[Star Shadows]

Do not fear another chapter is here....

*Eight*

In the middle of the floor lay a large, green, black and gold tartan picnic blanket. She smiled as she realised which blanket it was- she can still remember sitting on the grass on St Patrick's day in her garden sewing shamrock and horse shoe sequins to the rug- sitting and joking with him and their friends drinking alcohol. It filled her with a wash of happy memories as she tried to look past the blanket to see what else lay on their living room floor.

On the blanket were a number of things. The current most attractive thing to her being the mountains of pillows around the blanket. A variety of colours and shapes scattered across the floor. Gently he set Anabelle down on a big toadstool like pillow, read with big white spots. This time she let him put her down folding her legs beneath her as she came into contact with her lovely pillow- and with one last kiss unwrapping her arms from around his neck. His chuckle was light as he watched her pick up a star shape pillow and cuddle it tightly, trying to nuzzle the 5th point into a position that didn’t risk stabbing herself in the face. She pushed her face gently against the point as Ethan came to sit on another pillow opposite her, and in front of two wicker boxes.

He reached behind himself and picked up two long champagne flutes placing one in front of Anabelle and keeping one on the floor at his feet. Unfortunately they had no champagne- but fanta seemed just as good for them as he pulled the first of the baskets out to the side of them both.
“I promised you a picnic. And I know it isn’t outside or sunny- But I wanted to try my best to get you a picnic. So ta da? I hope you like it.”

A flutter of pure elation washed over Anabelle as she looked at her surprise in pure amazement- So what if it wasn’t in the park in the sunshine, it was still brilliant, he was brilliant. So what if he couldn’t make the sun shine or the rain stop raining- he was still the centre of her universe- and she doubted she would like him as much if he could do all those amazing things.

“Thank you” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him. “Ever so much.”

She sat back on her pillow again and looked at him, watching intently as he began taking things out of the box. Lots of things. Right before her eyes the mounds of food grew and grew, multiplying out from the box. There was everything she could hope for- from sausage rolls and tiny sandwiches, to cupcakes and cookies- all hand made, and hand cooked with such care and attention.

That was what made everything so special in the moment they shared. She was overjoyed at the effort he put into this for her, and everything he ever did for her- it made her feel... special... precious.

“Tuck in, I don’t know how most of it tastes, but I hope you like it. I’m just glad its not all cremated.” That was one thing about Ethan she had learnt very quickly- his food had no middle ground. It could either come out beautiful- or so burnt it looked like it had had an argument with a forest fire and lost.

She giggled slightly and picked up one of his obscurely shaped sausage rolls. Nibbling at the corners she tried to deduce whether or not he had intended to make them the shape they were.

The smell of all his lovely food was intoxicating. They both began to dig in, unable to resist the temptations anymore. Anabelle felt spoilt for choice with all so instead tried a little bit of everything, and then went back for seconds and in some cases thirds- until Ethan stopped and looked at her- pulling a bag of minstrels out of the box, followed by a little white board and a pen.

“How about a challenge?” he asked giggling at her.

She looked at him inquisitively- her eyes bright and wide- looking back at him. Immediately her thoughts set to work as to what he could possibly have in mind. In a short space of time her head began to fill with anticipation, curiosity and excitement.

“I will play too- we can make it a competition.”

Her thoughts became even more jumbled now- what could he possibly have in mind that would that he would join in with. What on earth did he have planned- whatever it was she was about to find out, as he lowered his brows, clasped his hands over hers and looked at her- very much trying not to giggle more himself; he could see the confusion and wonderment across her countenance.

He loved to toy with her mind- not in a way that would damage or intimidate her negatively- but it gave him so much joy to keep her on her toes and see her mind bounce around frantically, and watch the change in her emotions as she contemplated. The human mind was thrilling to him- and its responses just mesmerising.

“Please tell me, Ethan” She mumbled, trying to sound upset- as unconvincing as it was.

“How much do you want to know?” He whispered resting his hands on her bare knees. She tilted her head to look at him again pensively.

“A lot.” She said, after a long pause, placing her hands on his gently. As she looked at him, she saw a gentle sparkle in his eye, a mischievous little twinkle.

“Ok then- here’s the deal- I have the toy box there, we are going to play later, some things you will like, some things you won’t. You can stop the bad things if you accept this challenge.” She nodded following what he was saying. “we are going to try and catch the sweets in our mouth- so i throw you catch, and vice verca.”

“Ok... So what is the deal?” she asked looking at him intently- with a deep and growing curiosity.

“You catch it, you lose a nasty thing, I catch one, and I put one back on. As simple as that.” She nodded and accepted his challenge- she felt confident. She had been a photography and English student at university for three years, before meeting Ethan, throwing sweets at one another had became the main source of entertainment or her and her flatmates during revision, other than going out and drinking- but the drinking was far less productive than revision with chocolate projectiles. This was going to be an interesting game for her to play.

Ethan started by gently throwing one of the sweets to her though as close as she got to it, it just missed, bouncing off her chin and landing in her lap. She giggled and quickly placed the sweet in her mouth before grabbing one for herself to throw to him. This time he missed but as they continued the scores began to tot up on either side. With Ethan getting the first point, but Anabelle quickly cancelling it out.