Ash poked Lucas. They’d been sitting at a park for a while and he’d withdrawn from conversation after…well…she didn’t really know. All she knew was that he was absorbed in sketching. She’d let him at it. In fact, he was only marginally aware of her having gotten up to get an ice cream cone from a nearby truck earlier. Per usually for her, she’d droned on and on, not wholly aware he wasn’t giving her his undivided attention.
“Luca?”
“Hmmm?” he queried, without looking up.
“You’ve stopped paying attention.” she shifted and looked at him, with a mixture or real and mock annoyance. “You didn’t even know I went and got an ice cream.” she pouted.
He sighed, and tucked his pencils and sketchbook away. “I’m sorry. It’s a bad habit.”
“I was talking to you about some new games I had tried, and then had been attempting to ask you what apartment you liked.”
“Ash, I’ll be okay with whatever you’re going to be happiest with. Honest.” he said, adding the last part when she screwed up her cute face in annoyance.
“But…rent…” she said, starting to worry.
“Ash, between what Donovan is paying you, and what he is paying me, we’ll be fine with one of the more upscale places. We’ll be able to afford it.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “Yes. We’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.” he smiled as she did, her usual bright, cheerful smile that he liked to see, but then a shadow of sorts crossed her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you sure you want to live with me and not Michael?”
“Yes, Miss Sunshine, I do. Michael and I are doing very well, but I don’t think either of us are ready for roommate level commitment. We can spend all the time we want together, but at the end of the day we are separate people.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” she said, sticking her tongue out at him as he took a playful swat at her.
“Is that all that’s bothering you?”
“Not really.” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t think Chris is into me like you guys were hoping.” she pointed out. “And I don’t think Mandy likes me much.”
“I’m not sure about that. I mean, I don’t know for sure, but she’s going through some tough spots with work, as I understand it.”
“How the hell difficult can it be working for some rich guy as a personal assistant?”
“I know you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada. I don’t know what industry her boss is in, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t stressful. I know her family situation is a touch stressful right now as well, but i don’t know the specifics on that one.”
He watched as she scrunched up that adorable face of hers in thought. “Well…maybe.” she said, trailing off. But as was typical, the negative thoughts didn’t last long. She ate the last of her ice cream and clapped her hands excitedly as a thought occurred to her. “Let’s go look at that one place I said had what I thought would make a great game room. If I’m happy with it, we can sign papers and hen go shopping?”
“Looking at the apartment I’m fine with. But what exactly do you want to shop for?”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re going to need all kinds of things for our new place, silly. Kitchen stuff, things for people to sit on, beds, dressers, curtains…oh! and for the game room I’m going to need a big tv, and some new controllers, and…”
He just smiled and nodded as she excitedly went on and on. He occasionally checked the time on his phone, and when it got to be around two in the afternoon, he cut her off. “Sunshine, we should go look at that place – there aren’t many business hours left in the day.”
“Right!” she said, and stood up. She looked over to him and reached down, pulling him up, and handed him his bag. “You’ve got the car, mister! Let’s-a go!” she said, raising a fist into the air.
He shook his head and laughed before they headed back to the car. He double-checked the address of the place she was talking about, and made his way there so they could look at a unit again. The had initially looked at a two bedroom, but he inquired about a three bedroom, and that’s when she did the Happy Sunshine Squee and fell in love with the place. Upon returning to the office they signed paperwork, and were promised that the apartment would be ready within the week.
Ash was on cloud nine as they headed back to Lucas’ apartment. “We should celebrate! With, like, chinese! Or poutine! Or…”
He laughed. “Sunshine, I think we’ll just pick up something on the way back. We can watch a movie or you can play a game on whatever system you have with you and relax for the night, ok?”
“Spoil sport. Tired?”
He shook his head. “No….just I’m generally more in an on call kind of status in the evenings and I don’t want to leave you stranded in a city you aren’t familiar with.”
“Ah, Luca…ever the gentleman.” she said with a smile, laying her head on his shoulder for a moment as he drove. She didn’t keep it there, however, letting him focus on the road. They picked up some fast food, and headed back to his apartment, where he bade her to look for something to watch while he grabbed the day’s mail. She looked through what few movies he and his mother owned before resorting to what was available to stream.
They were both secret suckers for Disney and Pixar, so she looked for anything put out by them, preferably live-action, finally settling on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and waited for Lucas to get back so they could get started.
============
Nico looked around her new apartment and sighed. There was still a lot left to unpack, but, everything was in the apartment, and her cat, Lovecraft, was twining around her ankles in a bid for attention, so she ignored the work in front of her and bent down to scoop him up and cuddle him. He was a sleek black cat whom she felt sure thought himself a mighty panther. She gave him all the cuddles and scritches he wanted, before letting him down and making sure his litterbox, food, and water were in order.
First things first, she was going to get her bedroom in order. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about it while she was exhausted and wanting sleep. She didn’t put everything in order – just set up and made her bed and unpacked some of her clothes before moving to the small alcove where she set up her writing station. She had just finished putting her new desk into place, when her phone rang. Of course, it was her parents checking to make sure she had made it safely to New Orleans, and then they talked school with her.
Talking to them had tired her out. They meant well, they always did, but they worried too much, she felt. They were proud of her, of course. She had recently written a novel, and had published it independently. It had done surprisingly well for her first foray into the misty genre that could be called paranormal romance or urban fantasy. Prior to the novel, she had written a few non-fiction handbooks, mainly for the coven she had left behind back in Maine.
With a yawn, she shuffled through the takeout menus she had been handed when she signed her lease, and placed and order for some basic southern comfort style food. Afterward, she flipped through a course catalog for Tulane University, where she was thinking of attending school to continue her education. She’d already managed an Associate’s in English, and meant to try for a Bachelor’s, and maybe even go to a Master’s in the same subject, depending on how well her writing continued to do.
Moving is a pain in the ass she thought as she ate. It was worth it though. New Orleans was a city full on energy, and she was excited to peek into it’s mystical corners and learn new things to incorporate into her practice. With renewed vigor after eating, she worked on unpacking her kitchen with a break to play with Lovecraft. When she felt enough had been done for the day, she sat at her desk and turned the computer on, in order to make a blog post on her author site.
Hello fans!
Thanks for making my new book a big hit! The reviews keep coming in, and you’re all saying such nice things, I can’t help but blush! For those wondering why so long between updates? Well….I’ve gone ahead and moved! No longer am I subject to the wilds of Maine. Instead, I find myself in the richly historic Louisiana! I’m no Anne Rice, but I hope to entertain you just as much all the same!
Feel free to drop me a comment or a bit of fan mail – I’ll try to get to you! For now I need to finish unpacking, and get my pretty little ass registered for Tulane. Happy reading!
Nikki
(btw, Lovecraft does, as usual, needed to butt in and make sure you don’t forget about him!)
She stretched and smiled. Ideas were forming for a follow up novel, so she worked on jotting them down in brief outlines, until Lovecraft yowled loudly at her to let her know he thought it was bedtime. With a laugh she reached down to give him scritches, locked her front door and closed the blinds, then headed to bed. Who knew what the days to come would bring?
============
*Note: I updated our character gallery with pics for Ash and Nikkic