Date

Date


Chapter Seventy-Five

Planning a date was one of the hardest things Lucian had ever done. Especially one that was just supposed to be an hour long. He was casually lying on his bedroom floor, laptop by his right, a tablet by his left and a notebook.
“So what are your plans?” Laura asked between a mouthful of cookies. Lucian stared at her hand for some seconds.
“I didn’t think a day would come when I would crave your home-made snacks,” he blurted and she froze. She blinked, processing the words before her cheeks coloured.
“Are you trying to provoke your boyfriend?” She looked closer into the screen, like she could somehow spot Artemis just by doing that. Lucian rolled his eyes with a low chuckle.
“He's not here. Been out all day,” he told her.
She moved back, looking at him properly this time. “After you get him back, maybe we could hang out and I’ll make some cookies for you both.”
Lucian chuckled. Yeah, that would not work. If only she knew the length Artemis went to keep him away from her. The boy was the physical manifestation of danger.
“If I had for a whole day, it’d be so much easier,” Lucian smiled to himself. “Now I don’t know which he would like the most.”
“What do you have there? Dinner? Ice cream? picnic?” Laura asked curiously. Lucian stared at her blankly for a second, before turning back to the paper.
“Oh.”
“What do you mean oh?” Laura gasped. “That is not on your list?”
“No?” He smiled awkwardly. “I didn’t think he had much interest in food.”
“Lucian!” She exclaimed. “What do you even mean by that?”
“For one, he’s a man…” Lucian started with a nervous chuckle. “I don’t think fancy dinners really do it for us. It’s more about the rush. Fun. Excitement.”
Laura did not understand what the man was saying. They've been on call for almost an hour and she’d watched him research and plan like he was doing a project. It was cute to see him so serious but she’d assumed he was busy checking out fancy resorts and restaurants.
She honestly couldn’t picture them doing anything else.
“So what’s on the list?”
“Uhm… let’s see…” he picked up the notepad. “Skydiving, scuba diving, racing, horse-riding, gaming, sip-and-paint for warmup, zip-lining, or maybe a helicopter tour? I thought of a cruise date too but I figured that could wait for when he wants a dinner date…”
“Excuse me, HOW RICH ARE YOU?!” Laura practically yelled. “I know I said you should be ready to spend money but a helicopter tour? Sky-diving? Cruise date? How much do you even earn at Kingston?”
Lucian let out a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as though only just realizing how absurd the list sounded when someone else read it aloud.
"I don't earn enough at Kingston to afford any of those," he admitted. "Not even close."
Laura narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Then?" There had to be an explanation for all the ridiculous things he mentioned. He was researching on his laptop all along so he clearly saw the prices.
"I... have savings." Was the only explanation he could offer. She didn’t need to know that this was little money compared to what he’d been earning since he was seventeen.
She stared at him, suspiciously hard. "Lucian, people with savings don't casually consider renting helicopters."
"They don't?"
"No!"
He looked genuinely puzzled for a moment before lowering his gaze to the notebook again. "I suppose my perspective is a little... skewed."
"A little?" Laura nearly choked on her own spit. This was just too much for her for her to process at once. "Professor, your idea of a casual date costs more than my rent. The only affordable thing you mentioned was sip-and-paint and what, horse-riding?"
Lucian smiled apologetically. "I hadn't thought about it that way."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Forget the money. Why are all your ideas so... dangerous?"
"They're not dangerous,” Lucian chuckled. They were very suited for Artemis’ personality and probably the only things that wouldn’t bore him to death.
"Skydiving?" She arched a brow.
"Statistically safe," he shrugged in response. The chances of falling to your death was well…less than two percent as long as your parachautes were working.
"Scuba diving?" She questioned.
"Professionally supervised,” he responded.
"Racing?"
"Car racing. I’m thinking of renting actual sports cars but it’s super safe, I promise. Closed circuit, remember?" At this point he was just trying to piss her off and it was worth every second of it.
"Helicopter?"
"The pilot flies it, Laura. Not me," he chuckled.
Laura could only stare at him. "You've actually done all these before, haven't you?"
“Not really,” he smiled. “But there’s a first time for everything right?”
He just wanted Artemis to have the most fun out of his day. He'd managed to convince Trevor to leave all the dirty work to him. Artemis needed space and peace. Being here was selfish of him but he didn’t want to leave only hurtful memories with Artemis.
Which was why he wanted to give it his best. Create beautiful memories and if Artemis still didn’t want him in the end, he would leave.
Almost on cue, his room door kicked open. Lucian turned to see Artemis by the door, fuming.
“Did I not tell you to do whatever you want in your room and leave the rest of my fucking house alone?” He seethed. “Who gave you the right to decorate MY house?”
At the same time, Laura gasped. “McAlester?” Her eyes were wide with shock. “Lucian, why are you and Artemis staying together?”