i tell her easy, but her hands they find a way, confusing passion for the love he never gave;

[scinlac]

He had prepared for everything, for the interrogations, the psychological evaluations, for Him, she had learned all the answers. To get past those obstacles had been easy. The detox hadn't been, and it had been a detox, to find herself in a world without Him, a world where her decisions were her own again. It hadn't been long, actually, their affair, not longer than His absence was, but it had thoroughly messed with her head, and now, she had woken up. Somewhat. She was questioning things, wasn't writing him in prison. For a while, she had continued to live in the delusion, had told herself the sleeping pills he had made her drink, and said he'd drink as well, had been for her comfort.

She has doubts, now. She rather thinks he wanted one final murder, a last huzzah for the key witness. He worked fast, but the cops, for once, worked faster.

It's that kind of thought that actually has her walking into the auditorium, head held high, never sure that she doesn't get recognised. She scans the room, finds a free seat, and takes it. The man next to her looks a bit too much like he might be a jock, in spite of this being cognitive psychology. Who cares? She doesn't. They don't need to be friends.

She doesn't speak to him before class starts, doesn't speak to him at all for the first twenty minutes of him, only stealing the occasional glance.

Until she hears it, and then hears it again. "Are you meowing?"

Comments

[scinlac]

It is bold, but his lack of worry is entirely justified – Bella seems more interested in another kiss than just about anything else in the world. Her hand is resting on his thigh.

"Not at all." She takes a deep breath, trying to rein herself in, and leans back to take a sip of sake. "Right around the corner, if you are... interested in a tour?"

[malificence]

"I am," he says, as he kisses her again. He's not one to couch in uncertainty, which has gotten him more than one irritated look in his dating life, but he doesn't think Bella will mind so much. "And of course, Juno must meet your Gremlin."

Juno herself is in danger of clamoring on the table to take more sashimi for herself, and Lucius grabs her before the restaurant owner has a heart attack - and before Gremlin is left with no salmon of his own. "Shall we, then?"

[scinlac]

"He does get along well with other cats, which is a tender way to say that he is a bit of a pushover." This would mark her turn to kiss him, and she does, even as he holds his Juno.

Of course, she asks the waiter to wrap their sashimi for them to take home – "Gremlin may go easy on other cats, but other people... Less so. This should even the road to friendship."

[malificence]

Lucius laughs as the waiter returns the box, and his card, back to the table, and he slips Juno back into his bag. "I won't reject any opportunity to bribe him," he says as they slide out of the booth."

It is true, at least, that her flat is close, and soon they're stepping into an elevator of an elegant concierge building. He expected no less, and really, he has every intention of making friends with her Gremlin before making even closer friends with her. But elevators are a temptation.