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AFTERNOON TEA

Having spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning the shop after the tourist tornado had hit, or the 'witch gawkers' as Ayden liked to call them, she was now sat at the table watching Tabitha wrestle with the cauldron on display. The cauldron usually bubbled and created a plume of smoke as customers walked through the door. It had stopped working during the tourist tornado. The poor thing was puffing out smoke left, right and centre.

“Cora, why don’t you head out?” Tabitha stopped and looked at her, a screwdriver and a hammer held tightly in each hand.

Cora knew how mangled the cauldron would look by the end of the shift.

“Are you sure, Tab? I can stay, I don’t mind.”

“No, no, get yourself off. Don’t forget you’re meeting Ember tonight for your first lesson.”

How could she forget? Whenever she thought about it butterflies, the angry kind, started attacking her stomach. She wasn’t nervous about the lesson or using her power, that part she felt she could deal with fine. It was Ember who made her nervous. How could she compete with a woman who was so perfect, so level headed? She always felt over emotional when she was in Ember's presence. The woman seemed to possess the emotions of a robot.

“Okay, if you’re sure?” she asked one final time.

“Of course, go have fun. Sit in the sun and do whatever you young ones do.”

Heading into the little room she grabbed her bag and made her escape. Kissing Tabitha on the cheek as she passed, she walked into the lovely sunshine.

             
As she walked by Andrew Bruton’s field she smiled remembering Ayden running around. She couldn’t wait to start her lessons with him but she had to see Ember first. Thinking of tonight’s lesson had her stomach rolling again.

“Cora, what a lovely surprise.”

Startled, she jumped at the sound of the voice but soon relaxed. She had to be careful; not paying attention could mean Jack sneaking up on her. “Hi, Clay.”

“I was just making my way to the shop.”

“Oh, well I won’t be there as I'm… here.”

She congratulated herself on sounding so intelligent.

“Yeah, I can see that,” his sexy smile widened.

She looked up at him, her eyes squinting against the sun. “You can still go to the shop, it's still open.”

He shuffled his feet looking down at the road. The silence between them became too much. She was just about to say something, anything, when finally he murmured, “It was you I was coming to see.”

“Oh.” She held her breath.

“Yeah, I just wondered if you wanted to go to the field, perhaps Andrew Bruton’s, and have a little afternoon tea.”

She looked at him shocked. Did she have the time? She could make time. Ember wouldn’t kill her, surely? He was looking at her rather sheepishly.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Great,” he smiled.

The effects of his smile slammed into her chest making heat fly into her belly.

             
They came to the little beck and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Hold on, I will jump and then help you across.”

Clay placed the blanket and the bag down next to her feet. In one powerful stride he landed on the other side. She picked the blanket and bag off the floor and threw them across to him, the bag clattered as he caught it. He wiped his hands on his jeans. “Stretch out to me as far as you can.”

Doing as she was told, she felt the earth move beneath her feet. She was going to fall face first into dirty water.  Her hands reached towards him and he moved effortlessly placing his own hand in hers and then shifted his footing.

“You got me?”

He nodded and pulled her quickly over the beck and into his warm body. She blushed and pulled away from his grip. He walked in front of her and stopped to pull a blanket from his bag.  He spread the blanket out and then sat down.

“Sit down, I don’t bite.”

             
Taking a deep breath, she sat down next to him. Her mouth had gone extremely dry. Clay started to rummage around in his bag. Taking two cups out, he sat them in front of her. He returned his attention to the bag and brought out two little saucers and placed each delicate cup on a saucer. She laughed finding it completely endearing that he thought to bring saucers. He turned to her with a shocked expression on his face.  

“What are you laughing at?”

“I’m sorry, I just think the cups and saucers you've brought are adorable.”

His smile was quick and flirtatious. “Well, you haven’t seen my secret weapon yet.”

He pulled out a white box and then slowly opened it. Positioned side by side were two huge scones, each spilling over with sticky sweet jam.

“Afternoon tea is not complete without scones, Yorkshire folk know that.”

She laughed again.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I’m laughing because I’m having afternoon tea.”

Little frown lines creased his forehead as he looked at her. 

“I haven’t had tea since I've been here,” she explained, “hot chocolate seems to be a favourite amongst my friends.”

“Ah, well I hope you enjoy your first cup of tea.” He took a sip of his before saying, “so, why did you come to a small little village in the middle of nowhere?”

She drank some of her tea as he watched her. If he only knew why they’d moved here.

“My m
um moved here because she got a job and I had to come along because she can't live without me.”

“Do you like living here?”

“I didn’t at first but I love living here now. I've come to think of it as home.”

He nodded taking a bite from his scone. She listened to the birds chirp as they scattered around the field scavenging for food. She split the scone and began eating the smaller half.

“So, why are you here? Do you live nearby?”

“I don’t live here permanently. I have a place in Ripon, which is in Yorkshire. I'm only here for a while visiting a friend.”

“So you will know all about Yorkshire tea then,” she smiled trying to ignore the effect his previous comment had on her.

