English Accent

Virtuous demeanor

On Monday after classes I was sulking at home, hoping he wouldn't come. I was just filling the muffin forms with dough when my phone buzzed. I washed my hands and checked the screen. One text message. Huh.

What's your address?

I didn't have to check to know who it was.

221B Baker Street

A response came in seconds.

Ha ha. Tell me your real address or I'll use the locator.

I frowned.

What locator?

The one I set on your phone.

I rolled my eyes.

You didn't set any locator.

Try me.

I didn't want to try him. I was 90% sure he was joking, but then, one could never be so sure with him. So I texted him my address, promising myself I would switch places as soon as possible. The message I got back only made me want to pack all my belongings and get the hell out of here as fast as possible.

Good girl ;) B there in 20.

What was it with him and twenty minutes? At least this time, I was sure I wasn't going to be late. And it was the exact time I needed to finish baking my muffins.

I wasn't going to give them to him, though. He would have to earn them first.

Unfortunately for me, Dominic came punctually. Exactly 20 minutes after sending the last message, I got another one saying:

I'm here. You've got 90 seconds to come down.

Or what? - I texted back.

There will be consequences.

I grinned in spite of myself. He was evidently obsessed with time. It was a huge contrast to me, always being late.

I didn't give a damn about his threats, so I took my sweet time grabbing my belongings and tying up my chucks.

Running down the stairs, I checked the time. It was two minutes after five. Yep, he most definitely was a punctuality maniac.

I jumped into his car and shut the door. I had to admit, I envied him. It had everything one could want - navigation panel, four wheel drive, leather seats. And from the looks of it, it wasn't cheap. I didn't know much about cars, my knowledge was limited to the pieces of information watching Top Gear gave me. But truth be told, I watched it only for Jeremy Clarkson. And James May. And Richard Hammond.

Anyways, I was too busy laughing at their stupid jokes to notice any professional motorization tips.

So yep, I was completely helpless when it came to cars, but damn, wouldn't it be a shame if I'd damaged it more seriously.

"You're late." he informed me the second I buckled myself up.

"What a shame." I sighed, leaning my head back against the headboard.

He turned to me in his seat.

"Do you know how many seconds passed since I sent you the message saying I was here? " he asked me.

"Uh... No?"

I had no idea where this was all going.

"One hundred and forty." he said. "Coming here took you one hundred and forty seconds when I've told you, you only had ninety."

I put my hand on my chest and widened my eyes.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I swear it won't happen again, just don't say my supervisor about it." I said with fake desperation.

He raised a brow.

"Your supervisor?"

"Oh, you know, that's what they say in all those movies. I've always wanted to do it some time." I grinned.

He stared at me for a moment.

"You watch strange movies."

I shrugged.

"Anyway, you're still fifty seconds late and you will have to deal with the consequences." he changed the topic.

"Not to mention the eight minutes I had to wait for you in Sharon's."

"Seven." I corrected him.

His brows furrowed.

"What?

"It was seven minutes." I explained.

Dominic blinked.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was eight minutes." he insisted.

"Seven."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Okay. Whatever."

He rolled his eyes and I smirked. I won. Again. Yay me.

"That still makes four hundred and twenty seconds of late." he went on and my smile faded. "Adding the remaining fifty seconds from today, you have four hundred and seventy seconds to pay for."

"What is it about you and time?" I asked, growing irritated.

"I appreciate it." he responded.

I wrinkled my nose.

"You're weird." I told him.

"Feeling's mutual." he murmured, putting the key in the ignition.

A low rumble filled the space as he started the car. A quick smile crossed my lips. I've always loved the sound, and here it felt even better.

"Laugh all you want, one day you will have to pay for it." Dominic said, reversing out of the parking lot. "And it won't be pretty."

I bit back a laugh. He looked so serious saying, but for some reason, I found it funny.

"Where are we going?" I asked instead, looking out of the window.

"I'm not going to tell you." he responded with his eyes glued to the road before him.

My lips twitched.

"Is that my penalty for these four hundred seventy seconds? Not telling me where we're going?"

Dominic finally looked at me, a slight grin playing at the corners of his lips.

"Oh, no." he said in the huskiest voice he could muster. "When I do punish you, it's going to be much, much worse."

This time, I did laugh. It was all so ridiculous, I couldn't believe we were even having this conversation.

"Seriously, though." I said, calming down. "Are you taking me somewhere far so you could kill me? Or is it just part one of your time revenge?"

" No." he smiled, as if my suggestion amused him. "I told you we were going to get to know each other better."

"But do we really have to go somewhere to do it? Couldn't we just stay at my place and get it over with?"

Dominic glanced at me sideways.

"Would you let me into your apartment?" he asked.

"Of course I would." I scoffed. "I'm not five. I am fully capable of -"

He shot me a pointed look and I sighed.

"Okay. I wouldn't. But it doesn't mean we couldn't at least go to your place? Or go back to Sharon's?"

"We were there yesterday. It would be boring and I like to change things up." he responded. " And as to my place, I'm afraid my roommate might have... guests right now, and knowing you, you wouldn't be in for sitting in the kitchen while he screwed someone in the living room."

I made a face.

"You screw people in the living room?"

"Only girls." he precized. "And only Max does it. I, in comparison, have my standards."

I shook my head, disgusted.

"Remind me to never sit on your couch if I ever come to step my foot in your apartment." I said.

He chuckled.

"Don't worry, Sweetie. I'm not planning on leading you there. It would be a suicide for your virtuous demeanour."

"My virtuous... I don't have a virtuous demeanour!" I protested.

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

He raised a brow.

"Have you ever had s*x?"

I didn't respond at first. Instantly, I felt the blush spreading across my cheeks. Damn me and my stupid incapability of hiding emotions. After barely three seconds, I was so red that the answer was obvious. I knew I didn't have to respond, one look at me said enough, but I did anyway:

"It's none of your business." I stated firmly.

He grinned.

"See? Virtuous demeanour."

"Shut up."

He did, but I could hear him snort every so often. I didn't talk to him again until he stopped in some parking lot and told me to get out.

When I stepped out of the car, I had no idea where I was. I've been living in Ypsi since the middle of September, which meant I've been here for barely two months now. Both Sierra and I didn't have time to get to know the town better; we were too busy organizing our new place and dealing with the whole Freshman stuff. We were planning to do it now, but since she had to go for a week, we had to delay it again.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around.

"You'll see. Come on."

He motioned for me to follow and I padded after him, taking in the surroundings. After a few steps, the dirty asphalt of the parking lot turned into nice gray paving. We stepped into some kind of a park, with tall lanterns and wooden benches lining the path and trees growing everywhere I looked. I had to admit, it was nice and very well taken care of. Our park back home wasn't half as beautiful.

But I still had no idea where we were going.

"I'm really starting to think you lured me here to commit a murder." I said.

Dominic chuckled but didn't slow down.

"You'll stop once you see where I'm leading you."

The suspense was killing me. I couldn't say I didn't like surprises, but I usually was too impatient to just let someone surprise me. Right now, I was seconds away from bursting forward and just see where the hell we were going. In fact, I was about to do just it, when Dominic suddenly stopped. I was so deep in thought that I barely caught myself from bumping into him.

"Welcome to our new sanctuary of mutual knowledge." he said, spreading his arms at his sides.

I stepped around him to see what he was pointing at.

When I saw what was before me, I started laughing.

Yeah, he most definitely didn't bring me here to kill me.