"I didn't plan that part out yet." Lucas said sheepishly, ruffling the back of his hair. He had been too busy thinking about her staying more than what they'd be doing if she did. It didn't matter what they'd be doing to him as long as they were together. Even just sitting down silently would be comfortable for him.
He crossed his arms over his chest and made a thinking face." We could play a game, and I don't just mean video games. Or listen to music. I have quite the collection."
Claudia sighed in relief when she realised she could stay. He miraculously wasn't mad at her and she was happy. Also, he wanted her around, which was quite a new sensation for the blonde. Crystal only ever kept her around in order to keep up her image, and her parents clearly didn't care about her all that much.
"I'd like to play a game, and not in the Saw way," she said, leaning against the bench. "What do you have?"
"I was not thinking about Saw until you mention it." Lucas blinked his eyes. He had only seen the saw movie once and I was when he was younger, so of course, he had nightmares. Goodness, he didn't have a high tolerance for horror movies, he was a coward without shame! "I'll try very hard to forget that." It was always the hardest to forget the thing you didn't want to remember than the things you did.
He shifted his weight onto his left foot then to his right, back in forth as he listed the games they had."As for the board and card games we have, Uno, Scrabble, Checkers, Monopoly, Clue, and Operation." They had a ton of board games, but hose were the few that were on the top of his mind. He only ever played them with his mother and Norman when they were around, it was all fun, surprisingly even when that snoot played, mainly because he lost often.
"And for video games, we have a lot of Kinect games."
Claudia's eyes lit up at the mention of Monopoly."Oh, we are so playing Monopoly. I will freaking beat your ass at Monopoly."
Many nights had ended in huge arguments and table-flipping at the Lightwood house due to this particular game. And Claudia always won, due to her spectacular strategy of buying everything on the board.
"No need for the warning. I can already see it. I'll warn you, however, that I won't be going down without a fight." Lucas smirked and reached for her hand, taking it in a loose grip and dragging her along with him out of the kitchen."Come on, let's see who'll be losing tonight."
They were back in the still empty living room, the fireplace was on and warming up the room nicely. There were also voices that could be heard in another room, obviously Amalie and Norman. But Lucas disregarded them as he took down the Monopoly board game from the shelf and set it on the coffee table. Kipper was now awake and was watching closely as Lucas set up the board game. Then he jumped off of the couch and tried to ruin it all. Typical.
"Nope." Lucas grabbed the small dog with one arm and held him close."Alright, Claudia love." He mimicked his mother's accent as he lined up the tokens, sitting comfortable on the floor."What do want to be? The shoe?"
Claudia rolled her eyes and grinned. "Of course, you'd think I would want to be the shoe," she joked. "How sexist. I'll actually be the iron, thank you very much. Iron, like my will, and my intellect."
As Claudia placed her token on Start, Tiggy the cat climbed onto her lap and started to pur. "Right, it's official, I'm taking your cat," she told him, scratching the little creature behind the ears. "He's so cute. I require seventeen."
Lucas snorted at her anology, still, he snickered. "I'm going to be the shoe then." He used his one free hand to pick up the shoe token and put in it's place next to the iron, while he kept a tight grip on the dog who was still anticipating the chance to ruin thier game. The shih tzu always had to get into things, but Tiggy wasn't any better.
"I do try to groom her to be the best cat she can be. But she's still bad sometimes. She likes laying on people's laptop keyboards,even when they're on their computer, typing." Lucas chuckled just thinking about as he passed out there every need for the game."I'll be the banker, because I don't really trust you." He jestered and passed Claudia the dice.
Claudia feigned a shock, offended look. "You don't trust me? What have I done to deserve this?" She pouted as she rolled and moved her iron. "Well, Tiggy, I guess it's just you and me, my good friend." Tiggy meowed in contention.
Soon Claudia had already bought four property spaces and she was winning. "I warned you, mwah ha ha," Claudia cackled. "In a matter of minutes I will have secured Mayfield and you will be my bitch."
"Nooo!" Lucas cried, or more like laughed in pain."How could this have happened?" there was no getting around it, he was going bankrupt and couldn't afford to pay anything back. and absolutely refused to take a bank loan, those things could bite you back hard. It didn't need to be said aloud to know that he lost then and there.
His eyes wandered over the board, looking for a way out. "Damnit. I knew I should have tried and played Clue instead. I would have won for sure. How are you so good at this?" He started counting the monopoly money on hs hands that he was going to have to give up.
Claudia grinned as she secured Mayfield. "I have super Monopoly skills," she said mystically. "I was born on a Monopoly board. I was a Monopoly master before I could talk. You never stood a chance."
Tiggy stood up and stretched her body on her lap. "Many tables have been flipped in the Lightwood house due to my superb Monopoly skills," mused Claudia. "My brothers hate me."
"I don't blame them!" Lucas huffed. He himself felt like flipping over the board in his frustration of being an utter loser. Instead, he exhaled and let Kipper go from his arm, releasing him out into the wild, letting the dog do whatever he wanted. And he did the very thing he wanted to do from the get-go, mess up the board.
