« Deception » Book 1: City of Secrets

"No worries," said Mark, going to retrieve it for her. "Here you go, try again. We all have off shots every once in a while."

"Yeah, I'm a bit rusty, I guess...." she said.
She took aim at the tree, but purposely missed again.

"Here, I think I know what you're doing wrong." Mark came to stand behind her, placing his hands on top of hers. "Okay, so see how I'm fitting the bow? This is how you were doing it, and it was a bit off-center, and that's what had you missing. Now, like this, this is the correct way, and if you just bring the bow up a little bit, like that, there you go." He intertwined his fingers with hers, and made her release the arrow and bowstring. The arrow soared through the air and hit the bulls-eye.

Lilly blushed, and bit her lip. Why was she liking this? "Er, thanks," she muttered. "I, uh, I know what I did wrong now.... I think..."

"No problem," said Mark, releasing her hands, but wishing he didn't have to.

Lilly retrieved her arrow, and went back to her sot beside Mark.
She placed the arrow in on her bow, and shot it so that it just barely hit the target.

"See, there you go," Mark smiled. He shot his arrow and it landed directly beside hers.

Lilly grinned. "Thanks for helping me. It was nice...." she immediately felt stupid, and silly for saying it, and bit her lip.

Mark suddenly felt sheepish. "Oh, not a problem," he mumbled, smiling.

Lilly! Get a hold of yourself! You don't trust anyone.... she shook her head. He's different.... I can trust him, I know it....

Mark was simply staring at her, thinking that she was perhaps... beautiful.

Lilly, still biting her lip, turned to look at Mark. He was handsome... she blushed, and looked away when she saw him looking. She'd never had a boyfriend, or a friend for that matter.

Mark quickly looked away as well. What was he thinking? He felt he could trust her... but could you really trust anybody around here?

How can I trust him? She thought. She sighed, then told him what she was thinking, "You can trust me," she blurted out. "Can I trust you?" Where was this coming from?!

"I was about to say the same thing," Mark laughed.

Lilly laughed along with Mark. "You're different," she said. "You're not weird or creepy -that I know of- and, you don't stare," she smiled.

"I was brought up with manners, no matter if I steal or not, I can still be a gentleman," Mark smiled.

"I wasn't brought up with anything.... but, when my parents were alive, they taught me some manners," she said.

"You seem like a nice enough girl to me," Mark teased.

"Ha ha, thanks. You seem nice enough as well," she smiled, looking deep into his eyes....

After a very long moment, Mark broke the stare, suddenly feeling very warm. "So, er, do you want to keep arching or do something else?"

"Oh, er," she said, suddenly feeling very awkward. "Um, whichever. I don't really care...."
Was it possible to like someone so quickly after meeting them?

"It's close to dinner time, I'm getting pretty hungry," Mark shrugged. "Would you like to come over for dinner in a bit? I can cook, and then you can come over.. you know, so we're not both lonely..."

"Sure! That's sounds great!" Lilly beamed.

"All right, then I'll see you in.. fourty five minutes? What would you like to eat?"