Am I going to be able to get all of this stuff into her car without making it break down? Not that I believe in curses, but there’s obviouslysomethinggoing on with me today, and the last thing I need is to destroy my mate’s car.
The wyvern sent him a mental image of him carrying the table, ice box, sacks of lemon peels, and various sundries back to Diana’s house like a pack mule, and Calvin studiously ignored it. Not that he wouldn’t be willing to do that, of course, but he knew that Diana would never allow it.
He supposed that it was possible that the curse –I’m just going to think of it like that from now on– only affected objects that he touched. Diana’s fan had been working up until the moment he touched it, after all.
So as long as he could manage to get the items into the car without physically touching it, it would be fine.
Probably.
With that in mind, he set to carefully sliding the folded-up table into the trunk, taking the utmost care not to touch anything as he did so.
“Oh, you don’t have to be so gentle with this old rust bucket,” Diana laughed. “After everything it’s been through, getting knocked around by a table is the least of its concerns.”
“All the more reason to be careful with it,” Calvin replied, as he carefully stepped back. He would have really loved to offer to give the car a little TLC and get it back to its best at some point, but right now, he couldn’t even touch it. He’d have to save the offer for later.
If there is a later. I really hope there’s a later.
Examining the area, Calvin nodded. Everything had been successfully tidied up, a few scrapes in the dirt and his backpack the only signs that anyone had ever been here.
“Done.”
“Thank you so much,” Diana said fervently, the pinkness in her cheeks and thin sheen of sweat on her forehead from all the exertion almost making her glow. She bit her lip.
“Um, so, are you going to hop in?”
He blinked. “Hop in?”
“I mean, I can’t just let you go wandering around when I spilled lemonade all over you,” Diana said, her words getting faster and starting to run together. “The least I can do is take you home and get your shirt off. I mean,” she stuttered, her cheeks turning a more interesting shade of pink, “please come back to my place and get yourself washed off. Then I’ll let you go. It’s not like you’ll be a prisoner or anything. Ha ha! I mean… that wasn’t meant to sound like a threat. Because it wasn’t! I promise! You know, I think I’m just going to stop talking now.”
Calvin stared, feeling the slightest hint of burning in his own cheeks – was this what it felt like to blush? – and somewhere behind him, he thought he heard Ash give the tiniest of sighs. It was the most rebellious thing Calvin had heard out of him yet.
Poor kid,he thought.We should put him out of his misery.
Diana fidgeted, looking like she wanted the earth to swallow her up.
And Calvin wanted to take her up on the offer – really, there was nothing in the world he wanted more.
But if he got in the car, it would potentially die a swift and brutal death. And he wasn’t about to do that to her.
As his eyes flickered down to the windows, he recognized his salvation.
“I don’t think I’d fit,” he said.
And it was true – it was a small car to begin with, and it was now packed to the brim with lemonade-making paraphernalia. Throw in his not inconsiderable height, and the massive backpack he was carrying… there was no way they were all fitting in.
Tell her that you will fly her and her progeny and animal companion back to her domicile!the wyvern roared.Do it, or doom us both to live in the eternal purgatory of a mateless existence!
I shall do no such thing,he snapped, even as the ideadidhold a strange allure.
He definitely didn’t want to miss out on his chance with Diana… but he also didn’t want to freak her out and cause the locals to report him to animal control. That didn’t feel like a good way to potentially start a relationship.
Maybe I can ask her to meet up later,he thought.Like a date.
The wyvern, at least, seemed to perk up at that thought.
“Oh…” Diana, on the other hand, was lookinga lotmore crestfallen about the idea that he wouldn’t fit in the car than the wyvern was. She leaned into the car, shoving at a few of the boxes in a way that wasn’t very effective at creating any kind of space. “I…I could shuffle some things around… I mean, Bella hasto go in the back as well, but I’m sure we could… well, I mean,maybe… or the backpack could –”
“It’s really not a problem,” Calvin said – and honestly, it was actually a bit of a relief to have a legitimate excusenotto get in the car. “I can just walk – I walked here, after all, and I’m pretty sure I can find my way with directions.”
