Flirting With Magick (16 page)

”Didn’t your charms work this time, mate?” Daniel said.

“What?” The puzzled voice that replied was familiar, as was the
figure that sat down next to me. “Oh, that was my brother’s girlfriend
.
You’ve met her before,” Scott explained to the group, who all responded
with equally blank stares. “He works at night, and all her friends decided
to stay out, so I gave her a lift home.” He shook his head at Daniel, who
was giving him a doubtful look. “Geez, man, I’m not Luke you kno
w.
I’ve dropped her off home heaps of times.” He scanned the array of
bottles and glasses on the table, oblivious to the glares directed at hi
m by Kate and Linda. “Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do.” He stood up again and headed to the bar.

“Are you having a good night?” he asked me when he returned, his
voice rather too cheerful in my opinion for someone who still ‘nee
ded to talk.’

“Yeah, thanks.” I said weakly. Then, remembering what Linda had
said, continued, “You guys sounded great tonight.”

I felt his eyes searching me. “Geez, you look wasted.”

That’s because I’ve been stressing out and ended up drinking more than
normal for the last three fucking hours, you prick.
Instead of saying what
I wanted to say to him, I grumbled, “It’s probably time I went home
.”
I said my goodbyes, pretending not to notice the confused look on Scott’s
face. The final shot had taken effect, and I stumbled in my attempt to get past him.

He caught me before I fell. “I guess I’d better take you home, too.”

“Don’t do me any favours,” I snapped, trying to push past again
and failing miserably. “Listen, Scott," I sighed, "I already apologised for
what I said before. I told you I didn’t mean it. So for you to be an arse-”

“I know, Abby. Are you still upset about that? I forgave you, didn
’t I
?” I shook my head. His eyes flicked from me to Kate and Linda, wh
o
were unsuccessfully trying to look like they weren't listening. “Oh,” the
penny dropped, “I’m sorry.“ He studied my face and chuckled, “God
, you’re smashed. You can’t even focus properly. Did you think I was still mad?”

I shrugged.

“I thought everything was cool, and you looked like you were having fun, so I was just talking to Claire and...”

“You said we’ll talk later,” I pointed out.

He laughed again. “I meant I’d see you after we’ve played. You know, like normal.”

“Oh, god.” I covered my face with my hands. Here I was worrying
over nothing. I could feel his chest moving with laughter as I rested my head on it to hide my embarrassment.

“Come on,” he said
once his amusement
waned. “I’ll take you home.”

***

I couldn’t stop giggling as I picked up my keys for the third time and tried to unlock my door.

“Here, let me.” Scott patiently took them from my hand and opene
d the door.

“I don’t normally drink this much.” I threw my bag on the couch and plopped myself down.

“I know,“ Scott said good-humouredly. “That’s the fourth time you’ve told me since we left the bar.”

“Oh, sor –“

“And there’s no need to say you’re sorry. It’s okay.” He got me a glass of water from the kitchen.

“
You are so good to me.” I gulped the cool, soothing liquid down.
“And to express my gratitude, I’ll do anything you want tonight. Just
name it.”

“Nah, I’d love to take you up on that, but
you’re just a teensy
bit drunk.”

“
It’s because I’m drunk that I’m offering. Better take it now beca
use this chance will never happen again.”

As we sat close together on the couch, I swore I could hear the cogs
turning in his brain. “Well...” He put his arm around me. “I won’t
complain if you take your clothes off.”

He smirked like he was joking, but I chose to ignore it and jumped
up. “I can do better than that.” I switched the radio on and began what
I thought to be a seductive striptease, although the amused smile on hi
s
face gave me the impression that my clumsiness was anything but sexy.

“
Stop laughing.” I scolded him, almost tripping over my trousers as
I stepped out of them.

“I’m not.” He protested. “This is great.”

By the time I got down to my underwear, his smirk had disappeared
, and his eyes were fixed on mine. I ran my fingers through my hair,
strutted over to him, and gave him a lap dance-– well, my version of on
e,
aided both by the alcohol and what I could remember from the movies.

“No touching,” I whispered in his ear when his hands moved
towards my swinging hips, which were just inches above him, “You know the rules.”

His heavy breathing and the bulge in his trousers proved that my
movements were achieving the desired effect. “That. Was. Awesome,”
he said when I was finished, then looked concerned. “You’re not going
to throw up are you?”

***

I woke up alone and, assuming Scott had left quietly again, not
wishing to disturb me, walked into the kitchen. As I had half expected
, he had left another note:

Gone to get breakfast. If you're up, could you please make coffee?

I smiled to myself and put on the kettle, then pulled a chair into the
kitchen so I could reach for the plunger I reserved mainly for dinner parties and an unopened bag of ground coffee.

"I got muffins." He announced his return. "And the paper." He gave
me a sympathetic look. "How’s your head?”

“It’s been better, but not too bad.”

“Good." He kissed my forehead. "Good job not throwing up last
night; you looked a bit close a couple of times.” He smiled.
“Should we just
sit on the floor?" He went into the living room, and I joined him soon after, placing a hot mug of strong coffee next to him.

"May I?" I pointed to the paper as he had his hands full. I flicked
through the different parts and picked out the Style (because it was my
favourite) and Entertainment (out of habit, from when Josh was the film
reviewer) sections to read, taking them out before opening my breakfa
st. "Thank you. This is lovely," I said before hooking in.

