LUCIAN BOLE + DELILAH MOON + LEO SPINNET LUCIAN LOGAN + DIA SAMPSON + DON GIVENS
LOW | COMPLETE
Dia Sampson was having a good day. She'd played one of her songs on a piano out on Main Street, and received a rousing applause from the small group of tourists who had gathered while she played. Now she was celebrating another day of Oktoberfest with her new beau, and she led him to various clusters of people she knew, chatting up every friend she encountered along the way.
Don, of course, entertained with his cordial sarcasm and humor. He also offered puffs of his “specialty” vape pen to Dia’s friends and kept pointing out anytime he saw someone walking around with those giant turkey legs that they couldn’t seem to find the stand for.
Dia was about to suggest that they acquire refills on their beers when she turned and met the eye of Lucian across the crowd. He smiled at her in that way that suggested he was about to walk over, and Dia couldn't help glancing back at Don curiously. OK. It wasn't a big deal. So she was going to be hanging with the last two men to see her naked. It was cool. She and Don weren't exclusive (or at least they hadn't disccused it), and she'd only stayed at Lucian's once (no--twice, shit) since they'd started dating.
Lucian loved Oktoberfest. Beer everywhere, what was there not to love? He had been talking to Eric and his brother when he caught a glimpse of a very familiar face across the crowd. His Dia. That immediately put a bright smile on his face. How he loved seeing her. Maybe they could sneak out and have some private time, he thought as he walked over to her.
Smiling back at Lucian as he reached them, Dia greeted him. "Lucian, hi! Do you know Don Givens?" she added as she linked her arm with Don's. In return, Don gave an awkward glance at the action, and grinned goofily at his girlfriend of 2 months.
Lucian raised an eyebrow at the pair when Dia linked arms with this Don Givens and the two men began sizing each other up. Who was he and what was he doing with his Dia? He did not like him, but he didn’t show his dislike and shook the other man’s hand... maybe a little too tight, just to show off a little. “Nice to meet you, Don.”
Don held back a chuckle at the masculine hand shake and instead his grin turned into a wide sarcastic sort of smile, “Same to you, Lucy. How's it goin’?”
Truth was Don recognized Lucian from the poker group Don attended (and lost) only a few times in the last 3 years. Don also knew Lucian was friends with Eric Marlar, and had been present in some of Dia's older instagram posts. Plus, Don wasn’t stupid (or blind), he was aware that Lucian was definitely much darker, more mysterious, and definitely better looking than himself. But he wasn't going to say that or correct anybody. Instead he unlinked arms with the gal this dude was practically eyeing like a lion would a zebra. He made a point to place his arm around Dia's shoulders as casually as possible - big dumb grin on his face. “It’s Lucian,” he corrected Don with a polite smile before turning his attention to Dia. Only Dia could get away calling him that, and maybe his sister. But that was it.
Don’s grin only broadened at the correction as he nodded and he glanced at Dia with a judgemental raise of his brow.
Internally, she was chanting this is fine and willing herself to smile. Externally, Dia's smile didn't quite reach her eyes as she glanced between the two men. "Is this your first day out, or have you been here all weekend?" she asked Lucian, referring to the multi-day festival.
Lucian couldn’t help but wonder if Don was the reason they had stopped having fun with each other, Dia and him. If he was, well... Dia needed to rethink her choices in men and maybe come back to him. Wait. Was that jealousy in him? Nah, it couldn’t be. Sure Dia was still his Dia no matter what, but why would be jealous? It’s not like he liked her in that way... right? Right.
“Been here all weekend, yeah,” Lucian said with a smile. “What about you two?”
Don kept his grin broad and he looked to Dia to answer as casual arm hugged her affectionately. He couldn’t quite read the tall handsome bloke in front of him, but it was obvious Lucian was more interested in the woman’s answer than him.
"Just today," Dia replied. "After the Marauders' set was cancelled yesterday, I decided to just do one day. Half the fun of these things is the music, right?" She was trying to keep the conversation light and casual, despite the fact that a small part of her was hoping that a giant hole would open up beneath her and swallow her whole.
Despite the strong urge to punch Don on the face for some unknown reason to him when he wrapped his arm around Dia, Lucian kept a casual expression on his face, smiling. “Ah yes, that was a shame, wasn’t it? But at least there was still beer and food around, which is the main point of it, right?” he said with a chuckle. “As long as there’s beer and food, it’s a good Oktoberfest.”
“Speaking of,” Don pipped in recognizing the forced interaction. “We were going to get another beer. You want to join us? It'd be on me.” Don's grin was almost challenging as he pointed behind them toward the closest beer tent.
Dia nodded encouragingly, adding, "Oh yeah, you can tell us which brews to avoid since you've already scoped out the flavors." Her words said yes, her smile said yes, but her eyes said 'you don't really want to do this, do you?' and her eyebrows raised slightly as she looked back at Lucian.
Lucian was tempted to say no, but then he saw that challenging grin on Don’s face and he couldn’t say no. “Sure, man. Thanks,” he said, patting Don on the shoulder. “It’ll be my pleasure, D,” he said with a grin, looking at her as if telling her ‘You got me into this’.
“Well, here we go!” He returned Lucian's pat with a strong smack to the man's back. The three began the walk to the beer tent. Don making sure to position himself between the two friends as a sort of territorial barrier. “So, how do you two know each other?” He asked casually to Lucian.
Even though the question was directed toward Lucian, Dia answered before the other man could. "We met a few years ago, when I was going through my fitness phase." She smirked at the memory as she added, "Of course, we soon learned that the only lift training I wanted was in lifting one of these beer glasses to my mouth, and the friendship was kept even though my workouts were quickly abandoned."
Don snorted a laugh, “I admire how well you know yourself.” He kissed Dia on her temple and looked to Lucian, “So you're a personal trainer? That's cool.”
Lucian had an urge to roll his eyes when Don kissed Dia on her temple, but stopped himself from it and just smiled. So it was going to be that kind of day, uh? “We have a very strong friendship,” he added to what Dia said. “Yeah. If you ever want to stop by the gym, I’ll be happy to coach you for free for a day, so you can see what we do to keep everyone in shape.” There was no doubt Lucian took pride in his job and his body.
Don feigned mild interest with a nod, but his usual ‘not interested’ forced frown. “That could be cool. One day. Maybe.” Honestly, the extent he was willing to go for exercise included his daily morning hikes and that was about it. Don prefered the outdoors over… gym rats. “You do any outdoor activities?” he asked trying to make conversation despite how not interested he was in exercising anything but his mind and his wallet.
As the men made conversation, Dia glanced back and forth between them, wondering idly if they'd actually notice if she slipped away. The thought caused the corners of her mouth to turn upward.