Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 14: This Is The Life

After a good hour of the trio catching up and informing Astrid of all the gossip of the outer world, the two left, hand in hand. Astrid smiled as she watched the happy couple drive down the secluded road and in to the distance. She quietly sauntered back into the house and flopped down onto the sofa.

After a few minutes she heard a knock at the door. She frowned as she slowly lifted each dog off of her leg and paused the programme, before wandering back over to the front door. She opened the door to find the back of a head of dark brown hair. She frowned as he whipped his head around and smiled at her.

"Hi." he said, before frowning.

"How can I help?" Astrid sighed halfheartedly before the man cut in.

"Oh my goodness!" he smiled in glee, "It's you!"

"Me?" Astrid knitted her eyebrows together.

"Remember?" he said, his unusual Irish accent sounding like a melody in Astrid's ears.

"Remember what?"

"We met, on Waterloo bridge, you were listening to music and bumped into me."

"I think you've got the wrong person," Astrid smiled falsely, "I haven't been to London in nearly two years-"

"-No, it was definitely you." he clicked his fingers and pointed it at her, "It's Astrid, right?"

"U-Uh yeah." she said as she began to slightly remember, "Oh my God, that was like two years ago!"

"Yeah, I have quite good memory."

"I see." Astrid nodded her head, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, funnily enough, I've just moved in next door and have been introducing myself to my new neighbours." he smiled and rested his hands on his hips, "how long have you been living here?"

"Two years," said Astrid, "When did you arrive here?"

"Last night." he grinned, "so, what have you been up to?"

"Absolutely nothing." she said and the man chuckled to himself.

"Maybe I could give you some company," he smiled before looking at the two dogs sat patiently at Astrid's heel, "we could go on a walk?"

"Urm, sure." Astrid found herself say, "I should probably tidy myself up. I'll meet you back out here in five?"

"'Course." he smiled before leaving the drive. Astrid quickly spent a few minutes on make up before putting on a pair of black jeans and a green baggy sweater and brown walking boots. She stuffed her pockets with treats for the dogs -as well as other things- and after she put them on their leads, she left the house to find the same man as five minutes ago standing at the edge of the drive. He turned to see her and smiled in greeting.

"there's a field about a minute away from here with a nice walk."

"Sounds good." he smiled and looked down at the dogs, "who are these two?"

"Luna and Lucy." she introduced the great beasts as the Irishman bent down to pet them. Shortly after, they began their walk. As the entered the field, Astrid let the dogs off their leads and allowed them to roam around the meadows freely. She slipped her hands into the back pocket of her jeans.

"What was your name again?" Astrid asked.

"Dominic."

"Oh yes." she smiled, "I remember."

"So, why did you move here?"

"Something happened with a man, well, two men. Three men, come to think of it."

"That's a lot of men." he chuckled lightly

"Oh, It's not like that at all." she laughed, "One of them is my father and the other is a self infatuated detective. The other one ...well it's a little complicated."

"Ex-Boyfriend?" he said all of a sudden, catching Astrid off guard.

"I'm yeah kind of," she chuckled, "we never really put a label on it. I haven't spoken about him in a while."

"I'm a good listener."

"He died."

"Oh ...I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's fine." she lifted a hand up, "it was a while ago."

There was a small pause.

"Have you heard of a man named Sherlock Holmes?" she suddenly asked.

He paused for a few seconds to think, before his eyes widened, "he's the detective that killed himself right?"

"Yeah." she tilted her head, "do you know why?"

"Wasn't it something to do with everyone saying he was a fraud and created a supervillain to satisfy his interests, or something."

"That's him," she sadly smiled, "he's not dead though."

"Sorry?"

"He had to make it seem that he died to save his friend's life."

"How do you know this?"

"He had to die to complete the plan."

"Who's plan?"

"James Moriarty." she said and he frowned, "he hated Sherlock, so much. He just wanted to have fun, Sherlock gave him the enjoyment. Then he had to go and fuck everything up and win!"

"Why do you know about this?"

"Because I was in love with him." she sighed, "I loved him more than I loved my own father, and if Sherlock had just fucking killed himself, he'd be alive today."

Her face began to go read as she looked at the man next to her. He was awkwardly chewing on the inside of his gum and looking around the field.

"Sorry." she sighed and pushed the loose strands of hair behind her head.

"It's alright." he smiled as the two spotted the dogs racing after each other in the distance. The two specks got close and closer to the pair and were suddenly jumping around excitedly. Astrid bent down to them to find that Luna had a rock in her mouth. She took the rock and threw it back into the distance. The walk went on for another good few hours. Dominic and Astrid shared Almost everything with each other. Even her dad.

"Have you not reported him to the police?" Dominic asked worriedly.

"No point," she sighed, "he has followers all over the country. If he went to jail then the rest of his acolytes can carry on with his work."

"Ah." he sighed in understanding, "that makes sense."

"I wish it was as easy as that." she smiled as they reached a turn in the path, "we've been out for a couple hours now, we should go back."

"Yeah." He smiled as they simultaneously stopped walking and turned around. The walk back lasted a little less thanks to Astrid's small increase in pace. After about an hour and a half, they made it back to their small road. Ever the gentlemen, Dominic walked her up to her porch. She smiled shyly as she stepped into her house to turn back round to face him.

"Well, this has been a lovely afternoon..." she stated as Dominic nodded in agreement.

"I hope to do it again some time."

"Yes that would be nice." she smiled

"Yes." he blushed a little before stepping back, "it was nice to talk."

"Likewise," she smiled before stepping back, "bye."

"Bye."

She shut the door and walked back into her house to resume the lazy position in which she was sat in just hours prior before she sighed as she flopped down before grabbing a half empty bowl of now stale popcorn and pressing play on the TV remote.

(A/N hey readers, sorry I've been a bit staggered with releasing things. I've got about 5 more chapters that I've written but I've sort of stopped writing this story. If u are still enjoying it then please let me know and I will continue to add onto it 👍)