Innocents abroad (Modern day AU)

[Sara]

She blinked at the comment, (or was it a flirtation?), and watched him saunter off to the bathroom. Whatever drugs they had him on, she was not complaining and she found it mad that even after everything - including the beckoning reality that she'd caused him so much pain - he still gave her butterflies with words like that. She swallowed the lump in her throat and busied herself as he showered, tidying away loose bits and pieces on his floor space so he wouldn't trip in his drugged state, and filling up glasses of water to leave by his bed so he didn't have to get up to get one. 

She could be thoughtful when she so chose. 

As he came out, she blushed and looked back down at her phone from where she had been scrolling. Was he...coming onto her? Or just doing this torture her? Or was he really just oblivious? Could have been any of the above. She was determined to try and stick to the plan though, no matter how messed up it had become in the ensuing chaos of the fire...and the argument at the bar. 

"Thanks but I'll pass," She chuckled, "I didn't bring any other clothes and don't want to walk back into the evac centre in one of your lame Greenpeace t-shirts and boxers." But nor did she particularly want to leave, now she was here, back in his little world. Slouching back against the chair she eyed him. "I'm guessing you're too tired to talk more...? The way we left things yesterday...was not how I wanted things to go whenever I saw you again." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Thanks but I'll pass. I didn't bring any other clothes and don't want to walk back into the evac centre in one of your lame Greenpeace t-shirts and boxers."

"One, there's nothing lame about Greenpeace" Lucius noted, holding up a finger. He moved over to the bed to sit, noticing the small changes around the apartment and the water by the bed. The place did need some tidying up, but he had not really known Camilla to be the kind of person to actually do that. "Two, I have an assortment of NGO shirts, thank you."

And she would look cute in all of them

"I'm guessing you're too tired to talk more...? The way we left things yesterday...was not how I wanted things to go whenever I saw you again." 

Aaaand back to reality. Lucius sighed and flopped back on the bed. Yeah, he was tired. And foggy. 

"For the sake of argument, how did you want it to go?..."

@Sara

[Sara]

She watched him flop down and fought - and lost - the battle in her mind, so she stood up and moved to stand over him from where he had flopped, peering down to see his expression. 

"I don't know," she shrugged - liar, "I hadn't really planned on what to say," double liar. She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "I probably didn't want it to end with me crying and running out of a bar feeling sick with guilt, or you looking at me like I was a monster though." She arched a brow at him and moved to pull a dining room chair over opposite the bed so she could face him without standing. 

"I thought - I guess, that maybe we could be friends?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"I don't know. I hadn't really planned on what to say,"

Oh, she had. Even half-asleep Lucius knew that, because he had done it too. Planned thousands of conversations in his head for thousands of different scenarios of meeting her again. They ranged from hopeful and realistic to dumb as fuck.

"I probably didn't want it to end with me crying and running out of a bar feeling sick with guilt, or you looking at me like I was a monster though." 

Lucius opened his eyes to peer up at her as she sat by the bed.

"You're not a monster." He'd never really thought that. Bitch, sure. Oblivious? Definitely. Unintentionally cruel? Yup. But despite his best efforts, he did not actually hate her.

"I thought - I guess, that maybe we could be friends?" 

Lucius chuckled at that, closing his eyes again. "What would that even look like, princess?... We have pizza parties and you tell me about your married life?" he found the thought surprisingly amusing. It was probably the drugs.

@Sara

[Sara]

"No, I meant now," She clarified - irritated by his flippancy but not unused to it. She shifted in her chair and reached out to stretch her legs on the bed in front of her. "I knew after that argument we had you wouldn't be friends with me, hell even talk to me when I was still with Jacob. Which I guess is fair enough." Still hurt though. 

"But I thought now that I'd broken things off..." She shrugged, peering down at him as he closed his eyes and trying hard to resist  the urge to push hair from his face or run her fingers over his jaw. "But I guess I just never appreciated how it felt for you, so I get it now, I get why we can't be friends." She did. Even if she didn't want to, even if it upset her as it had done in the bar. "And I'm sorry." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"No, I meant now. I knew after that argument we had you wouldn't be friends with me, hell even talk to me when I was still with Jacob. Which I guess is fair enough."  

Fair enough. Lucius had run across the continent to get away from seeing her in their social circles, happily engaged. No, she was right, if she had married Jacob, he probably would have avoided her for the rest of his life. That whole thing was a public show he did not feel like subscribing to. "Yeah, probably."

"But I thought now that I'd broken things off... But I guess I just never appreciated how it felt for you, so I get it now, I get why we can't be friends. And I'm sorry." 

