Author’s Note:
Julius is forever a flirt and he and Erica are the cutest sometimes. This is a feel-good scene after the night of their paint night date.
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12
Erica
“Can I trouble you for a ride back to the studio?” Erica asked once they were outside. “I really don’t want to ride the bus smelling like last night.”
“I kind of prefer how we smell.”
“Like sex?”
“With a hint of dragon breath,” he teased. “It’s utterly intoxicating.”
Erica tucked in a laugh and a playful eyeroll. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You always know what to say. Me? I’m a bumbling fool, but you can just come off the cuff with the exact words. How do you do that?”
“It takes many years of practice… and the best damn speech coach my parents could buy.”
“A coach?”
“My family is often in the public eye. Growing up, we all had speech and etiquette coaches.”
“What does your family do?”
“They are into politics.” Julius’s answer was vague.
“Have I heard of them?”
“No, not quite that famous,” he said.
“So, what does a speech coach do exactly?”
“Well, I was taught how to use the proper words at the proper time. She also taught me how to flirt and—”
“She?”
“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?”
She was most certainly not jealous. Alright, she was a tiny bit jealous. But she was never going to admit that to Julius’s smirking face. “No, of course, I’m not.”
“Are you sure?”
“What’s there to be jealous of? That you needed someone to teach you how to flirt? Some of us have natural charm.”
“Ouch.”
Julius was such a faker. That didn’t hurt his feelings in the slightest.
“Hush, you,” Erica chided playfully. “Do I get a ride or are you going to force me to take the ride of shame?”
“Of course I can give you a ride. You rode me, I can return the favor,” he threaded his fingers with hers and gave a gentle squeeze.
-End
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