Blue eyes glanced at the clock which pointed at 8am as Azura just finished her yogurt. She heard him coming from afar without even trying. As Lucas entered the kitchen, she noticed his bloodshot eyes first before his complete ragged look; wearing an old pair of trainers which hung low on his hips with a t-shirt two sizes too big. It was nothing she’d ever seen him in.

It was awfully quiet when Azura had come home late from Steffen and Rose’s. Not something she had expected. Instead, she had mentally prepared to deal with loud sex noises and had her earplugs ready in hand. She had a choice to spend the night somewhere else but having to choose between listening to sex coming from Rose and Steffen or Lucas and Nina, she had opted for the latter. Just ‘cause it wasn’t the first time she’d heard Lucas go at it, and she was rather curious to meet Nina. Taking no chances, she’d still put in a pair of earplugs just in case.

Lucas just barely grumbled a good morning to her as he grabbed the eggs and put a frying pan on the stove. He broke the first egg too rough, dropping the shell into the pan. Frustrated, he threw the whole thing out, placed the pan back onto the stove, and grabbed a second egg. This time he was luckier, but he grunted as the yoke broke and the yellow started to ooze into the white of the egg. He grabbed the pan again, ready to throw it out, but stopped when he noticed there was only one egg left. With a louder grunt he placed the pan back on the burner, cracked the third egg, and seemed pleased that this time, it was a perfect sunny side up.

Azura just observed him, trying not to chuckle too loudly. She knew better than to talk or joke at him right now. Guessing by his behavior, his night did not go as expected. When he was done he placed down the plate on the table and sat next to Azura.

"You forgot the cheese."

"What?" He stared at her bewildered, his hair a big mess.

"The cheese. You forgot to put it on your eggs like you usually do." He turned back to his plate and stared at it like he saw fire burning on water.

"I'll live." He ignored her and started eating.

"So I take it your night didn’t go as predicted?" With a deep sigh, he placed his utensils down and gave her an annoyed look.

"No." He kept staring at her as she got up from the table and moved behind him. She gently ruffled through his hair with one hand as she placed the other on his shoulder. "What are you doing?" She kept quiet as the hand on his shoulder slowly slid down to his chest and started drawing circles. She moved in with her head until her lips were right next to his ear where she slowly whispered.

"Please don't tell me she turned you down, big boy." Before he could react she let him go and jumped out of the way so he wasn’t able to grab her. He started to swear at her but didn’t bother to get out of the chair. His eyes were spitting fire as she just stood there letting him rage. When he was done and got quiet again, Azura walked over to her side of the table and sat back down.

"That's for kicking me out and sending me to Rose who had absolutely no idea I was coming. Let's just say I ruined her evening with Steffen. And now that you got all that swearing out of your system, you can tell me what happened." She smiled sweetly as if nothing had happened. The silence between them was cut short by Lucas who, after giving her a deadly stare, couldn't help but start to chuckle.

"You've been living here too long, Azu. Using my own tricks against me, that's dirty. but I have to hand it to you, nicely done." He finished one of the eggs while she just leaned back with her hands behind her head waiting for him to start talking.

"Things went rather smooth for the first half of the night. That was until things heated up a bit. Unfortunately, Nina had a bad dinner yesterday and right when I wanted to make my move, she got sick. And not just a little bit sick. I had spent the rest of the night cleaning, providing for her, and making sure she was comfortable. I had to switch buckets, hold her hair, wipe the sweat off her forehead, and curse the person who had made her dinner. She finally fell asleep at around four and she's still sleeping now."

Azura couldn't help but laugh as he told her what happened. She grabbed his hand on the table and stared straight into his green eyes.

"Oh wow... That sounds... Awful. I can't believe that actually happened! So...now what?" He retracted his hand from underneath hers.

"I wait for her to wake up and try again later. By the way,-" The evil glint in his eyes made Azura shiver. "-How was your nightmare?"

