“That was absolutely the last time!” she said as she shoved her chair away from the table, with such speed the legs made a screeching noise on the floor. She paced in small circles. “I’m not part of that anymore!”

He just sat there watching her with great interest, a small grin touching the corners of his lips. She fidgeted with her scarf as he studied her every move, like he was trying to memorize every line of her.

“Damn it, Dylan! Why are you here messing with my normal life. Whenever you come around there is trouble. I don’t want my present to find out about my past. You sir are my past and you need to stay there.” She slams her hand on the table causing the coffee cup to rattle on its saucer.

He watched her lips as she spoke, thinking about the warmth and softness that can be found there. For a split second he was taken back to the moment when they first met. What a crazy moment that was. He was near death, she was his healer. He has heard stories about her but they did not even come close to what he saw when she removed her cloak.

She was still talking when she turned around. Dylan, was focused on a spot to her left. She really hated when they did that, physically he was in the room sitting at her tiny table with a cup of coffee in his hand but he was really somewhere in the past doing, who knows what. She walked over to the chair where he sat, and kicked the rear leg, causing it to move slightly under his weight.

“I hate when you do that!” she kicked the chair again. “Where are you? Why are you in my present?”

Dylan shuddered as he returned to the moment. He just smiled at her with a wicked grin. He settles his heavy body into the back of the chair, and then gestured for her to sit down.

“Sit, and I will explain all of this to you” He looked up at her making eye contact that made her physically feel him, as if he brushed her face gently with his hand. She pushed her chair towards the table and sat down.

“Before you get started remember that I walked away from my past, I am no longer who or what I was back then. I thought that was made very clear by the elders. I longer had their support.” She looked at her hands, willing them to stop shaking.

He wanted to reach out to touch her hands but that would have been a giant mistake that would cost both of them dearly. He picked up the cup of coffee that was now cold; at least he was doing something with his hand. Still wanting desperately to make contact with her.

“Lea, I am sorry to intrude on your present life. I am well aware of what happened in the past, and the elder council’s position. However, this is of the up most urgency. The Exummery has sent me to find you. Not that it was hard to find you we are linked, which is why they sent me to find you.” He took a sip of his coffee and watched her face.

“What does the Exummery need from me?” She hoped it was nothing that would jeopardize her new life. She had nothing to give the Elders or anyone else.

She was wrong.

***This is my very first attempt at a prompt from The Red Dress Club for Red Writing Hood. I just wrote this for the fun of it with the thought that I would just stalking the group for a while, but I had fun with writing of this short story I wanted to share it. I have already stated to think about the RemebeRED prompt about graduation.