"No worries." He pulled the remainder of the newspaper to himself.
“
It was the least I could do after our misunderstanding last night. Listen
,
sorry I was such a jerk about what you said. You’re entitled to your
opinion, and I was just being overly sensitive.”

“I'm sorry, too," I assured him.

“Abby, don’t be.” He reached out and put his hand on my face, rubbing his thumb along my cheek. “I wasn’t really angry with you;
you just brought up stuff I already had issues with. You didn’t deserve
that.” He leaned in. “Do you forgive me?”

“Of course.” I crushed my mouth onto his. “Thanks.”

We sat in comfortable silence, polishing off our breakfast while flicki
ng
through the papers. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning
, and especially relaxing after the week I'd just had.

"Hey, have you got the entertainment section?" he asked.

I had just started
reading it. "No." I said cheekily
, pretending to hide it.

He lunged at me. “I need that. It's my job."

"
We non-entertainment workers need it to keep you in a job." I lifted
the paper over my head as he came down on top of me to wrestle it away
. Chuckling, he pinned me to the floor by my arms, forcing me to drop the paper, and placed his knees on either side of me.

"Do you give up?" He threatened to sit on me.

"Nope." I giggled.

He stroked my hair off my face, leaned over, and kissed me again,
releasing my arms so I could wrap them around him. "You didn't want
the entertainment section at all, did you?" I whispered.

"No, I just wanted to do this." He ran his lips down my cheek to my neck. It was so nice to have him back.

We were interrupted by the shrill ring of the phone, and he lifted his head.

"The answering machine can get it; it's probably just my mum." I pulled him down again so he could continue.

"Hi, Abby, it's me." The sound of Josh's voice surprised me, and a
n
involuntary gasp escaped my mouth. Scott quickly leapt off me. I shoul
d
have grabbed the phone and told Josh to go fuck himself, or turned the
answering machine off, or simply hung up on him. But I didn’t. Instead
I sat there, glued to the living room floor, and listened to his voice. The
voice I wasn’t ready to forgive. "I'm coming back to Melbourne. I need
to see you, Abs. Please." His tone was weak, pleading. "I'll understand if
you don't want to talk to me. I know I didn't leave in the best way,
and then I didn’t even break up with you properly. But the truth is,
well…” There was a pause. “I still love you.” He exhaled heavily.
“Please call me, Abby. Just to talk. I'm on my mobile."

Bewildered and caught up in the moment, I had almost forgotten Scott was still there until he stood up.

"I guess this isn't a good time," he said, running his hand through
his hair. His lips brushed my cheek, his eyes not meeting mine. "I'll see
you later; give me a call.”

"I will, sorry," I whispered regretfully as he walked out of my flat,
leaving me alone with the unrel
e
nting
flashing
light
—
one
message
received.

Moon phase: waxing

Pink candle for friendship

Blue candle for healing

White candle

Along the side of the white candle engrave the name of your friend
,
an olive branch
—
which is a symbol of peace
—
, and your own name s
o the olive branch is in between.

Light all the candles and visualise you and your friend hugging,
forgiving and being friends again. Let the candles burn down completely
.
Please bear in mind that this is only to encourage renewal of friendship
.
You cannot manipulate another person’s actions if they are unwilling.

Thank the universe for its help.

“
ARE YOU COMING OUT
for a drink?” Sean was sitting on my desk
, tapping his pen on the top of my monitor.

“I’ll just finish this email. Could you please stop that; it’s really annoying.”

“Sorry, bad habit.” He popped the pen into his shirt pocket and
picked up a crystal I kept next to my in-tray because the spell book said it helped with concentration and motivation. “What’s this?”

I completed my work and shut down my computer. “That’s an
amethyst crystal. It’s...” My explanation was interrupted by a series
of sneezes.

“Bless you. Allergies?”

I shook my head and blew my nose. “No, I think I might be coming
down with something.” He frowned. “It’s okay, I’ll come out for a little
while, and then I’ll head home.” I had noticed I wasn’t feeling the best
since the start of the week. I'd caught up with Scott the previous nigh
t, argued during another console game he was playing, and stayed the night as usual. The consequent lack of sleep probably wasn’t helping
my immune system. The subject of Josh’s phone call was absent, mo
stly because I chose to ignore it.

Rachel had gotten to the pub early and was sitting at a table next
to the window with Lachlan. We had enjoyed our after work drinks s
o
much we decided to make it a weekly ritual
—
sometimes twice weekly
.
Word quickly got out around the office so, by the time I walked in thi
s
week, I was followed by Pippa and Laura from accounts, and Sean wa
s at the bar chatting to Pete and Kevin from programming.

“Hey, guys.” A tickle in my throat made me cough as I pulled up
a chair next to Rachel. “We’ll have the whole office here soon.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t really the intention, but anyway…” Rachel
said huffily.

I tried to placate her, “Well, just because you didn’t start the romance
of the century doesn’t mean your efforts went to waste,” I looked
pointedly over at Sean who was making his way over to us, “because we’re friends now. At least that’s something you can be proud of.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She perked up.

Lachlan put his arm around his girlfriend. “Oh sweetheart, do you
honestly think Abby would have any trouble finding a guy? She’s a hottie.” He gave me a wink.

“Who’s a hottie? Abby?” Sean sat down placing a glass of wine in
front of me. “Yeah, she’s alright.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, guys.”

Pippa and Laura took their seats next, while Pete and Kevin dragged
along another table to join the group. Conversation turned to the office,
or more accurately, office gossip.