She flinched as he asked her. He had probably heard her scream again, but he had not woken her up. Judging by what he told her, he probably had been too busy caring for Nina so she couldn’t blame him but him, but his using it against her was new and very low, even by his standards. All the fun disappeared from her voice, her cold ice blue eyes pierced right through him.

"You were there, hence it being a nightmare." This time it was his turn to flinch. He knew he had crossed the line and already regretted it.

"Sorry, I shouldn’t have-"

"You asked so you're going to hear it. You were there and I had to kill you. Put a bullet between your eyes but it didn’t kill you, so I was forced to grab my knife and stab you. I stabbed you ten fucking times before it made me slice your throat, letting your blood pour out. Afterward, I set you on fire. and your body changed to that of Nora then Charlie, Theresa, my parents, and so many more people I care about. All the while this voice kept ringing around telling me it was all my fault and I had killed them all."

She had clenched her fists on the table and dug her nails into the palms of her hands again. That was one thing that had not changed. The nightmares. Still there, still haunting her. One night worse than the other, but seldom a night without them. She gritted her teeth together and just stared at her fists not registering Lucas getting up and pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear as he felt her starting to sob. A sign she was getting back to reality. He held her tight, stroking her dark hair while her body was shaking with every uncontrollable sob. As he looked up he looked straight into the eyes of Nina.

"We need to talk." She was completely dressed, her jacket resting in her hands. Her blonde hair was tied together in a big bun and her grey-blue eyes showed no emotion. Lucas let go of Azura, who quietly sat down and did not want to move one bit. Lucas just nodded at Nina and followed her outside. Azura softly banged her head on the table as soon as they both left and groaned loudly.

"This is so messed up." She softly muttered to herself and sat back up. After twiddling her thumbs a bit she impatiently got up and got herself some more tea. There was still no sign of either of them coming back. Azura played with her made drink until it turned cold and tossed it away. She paced around the kitchen until she heard the door close. Curious but on her guard, she made her way to the living room. Lucas stood in the room, his shoulders slumped down. There was a crack in his voice as he started to talk.

"It wasn't about what just happened," Liar. It was the first word in her head as he spoke up. "She knew about you and what to expect but there was something else which made her decide to put an end to it." Azura wanted to shout at him that she knew he was lying, but instead, she just nodded.

He walked off and headed towards his bedroom. Azura bit her lip and eventually just dropped down onto the couch. She still had a few hours to spare before her shift would start at the climbing hall but at this rate, she might as well just go right now. After rethinking what had just happened she managed to get up again and grabbed her stuff. Right as she wanted to leave, the doorbell rang. Wondering who would visit this early, she opened the door to find Nathan standing there.

Towering over her, he was imposing. Though only having met him properly once, he wasn’t the kind of guy you’d easily forget. Almost as tall as Jeff, his dark hair was shaved short like a buzzcut, and clouded green, deeply set eyes which had more depth to them the longer you stared. He wasn’t necessarily handsome but still he had some mysterious draw to him.

"Is Lucas here? It's urgent."

"Yeah, I'll go get him. Come on in." There was something about the way he spoke and his demeanor that screamed he was serious. Something had happened and it wasn't good. Azura made her way up dreading every step.

"Lucas?" She knocked on his door. "Nathan is here. He needs to talk to you, says it's urgent." She heard footsteps behind the door and soon after, it opened.

"Today really can't get any better, can it." He rolled his eyes and stepped passed her to head down. She silently followed him feeling sick to her stomach for what was coming. Nathan didn't even wait for them to come all the way down. Azura's plan was to leave as soon as possible to not interfere with their conversation but she was left no choice as Nathan spoke up as soon as Lucas was down the stairs.

"We found Johnathan." A deadly silence fell in the room. Lucas closed his eyes and said a little prayer.

"Alive?" Nathan shook his head and Lucas slammed the flat of his hand against the wall. Azura jumped out of his way and pressed herself against the door at his sudden outburst. She was shaking but what Nathan said next made her freeze in fear.