Lucas acted aghast, so clearing faking it."Oh my god, Kipper. Look what you've done." He picked back up the dog and kissed his nose with a pleased smile. He looked back to Claudia, returning to his horrifying act."I don't know what to say, Claudia, these animals, they can't help it. I'm surprised Tiggy didn't ruin it up herself. I suppose we'll have to replay another time." Yes, another time after he was sure he had enough practice.
Claudia stared at the board with her mouth agape, totally appalled. "You ... you ..." She looked up at him and scowled. "You sore loser," she growled, putting as much impact into those two words as she can. Then, she laughed, ruining her angry facade. She kicked him up the table. "You suck," she laughed.
She hugged the cat. "Tiggy, you're my only friend."
"Ow! That hurt." Lucas laughed, pulling up his leg and rubbing where she had kicked him."I wasn't me, it was Kipper." He whined childishly but ended up grinning full blast. He couldn't help it.
"I'm your friend too. But if you like Tiggy so much, just take her home with you." He waved his hand at the cat."Wait, no, I take that back. She's the only one I can snuggle with at night that won't lick my face in my sleep."
Claudia laughed. "Aww, that's sweet. But I'm still taking Tiggy. You can get a teddy bear."
She sighed. It was around nine-thirty and she knew her brothers would be freaking out if she wasn't home soon. Claudia didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay with Lucas, talk with him, hug his cat, actually beat him at Monopoly without him whining like a cry-baby, but she knew it wasn't possible.
"Already?" Lucas turned his gaze to look at the clock. He hadn't even realized it was almost ten. Time flies when you're having fun. He tried to mask his disappointment and failed epically as he stood up on his two feet.
"I wouldn't your brothers thinking I did kidnap you or whatever.' He spoke his thoughts a loud."You will be missed here. And to know I have to wait 'til tomorrow just to see you again is such a bummer. I'll walk you to the bus stop." He'd also stay with her until the bus came, but that was a given.
"Oh, believe me, the next ten hours without you will be a living hell," smiled Claudia.
Soon they were sitting at the bus stop as Claudia waited for the bus to take her home. She checked her phone and rolled her eyes; she had an abundance of texts from Tate and Brogen, demanding to know where she was and who she was with. Quentin just texted her to let her know that their other brothers were livid. Claudia sighed. They would never grow up, would they?
Lucas on the bench his legs outstretched in front of him. He looked down at the tip of his shoes as she looked through her phone. It was obvious by her sigh that she had gotten some text from her brothers. There was no need to look up to find that out. "Put in a good word or two for me." He said sarcastically but somewhat meant it.
"At this point, I really don't know what to do so that they can trust me." He didn't care if they liked him,. But some tolerance or consent to let Claudia hang out with him would be fantastic. It would mean no worrying about many consequences and they'd have more time together.
Claudia sighed and put her phone back into her pocket. "Lucas, you didn't do anything wrong," she reminded him gently. It was her brothers' problem. They were the ones being little bitches who fed from the rumours spread by the cruel people who ruled their school. They were the ones who refused to give Lucas a chance, even though he had never done anything wrong. They were the ones who didn't care about what Claudia wanted.
"You don't need to prove anything to them," she said insistently. "They're the ones with the problem and if they can't handle that I'm your friend, well, that's on them. And I'm going to hang out with you regardless of what they want."
"I know," Lucas whispered, barely audible. He whispered this more to himself than her. He did know it wasn't him. Yet, the more he was around those people, the people who treated him as it was, he was starting to believe it himself. that maybe it was just him. He was especially falling into that state of mind until Claudia started talking to him that day.
He looked away from the ground and to Claudia as she spoke. As he soaked up her words, believing everything she said rather easily. And he never believed anything anyone said so easily, but he had made an exception for her. Somewhere along the line, he had started trusting her without a doubt.
And then it dawned on him. He liked her. Maybe even loved her. The idea of it was so terrifying, that he had to swallow and look away from her. What exactly was a person supposed to do when they realized these type of feelings? He was sure there was a self-help book in his mother's mess of books about this kind of thing.
He decided to stay silent for the moment. Otherwise, he'd go on babbling like an idiot. "There's your bus." He pointed it out and stood up.
Claudia got to her feet and smiled at Lucas. "Thanks for having me," she said softly, pulling him into a gentle hug. "Best Wednesday night ever. I'll see you tomorrow."
Claudia got on the bus and shoved her headphones into her ears. She was home soon and once she stepped inside, shit hit the fan. Tate and Brogen were waiting in the living room for her.
"Claudia, come in here, please," called Tate.
Claudia sighed but went in to see her brothers sitting on the couch, wearing identical expressions of anger. "What do you want, Tate?"
"Why didn't you answer your texts?"
"I was with my friend," reminded Claudia. "I didn't want to be rude, plus, you're freaking out over nothing."
