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In no world would Lux expect to be stronger or faster than someone nearly a feet taller than her, but even as he effortlessly managed to get the pillow from her again, she didn't feel like giving up.
"Physically, maybe," she shot back.
What Luxanna hadn't seen coming was the pillow being tossed in her direction. For a split second she actually believed he'd given in. A split second of relief was cut off as the brunette fell down against the mattress with an audible 'oof'.
"H-hey!" She complained, green eyes blinking the surprise away. Wiggling only made it harder to see and orienting herself through the brown locks covering her face and mouth. "That's not what I meant!"
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Her fingers fell against the mattress and her eyes narrowed at the man moving himself closer to the wall, making it harder for her to reach him without having to climb into the bed.
"You're a child." If she had to pick between fighting him and explaining this to her father, Carter was sailing on a sinking ship.
Climbing into the bed, she balanced on her knees as she made another attempt at the pillow. Had she been smarter, she would have entered from the other side and pushed him off.
"Give. It. Back."
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Stopping in her tracks, her back facing the blonde occupying her bed, she realized she hadn't even considered that. Her father would never bother to check the guest room, but hers? He might.
"Oh." The realization slowly dawned upon her. "Oh." Lux did a slow turn. "We're changing rooms again." She moved towards the bed, making a 'shoo' motion using her hands. Leaning over the edge of it, she made another grab for the pillow he'd claimed his own.
"Now", she continued, voice hushed as if that mattered at this point.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Lux had always found great pleasure in taking care of others. Maybe it was because she was so shit at taking care of herself, or maybe she truly enjoyed it. Maybe it had everything to do with the way she hadn't been able to take care of her mother the way she'd hoped she could have. Maybe it had nothing to do with her mother at all.
His words broke her out of her spell and her cheeks flushed. "Oh, right, erm," she offered sheepishly. She was hovering.
"Oh, no, it's fine." She took a step back, as if suddenly finding the closeness intimidating. "I trust you to do whatever you think's best." A quick smile later and she hurried to collect her bag.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
This time around it did feel like a victory worth celebrating and she couldn't keep the smirk from splaying over her lips.
It was a small victory to most, but to her? It felt like she was repeatedly learning how to stand her ground against someone she'd felt so inferior to before.
A nod and her smirk turned turned into a grin. "Very happy." Lacing her fingers behind her back, Lux looked at the cup.
"Want another?"
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
It was a feeble attempt at best, but the brunette still managed a nod. "Well," she added. "You don't have to, but you should." She didn't have many hangovers placed under her belt, but that didn't mean she hadn't experienced woken up with a headache because she hadn't been smart enough to drink water before falling asleep.
That, and she'd nursed quite a few of Jack's hangovers over the years. They usually followed the same path and had the same things in common. Water helped, so did food. Luxanna wasn't about to go cook him a meal, though.
Instead of leaving, she stared at him expectantly. She had to stop herself from telling him to do it, like she would have with Jack. Carter wasn't Jack. The two shared no similarities whatsoever.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
It seemed as if Lux had won. She wasn't sure what she'd won, but Carter wasn't putting up a fight. That had never happened before, she realized. Usually, she was the one to cave and give in. She'd never been in this position before and although she knew it should have felt better, it didn't. Instead, the brunette grew hesitant. Now that she was here, what was she supposed to do?
Putting the bag down at the floor next to the bathroom door, Luxanna walked over to her desk. Opening one of the drawers, she pulled out a plastic cup. One of many that she'd never had the heart to thrown out. She'd used them at her 8th birthday party.
Entering the bathroom, she filled the glass with water and returned to the room. Walking over to the bed, she placed it on the night table. "This'll help with the hangover." It made her feel silly, really. She should have known better.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
When Lux had first met Carter, she'd though him to be intimidating. It seemed she wasn't the only one either who had felt inferior standing beside him. But in truth, now that she was actually talking to him, it seemed he wasn't nearly as experienced with life as she'd first thought. Instead, his life sounded rather lonely and it made her feel a little bit sad.
"Of course we can," she replied simply. "But keeping each other company doesn't necessarily mean sharing a bed," she added.
Was the concept really so foreign to him, or was he just fooling around? She didn't know him enough to quite tell. All she could do was make assumptions and it wasn't as if she could outright ask him. From the way he hadn't wanted to talk about his parents earlier, she didn't think the subject of loneliness would lighten the mood.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
"Friends don't normally share beds," she called out, slightly amused. "You don't really have a lot of friends, do you?" Neither did she, but that was besides the point. She'd never shared a bed with Jack, and he was her best friend. It didn't make much sense to her to share a bed with Carter just because they were friends.
