Page 80 of Lucy and Her Wicked Three

She shakes her head, so I throw some cash on the table and we walk out. We make it three blocks, not realizing we're walking in the opposite direction from our apartment. I nudge her shoulder.

"Hey, you need to get back for anything?"

She shakes her head, "No, why?"

"Come on, I want to take you somewhere." Holding her hand, we walk down the sidewalk in comfortable silence. Lucy drops cash and loose change in a guy's guitar case as he serenades the busy street. I buy a hot dog from a street vendor. At first I was just going to eat it with a little ketchup and mustard, but Lucy's giving me that look where she's biting her tongue, to suggest we get something healthy like grilled chicken or turkey, so just to fuck with her, I add chili and cheese and onions. She's miming gagging as I wolf the whole thing down, leaving her laughing in a fit of tears.

"Oh my god, I'm never kissing that mouth," she teases.

"Oh, Lucy, baby, you are gonna fucking get it now," I growl, wrapping my hand around the back of her head, kissing her hard.

She shrieks and laughs, but kisses me back, making a point to wipe her tongue after I release her.

We wander toward the waterfront, where a small outdoor amusement park sits permanently at the edge of downtown, separating the waterfront district where Atrium is, to the midtown area, close to Sunrise Park, where Lucy likes to run. I buy her a cherry slushy and get tickets for the teacup ride.

If I were Noah, I'd do something slower and sweet and romantic, like the ferris wheel. Maybe he and I will come down here some night soon, before they close up for the winter.

But I'm not Noah. I'm not slow or sweet. I am romantic though, and when I finally convince Lucy to climb into the giant teacup, I get her to sit between my legs so she can clutch her drink, and I grip the metal bar and when the ride starts, I swing us around like a maniac.

Lucy's free and loose with her laughter, it echoes out into the night air. The ride ends too soon, and on shaky legs, we climb off, but not before I swat her ass because it looks so good in those jeans.

I don't give a shit if Lucy wears baggy workout shorts or leggings and a sweatshirt every single day, like she did those first few weeks when I met her. But I learned how far she'd fallen from her persona, and it reconciled my confusion when I noticed how different she looked in person from her videos.

I'm grateful to her friend Portia, because whatever she said to her to get her to do her hair or whatever to make it look nice, it made a difference, and Lucy started putting in effort again, which made her feel more confident. Another step forward, change that made her more stable. She could let her roots grow out, shave her head, get a million extensions. I don't care. I love her however she looks, but seeing her relaxed, stable and happy means the fucking world.

But I really love her in these jeans.

Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pull her close while we walk, making our way back out of the mini amusement park. "I love you, Lucy. I think I've been falling since we met." I say it casually, but her steps falter before she keeps walking, leaning closer against my chest.

"I love you too, Silas." Then she stops in front of me, making me look down into her bright blue eyes. Her brows are straight with almost no arch and downturn slightly, making her always look just a tiny bit sad. Even when she's jubilant and vibrant, chatting into the camera, it gives her so much depth.

"I feel like you woke me up, Silas. All three of you. You know how much I love Mateo, but being with Noah, being with you… you've filled this emptiness inside me. I feel you, in here," she taps her hand against her heart, "everyday. You're a part of me now. I don't ever want to let you go."

"You don't have to," I whisper against her temple, before pulling back. She's fucking stunning. So beautiful. "I want to paint you."

She grins, biting her lip. "I'd be honored. Your portrait work is… like, incomprehensibly good."

We keep walking and I laugh, "Wait, was that a backhanded compliment?"

She trips over her steps, coughing. "No! Oh my goodness, it sounded like one, didn't it? Dang, no, I didn't mean it like that. I just mean, you're like, inhuman. You see something for two seconds then you can just sketch it from memory, and it's like a photograph. It's beyond impressive."

"Well, in that case, thank you. Compliment accepted."

Lucy shakes her head, laughing. "All three of you are impressive. I'm kinda surprised Delaney's zeroed in on Mateo with those pictures, considering she's got shots of all your faces."

My feet stop abruptly. "Wait, what do you mean?"

She turns to face me. "The… you know… pictures? Of you? And Noah?" Her eyes widen, while mine narrow. Fidgeting in place, she looks appropriately uncomfortable. "Hah. Okay, so this is bad. I thought I told you. Shit, why did I forget? You know what! This is totally your fault, y'all are the ones who pulled out that spreader bar and emptied my brain. So, when you think about it…" She shrugs, blushing bright red, chewing on her lip, but won't meet my eyes. "It's really more your fault I forgot."

"Lulu… what pictures."

She huffs, then pulls out her phone and hands it over. I scroll through several candids of me, Noah and Mateo, all alone or together, many of us holding hands with or hugging Lucy. When I scroll to the top, I recognize one of the pictures. Further up, I see the ones that started all this, the ones with Mateo and Delaney.

"That lying bitch."

"What?" She asks, looking over my shoulder at the pictures she's already seen.

"This one," I point to the shot of me in front of the apartment. I've got my skateboard with me, and I'm looking back at the camera with a furrowed brow. "Delaney definitely took this. Remember when I told you I'd seen her in front of your place? I thought she was taking my picture. This is that picture. She took this."

---