His Great Game (Sherlock x Reader)

Chapter 10: Twinning with the Devil

"Friend." I finished for him.

Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled coyly. "Just a friend, huh? Better keep your eyes on her, James. Pretty thing like her will attract all sorts of attention." I blushed at his words.

"I don't doubt it," James replied evenly, turning to me. "Why don't you save us some seats while I get us something?" I looked around the café, confused. Save us seats? There's not exactly a shortage...

My eyes widened when I realized he was sending me off to get me away from Dean. I smiled. That jealous bastard. "Okay, sure." I chose a table for two on the far wall. A few minutes later, James trotted over with a latte and a (y/favorite coffee-based drink).

He handed me my drink, and I gave him a surprised smile. "How did you know?"

"I'm a good guesser." He winked and sat down.

I took a sip. "Mm, delicious."

"Yeah." He shuffled his feet and looked at the ground, blushing. "So, I was thinking..." he paused, looking around. Dean had been watching us intensely from behind the counter. When James looked over, he looked away quickly, pretending to be washing dishes. James sighed and continued at a low whisper. "This is kind of awkward, can we take this outside?"

I nodded, a bit unnerved myself. "Yeah, let's go." James let out a sigh of relief and led us out the door.

When we walked outside, I noticed that the sky was considerably cloudier than it had been before. Clouds covered the sun and took away its soft warmth. Good thing I had brought my trench coat. In fact, this was probably the first cloudy day I'd seen since I got here. That's probably a normal thing here in August. I hope it rains soon. Rain was my favorite thing, like, ever. And not just a light drizzle or sun shower (even though those were enjoyable as well). I loved rain- proper rain. The rain that feels like bullets when it hits you. The rain accompanied by flashes of lightning and choruses of thunder. I wonder when rainy season begins...

"There's a park about half a mile up." James' voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Would you like to take a stroll?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "I'd love to." With his arm around my shoulder and mine around his waist, we took off down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace.

I didn't know how I felt about James. I appreciated his company, certainly. He was gentleman, never invading my personal space without my consent. Not to mention he was handsome in a striking, but unconventional way. Maybe it was the accent. In short, he had the makings of an ideal boyfriend. But the problem was, I didn't feel anything for him- there just wasn't a spark. I've been facing this problem my whole life- I don't get romantically attracted to people. Sure, I can find someone physically attractive- anyone can. Sure, I can love people. I've always had a deep-rooted love for my friends and family.

But the fact of the matter is, I'm an independent person. I don't rely on someone else or a relationship to make me feel happy. I can provide that happiness myself. If I am truly happy, a man by my side is just an added bonus. I supposed it would be nice to get married one day, maybe even have a family. But until someone was interesting enough to catch my full attention, that wasn't going to happen. And right now, I didn't think James would be the one to do that. We could be friends, certainly.

Suddenly, I felt quite uncomfortable with the whole situation, and I wanted to get as far away from James as possible. Why do I want to avoid him? He seems nice, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him... But my subconscious screamed at me, telling me to run. I opened my mouth to make some excuse to why I had to leave, but James started talking, taking away my chance.