He laughed and nodded whilst eating his scone.

“Which friend are you here visiting?”

“I don’t think you know him, Eli Yandell?”

“No, but you've mentioned him, the BBQ man.”

Clay grinned. “The very same. I’m sure you will meet him in time, it’s a small village.”

Yes, it was, so how long would it take for him to hear the gossip about Tabitha and look at her and think the same thing? There was another pause as she continued to demolish the scone. If everyone knew everyone, did that mean he knew Jack?

“How about we do a round of questions?” he suggested. “It’s a good way to get to know each other.”

“How do we do that?” 

“We ask the first thing that comes into our minds and answer it immediately. You can’t think about the answer, that’s the rule, no thinking.” He pointed his finger at her teasingly.

“Okay,” she smiled.

“I will begin. Now then, let me see.” He took a bite of his scone and sat chewing it.

Her heart zigzagged all over her chest as she watched his jaw pop. His eyes watched her, the glint in them making him all kinds of sexy.

“Age?”

“Seventeen.” 

He hadn't specified which age he wanted to know. Technically she wasn't lying.

“Favourite colour?”

“Yellow.”

His blonde brows winged up in surprise. He was probably expecting her to say pink.

“Favourite food?”

“Errmmm... I love food in general. I know my favourite dessert, does that count?”

“No,” he said laughing.

“Okay, if I had to pick, and this isn't my favourite food but I like it a lot, it would be sausages and mashed potatoes with onion gravy.”

“Good choice. What music do you listen to?”

“Oh gosh… I don't really listen to that much music...”

“Okay. Skip that question. What was the last thing you ate?”

“Half a scone,” she laughed at the look of mock horror on his face. 

He brushed his hair back behind his ears. “Fair play,” he said with a smile on his face. “But next time you pick such an obvious answer you will face the forfeit round.” His eyes flashed with something that made her breath catch in her throat.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

“Good question.” She'd probably already been everywhere in the world but she couldn't remember. She needed to lie quicker and pick a place. “Venice. It seems so romantic.”

“I've been
and
it’s beautiful,” he smiled. “Last question, do you have a boyfriend?”

A pink blush bloomed in her cheeks. She looked at the blanket praying that a hole would open up and swallow her. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend,” she spluttered without looking at him.

“Rather than you asking me the same questions, I know you will want to, I will begin answering my own.”

She started to protest even though she couldn’t think of any questions to ask him at this moment.

He held his finger up, smiling.  “I am 25 years old, and pink.”

She snorted nearly spraying tea out of her nose.

He continued with a smile on his face. “Pizza is my favourite food, I like every topping, stuff some baked beans on there and I will still eat it. Music, I guess anything that has a really good beat. Last thing I ate was a scone, look how much we have in common already, and no I don't have to go through the forfeit round. If I had to pick a place I would probably go to Egypt. It’s cool that there are dead people wrapped up in cloth.  And…” he paused as the smile on his face stretched wider. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“I do have some more questions to add.” She hadn’t thought of a question just yet but she desperately needed to cover up the new flush in her cheeks.  Thinking of the first thing to come to her mind, she fired it at him. “Cats or dogs?”

“Errrmmmm... that's difficult, some people get real offended if you don’t pick the
right
one. I would say cats. I love that they are so independent.”

She didn't particularly like cats; she knew that was slightly weird for a witch. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No, I’m an only child.”

“Favourite film?”

“Wow, I’m a little bit of a film buff so there are a lot to choose from. I can watch
anything;
action mixed with comedy is always great. I couldn’t possibly pick, good question though.”

“What three words would your friends use to describe you?”

“Jesus, you are good, are you sure you've never done this before?” he asked teasingly.

“No,” she smiled.

“Okay, three words... well they would definitely say I’m funny, because I am,” he laughed. “They would say I’m kind and also that I’m loyal.”

“Do you-”

Their conversation was interrupted by a high pitched squeal, a noise that sounded like two gerbils fighting. She dared a quick look at Clay who was grinning like he’d won the lottery.

How embarrassing. She hadn’t changed her message tone since leaving London.

He smothered a laugh, probably enjoying how much she fumbled whilst she struggled to find her phone in her bag. Once she glimpsed the name on her phone her stomach sank. She clicked to read the full message.

High Priestess, I am at the coven. Tabitha mentioned that you would be here on time for your lesson. I will wait until you get here. Ember

Stuffing her phone back in her bag, she faced Clay. “I need to go. I’m so sorry but I’m meeting a friend and she is waiting for me.”

“No problem, I should go too.”

He made quick work of clearing the picnic. Walking out of the field she found that her exit was blocked by Clay. Her heart stopped beating as he moved closer to her.

“It's been lovely.”

“Yeah, it has,” she agreed.

He closed the gap. She didn’t have time to react as his face was suddenly inches from hers.  She held her breath trying to focus, focus on what exactly? She was too busy having a panic attack to focus. His closeness had smacked the common sense right out of her. His forefinger and thumb lifted her chin as his lips brushed her cheek.

“I’ll see you later,” he said as he pulled away.