Love Bites

Temptation

A car passes, blowing a gust of misted air past the two as they stared at each other curiously.

This woman, who'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere, regarded Deja with an unnerving interest. Almost as if she knew her.

Another chill blows over Deja and she tightened her clutch on Apollo.

"Um.....thank you?" She chuckles breathlessly and the woman's smile slowly goes bashful and she blushes as she took a step back.

"I'm sorry...that was weird and random." She shakes her head, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Deja's confused expression melts to one of mild bewilderment and the tension in her shoulders fade a bit as she exhaled.

"No...I mean..compliments are nice. I just wasn't expecting one." She admits, glancing down at her attire. The woman does the same, eyeing Deja's skin more intently.

"Especially now right? In the middle of the night after chasing your dog up the street.." the woman adds and Deja huffs in embarrassment. Just then, the wide sketch pad that's been tucked under her other arm falls loose and hits the dampened concrete.

It lands so that the cover lifts and the delicate pages bend against the wet sidewalk and Deja groans in exasperation as it settled against the ground.

"Lordy...." she mutters, attempting to bend over to reach for it. Before she can, it's snatched up from the sidewalk by the woman nearby.

Deja blinks rapidly in surprise as she watched the pages of her sketchbook rustle in the wind as the woman shook it out. Her brow creases with mild concern for the condition of the sketchpad's pages and she tilts her as she made sure nothing beyond the corners were wet.

"Oh..thank you." Deja frowns and the woman glances up distractedly as she located the book's cover.

"No worries. Seems like your hands are already....." she trails off when her eye catches on a familiar face amongst the sketches. Her brow twitches and her gaze hardens at the smudged charcoal for a moment before she blinks and resumes flipping the pages until the cardboard cover is back in place.

A face so notable with features even her unaging mind couldn't forget. So perfectly recreated, it's haunting to witness him immortalized in 2D in such detail.

Lips she once kissed.

Eyes that once regarded her with devotion and lust.

A face she wouldn't dare admit to missing but denial sizzled in the pit of her gut like acid.

Like venom.

Him...

"Full..." she completes her sentence, resuming an indifferent expression as she lifts her head. She offers the sketchbook back to Deja, who takes it gratefully while readjusting her hold on Apollo.

"Right.." Deja chuckles in agreement, the soft sound making the woman's lips perk up into an interested smirk. Even more interested now.

"I'm Giselle" she offers the name casually and Deja nods in greeting.

"Deja." She responds, almost awkwardly and Giselle's smirk widens into a friendly smile.

"Deja... that's pretty. Sorry again if I startled you before. I have a habit of saying the first thing that comes to my mind." she fans off and Deja shakes her head.

"It's completely ok. Trust me."

Giselle nods sharply before giving Deja another quick once-over from head to toe with purpose and scrutiny.