back...

Confronted with the memories, she felt the blush rise on her chest but she took a deep breathe and tried to relax. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, she reminded herself. She and Hearne were consenting adults. And it wasn't like she was cheating on Sean.

Things had grown between her and Sean, since that day at the overlook—six weeks ago, but their agreement was holding. They were doing okay, staying low-key. They spent time together during the week...studying, listening to music, watching Netflix...talking. So much talking.

Dru didn't tell Sean much about her past—about the boyfriends, and drinking, and how everything had turned out. She just wasn't ready, and he kindly didn't pressure her. But she tried to tell him other things that were important to her. Like why she came to Sabit—how the air and the trees made her feel at home. And that her favorite class was sociology—not because they shared it, but because she wanted to major in either sociology or psychology. She told him about her summer job after her senior year of high school—working at a camp for at-risk youth. She told him about the thirteen year old boy whose eyes reminded her of Sean's—or the way Sean's sometimes used to look before that day at the overlook when he'd told her he was a witch. Sean's eyes weren't guarded like that anymore with her. So many kids' eyes were.

"Sometimes, so are yours," Sean had murmured into her ear as he kissed her temple. "But it's okay. I understand."

She was trying to let down her guard more and more. But it was easier to invade him, now that he was so open before her. All the things she had observed about Sean, now she wanted to understand. And Sean was so at ease talking with her now.

Before she had watched him eat in the dining hall, and had seen that banana pudding seemed to be his favorite dessert. Now, she knew why...it tasted just like his grandmother's version. Before, she had admired his broad shoulders. Now she knew they came from working out in his dorm room every morning before class—not that much, just twenty minutes or so at least three times a week. Before, she knew he was into music. Now she knew that he'd had an unusual summer job for several years now...he worked as a roadie, because his dad was a back-up guitarist for all kinds of bands, and Sean would go on tour during the summers.