Dragon Lover | B X B X B X B

31

Florence

"I'm going to be staying at the hotel tonight." I said slowly, hoping to god she wouldn't find anything wrong with it. Of course, if I were her I'd be questioning a lot. She noticed zoe had been crying just earlier today and now I was suddenly staying at a hotel? She probably thought I was avoiding home. That I was avoiding her.

"The hotel?" She echoed, her tone a mixture of both worry and confusion. I cringed at the thought of her lost face as I twiddled my thumbs and ticked the hotel phone between my ear and my shoulder. "Y-Yeah. I just have a few things to do here and I thought I might as well stay here."

There was a brief loop of silence. It was a cruel, saddening quietness that made me feel slightly queasy. "I hope you're not avoiding coming back." She uttered just barely above a whisper. My last intention was to make her think I was avoiding home yet apart of me knew the atmosphere there would be unnerving. I had created my own blackhole, sucking in almost all feeling and emotion leaving me with nothing but tiredness. In the time between the festival and the mausoleum visit it only grew wider and wider but now that I was out of there and with them... I didn't feel like going back.

"I-I'm not!" I assured her. "Please believe me. I promise I'm not avoiding you or the house I-I just need a break." Once again she left nothing but silence. The white noise along with the ringing slowly getting louder didn't help to ease me either. "Ok. Check in with me every hour, okay Florence? A-And don't you dare get into trouble. I don't want to have to fire you." She joked and that alone helped ease the awkward tension we had out between each other.

"Of course. I'll see you soon." I quickly said as I noticed Remus who was patiently waiting for me. The sight of him and a ticked off Rian right behind had me hovering over the end call button. "Keep safe. I love you, Flo." She beamed, the smile evident in her voice. "Love you too," I whispered before hanging.

As I hooked the phone back in it's spot I felt a very rapid blush creeping up my neck. It was weird having them listen to me say 'I love you' and ever more strange that they both wore blushes as well.

"W-What?" I questioned. They both looked at each other as if one of them had the answers to my very easy question.

"Uh, nothing." Rian grumbled before snatching a packet of popcorn off the table and practically shoving it in my face. "You said you'd make us this popcorn shit half an hour ago!" He complained. I scoffed, snatching the packet out of his hands. "Not my fault you're too stupid to make it yourself," I quipped playfully.

At this point I knew, by default, that Rian was an asshat. Although at one point it might've been genuine I could tell more and more he was shedding the hard outer layer that was this persona. Obviously he had his reasons and I didn't mean to pry but there was some solace in knowing that he felt comfortable around me. Around us.

He stammered for a comeback but Remus beat him to it. "What he meant to say was please." He gritted out as he handed me his own packet.

Remus wasn't quite the same as Rian, but they were similar. Whereas Rian acted like an asshat to everyone around him, Remus showed me there were other sides to him from the very first day we met. He could be threatening, he could be serious, he can act stupid in the fun type of way and he has the softest personality I'd ever seen someone harbour. It could be a little confusing at times to tell which form he decided to take but in the end we was always acting bashful towards me.

"Wow, great sucking up, Remus." Rian said with a slight eye roll. He drew a small growl from the man but the noise was easily ignored.

I wanted to show them the wonders of popcorn yet I had other pressing matters to take care of; Eurus. I'd suspected he had woken up by now but I wasn't too sure. A little checkup was in order.