BXBX NOVEL Chapter 28 - Time Off
Even though Samuel had on problem sleeping that night, the following morning he still felt rather out of sorts because of what had happened in Lena's room the night before.
While it was the same thing she had been doing to him every since he came to stay with her and her family, last night it also felt different because she wasn't being as rough and intimidating as he had before.
He also felt confused about the fact that even knowing he wasn't going to be comfortable walking into her room so casually next time, she didn't try to bully him into staying or say warning about how if he didn't want to get into more trouble he should just be good and come back.
Maybe it was because the fatigue of paintball earlier on in the day had caught up to her? that seemed like a weak reason considering she always seemed to do doing something or other which made him doubt that she struggled with stamina in relation to activities that required a lot of movement or work.
He again avoided talking to his parents about that aspect of their relationship when he called them later that night, but he did tell them about how they went to play paintball and how good Lena was at the game. He was really hoping that the more positively he talked about her before they met, the easier it would be to get them to warm up to her once they met.
His father was more guarded than his mother was, but Samuel figured that had something to do with the fact that he had been the one who in person had primarily dealt with Zane so he was sure his father believed that whoever his daughter was, probably wasn't that great of a person or perhaps it was just because of their line of work was something his father never had wanted him to be involved with.
Whatever it was, he hoped that it was something that could be worked out so he didn't have to worry about the engagement would be canceled. He only had three more days to get through before Lena would give him her final answer as to whether she was going to agree or not to go through with the wedding.
Samuel's goal of keeping her to mind positive towards the idea was what got him to leave his room that morning rather than continuing to hide inside his room to sort his feelings out. It would've been at the cost of eating and the risk that Lena, his brother, or father might seek him out to find out what was going on, but he wasn't confident with the fact that he would be able to interact normally with Lena and the last thing he wanted was for him to seem weird around her family and someone to ask questions.
Closing the door behind himself, he stopped when he saw a note pinned to his door out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look at it, the first thing that caught his attention was that it was from Lena, or at least she had signed her name at the bottom of it.
'Little Chickadee, I already know you're going to skip breakfast. I am too busy for you to worry about food. I expect though that around noon, you'll be waiting for me in sunroom with that dessert you made.'
ps. 'don't forget we have dance practice later and I expect that you will be good and not try to skip out. If you do, I will find you.'
- Lena
He grimaced when he read the last part of the note. He had forgotten that she was expecting him to continue attending dance practice with her. Unlike her, he was sore from playing paintball. Less from being hit by the paintballs themselves and more from the rough way that Lena would shove him down or to the side any time there was a risk her or her would be hit by someone on the other team.
His only hope was that this time there would at least be proper dance shoes for him to wear as the instructor had measured his feet and assured him that he would have something to wear when he came back.
Taking the note off the door he slipped it into his pocket. He would need to set a timer on his phone as he was certain he would end up forgetting what she was requesting him to do and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now.
Walking down the stairs towards the dining area, he vaguely wondered if he was going to get in trouble for eating dessert with her around noon if she had not yet eaten anything else. Would that make him deny her request or argue with her about it? Absolutely not. Perhaps her father had the ability to be intimidating when he wanted to be. For Samuel though, Lena still took the top of the list as the most intimidating figure in the family despite her small size.
He hadn't interacted with much of the other family yet, but he kind of figured that based upon how everything went at the dinner table, they at least seemed decent enough since the family appeared to get along well.
Eventually he wanted to ask Lena about how the dynamics worked though since he was aware that Zane's younger brother, wife, and children lived with them. He had always been under the impression that in gangs/mafias (he still wasn't quite sure what to classify them as) such as the Red Scorpions there was usually some type of in family fighting over who was going to take over and such.
Thus Samuel wanted to know if there was anything he needed to worry about before marrying into the family or if there would be any type of risk to his family from within once they were married.
"Saaaaaam." He decided that today would be a good day to spend outside, but he had hardly made it outside and down the stairs before he heard Leo yell/shout his name. The troublesome younger brother was another person he had been hoping to avoid seeing this morning after he was the one who had spotted him and Lena in their room "She wasn't being mean to you again last night was she?" He asked as he jogged over from where he appeared to shifting fire wood into what he assumed as a storage space.
"She wasn't mean to me at all. I went into her room last night because there was something I wanted to talk to her about." Samuel replied shifting a little away from the younger brother when he realized that he intended to hug him.
"But she attacked you last night instead." His speculation caused Samuel's face to heat up more than he would've liked. He personally wouldn't have chosen to use the word 'attack' for the situation that happened last night.
"She didn't attack me at all!" Samuel defended, his voice came out quicker and like more of a snap than he had wanted for it to, but all Leo did in response was grin at him. Even though he was not intimidating like his sister, the two siblings were alike in a lot of other ways it seemed.
"Don't worry, I'm not saying it like there's anything wrong with the situation, you two are engaged after all. I was just making an observation of the event. Whatever you two chose to do with your time and in those type of situations is up to you. I just find it interesting." Leo explained. Samuel was about to ask what he meant by interesting when he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him back. "Speak of the she-devil and she appears." He mocked a look of surprise as his older sister returned it with a steady glare.
"Lena? I thought you were supposed to busy today?" Samuel asked, surprised to see her there. Glancing at him, her glare lessened slightly, but she still looked at annoyed.
"I was, but someone told me I was supposed to take the day off so that we could spend more 'quality time' together." She replied. By the way she said 'quality time' it sounded to him that she was not thrilled about the idea.
"You're being forced to take a day off now after you just had one? Sounds to me like this relationship is getting more serious." Leo mused. Even though he was being cheeky about the situation, the look on his face told him at least a little he was delighted for his older sister.
"You watch what you say or what and see what happens when it's your turn to be set up for engagement." The little queen retorted in annoyance.
"Oh, I am not particularly concerned about that yet, I still have plenty of time to enjoy the single life before I am required to figure out who I want to become engaged to. That is as long as you go through with this set up with Sam there." Leo replied smugly. He made a point that Lena wouldn't really argue with, so instead so lead Samuel without saying anything back towards the inside of the house.
He got the feeling that she was going to demand dessert to deal with her sour mood. Was being forced to take an extra day off really that big of a deal to her?