Fighting Fire With Fire - 9

Hello my darlings,

I'm terribly sorry for making you wait so long.
My computer got a massive ass virus and we had to wipe it all, so I haven't had internet access for, like, weeks.

Back now though.

MINIMAN - Don't worry, girl, there's a disappointingly happy ending. And EVIL girl! But then again, playas are playas... Doesn't stop us from loving them, though, does it?

Star.x - Lol. I recommend sitting down somewhere safe and reading it!

Devon - Oh yeah, it's gonna be fantastically cheesy. And yeah, just in case I forgot to mention it.... I LOVE YOU TOO.

Lena B - Damn right that's dedication. It's the same here in England. Windy, snowy and rainy is the only thing we know. Expected a good few inches tomorrow.

Ginaeve S. - Ha! Sleepy G-man.
You are a right little illegal duck-billed platypus, aren't you?
Stealing internet left right and center!

And the laptop thingy sucks so bad...
Can't add to the novel while it's gone and it's making me feel all '_'

I actually like shoes.
The point of them is to protect your feet.
And of course, to add to an outfit and make your feet look completely flickin'.

I knooow, they're longer than any emails I write to people I actually know in person.
And they just keep growing....

See ya G-man

jennifer - I'm sorry, girl.... it's all pre-written.

BigFan - Prewritten, dude/tte. Can't change that now. But it's nearly finished and, just for you, I'll do different povs in the next story I do.

Joanna - Comp problems.

lesley - Thank you lubbly jubbly reader. I'm glad you're enjoying it and 9 INCHES? Girl, me and you need to have a talk to a man about a dog.

Everyone else - Thank you for your comments! Enjoy...
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I was getting sucked in, and that was bad. It was very bad.

"So, where do you want to eat?" Lucas asked suddenly, breaking into my guilty thoughts. I shrugged, suddenly feeling sick.

"I'm not hungry." I said, and then realized how rude that was of me. "But I could kill an ice cream. How about we go to the golden arches, and you can eat while I have dessert?" I suggested crazily - I loathe MacDonald's with a passion that goes beyond caring for animals.

Lucas glanced at me worriedly. "You hate Maccy D's."

"Yeah. But their ice cream's good." I didn't, in fact, know if their ice cream was good or not, as I hadn't set foot in the place, ever.

Lucas looked at me like I was crazy and shook his head slowly, but didn't follow it up.

"All right, then. Whatever you want." He said sweetly, and then focused on the road. Soon, we were pulling into a gleaming tarmac parking lot, and Lucas was climbing out of the car and helping me out.

His hand remained in mine as we walked towards the small, white building. I winced as we stepped through the energy-efficient (not) automatic doors and a wave of bacon fat scented air hit us in the face. Lucas seemed perfectly comfortable, but I shuddered internally.

So this was what a Macdonald's looked like. Bright, airy, crowded and happy. Ugh.

Lucas led me to a table for two and went to the counter to order. I sat there and fiddled with a straw distractedly, when someone walked over and sat on the lip of the table in front of me. I looked up, annoyed.

And met eye to eye with Laura Crawford.

"Um, hey?" I tried confusedly, watching as she flicked her hair back and got out a compact mirror. I had never talked to the blonde girl in my life.

She preened into the mirror, licking her teeth repeatedly.

"Are you and Lucas, like, a thing now?" She asked suddenly, closing her mirror with a snap and slipping it back into her bubble gum pink bag. "I mean, are you, like, boyfriend-girlfriend? Is he, like, unavailable?"

I pondered briefly on her excessive use of the word 'like', before acknowledging that Laura had asked me a question. I shrugged uneasily, realizing that I didn't quite know where I stood with Lucas.

"Um... I don't know. That's kind of complicated. Why don't you ask him yourself?" I answered quickly, not wanting to be held responsible for any kind of mix up between the two of us.

"Oh." Laura pursed her lips, pouting, and flicked her hair back over her shoulder again. "Oh right. Can I, like, wait here until he comes back? Because I wanted to, like, ask him if he was free this Saturday. I've got an empty weekend and I thought we could spend it together, you know?"

