Fugitive Angel

Chapter Twenty-Four

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound made it's way through Alice's window at midnight. Knock, knock, knock. Alice got out of bed and hesitantly made her way to the window, wanting to see what was making that sound. She hoped it was just a tree rustling it's branches along her window, and not something-or someone-harmful.

She looked out the window, the rain blocking some view of what was out there. A jump and a gasp escaped her lips as she backed away when she saw someone peer out from below the window. A tall figure, one she couldn't see. She heard that melodic and velvet voice that she had heard just today. She knew who it was, and she opened the window for him.

"Lucius? What are you doing here?" She asked. He looked at her through the window, his blonde hair drenched from the cold and heavy rain. His skin, despite it being soaked, still had the soft look to it that made Alice want to touch his cheek gently with her hand.

"I told you to watch your window, don't you remember? Mind if I come in?" He asked. Alice nodded and let him climb through the open window. Alice closed it when he entered, and she turned to look at him once again.

"I forgot about it. Do you want a towel? Or a blanket? You'll catch a cold if you don't warm yourself up. It's freezing outside," Alice offered. Lucius shook his head and sat down on her desk chair. Alice took a seat on her bed, and stared at him while he sat.

"So, you like to read?" He asked. Alice nodded, and watched him as he left the chair and went to her large bookshelf in her room, and some other books strewn along her desk and dresser.

"Yeah, I spend some time reading," she said. Lucius nodded and picked up one of the books on her shelf. He opened it up, smirked, and then showed it to her.

"You like Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice?" Lucius asked. He sat down on the bed next to her, and she felt herself go red in the face as his skin grazed hers lightly. Just the touch of his skin was enough to make her shiver with a feeling she had never felt before.

"Yeah, it's my favourite book. I read it like, nine times," she said with a laugh. Lucius smiled at her, and their eyes met once again. Lucius put the book down on the bed and laid himself down on the bed, his arm relaxing behind his head and neck as he smirked at Alice.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you," he recited from the book. Alice smiled, and blushed as she laughed and looked to the sheets on the bed. Lucius smiled at her, taking her long blonde hair and playing with it along his fingers. She watched his fingers as her hair twisted around them. Alice felt herself shake at the moment of his touch. She tried to talk, but she couldn't while he stared at her.

"You're shaky. Is everything okay?" He asked.

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment," she said to him. There was quiet between the two of them. It wasn't before Lucius let out a laugh that Alice began to blush. She looked away from him, trying to hide her face so he wouldn't see the embarrassment on her face. He chuckled once more and put his hand on her back.

"Hey, look at me. Look at me, Alice, you're too pretty to hide your face from me," Lucius demanded kindly but also assertively. She turned her head to see him once again, and there was quiet again. She wasn't used to being called pretty by someone other than her mother, sister, or anyone else in her family. Alice liked the way it sounded when Lucius said it.

"I'm not that pretty," she replied. Alice always felt like she was shaded under Ramona's beauty. She knew Ramona was prettier than her, with her dark and thick hair, going down to her back, and her deep eyes that were endless. Then there was Alice, short and pale. Blonde hair down to the middle of her back, dull blue eyes, and bad skin. She always wished she could trade places with Ramona, but she knew she never could. Alice could never be as diverse and complicated like her sister, and compared to Ramona, Alice was a completely open book. She hated that about herself, she hated how easy it was to discover what was about her. Unlike Ramona, who was so difficult to understand she attracted more people. Alice would have given anything for that kind of attitude, for that kind of opinion about her. She was ordinary, and Ramona was special. That was just how her life would be when it came to her and her sister.