"They did a good number on him. Clawed to death. Not a pretty sight to behold. If I ever get my hands on one of those blue-eyes, I'll kill it." The intense hatred resounded in every word.

With every word he said, Azura felt herself crimp in even further. Her knees started to buckle, but she needed to stay upright. With her hand behind her back, she tried to find the door handle, afraid to turn her back to the men. Finally, she found it and as fast as she could she opened the door and almost fell through trying to make her way out. The door closed with a loud slam behind her and Azura stumbled across the yard to a few bushes. No longer to control her inside, she fell to her knees and hurled.

*

"So are you ready for tonight?" Rose held up two tops in front of Azura and eventually decided to go with the black one instead of red. "Here, try this."

Azura took the top and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She took the top, unaware of Rose staring at her body, and put it on.

"I'm not ready for it, but I could use the distraction. Besides, it's not like anything will happen. This was just a crazy-- What are you staring at, Rose?"

"N-Nothing. It looks good on you. I like this one." Rose gave her a smile and put up her thumbs.

"And there we have the reason nothing will happen tonight! Even if I take a guy home or vice versa, the moment I take my clothes off, he will be distracted too much to even talk." The sarcasm was quite apparent.

Rose seemed to have gotten herself pulled together and tossed Azura a skirt. "Then do it in the dark! When a man's horny he doesn't care!"

"I... No. That's not an option. I'll just pretend I never heard that." Azura held up the skirt and tried to keep a laughing fit in.

"So you want me to wear this?" She waved the skirt from left to right and measured the length of it by comparing it to her arm. She then put her arm to her side and laughed hysterically. "This thing doesn't even cover my butt! No way I'll be wearing this! Give me a good pair of pants please."

"It's called a mini skirt. It's in fashion."

"I know what it is, Rose, and I'm still not wearing it. Please just hand me a pair of jeans." Rose rummaged through the clothing pile that had gathered while they were trying to find a good outfit. After some digging, she eventually held up a pair of dark red skinny jeans and handed them to Azura.

Without shame, Azura took off her own pants and tried on the skinny. It fit her like a glove and she proudly turned around before the mirror.

"Now this is more like it." She turned to Rose and a wide smile sprawled across her face. Rose jumped up and walked to her bedside table and grabbed some lipstick.

"You'll need this, mascara, and an eye pencil." She threw the lipstick at Azura and waved her off to the mirror. "Go and be beautiful!" She squealed as Azura just stared at her like a freak. "In the meantime, you can tell me all about what happened three days ago. Both of you seemed out of it at work. Was there a big fight or something?"

Azura got quiet as she was reminded of that day. She’d only barely been able to ward off a panic attack after Nathan had visited and still decided to go to work. Lucas had to work that same evening and with Nina breaking things off and the news of Johnathan he was avoiding her and the rest as well. Even though he kept reassuring her it wasn't her fault for what happened with Nina, Azura still got a strange vibe from him and partially blamed herself.

They had gotten close in the past year and it sometimes gave people the wrong impression because they were so easygoing with each other. Even Rose and Steffen had an opinion about it. Maybe they had gotten a little too close so it became a nuisance with other relationships they would start. The strange behavior had only lasted a day though and on the next, he was himself again, with a hangover that was, and made it clear that she wasn’t off the hook for the weekend.

"It's complicated. Too many things happened during a very short time. Let's just keep it at that." Azura made sure Rose wouldn’t ask any further questions and turned to the mirror to apply her makeup. Right then she felt her phone buzz and she took it out to see it was a message from Lucas.

I have 3 rules for tonight:

1. No more than 2 alcoholic drinks. This one goes for both of us.

2. Even though your goal is to score a guy, if you want out you can. Just let me know and I'll come and save your ass.

3. Wear something nice. Not just the top layer but underneath as well.

I'll see you at 11!