I blinked rapidly a few times, bewildered, before nodding.

"Sure. We don't have anything scheduled for this weekend. But then again, I don't really know if we're going out or anything... " I willed Lucas to come back, and he did, quickly. He set our food down and then looked up, noticing Laura. I think his face may have paled a little bit, but I don't really know. Maybe it was the cheap lighting in there.

"Um, hey, Lours. What are you doing here?" he asked completely normally, sitting down and handing me my ice cream. It was coiffed into a neat swirl and looked like a rainbow had exploded onto it. Smarties, maybe?

"Hey, Luke. I was just asking um, uh -"

"Taylor."

"- Taylor here if you two were, like, going out, and she said she didn't know. So, are you? Because if you aren't, you know," she said, leaning forward and exposing her impressive cleavage. Her finger traced the side of his face. "I have a free weekend. And I thought, like, maybe we could -"

"Um, Laura." Lucas stuttered, grabbing her hand and placing it on her lap. I raised my eyebrows and looked on, amused. I could have been a fly on the wall for all the attention she paid to me. "Taylor seems to be under some misgivings here. We are totally and completely girlfriend-boyfriend."

I raised my eyebrows even further, cocking my head at him quizzically behind Laura's back. He gave me a pointed, pleading look and then turned back towards Laura. "So, um, I probably won't be having a... weekend anytime soon."

I could have laughed out loud. I really could have. It was like they were shouting it. We have sex! Ha. And there was Lucas, blushing slightly, trying to hide it like a chaste little boy. Oh, the teasing that would ensue.

"Oh. Okay then. Josh Launder totally offered anyway, like. So, like, bye." She got up and walked back to where she came from, not even noticing that her skirt had ridden up and was displaying her very bright purple knickers. I felt like I should tell her, but then she turned and winked at this random guy, who blushed, stumbled, and almost fell with all his food. Poor dude. She totally deserved all the embarrassment she felt after that.

I turned back to Lucas, who was grimacing attractively.

"So... weekends, huh?" I teased, scooping a little bit of ice cream into my mouth. Lucas watched the spoon leave my mouth for a second before snapping out of it.

"Oh, uh, well, um, you see..." He stuttered embarrassingly, blushing. I leaned forward and laid my hand gently over his.

"Hey, it's all right. Everybody knows that Lucas Daniel Stone isn't exactly pure." I said, stroking his wrist. "But, hey, that could be a good thing." I let my fingers dance lightly over his skin, smiling as he watched, captivated. "I mean, practice makes perfect." I murmured huskily, leaving his hand suddenly.

Lucas looked at me and gave me a cheeky grin.

"And you? Are you still pure, little Miss Angel?" he teased, and it was my turn to flush pink now. I looked down at the table and then up at him, through my lashes.

"Of course. Unlike someone, I'm going to wait for My One." I said, eating my ice cream just for something to do with my hands. It didn't taste like ice cream at all, but just sweet, frozen milk with bits in it. But still. It was all right, guess.

"Your One? Damn, and I thought I was so close." Lucas joked, reaching over to grab my hand. I let him, and he tangled his fingers through mine, smiling this gentle smile like he was completely content in my company. Which was ridiculous. He couldn't be! I was the witch that was going to quite possibly break his heart. He just couldn't.

Before I got all down again, I struck up conversation and chattered happily about little, unimportant things all the way through the short meal. And then Lucas stood up and grabbed me, winding his arm loosely around my waist and sliding his hand into my back pocket. I stiffened, well aware that only two layers of material separated his hand from my butt, and then relaxed. Oh no, he didn't.

I reached over and did the same to him. He looked down at me, smiled, and winked. I just grinned cheekily back.

The ride to the stables, after we had stopped off at Lucas's house and gotten him worn jeans, an open checked shirt and white tee, was a short, happy one. We had a lot of rural farm around our little stretch of town, and the fields seemed to stretch on almost endlessly. Lucas seemed to know the owners, and we got the use of two horses in exchange for the keys of his Ferrari, as compensation. I thought he was crazy, and told him so, but he only rolled his eyes and said he had lots of them back at home and anyway, he wasn't planning on stealing the horse.