seeley street | b.barnes AU || ON HOLD

chapter eight

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L U C Y

I woke to the sound of my bedroom door opening. Sunlight was streaming through the window, something I'd actively hidden from while tossing and turning. I blinked slowly as I sat up, pushing my bangs out of my face. "Wanda?"

"Hey, hun." She said. "I brought you some coffee, how are you feeling?" She sat my favorite Dunkin' drink on the bookshelf beside my bed and sat down.

My eyes blurred with tears and I couldn't stop myself from crying. She immediately moved, kicking off her shoes and climbing into the bed. "I'm so sorry he was so rude to you, Luce." She said.

"It was so awful," I said through tears. "It was like all of a sudden I was back there in his dorm. And, and, and... you know how bad it got at the end. And when he started yelling I just freaked out. I was so mean to him, Wanda." I cried.

Her arm wrapped around my shoulder and she tried her best to comfort me. I knew she probably didn't want to hear all about it, because she had spent the entire night on the phone listening to me cry about it. But still, she was here. And she was the best friend I could've ever asked for.

"He was an asshole and you had every right to yell at him, mean or not." Wanda reassured me. "If I had been there I would've done the same thing, especially if he called you shallow."

"I'm not shallow." I said, wiping tears with the back of my hand. "He doesn't even know me."

"I know, hun, I know." Wanda said.

I sighed loudly and looked up at her through my teary eyes. "Thanks for coming over. You didn't have to."

"Of course I did, silly!" She said, smiling big at me. "You're my sister. I would do anything for you." Her hand squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

I leaned into her for a second before shaking my head. "No more crying about this. I hardly know the guy. I shouldn't let anyone's words get to me like this, especially those of a man."

"If only we could move them underground." Wanda said.

That made me laugh and suddenly I started to feel much better, especially now that Wanda was here. After such a long friendship, she was my sister. She was my best friend. And I considered myself so lucky to have met this wonderful human being.

Proving my thoughts, she handed me the coffee. "I brought bagels, they are downstairs. I thought we could have a nice little girl's day. Maybe start binge watching Halloween movies early?"

"That sounds great, am I invited?"

We both looked up at the same time as Natasha walked into my bedroom. She was still in her pajamas, hair in a messy braid. No doubt she had woken up when she heard Wanda let herself into the house.

"Of course," I said, "Oh Wanda! You can stay and help me help Nat get ready for her date." I said with excitement.

Natasha sat down at the end of my bed and took the iced latte out of my hand. "About that," She took a sip. "I cancelled it last night."

"What?" Wanda and I both yelled at the same time.

"I'm not going out with someone who lets their friend talk to you the way that Bucky did." Natasha said. When she saw the look on my face, she continued. "I heard you talking to Wanda about it last night. I'm not doing that to you."

"No, Nat." I shook my head. "You have to go on that date. Please. I appreciate the gesture, I really, really do. But please, you like him so much."

"Not if his so called best friend was such an asshole to you."

I reached across the distance and took her head. "Natasha. Please, go on the date with Steve. It doesn't matter what Bucky did. He has issues. But Steve is a really, really great guy. And I think you'd be so perfect for him. I love you for this, really I do, but if you don't go on that date, I will kill you."

Natasha started to smile, "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" I yelled loudly with a laugh. "I haven't been listening to your conversations with him through the wall for nothing."

My cousin's eyes widened and she slapped my shoulder. "You're an asshole. Ugh, God. Okay. I'm going to call him and tell him that I still want to go out if he does."

Both Wanda and I cheered happily and then Natasha was gone. I took another sip of my coffee and looked at my best friend. "Wanna take Pippin to Prospect park before our girl's day, I kinda wanna walk around?"

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The October air was brutal today, another sure sign that we would be having an early winter. But despite that, Prospect Dog Park was busy as it always was. At least forty dogs were running around the large area; with a small sectioned off area for the tiny dogs. Which was where Pippin was, running around like a mad man despite his age.

A hot chocolate warmed my hands, though they were clad in fingerless gloves. My leg bounced up and down for no God reason, other than to keep myself warm. But the cold air felt good after the emotional morning that I had, and I was glad Wanda was just happy to come along.

She was sitting next to me, legs crossed, sipping her own drink. Her nails were painted black, per usual, and they were swiping quickly on her phone as she was texting away.

"You're on campus Tuesday, right?" She asked me, and continued when I nodded. "I'll be in the BU library all day, I'm working on my second, and hopefully final, draft of my dissertation. If you have time, do you wanna start going through it? I can go through yours if you want."

I ran my schedule through my head and then finally nodded, "Yeah, that works. How many pages?"

"About two thirty, you?"

"Two twentyish I think, around the same. Only been working on this for the past four years." I rolled my eyes.

Wanda laughed and moved so she was sitting crisscross. "Yeah, I know. But just think about it. Come May, I will be Dr. Maximoff and you will be Dr. Romanoff. And the best part, they're our maiden names."

My eyes squinted as I laughed loudly. "Unlike Maria, who's name will be her husband's. All that work just for a man's name on the paper."

"Well, technically..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I waved her off, knowing exactly what she would say. "I was born with the Romanoff name, I didn't take it from someone else."

Wanda leaned into me and shoved me. "Very true... what is he... oh God, Pippin is humping that little yorkie."

I immediately looked to find my dog and I shook my head, standing up. "Jesus Christ, he's been fixed for nearly thirteen years. Pippin, get over here!"

The little dog came bounding over and I attached the leash to his harness. "See, you assaulted that yorkie and now we are leaving." I scolded the dog, who looked up at me with the silliest face and a wagging tail. "You ready, Wanda?"

"Yes, I can't feel my butt."

Thank you for reading, hope you are liking the slow burn introductory ;)

I haven't been in the mood to write lately it's been so bad, all I've been doing is smoking weed with my sister, her boyfriend and watching new girl or tik tok. Thank god I start therapy again soon 😔

Mandy <3