Falling for The Fallen

Chapter 10

STEPHI

Waking up halfway through the day with a splitting headache was a nasty reminder of my night out with Laura.

I texted her asking to keep tonight's activities lighter before dragging myself from the bed.

My oversized shirt hung off one of my shoulders as I padded down the stairs barefoot, rubbing at my eyes.

Stifling a yawn I stopped dead in my tracks upon seeing Sam at my counter.

Why had he not left yet? I wondered.

He turned and then did a double-take, I realized that I must have looked terrible.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Firstly, I didn't trust you not to drown in your puke. Secondly, if you're still going out tonight I figured I may as well hang around."

Taking a seat at the counter opposite him, I leaned over and took his mug of coffee, "This is mIne now."

"You probably need it more than I do."

I took a gulp and sighed, dropping my head to the cool counter, "I never want to see alcohol again."

I couldn't even remember the previous night's events, and I just hoped that I had not done anything too embarrassing.

"Laura called, she said something about picking her up at five."

I scrunched my face up, "Five? That's like-" I glanced at the wall clock, "An hour from now. Jesus! I slept the whole day?!"

Sam nodded, "Yes."

I groaned and dropped my head to the counter again, "Can you just tell her I'm dead?"

"And ruin girls' night? Never."

I raised a brow at him, "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"You should probably go and get ready."

I sighed and dragged myself up yet again to take a shower.

The shower had left me feeling much better, but I still swore that I wouldn't be drinking much that night.

I hoped Laura wasn't planning another clubbing session tonight, I was in no mood.

I threw on a pair of black pants and teamed it with a red shirt before sticking my feet into my trust combat boots.

Leaving my face void of makeup and my hair down in tangles I made my way downstairs.

Sam surprised me by smiling at me, "That's much more you."

"What?"

"Never mind. Shall we go?"

I nodded and followed him out to Laura's car.

"I hope she doesn't want to go to a club, I swear I'll leave here and go straight back to bed."

"I hope so, I dare say that you are worse than I am when drunk."

"Oh no, what did I do?" I asked, already scared to hear the answer.

"Nothing. But you did throw up on me."

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"

He smiled, "It's fine."

I couldn't look at him after hearing that, mortified that I had thrown upon him.

"And you kissed me."

I could feel the heat rush to my face, "Oh God that's almost worst. Did I kiss you before I threw up at least? Not that it matters, I shouldn't have kissed you at all! I'm so sorry!" Of course, I would begin to bubble when I got embarrassed or nervous.

Thankfully Laura didn't stay that far away and we picked her up without any further awkward silence.

"Hello, my lovelies, I think we should get dinner before going anywhere tonight, don't you?"

"But then Sam will have to drive up and down, Laura."

"No, no, I meant all three of us should get dinner first," she stuck her head between the front seats, "Unless that's not okay?"

Sam glanced at me briefly before turning back to the road without saying a word.

Laura leaned back, "What do you lot feel like eating?"

"You choose, L."

"Let's go to that cute little garden restaurant. Do you know it, Sam?"

He shook his head.

Once arriving at the restaurant we asked for a table outside in the garden, I had to admit it was beautiful, it had lush green grass with an assortment of colorful flowers and a beautiful little walk bridge over a stream.

Sam had reluctantly agreed to join us and I finally realized why Laura was being so persistent; she wanted me to meet her newest boyfriend but didn't want me to feel like the third wheel.

So much for a girl's night.

I sat down next to Sam, opposite Laura and she gazed around, looking for her man.

"When did you get with this guy? You haven't mentioned him." I wasn't surprised though, she did often have a new man on her arm.

"We met a little while ago, we've only been seeing each other for a month now, but he asked if we could make it exclusive so I think we might be getting serious."

Sam frowned, "He asked to be exclusive? What does that mean?"

Both Laura and I exchanged confused glances with one another before she responded.

"Well it means we're an item now, we don't see other people."

"You have to ask for that? You don't just start, um, seeing each other and remain faithful?"

Laura chuckled, "God, no, you can't be faithful if you aren't sure that you're together." She glanced down at the menu and I studied Sam, he genuinely looked confused.

"Sam, I don't mean to sound intrusive, but you look to be in your forties, you must have dated before?"

"I don't think you could call it dating. I had a spouse once many years ago. I haven't dated since being here though."

Before I could say anything further, Laura jumped to her feet, "Oh good, he's here."

When he took a seat, he looked so familiar, yet I couldn't tell why.

He had beautiful hazel-colored eyes dark hair and a defined face.

He was a very good-looking man, that much was clear. What surprised me was that he was nothing like Laura's usual type; he wore a black suit with a white button-up shirt all very classy. He was quite a contrast to Sam's black shirt, black leather pants, and long black coat; not to mention his long white and black hair.