Lucius let out another sigh. His body was very much demanding to go to sleep now, but this was a conversation he wanted to stay awake for, out of courtesy if nothing else. Her apology sounded sincere this time. The words he'd blurted out had probably hit home to her. He opened his eyes to peer up at her again.

"So, why did you break it off, really?"

@Sara

[Sara]

She stared into his eyes as he opened them, feeling ashamed and sheepish and well...a bit of a mess. She ducked her face as she returned her legs, curling them up under herself in the chair. "Lots of reasons." She said with a sad smile and a weak shrug. 

It had been a slow burn, death by a thousand cuts really; "He...just wasn't what I wanted I guess. I just didn't realise it at first. He'd take me to all these fancy restaurants and dinners and drinks and things but he'd never ask if I enjoyed them, or if I wanted to go. It would be 'the car will pick you up at 7'. And then he'd travel so much for business, and when he missed my showcase..." She shook her head and looked genuinely upset, "I wouldn't care if he had a reason, an actual reason but he just wanted to play golf with his buddies. He didn't care about my achievements, I guess I realised, but he wanted me to care about his." Like being selected for the congressional race. "And then London," She sighed heavily now and glanced back up at Lucius finally, "He actually forbid me from going, you know, said that he needed me here for the campaign trail, said what was the point in studying abroad, that I wouldn't need a masters degree to be a housewife." She smiled thinly at him, and chuckled, "I guess that's when I realised that my five year plan was a load of shit and I didn't want to spend my life on somebody else's arm just there to fill a seat and look pretty." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Well, Jacob was a douchebag. No surprises there, really, anyone with a pair of eyes could have told her that years in advance. The urge to say 'told you so' was powerful, but Lucius fought it down. Not that he was too mature for that. He was just too tired.

Not letting her go to London though, to make her a housewife instead? That was some 1950s shit right there. Lucius huffed, his eyes closed.

"I guess that's when I realised that my five year plan was a load of shit and I didn't want to spend my life on somebody else's arm just there to fill a seat and look pretty." 

"Good for you, princess." he smirked. That plan had been shit to begin with. Again, he was not going to point that out. "The whole plan, though? I'm sure there are some other rich political men out there who'd know how to appreciate you. Jacob was just a bad catch."

@Sara

[Sara]

She chuckled, "You're right, maybe I'll go for a democrat next time." But she sighed as soon as she finished speaking. Everything she thought she wanted from her life, as it turned out, she didn't want. She was having a mid-life crisis about twenty five years too early. 

"But not this year. This year is a me year, no men, no pressure." She smiled triumphantly even if his eyes were closed and couldn't see it. "I need to reapply to London in the fall, but before that I get a year to figure shit out and figure I'm best doing that on my own...right?" She asked, given that seemed to be precisely what he was doing himself. And had been doing, for several years. What she didn't say, of course, was that one man was most definitely exempt from the 'no men' rule. If only he wanted her back. 

She sighed and peered down at him, leaning forward to inspect his face. "I'll go, and you can enjoy your painkiller dreams." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"You're right, maybe I'll go for a democrat next time." 

"Conviction. I like it" Lucius muttered with a smirk, eyes closed. She definitely had the makings of a formidable politician wife. If that was what she really wanted to do.

"But not this year. This year is a me year, no men, no pressure. I need to reapply to London in the fall, but before that I get a year to figure shit out and figure I'm best doing that on my own...right?" 

"Right." no men. Well, this particular one was rapidly falling asleep against his better judgment. But Camilla was being her own woman, and at least she did not come out and say she'd dumped Jacob for him. Because that would have been... wrong?

"I'll go, and you can enjoy your painkiller dreams." 

"ycanstay" he muttered, half asleep. "done nough good, p'cess. Ngonna make you sleep at the center..."

She could decide what to do, but she was on her own. The painkillers had finally won the battle.

@Sara

[Sara]

And stay she did. But the adrenaline hadn't worn off quite as quickly for her as it did for him. She went for a smoke first, sitting on the steps of his building with her secret stash of Marlboro's which she always needed to clear her head. She wasn't going to go back to the centre (but she did ring them to make sure her luggage was stashed - that shit was expensive). When she finally made it back upstairs, he was so sound asleep she was pretty sure that an earthquake - or more aptly - another fire wouldn't have woken him up. 