Perhaps she was old fashioned in that way, she didn't know.
"Nor should it be a problem not to share a bed, since, as you pointed out, all hands will be to themselves." She felt a little proud, if not smug, about that. See, if he was really planning on keeping his hands to himself, it wouldn't matter if she was there or not.
Unless he was that lonely.
Having gathered all of her necessarily items, she put them into a small plastic bag and moved to stand in the doorway. "What's your next argument?" She raised her eyebrows at him in challenge.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She hadn't expected him to protest. Sure, she expected some clever remark thrown her way. She might not have been used to them, but it was what she'd usually gotten in the past. The whine had the brunette poking her head out from the bathroom door.
"To the guest room," she replied simply, as if that had been obvious all along. Wasn't it, though? She was fairly certain she'd made it clear that they would end up in separate rooms.
She moved back into the bathroom and put the folded clothes on top of the sink. Kneeling down in front of the cabinet below the sink, she opened it. "Since, you know, you decided to be difficult."
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She could have argued with him. She could have fought harder to make her point and kick him out, but really, if she'd learned anything from being around him, it was that somehow, someway, Carter always got his way.
Also, mother of furbies? Really?
"Fine." Moving from the bed, Luxanna walked over to her wardrobe and fetched a few items of clothing. She could take the guest room. It didn't really matter, honestly. It was just for one night. Next, the moved to the bathroom. The guest room didn't have it's own, but she could use her dad's, or the guest bathroom downstairs.
Besides, it was better to ponder these things and plan them out in her head, rather than even giving what was actually happening any thought.
It was very surreal, really.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Following him with her gaze, the brunette found herself narrowing her eyes once more. Not only did he make himself feel at home, which really shouldn't have surprised her, but he also insulted her precious collection. She wasn't one to be easily offended, but even she, at that moment, felt defensive.
"They're cute," she corrected him, moving over to the bed to attempt at removing the pillow from underneath his head. Had he forgotten already, or was he simply playing coy? "Your room is at the other end of the hallway," she said before pointing at the furby collection. "They come alive during the night. Their favorite meal is arrogant blondes," she added before swatting at him.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
A silent groan passed the brunette's lips; She should have known. She really should have. Of course Carter would go looking for that. And he found such a simple amusement in it. With a defeated sigh she followed him inside, raising her hand to remove his hands from the glass.
"You'll stain it," she said dryly. Hey, she took great pride in her collection. And they weren't weird. They were cute.
Removing her hand from his, she lifted her hand to the glass and wiped at it with the corner of her sweater sleeve. It was probably the one thing the brunette was peculiar about, but really, who enjoyed having finger stains on a glass casing showing off something they held dearly?
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Lux barely managed to close to the door before the platina blonde turned to face her. Green eyes narrowed, eyebrows raising. For a moment, words escaped her. Why on earth would showing him her room even be remotely interesting? "Uh," she said, looking towards the staircase.
But then again, what was the harm? Luxanna had very few things in her life she felt like she needed to hide and her room wasn't one of those things. Shrugging, she gestured towards the stairs before ascending them.
Her room was at the end of the second floor hallway. The door was white without any markings worth taking note of. The room itself was medium sized, a double bed placed to the left on the wall furthest away, pushed against the wall on two sides. A window seat facing the backyard and the woods behind it, a desk, a bookshelf filled with books... And then there was the shelf with the glass casing, filled with her furby collection.
On the wall to the right there was a door leading to a small bathroom, and next to it, her wardrobe.
She turned to look at him, her expression quizzical - as if asking him if he'd seen enough. In truth, there wasn't much to be seen.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
The 'shh' had the brunette stopping. Turning her head, she looked at him, eyes rolling to the back of her skull. Still, she didn't reply. Instead, she continued walking, fishing her keys out as she moved towards the door. Every light in the house seemed to be off, which meant that her brother, nor her dad was currently present.
It seemed like this was going to be much easier than she'd expected.
Really, though. It wasn't that she minded Carter being found. She just didn't care to explain the nature of their relationship to her dad. Heck, she didn't even know the nature of their relationship, how was she supposed to explain it to someone else?
Opening the door, Luxanna stepped to the side, gesturing for the much taller blonde to step inside.
