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Chapter Three
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
tornado warnings
—by fifteyshadesofdylan
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Louisa stood in the middle of her living room with her hands on her hips while she looked at Nathan with an astonished expression. He had just thrown back a beer in the middle of the day before he decided to sprawl out across her couch. Something the woman wouldn't have ever guessed she'd witness from the slightly uptight man. But he seemed to need a friend? At least someone who wasn't Audrey to help with his Audrey issue. He was a mess yet in his own way. Still seeming like he had all his shit together on the outside though on the inside he seemed to be a disaster. Or a disaster waiting to happen.

"You know, you could've just asked her what he meant by that?" Louisa pointed out to Nathan.

"But I didn't want to come off as obsessed, Louisa. If I'm questioning her plans with Duke Crocker, out of all people, I feel like I would end up looking crazy for caring," Nathan ranted. Louisa sighed, slightly getting where he was coming from. He was wondering if where he stood with Audrey was potentially jeopardized.

"Aren't you a detective? Don't you quite literally ask questions as part of your job?" Louisa asked, Nathan gave her a look. She raised her hands up in defense. Clearly he didn't like that response from her. As his on-the-spot therapist, Louisa didn't know how to go about the situation in a Nathan-stance. She was already in a pickle herself.

Wait. Am I actually in a pickle or am I just blind? She wondered.

Could be both.

He rubbed his hand over his face, "She's still new to town. I feel like it's selfish of me if I try to keep her to myself. We aren't even together. We're just... partners. Work partners."

Nathan clearly began to feel like he was being dramatic.

He was.

But it was besides the point. His dramatics were a little reasonable. Though the blonde still called his bullshit when it came to "work partners." Yeah, sure, okay.

Louisa hummed, "If that's all you are, you wouldn't care as much as you do. And that's completely alright."

She tried to reason with him. Of course it was such a Nathan move to not want to admit to his obvious feelings for his female counterpart. Him and Audrey were two peas in a pod from an outsider's perspective. Anyone with eyes could see that Nathan Wuornos liked the woman he worked with. And it seemed, for the most part, that Audrey Parker liked him too?

"I've never felt..." Nathan trailed off once he looked at the woman. Trying to form a proper sentence so he didn't give away his own secret. Knowing that Louisa was still out of the loop on the Troubles around town. Something that surprised him because he assumed she would've figured it out herself or that Dave and Vince would've had a slip up.

"I'm just not used to feeling this sort of way. Maybe it's just because I keep to myself usually so it's just different?" Nathan shrugged.

"Maybe. Or maybe... by chance. You like Audrey more than you would like to admit."

Nathan scoffed, "I highly doubt that."

"Hey, don't get all grouchy. Let me remind you that you came to me in the first place," Louisa told him, "I could've slammed the door in your face."

"And I could've pulled my badge," Nathan tried to use his authority to one up the female. Though it was in a more playful and challenging manner.

"You wouldn't step foot inside the house without a warrant. I know my rights," Louisa raised her eyebrow slightly causing Nathan to chuckle. She was good.

"But also, if you want to know so bad about what Duke was asking Audrey about. They have a dinner date planned for Friday."

"A date?" Nathan let out.

She sighed, "Yeah. I guess."

Louisa sat on the arm of the couch, her and Nathan seemed to mirror the same look. They looked like a kicked puppy.

"But Audrey's a workaholic. So who knows, maybe she'll have to bail," she shrugged. The blonde tried to find a brighter side to the possibilities of what could happen in the next few days, "All I know is it was awkward standing there while they planned dinner. I didn't know if I should've excused myself right then and there or if it would've come off as rude."

"I think it would've been entertaining if you disappeared into the shadows. They would've been so confused when they realized you were gone," Nathan couldn't help but think about that concept. A nice Irish goodbye.

"Do you think they like each other?" Nathan wondered, peering over at the woman.

"No clue. In all honesty, I feel like you shouldn't worry too much. I thought that Audrey kinda liked you too. When I first met the both of you, if I hadn't known that she was also new, I would've thought you two were already together. You complement each other," Louisa began, Nathan had a ghost of a smile appear on his lips. Suddenly thinking about Audrey, "But Duke, I'm not sure. He's a wildcard. I always get these mixed signals so it's hard to understand where his head is."

And goodness she wished she understood him. She felt like she was going crazy trying to figure him out and she had only known him for almost a month.

"You should save yourself the trouble and cut ties with him. He's no good," Nathan warned her.

"Just because you have some middle school beef with him doesn't make it a good reason to tell everyone to run for the hills. You do realize you're a man in his 30s? The way you talk about him makes Crocker seem like he's the devil," Louisa laughed. She found it comical about the grudge between the two. Duke Crocker didn't even need to be in Nathan's presence to irritate him.

"No. He's worse," Nathan grumbled.

"And you are dramatic. Have you tried theater? You seem like you could've been a theater kid," Louisa joked, poking fun at the man.

