In These Arms

Chapter 14

"Momma," Lucy said when her mom Julie finally answered her phone, "I've been trying to get in touch with you for days."

"I know," Julie replied curtly.

"Mom," Lucy asked, "what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Is everything okay? You're really asking me that Lucy?"

"Mom," Lucy replied, "I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

Julie sighed and took a deep breath, "Have you not seen the internet? You're everywhere, the star of your very own porno movie. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was when I got a call from Pastor John of all people to tell me?"

"Momma," Lucy said tears now forming in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I had no idea he was filming and I tried to stop him from releasing it."

"You think that makes me feel any better Lucy? You're an embarrassment and you're not to call here ever again okay?"

Lucy's eyes shot open and she looked around the darkened room, she could feel tears forming, the dream had felt so real that she had even heard the disappointment in her mom's voice. She glanced to her left thankful to see that Ian was still sleeping peacefully; she didn't want a repeat of the night before when she had kept him awake because she'd been upset. She pulled the covers back just enough to allow her to slip out of the bed, grabbed her phone off the bedside table and she tiptoed quietly out of the room stopping briefly in the hallway to pull a faux fur throw out of the closet there.

Lucy had raised an eyebrow at Ian when she'd first seen the throw, it didn't seem the type of thing that a guy would have. He told her it had been a joke gift from one of his friends, but had proven quite useful on chilly nights. She walked over to the sofa and wrapped the throw around her body before sitting down and curling her feet up under her body, she checked the time on her phone and sighed when she saw it was just after 3am. She opened up her twitter app, and scrolled through her mentions, she hadn't been on twitter in days. She acknowledged the many requests for a Lucian Ustream saying that she hadn't forgotten about it and they would do one as soon as their schedules allowed it, she closed the app and placed her phone on the coffee table in front of her and closed her eyes trying to see if she could get back to sleep. It was no use, every single time she started dropping off she heard her mother's voice saying "You're an embarrassment and you're not to call here ever again okay?"

Ian woke up just after 7am; he turned over to face Lucy and was surprised when she wasn't there. He climbed out of bed pulled on the jeans he had taken off the night before and walked out of the bedroom and towards the living room. Lucy was still sitting on the sofa, staring down at Jack who was sleeping soundly next to her. "Hey," Ian said as he walked over to her and took a seat next to her, "I missed you when I woke up."

Lucy smiled and turned to face him kissing him gently on the lips, "I couldn't sleep," she replied, "and I didn't want to wake you so I came out here."

Ian sat back on the sofa and pulled her towards him so that her head was resting on his shoulder. "Did you have another dream?" Ian asked.

Lucy nodded, "My mom told me never to call her again. I've been sitting here since 3am because every single time I closed my eyes to try and sleep I could hear her."

Ian kissed the top of her head gently, "Maybe you should see if you can get something to help you sleep."

Lucy lifted her head off Ian's shoulder and looked at him, "What? You think I need to see a doctor about this?"

Ian nodded and brought a hand up to her cheek, "I know you're trying to focus on other things during the day Luce, but you can't control what you dream of and this is two nights running now that you've barely slept."