Laura's usual type was normally much younger and usually wore jeans and a tee, very casual.

Laura wrapped a hand around his bicep and leaned her head against his shoulder, "This is Crowley. My love, this is my best friend Stephi and her, uh, friend, Sam."

Crowley extended a hand, "Lovely to meet the both of you." He had a slight English accent, even his voice sounded like a gentleman's.

I shook his hand with a smile, "It's nice to finally meet you too!"

Sam looked at his hand before lifting his eyes to Crowley's and shaking it, "I believe we know each other."

Laura beamed, "Oh, that's great. How?"

"Work." They said in unison.

I turned to Sam, "What do you do?"

Crowley cut in, "Let's not discuss boring business now. This menu looks delectable, don't you think, Sam?" he smiled up at Sam, "Two types of meat have caught my attention."

I glanced at Sam, picking up on some sort of strange vibe between the two of them.

Sam placed a hand on the table, "Well, my only advice would be to make sure it's something your pallet can handle."

Laura was completely obvious to the tension between these two, "Oh, I'm definitely getting the white wine with the seafood platter."

Crowley smiled at her, "Whatever your heart desires, dear. Perhaps the rest of us could share a bottle of red wine? Stephi, you look like you could appreciate something sweet?"

"Yeah, sure."

We ordered and when the food arrived, Crowley once again turned to Sam, "Oh, yours definitely looks better than mine."

Laura bit into a prawn, "This is heavenly! What should we do after dinner, Steph, ditch the boys-"

Sam cut her off so quickly that it shocked both of us, "No. I might as well stay with you."

Laura shrugged, "Okay, makes no difference to me. Crowley, any ideas?"

He sipped on his wine, "You know I'm new to the area, I haven't the slightest clue of what there is to do here."

Laura chewed her lip, "Well there's a carnival somewhere, isn't there, Steph?"

"Yeah, there is, and we haven't been so it might be nice. Although you know how I feel about clowns, and it's a horror-themed carnival."

"We can avoid them."

I nodded, "Sounds good. Sam?"

"Okay."

We ate the rest of our meal in tense silence, Laura still seemed oblivious to it though.

The four of us walked into the carnival grounds and Laura made a beeline for the house of mirrors.

"I know it's childish, but it's so fun."

As we were walking in, Sam surprised me but taking my hand in his and pulling me closer to him.

"I don't trust this guy."

I nodded, and although I didn't know him, I agreed with Sam.

Walking in I was amazed at the number of corridors that were covered in mirrors of all kinds, some normal and some making us look ridiculous.

Laura pulled me away from Sam, giggling at our reflection.

Suddenly loud, eerie music began playing, Laura was loving it, but I was not.

I had a terrible feeling about this.

The lights cut out for a few seconds and when they came back on, I was alone.

"Guys?"

"There you are!"

I jumped, it was Crowley.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. We seem to have gotten separated from the others, shall we try and find our way back to them?"

I nodded, keeping a safe distance as we made our way down one of the corridors.

The music was still playing, and my skin crawled.

"This is fun, I wasn't sure I'd like it." He said.

"Yeah, it's alright I guess."

"You look a tad stressed."

I nodded, "I don't like feeling trapped."

"Oh, don't fret! We'll be out of here in no time."

I nodded again as we came up to another corridor while trying to remember which side we had come from.

"We scare ourselves, there is no real reason for you to worry. Tell me about yourself."

"Nothing much to tell. How did you say you know Sam?"

"We've worked together. Very odd one that."

"I could say the same for you."

He laughed, "Well, yes you could. Laura thought so too at first."

"I'm glad she's found, someone."

"Well, to tell you the truth, I am looking forward to us becoming friends, Laura speaks highly of you."

I would have responded had his reflection not caught my eye.

The mirror distorted him in the scariest of ways, yet it did nothing to me.

Suddenly he came up close behind me and smiled at the mirror over my shoulder, a sinister look on his face.

"Well, would you look at that, I look positively terrifying, don't I?"

I dropped my gaze to the floor, "We should probably find the exit now."

"But I'm having such fun."

I looked up and he smiled, "Such a beautiful woman, I can see why Sam is besotted with you."

I frowned at his words as he toyed with my hair.

"So easy to get lost in those eyes."

"Stephi?!" I jumped when I heard Sam's voice, suddenly not sure if Crowley had said any of that or if it was my imagination.

"In here!"

Sam and Laura walked in, she with a smile and Sam with a scowl.

Crowley smiled, "We somehow got separated, but don't worry, I kept her nice and safe."

I glanced at him before following Sam to the exit, I had a feeling that the night was about to get a lot more interesting.