Lucian waited for her. He had considered getting her more flowers, but thought that might be a bit too much, considering he just got her some. He had packed a few drinks, while she had been getting some of the food. He glanced back at the cooler in the backseat.
Morrigan approached the car, making sure that both her sleeves were safely tugged down before tapping on the car window to get his attention.
Lucian looked over at the window and unlocked the door. Once Morrigan was inside he draped both hands across the sterring wheel and smiled. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she returned, offering a small but genuine smile. “How’re you?”
“I’m alright, how are you?” Lucian asked Morrigan. He looked over and kept the smile on his lips.
“I’m good,” she answered, adding on mentally. Confused, too. What are we, Lucian? “I brought all the food. Sandwiches, muffins, fruit salad.”
Lucian nodded his head at that. “Sounds good. And I brought some differnet drinks- mostly just waters and sodas,” he added.
“Sounds great.” And it did, she had been admittedly excited for it all night. “How’d you sleep?”
Lucian reached up to brush his thick hair back a bit before nudging his glasses up as well. “I slept pretty good. How about you?”
Morrigan’s eyes followed the movement of his fingers, giving the tiniest, involuntary yawn. “I slept.. okay.”
Lucian tilted his head a little bit. “So you’re still a bit tired?” He asked.
“Mm,” Morrigan affirmed, a twinge of nervousness forming in her stomach. She said nothing else, lest she gave too much away, biting her lip nervously.
Lucian nodded his head slowly. “I won’t keep you out too long, then. You should take a nap when you get back home,” he recommended.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me,” Morrigan assured, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “But thank you. Which park are we going to?”
Lucian put the car into drive and pulled out onto the road. “There’s a nice park a few miles down the road. Has lots of nice, open areas.”
“Sounds great.” Morrigan bit back an unusually large grin, turning her head to look out the window. It was strange, how comfortable she was slowly becoming around him— there was no panic left and barely any fear or apprehension. She guessed that it was probably because of how careful he was being, as well as the fact that he’d punched the man at the coffee shop. Still, he could be acting, but if she was being honest, Morrigan was tired of being suspicious. For once, she just wanted to relax and lay back, give genuine smiles without being afraid.
She’d taken another chance and only worn a very thin layer of makeup, and beneath her black sweater, she had a long sleeve black top embroidered with various flowers. It had been sitting, untouched, in her closet for a while, since wearing flowers wasn’t really her thing, but after Lucian’s gift, she’d decided to give it a go.
Lucian drove with both hands on the wheel like usual. He stole a quick glance at Morrigan, and a small smile played on his lips. “You look really beautiful today,” he commented before quickly adding on. “Not that you don’t look beautiful every day- you get what I mean.”
Her gut clenched at the compliment at the same time that her heart skipped a beat. “Thank you,” she told him, surprised at her own shyness. “I appreciate it— I’m sorry that I don’t give you many compliments.”
Lucian gave a small shrug in response to that. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” he said. After a few more minutes of driving, he pulled up to the park and parked in a parking spot. He turned off the car and unbuckled before getting out. He got into the backseat and grabbed the cooler.
Morrigan emerged from the car carrying the large basket, enjoying the feeling of the sun playing on her skin.
Lucian brushed his hair back from his forehead again and walked over to Morrigan. “We can go over to the little field over there. It might be easier to eat in that more open area.”
“Sounds good,” she agreed, walking closer to him than strictly necessary. Then, for some reason, she thought of his dead fiancée, and a sadness entered her eyes.
Lucian had noticed Morrigan was walking closer to him. He resisted the urge to reach down and hold her hand. He wouldn’t unless she told him that he could. He did notice the sadness as well. “Is everything okay?” He asked.
“Everything’s great,” Morrigan told him, turning her head to face him. “What about you?”
Lucian blinked a few times. Maybe he saw wrong? “Yeah, I’m great,” he responded with a small smile.