History
There was nothing quite like having a man badgering history facts in your ear.
Druig had arrived at your apartment precisely at six to pick you up, just as planned. Of course, he had no idea since you'd last seen him that you had been thinking about him nonstop.
Since Druig made you quit your job, you had spent every day since doing absolutely nothing. You didn't even know what to do with so much free time, it was incredible.
You still couldn't remember the exact events around quitting your job. You honestly even couldn't recall that moment at all and were only reminded when you called your office on Monday that you had quit. But you were so happy with all that weight and stress off your shoulders, you didn't contemplate it too much.
Druig had rented a sleek black Porsche for the night, and opened the door for you like an absolute gentleman. You were stunned that he had a car like this and knew he must've had some money.
By the time you made it over to the museum, the sun had already set and nighttime was rolling in. Druig had brought you on the next phase of your adventure, to the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science.
You had been there once before with your sibling and their spouse, but it had been a bore and you were subjected to watching them grope each other in front of the Ancient Egypt section. Plus, you had the joy of being the annoying third wheel, something you were all too familiar with.
Regardless, it still had left a bad taste in your mouth regarding museums.
But Druig was determined to change that. He had an insane number of historical facts crammed into his little brain. At this point he had rattled off the historical backgrounds of fifteen different rulers, including the stories of their empires, within the hour you'd been there. His knowledge was simply baffling.
And just when you thought there was no way he could know anything about an archaeological artifact from a thousand years ago, he blurts out even more facts. Any empire, B.C. or A.D., he was able to supply you with a plethora of knowledge.
"Okay but this one, see it's from the Roman Empire. It's from 309 C.E. which means Constantine was emperor," he explained enthusiastically, pointing to the stone figure in the glass case.
It was a beautiful hand carved statue that had been kept in excellent condition for its age. You could appreciate the art and the history behind it.
But your reaction was nothing compared to his.
Druig's eyes would light up for the first time since you met him in each era you passed through. It was a childlike wonder; he was truly mesmerized with every single historical piece and artifact in that museum. It was really quite adorable and wholesome to see the arrogant man in this childlike way.
"Oh, Constantine? I can't say I remember everything about that one. Good guy or bad guy?" you prattled on.
You would intentionally ask questions just to see how giddy he got when he had a chance to explain and spill all of his knowledge onto someone.
"You would have to define bad. Murderous of course, as was any emperor back then. Violent too, but I always thought he was an alright guy. Bit of a liar though, which was unfortunate."
He walked to the next exhibit and stared at the piece in front of him with furrowed brows.
"Well go on, now you have me all interested," you teased trailing him, after he had paused the conversation.
"He made Christianity the main religion of Rome," Druig said, turning back around to look at you. "But the bastard was baptized on his death bed. Coward couldn't have committed to the religion before he was dying?"
You couldn't help but laugh as Druig made no attempt to hide his judgement of the man.
"Right, right. And how would you know that? No, let me guess, you guys were best friends?" you joked.
He narrowed his eyes at you.
"Actually, if you must know, he really was too much of a pompous dick to have been my friend," he replied condescendingly. "But before his rule, the empire was in shambles. Disease, war, invasions. It was a real drag. So, I suppose he wasn't all bad."
He seemed lost in thought for a minute, staring off into space.
As soon as you began questioning internally the exact wording of what he said, and the fact that he was talking about a man who's been dead for thousands of years, you just stopped. Your mind was suddenly at ease again and the thoughts were simply whooshed away.
"So, is history just your secret guilty pleasure? You know, the embarrassing thing you hide from all your friends because it's stupidly less masculine?"
Druig would sigh as he always did with your many questions, although truly he would never say aloud how much he enjoyed having someone ask about him and his life for once.
"Look at me, love. Do I look like I have a lot of friends?" he replied with no hint of sarcasm.
You would have burst out laughing at his response if you weren't so worried about offending him.
At least he was aware of how unapproachable he looked.
"Okay so maybe you look like you'd punch someone if they looked at you the wrong way. But if you're a huge history nerd it would explain why you hate technology so much."
