Well, the welcome home was fine and River and Haruo got themselves thawed out after greeting the kids home from university and everyone all went to sleep. The next morning, as usual, River and Haruo were the first ones up. River had an early morning cup of brewed java so that she could start the day perky and ready to hit the tasks that needed to get done.
...and everyone trickled in to get their morning meal. That kitchen got crowded really quick. Mornings were always a bit tricky and things weren't always bright and shiny, especially since Aidan had actually stepped on a raw nerve of Alanna's. Oops.
It was probably a good idea that he vanished for a while.
River decided to crack open a book and study some logic.
A long-time friend of Aidan's from military school, Mara McRaney showed up at the door and well, she was invited in. They had been in contact via e-mail for quite some time. And evidently she'd known about the infatuation that Aidan had had for Alanna. She'd had one of her own with Aidan. She'd talked with him through that heartbreak that he'd had when Alanna had outright rejected him, even though she felt like a dagger had been pushed through her own. Ah, men were dense. :D We never know what a woman is thinking. We're usually about five to ten steps behind. That's why when you ask us what where we want to go for dinner, we usually go: "Huh...what?" Our brains can only handle one thought at a time; and what you're usually thinking about is lightyears ahead of what we are.
So, Aidan asked Mara if she would like to go downstairs and play a game of pool. So that's where they headed.
Aidan flipped a coin to start things off. Mara picked heads, Aidan picked tails; it landed tails, so Aidan got the break.
Mara was a no-nonsense kind of a gal, that coming from having gone to military school with Aidan. Mara had gone into the business side of things working at Doo Peas Business Tower.
"Nice break..." she called out to Aidan and gave him a rather sultry wink that caused Aidan to miss his next shot. That girl was a sneaky one. She knew his buttons really good.
...and that was all she wrote, because Mara proceeded to mop the pool table with Aidan. She sank pool ball after pool ball and ultimately won the game. Mouth hanging open, Aidan protested, feebly, but with a sense of humor about his whole rear-kicking. "No fair, that was..." he trailed off.
"Dirty pool?" Mara smirked at him.
She moved closer to him and Aidan got lost in those eyes.
...and he thoroughly, utterly forgot everything about being dumped by Alanna because he could see nothing but Mara; and how his classmate looked. How had he never seen her like this before?
Yeah, he was hooked, lined...and sunk.
No comments:
Post a Comment