She rifled through his belongings to find one of his famed NGO t-shirts and settled on one from some charity in Greece she'd never heard of. Plucking it, and a pair of shorts from the 'clean' pile, she hopped into the shower. Even being nowhere near the fire she still stank of smoke and she stayed in the water until it ran cold and she was shivering. Whens he finally re-emerged into the main room, it was only then that she realised there wasn't a couch. She glanced at the bed. He was under the covers now at least, but the towel that had been covering him had been tossed to the floor and much as the lesser part of her brain wanted her to hop right into bed and pick up where they'd left things in his apartment  that day, sense told her he probably wouldn't react too kindly. If she wanted him, she had to do it on his terms. Frustrating though it was. 

Instead, she looked around for inspiration. She wasn't about to sleep on the floor like a cat, and so instead dragged the four dining room chairs together, fashioning them into a sort of bench next to his bed, facing him. Good job she was slim and not a deep sleeper because as she led down on her makeshift bed (with a pillow and blanket stolen from a cupboard), she very nearly rolled off. Mercifully though, the wine she'd downed (purloined from his cupboard) was excellent at helping her drift to sleep. 

She didn't wake up again until she heard movement in the room and the sound of some irritated people on the street having an argument about a car or something; "Shut uuuup." She mumbled sleepily. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

Edited July 19, 2021 by Sara

[Chevi]

Lucius had no idea how long he'd slept. He registered there was light outside, but his brain was foggy enough to lose track of whether it was morning or afternoon. It definitely felt like he had slept for ages. The painkillers were wearing off and his arm was throbbing. He moved it, and heard the telltale sound of plastic. Damn, he had forgotten to take the garbage bag off.

He turned to sit up in bed and started picking at the tape before he realized he was not alone. There was a strange contraption by his bed, four chairs with Camilla on top, wearing... one of his shirts and shorts. Lucius blinked. She stayed? Sleeping on chairs? In his clothes? That was... new.

Needing time to absorb this information, he returned to picking at the tape on his arm until he managed to unwrap it and take off the plastic. It was not a pleasant process, and he winced in pain. "Fuck." Somewhere outside in the street people started up a fight about something. Camilla stirred on the chairs. How did she even stay up there? It looked like she was going to roll off any minute.

"Shut uuuup." 

Lucius chuckled. Leave it to her to sleep on someone's chairs (and... drink someone's wine?) and complain about the noise.

"Morning, princess."

@Sara

[Sara]

"Morning." She mumbled sleepily into the fabric of the chair beneath her. She had slept terribly - as anybody could have predicted - and her back felt like it had been snapped in two. She really should have gone back to the centre, at least there there had been a bed. And a pillow. And coffee. Oh god she needed coffee. 

She remembered mornings like this from 'the time before', before the argument and the tears and the silence. He always made perfect coffee, how he managed it she didn't know. And she'd curl into his chest and scroll on her phone and there'd be teasing and then there'd be...well...probably better not to think about that when he was 3 foot away and naked, and you were supposed to be being chivalrous and such. 

Curling up into a sort of a ball on the chairs she stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. "How's the arm? Healed enough to make me a coffee?" she grinned sleepily and squinted at him fuzzy, sleepy eyes.

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

Those chairs could not have been comfortable. At all. She looked cute though, curled up like that. And kind of hilarious to see that kind of chivalry from her. The old Camilla would have kicked him out of bed before she slept on any chairs.

"How's the arm? Healed enough to make me a coffee?" 

There she was.

"Sure, make the drugged up invalid make you coffee" Lucius shook his head with a chuckle. His head was clearer now, despite the pain. Sleep worked wonders. He moved to get out of bed, but paused when he realized he was naked under the covers, and cleared his throat. "But... um, since you seem intent on preserving my innocence..." he gestured at himself, the bed, and the chairs she was sleeping on "Er, you should turn around." And hopefully not fall of the chairs.

@Sara

[Sara]

"Pfft," She protested as she attempted to roll herself over so she was facing the backs of the chairs. It took a couple of minutes as they wobbled underneath her, "As if I'd want to look." She did. Desperately so. How could she not when she missed him and was reminded quite clearly from what she did see as he slept, that he hadn't lost any of his looks in their absence from one another. 

Speaking of which, she winced into the blanket. She'd made so much effort to make her new (hated) haircut look good that first day when she ran into him, and done a classy 'understated but glam' makeup look, and planned her outfit intensely with mood boards and everything that compared to that, she bet she looked like shit right now. And she didn't particularly want to put on her gross smokey two-day old clothes again. Calling out to him - still facing the backs of the chairs, away from him; "I don't suppose you have any clothes here from a current or ex-girlfriend that I could borrow...?" She stifled another yawn. She was not a morning person.

 

TAG: @Chevi

 

 

[Chevi]

"Pfft. As if I'd want to look." 