You both walked side by side up the stairs to the second story of the museum. His hands never left his jacket pockets, but his leg would brush past yours every now and then. The lightest touch of his would still make your heart race.
"I do hate technology, but I hate how it's made humans change even more. Although humans have been stupid through every era as this place is proving."
Holding the door open for you once more, as a true gentleman, you moved onto more recent time periods in the museum.
"You all say how scared you are of robots, well they're right in your hands," he continued.
"Robots are a lot more than a talking cell phone," you replied with an attitude, offended.
"Oh right, of course. And just where is your cell phone?"
He smirked at you and looked incredibly smug as you felt your pockets and looked in your purse to of course, no avail. Without the reminder, you hadn't thought of your phone all week. And the fact that it was long gone.
"Shit, I must have lost it! God I'm such an idiot, there's no way I can afford a new one right now," you groaned.
You started panicking and had a million thoughts swirling inside your head.
'It's okay, I can retrace my steps since last week and surely, I can find it then, right? I've been all over the city though, it could be anywhere! Anyone could have stolen it, or it could have fallen out before I even met him. I cannot cry in front of him Jesus that would be embarrassing. Ugh it could be in fuck knows where by now! Oh my god I can't believe this, I don't even know what kind of iPhone I can afford. What's the oldest one available? Aren't those the cheapest? Maybe I could try to get a deal at Best Buy. Don't they have deals on cell phones?'
Druig thought his head was going to explode after listening to all your internal thoughts.
He loved to manipulate humans, but patronizing you was losing the type of joy it usually brought him. He felt an emotion he has very rarely felt in his seven thousand years of life.
Guilt.
For once he felt genuinely guilty for his mind control. For having you smash your phone, even though you were left with no recollection of the event. The fact that you forgot didn't mean no implications, and the consequences of his actions were all too real being in the normal human world.
"Look, we can try and find it later, but I can also help you get a new phone if it's really such a concern." Druig offered selflessly.
He saw the way your thoughts paused as your downcast eyes rose like the sun, and your worried frown faded into a smile.
His expression echoed yours as he felt actual joy in making you smile and feeling like he wasn't just some irredeemable asshole.
He had somehow started to do something entirely human. Actually, care for you.
"Really? You don't have to but that would be so nice if you have the time," you responded with a grin from ear to ear.
The words you spoke didn't match the words in your head as you were far too scared to say what was really on your mind. Foolishly, you had started to do the same thing you had notoriously done all your life.
Imagining unrealistic scenarios with someone you hardly knew, as an infatuation continued to grow.
It was an unstoppable occurrence in your life that meant you were constantly disappointed and let down by your own brain. You had known him for a week. That's it, just a silly trivial week. 52 weeks in a year and this past week was just another.
And yet you couldn't fathom how elated you had been spending such a short amount of time with him, in comparison to the mediocre life you'd spent in town since moving there for school.
He broke you out of your little sheltered box, making you take a chance on life and do something spontaneous and crazy. No guy has ever stopped you on the street to talk to you or do something nice for you like open doors. You were invisible and an unremarkable girl every other day.
Until you met him.
Fuck.
You were inching closer and closer to the rabbit hole of no return. The dark black hole that was going to swallow you up and that you swore you would never let yourself get caught up in again after the last man that broke your heart.
Yet, there you were falling at Druig's feet as if he hadn't turned your life upside down and made you question anything and everything since meeting him.
So foolish.
"It's getting pretty late, how about I take you home?" he offered, shaking you from your thoughts after seeing the time on the digital clock plastered on the museum wall.
"Sure, that would be great," you replied contently.
He started walking down the stairs before stopping on the first one and waiting for you to catch up. As you approached the stairs, he turned around and outstretched his hand for you to take.
To actually hold.
You must have shown on your face your confusion as he reassured you and shook his hand in a 'come on' motion.
He was honestly just as surprised as you were at his sudden move, but you graciously accepted.
He cautiously wrapped his hand around yours as you held his nervously. The shared uncertainty made it even more perfect as you left the museum hand in hand.