Lovers' Maehem

Chapter 19

Maeve

August 18, 2180

4:23pm

Today has been crazy to say the least. A few hours ago I was on a mission, an extremely dangerous one, but we took every precaution. I even changed after the attack, which is good, since someone did follow me out. A Colton. It had to have been. The attack was only a few houses away from theirs meaning it had to have been. It was really scary, but I did get away, and I have no more attacks near that area. I check my watch realizing I still have a full hour and a half until I'm meeting Griffin. For some reason he wanted to meet at 6 today, a bit earlier than usual. I didn't question it, and just told him I'll meet him at the usual spot.

"Hey," James says as I walk back through the front door. "How was the mission?"

"It was okay," I say, "didn't go fully as planned, but followed through nevertheless." James gives me a thumbs up.

"I know you said you have to leave in an hour and a bit, but I was thinking maybe we could grab food before?" James asks. I sigh, I feel bad for using James to hang out with Griffin, but at least James and I are becoming friends from this trip.

"How about we just watch TV?" I say, "you can help me choose an outfit." he nods seemingly disappointed I'm using him as a friend and nothing more.

We go to my room where James turns on a TV show we've been watching the past 2 nights.

"I can get my mom to bring up popcorn!" James offers.

"Sure, that'd be great," I tell him grabbing my curling iron. As we eat popcorn watching the TV series for the next hour, I curl my hair, and do a bit of makeup, but not too much, as tonight is 'casual' according to Griffin.

"What about this one!" I call to James walking out of the closet in another outfit. Now I'm wearing light washed ripped jean shorts with a blank tank top.

"Looks great Mae, but won't you get cold?" he asks. I shake my head,

"I'm never cold, I'll be fine," I start, "plus it's summer, so it won't be that cold." James shrugs,

"You're going to be cold," I shake my head stubbornly. "You'll see." I shrug, grabbing a small purse.

"Will you toss me the lip balm on the counter next to you?" I ask, as James throws it to me, and I put it in the bag with some cash and my phone.

"So Mae," he starts, "what are we?" I bite my lip, my back turned away from him, "I know we aren't a couple, and you are with someone else, but our parents think we are, and they expect us to date for the next 5 years and get married. So what's the plan?"

"I don't know honestly," I say, "5 years is a long time to figure that stuff out, so for now, if we continue pretending to date, we should be fine." I paused, turning to him, "James, I like you, as a friend, and our friendship is something we could keep going, and make it look like a relationship for our parents for as long as we have to. When it comes to the time when we are supposed to get married, or take things further, we can find ways around it." James nods, but I can tell he has something to add. "I have to run, our meeting spot is 10 minutes away, and I'm supposed to meet him in 12. I'll see you later." I wave goodbye to him slipping out of the house. Yes, I feel bad for what I've been doing for James, and that he may actually want us to be a thing, but as long as I'm with Griffin, I couldn't even consider anything with James.

"Hey," Griffin says, bringing me out of my thoughts and into the real world.

"Hey," I murmur under my breath as Griffin pulls me in for a kiss. "How was your day?" I ask, as he holds me close to his chest, me peering up at his eyes.