She did turn away, and Lucius crawled out of bed, finding himself boxer shorts and a t-shirt, which was about as far as he was willing to go with one arm in a cast right now. It was not lost on him that she was wearing his stuff too. And being kinda moody about the whole, very un-princess-like situation.

"I don't suppose you have any clothes here from a current or ex-girlfriend that I could borrow...?" 

"In what world would it be a good idea to give you a dress from my current girlfriend?" Lucius laughed, shaking his head at the idea as he moved to the kitchen to start up the coffee machine. "Also, look around, Sherlock. Does this place look like I have a girlfriend?" It didn't even look like he had... his life together. As is. "... You look fine."

@Sara

[Sara]

In what world would it be a good idea to give you a dress from my current girlfriend? She felt sick. So he did have a girlfriend. Why was she fucking here?! Was she hotter than her? She supposed she was smarter, probably some blonde, hippy Ivy League chick who smoked weed and helped the dolphins or whatever. But as soon as the nausea washed over her, just as quickly it dissipated with 'does this place look like I have a girlfriend', although she couldn't stop herself and blurted out; "So you don't?" Way to play it cool, Camilla. 

Thank God he couldn't see her face, and see her cringe. "I look fine for sleeping," She mumbled, covering herself up more with the blanket despite the heat, "Not so much for walking around Sacramento. Can I turn around yet?" She was cramping up and wanted to get off these shitty chairs before her back actually broke in two. 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

 "So you don't?"  

"Nope." he had not had a girlfriend since... well, Camilla had not really been his girlfriend either. He had hooked up a few times, but nothing really stuck. He was not sure he wanted it to either.

"I look fine for sleeping. Not so much for walking around Sacramento. Can I turn around yet?"

"Oh. Yeah." he was already in the kitchen, scavenging for clean mugs and starting up the coffee. "Also, you have clearly not been around Sacramento enough if you worry about walking around in a t-shirt." he added with a chuckle. While the coffee brewed, he located his bottle of pills, and took a painkiller with some water. Hopefully it would kick in soon. "Hungry?"

@Sara

[Sara]

Yay! She grinned. No girlfriend. No stupidly clever, annoyingly nice blonde girlfriend to compete with. I mean, sure, she felt bad - she wanted him to be happy, but looking like he did and with his personality and intellect, if Lucius wanted a girlfriend he could get one. So in her mind, he did not want one. Excellent. 

Grumbling, she pushed herself up from her constructed bed with a wince. Every muscle in her back ached and then she glanced up to him, the purple of the bruise still showing above the cast and felt bad. She wasn't in that much pain. "Yeah but I can cook." Bad scrambled eggs and toast and cereal was about the extent of it, mind.

She pushed herself to stand on wobbly legs and stifled another yawn as she meandered to the kitchen. For a moment she forgot herself and it felt like old times. She even nearly reached out to wrap an arm around him for a good morning cuddle when she stopped herself, arm in mid air and dropped it down with an awkward cough.

Fuck being tired, it made her an idiot.

"Um, do...do you have to go back to the doctors today?" She decided to distract herself by rummaging in his paperwork, "What follow up do you need?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Yeah but I can cook." 

She finally got up, looking about as well rested as he had been the day before. Her new haircut was a mess too, and she looked smaller in his clothes. There was something familiar about her being in his apartment like this. And also something that made his heart ache. They were never going back to the way things used to be.

"Well, unless you can also make groceries appear, we are down to oatmeal and cereal."

"Um, do...do you have to go back to the doctors today? What follow up do you need?"

"Not today" he shook his head "Next week, probably." If he decided to. Those doctors were already overloaded with work. "How about you? Any new flights you can catch for your vacation?"

@Sara

[Sara]

"Well it's a good job I'm excellent at pouring cereal and milk then, isn't it?" She retorted back with a smug smile and started to hunt through cupboards for the promised cereal. Gross. Own brand. She also rummaged for some bowls, leaving the paperwork to the side for a moment. How did this man have such little...stuff? It boggled her. "You have a hundred books but no bowls? Priorities, man..." She mumbled to herself more than him. 

As he spoke, she kept her head down, hunting. Way to make a girl feel wanted, Lucius. Then she stopped that train of thought right there - there's a reason he doesn't want you, you hurt him. She did and she needed to own it. Sulking that he wasn't running into her arms like some lovesick hero wasn't going to help anything, was it. Giving up on finding any bowls, she sighed and moved back to lean against the fridge. "Coffee?" 