"You're hilarious," Nathan said with a blank expression. She rolled her eyes in response before standing up. Reaching for his arms, she tried to pull him up off the couch.

He seemed to freeze slightly under her touch. A shocked look appeared on his face. He looked down at her hands on his arms before he went to grab onto her hands with his own.

"I feel you," Nathan slightly whispered out in disbelief. Louisa sent him a weird look in response.

"Well, yeah. I am touching your arms, Nathan," In one quick motion the man pinched her which made her yelp. Quickly going to pinch him back in retaliation. The man flinched at how hard her fingers squeezed on his skin, "What the hell, Nathan?!"

"That hurt," Nathan commented.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," she rubbed her arm in a soothing manner. What an asshole. Was he two or something? She looked at his blank face while he seemed to be in his own head about something, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. I just gotta go," Nathan mumbled before he walked quickly to the front door and went out.

"Geez, I appreciate the farewell," Louisa rolled her eyes.

Men.

She watched out the window while he rushed to his truck and pulled away from the house. Why had he been so freaked out over her trying to help him up? Were her hands cold and she didn't realize it? And why the hell did he have to pinch her so hard? She had absolutely no idea.

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Out of all of her options for her plans that night the blonde woman had chosen the most mundane thing in the world. One that lacked any energy or effort. It was 8 o'clock in the evening and she had opted to stay in that night. Instead of making it a habit of grabbing a drink on a Friday night, she was cozying up in her bed with a movie playing on the tv. At one point she had even come across the thought of getting a cat. Being in the house by herself was a little boring sometimes.

She was halfway through The Dark Knight when her phone went off.

The woman was a little confused at who was bothering her until she saw the name.

Duke.

"Hmm," she hummed before accepting the call.

"And how may I help you, Crocker? Last time I checked, you had a date," Louisa let out, a little bit of sass intertwining into her sentence.

"Uhh, yeah. Well, it wasn't technically a date for your information. It was just me trying to be a nice friend," Duke began. Louisa quirked her eyebrow slightly. So he didn't see it as a date? Interesting.

Maybe I was just jumping to a conclusion too? Oh God, I don't want to think that Nathan and I are the same. She thought.

"If I was asking someone on a date, it definitely wouldn't have been Audrey," Duke told Louisa. Her heart felt like it skipped a beat for a second. She didn't know what to do with that information. Should she be happy at the idea he didn't want to go on an actual date with Audrey or be nervous that he had eyes on another woman? Did Louisa even stand a chance?

"Let me guess, she didn't show?" Louisa said, reeling it back into why the man had decided to call her.

Duke sighed, "Yeah. As expected, I guess."

"And you decided to call me because...?" Louisa was curious as to what led him to reaching out to her. And now her mind began to spin again.

Was she the second choice?

"Well, I thought it would be nice to hear your voice. I feel like I haven't seen you since last Friday. One would think you were avoiding me," Duke told her. Of course he had noticed the lack of her presence. It was hard to miss. Something strange for the man since they had known each other for about a month and it felt weird now when she wasn't around.

Louisa pursed her lips. Maybe she was avoiding him. But she wasn't going to admit to that.

"Nope. I simply just have been busy. In fact I'm busy right now," Louisa played off.

"Oh, yeah. Doing what?" Duke questioned, amused. He could hear the television playing in the background.

"That's... top secret," She answered, glancing at the movie on the television screen.

"So that means you're too busy to come down here and help me finish all the food that I made for dinner?" Duke wondered.

Tempting.

But Louisa wasn't going to have food from a dinner that wasn't meant to be hers.

"Yeah. I'm not really feeling like being the second choice dinner date tonight. But once you're done with your little pity party, if you are in fact throwing one, you can come over. Unless you think you're too good to join my top secret plans," Louisa decided to throw out a free invitation for the man.

"Hmm, well I might just have to pack up everything and swing on by..." He trailed off. Louisa heard a female voice in the background. One that definitely wasn't Audrey's.

"Am I too early for dinner?"

Oh? So, she wasn't even a second choice. She was a last resort. How could she be so stupid? Obviously he had a backup woman he asked to come over if Audrey didn't make it. And Louisa seemed to be the last resort if that other person fell through.

Louisa huffed out in annoyance, suddenly ending the call between her and Duke. It was stupid. She was getting worked up over some guy. She placed her phone back down before turning back to the movie trying to ignore her hurt feelings that seemed to mix with the weird gut feeling she was also getting.

All the while Duke was out on the deck of the Grey Gull, his attention being pulled from his conversation with Louisa. This random lady had approached him who he had never seen before. And it felt like he had lost control of all rational thoughts. Being pulled into her gaze, feeling like he was getting reeled in on a hook that he didn't even attempt to bite and now he was caught.

He had heard the small huff on Louisa's side of the line. Internally it made him panic because he wanted to stop her from instantly jumping to a conclusion. But it was too late because the call had ended. Duke wanted to shoo the lady away though his words seemed to fail. He was in a trance and it was going to get him in way more trouble than one could even think of.