TAKE IT EASY • TC ✔️

30: Staying Afloat

Lucia was already fighting the flush on her cheeks when they were walking up to her, so standing two feet away from Saoirse was...well, her face felt like it was sizzling. Lucia could feel the redness creeping up her necks, over her cheeks. It looked almost like sunset, the way the blush spread over the pale canvas of her complexion, only a bad sunset. End-of-the-world sunset, where the sky turned red over the hordes of running and screaming civilians. Very bad sunset.

"Sersh, this is Lu. Lu, Sersh," Timmy grinned, and Saoirse's face lit up in recognition. She put down her freshly poured drink and pulled Lucia into a massive hug. Lu didn't quite know what to do, didn't quite register the girl's bobbed hair brushing against her cheek or the heady scent of her perfume until Saoirse was pulling away. Lu tried hard not to think too much into it.

"You've got that cat, haven't you?" she asked, and Lu chuckled nervously. Nodded. "Oh, he's so gorgeous. What's his name?" Saoirse continued, and thank God she was holding conversation, because even with Timothée by her side, Lucia was sure she would find some way to make things awkward, to embarrass herself.

"It's Julius, he's here somewhere..." she trailed off, looking across the room to find Julius preening himself under the attention of a small audience which had gathered to pet him. Saoirse laughed as Julius perked his head up and leapt off the coffee table. The little crowd laughed as he trotted over to Lu. "Hey, baby," she cooed, grateful for a distraction from Timmy and Saoirse and the conversation they were having.

"Oh my God, he's gorgeous," she repeated, her lilting accent lost to the air as she bent down to pick Julius up. "Can I?" she looked at Lu, who promptly nodded. Julius, doing just as his owner couldn't, nuzzled into her neck, and Saoirse's face crumpled in adoration.

"How old is he?" she asked, and Lucia froze.

"Well, we're not- I mean, I'm not really sure. He was a stray when I adopted him-"

"You adopted him?" Saoirse cut her off with a smile.

"Yeah, I don't think it's right to buy a cat when there are so many like him who need a good home too," she said sincerely, feeling suddenly like that was a bit of a pompous answer to such a lighthearted question, but Saoirse nodded.

"If I got a cat, I'd definitely adopt," she said, a little preoccupied with Julius, who was nosing at her ear. "But I'm always travelling with work and stuff, I don't think it would be really fair on the poor thing," she said sadly. Lucia hummed. "What do you do, Lu?" Saoirse asked.

Lucia became acutely aware of Timmy standing next to her. His arm was brushing against hers, his feet angled towards her, head cocked in interest.

"Oh, I'm in architecture," she said smoothly, the lie dripping stickily from her tongue, like honey. It was too sweet, too practised, too cloying. It left her lips tacky afterwards, and she wished it would just stick them together so she wouldn't have to talk.

"Oh, that's so...cool," Saoirse laughed, her eyes shining. Lucia wanted to stare at her for eternity. "So are you seriously into maths and stuff?"

Lu shook her head quickly. "No, no, I'm more on the people side of things. We're doing a project in Ham-Hempstead, sorry, I always get confused with that, 'cause it's, like, a town in, well, no it is a town in NC, which is where I, but anyway, yeah. Sorry, um, yeah so we're doing a project in Hempstead and-"

"And you're manager of it, aren't you?" Timmy smiled, to which Lucia looked at him blankly.

"What?"

"You got a promotion, didn't you? You said you were project manager," Timmy prompted and how did he remember that? Lucia didn't, couldn't, not for the life of her.