Plucking a stray hair from her - his - top she shrugged. "Still no rental cars, but there's flights out of Sacremento now apparently. But I bet they'll all be booked up now - so it might be worth just waiting a bit. That's sensible, right? Besides, you need a carer and somebody to entertain you given y'know, you can't work or do anything with one hand." 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

"Well it's a good job I'm excellent at pouring cereal and milk then, isn't it?... You have a hundred books but no bowls? Priorities, man..." 

Camilla hunted through the cupboards. Lucius was fairly certain he had bowls. A bowl. At least. Somewhere.

"My priorities are fine. Books before bowls."

"Coffee?" 

"Here." at least he had mugs. He poured some for her and some for himself, taking the milk out of the fridge in case she wanted some. He also got the cereal box, and managed to locate some paper bowls on one of the shelves. If she complained, she could go hunt food for herself. On his part, he moved all the stuff over to the table.

"Still no rental cars, but there's flights out of Sacremento now apparently. But I bet they'll all be booked up now - so it might be worth just waiting a bit. That's sensible, right? Besides, you need a carer and somebody to entertain you given y'know, you can't work or do anything with one hand." 

"I can do many things with one hand, thank you" he stated, and realized too late that came out... questionable. He cleared his throat. "You don't need to play nurse just because you feel guilty. I'm an adult."

@Sara

[Sara]

She choked a laugh, a genuine laugh, at his poorly phrased words and grinned as she heaped teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar into her milky coffee. 

She wasn't, however, hearing that he was asking her to leave. Implying it sure, but he hadn't actually said 'Camilla Birch - fuck off, will you?' which in her books meant she was still in with a chance. She just had to make it up to him...somehow. How did one pay damages for a broken heart, a cross country move, and effectively forcing him to run into fire to avoid his problems resulting in a broken arm? A drink probably wasn't going to cut it. 

"I know," She said with a sigh, and moved to the table next to him, dragging one of his chairs from her bed contraption so she could sit cross legged on it as she ate her bland cereal and sipped her disgusting coffee. "But I like spending time with you, and," She shrugged, "I... " She cleared her throat, "I might have had an ulterior motive for coming out here." I mean, it was obvious but she figured if he was instant she left, or that he wasn't going to play ball, maybe she needed to be honest? Maybe that's what he wanted from her? "And I get it, I get that you don't really want to see me or hang out, or try and be friends or more than that, I get it, and that's totally fair." She shrugged again and turned back to her coffee, "But you can't blame me for trying, can you?" 

 

TAG: @Chevi

[Chevi]

As far as Lucius knew, nothing in this situation was up to Camilla's standards. Not the coffee, not the breakfast, not the kitchen or the entire apartment. And not him, either.

"I know. But I like spending time with you, and, I... I might have had an ulterior motive for coming out here."

Lucius looked up from his bowl. He... had suspected, some of that, but he did not expect her to come out with it at all. Camilla liked to stick to her guns once she'd made a decision, even if it was a bad one. And she didn't usually admit to being wrong. Or lying.

"And I get it, I get that you don't really want to see me or hang out, or try and be friends or more than that, I get it, and that's totally fair. But you can't blame me for trying, can you?" 

Could he? He blamed her for a lot of things. The reasonable part of him knew that it took two people to go into an affair, but the way it ended, that had been on her terms, even if it had been him who said it out loud. More than that. Did she... fly out all the way here to...?

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he sighed, looking at her. "You break off your engagement, because Jacob's a jerk, and then show up here. Why do I feel like I'm still competing with him?..."

Was he Option B in this situation? Expected to do better than the other guy?...

@Sara

[Sara]

She shook her head and set down her spoon, but kept one hand on her coffee. "I broke off my engagement because I knew Jacob wouldn't make me happy. You make me happy, that's not a competition." It should never have been a competition, but she was scared. 

She knew Lucius would never see it like that - and begrudgingly she didn't blame him for it - he lived his life exactly on his terms, doing exactly what he wanted when he wanted. That was odd to her, and strange and she couldn't do that. Or she didn't think she could. She'd had tastes of it though with him - in Rome, their first day together, on the fire escape at the gala dinner, every date when he took her to somewhere she'd never have gone otherwise or new experiences she'd never have tried otherwise. As it  turned out, she enjoyed all of it - but when faced down with the barrel of a gun in the form of an engagement ring, she'd panicked. What if it didn't work out with Lucius? How would she explain it to her parents? What if Jacob could change? What if he became more interesting? 

"My dad told me not to come out here, he told me to get a job in New York, he was going to introduce me to some of his friends' sons. I said no and flew out anyway. I'm trying." It sounded so pathetic, but she really was trying. Not to be different but just...to be her. 

 

TAG: @Chevi