Patty stopped, she inhaled deeply and pushed the door open. What was he like? He had not changed, never locking the door. As she stepped in her heels clacked against the floorboards, and the rounded toe of her patent hells met the side of a pizza box, tossed upon the floor as usual.
"Eff off… We're closed!" The man sitting at the desk explained, his face was obscured by a magazine and his feet were perched upon the desk next to the telephone.
"Haven't changed a bit have you?" Patty looked over to the coffee table where playing cards and chips sat. "Still gambling I see…"
"Uh, do I know you?" The man asked not removing his magazine from his face.
"You might if you removed the magazine from your goddamn face!" Patty said kicking the pizza boxes aside giving her room to walk up to, and lean across the desk and remove the magazine from his face.
"Dante." She looked into his icy blue eyes and pursed her lips, Dante said nothing just started.
"No hun, not really showing any recognition here…" He said finally looking away.
"The hair has been dyed, and no, I'm not ten any more… But I can't look that different. Can I?" Patty questioned running her fingers through her chestnut hair. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light.
"Patty, Patty Lowell… It's been eight years!" Dante briefly smiled, then paused. "What d'ya want?" He asked, "Who sent you?"
"Nice way to treat a female isn't it? Anyhow, Trish sent me, as did Lady… Although I did have a request of my own." Patty explained.
"Ooh, that type of request, well to all of you, I'm single now!" He beamed and ran his fingers through his hair. "So now you can fight to the death for me." Patty scoffed at this remark then bent down and pulled her heels off.
"Sorry, if you don't mind… They're absolutely killing me." She pulled both shoes off and put them on the desk in front of Dante, who examined them with cold eyes. His brow furrowed as he cocked his head.
"Anyway, Trish and Lady want to remind you that you have a debt to pay." Dante just nodded, he continued to stare down at the floor and only looked up as he saw Patty beginning to pick up the pizza boxes and beer cans that littered the floor.
"Oh, no really Patty…" He began standing up to stop Patty.
"You really need to get a social life Dante, I'm not always going to be here for you, I'm not going to be here to clear up the mess you make!" Patty explained taking the armfuls of rubbish over to the bin, Dante lifted the lid for her and Patty willingly disposed of the litter because requesting to wash her hands.
When she returned she smiled and looked around to see Dante sitting on the sofa.
"My request of you Dante…" Dante nodded and looked up.
"Mm?" Patty took a large gulp of air, sighed, fidgeted a little and then finally hesitated whether or not to actually say anything. She weighed out the odds of whether Dante would take the subject lightly or not… She shook her head, but then decided otherwise.
"My request to you Dante, is that you take this." She pulled out of her jacket pocket a little black box. "Don't open it!" She exclaimed harshly.
"Alright calm down…"
"You may open it once I've left."
"Why?" Dante looked at Patty, who stood looking at the floor.
"Because, I want you to take it as a reminder of me. Then forget we ever met." She turned to walk toward the desk, grabbed her shoes and left. Dante didn't run after her, instead he ran to the window opened it and called out.
"Patty! Please wait!" But Patty didn't turn, she kept on walking rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight. "Patty…" Dante murmured placing a hand on the window. After a moments worth of reflection, he opened the little black box. Inside sat a tiny inch big glass bottle. He picked it up and held it up to the light, at first he couldn't quite make out what lay in the bottle. But with close scrutiny, he figured it was Patty's blood. It had that odd smell to it, a metallic smell… But this, also had a nicer smell to it, a smell that Dante didn't recognise. He didn't pull the cork from the bottle, instead he took the small folded piece of paper from the lid and placed the bottle back in the open box. He read the letter slowly, making sure to read every word twice.
My dearest Dante, The times we shared together will always be treasured in my heart, I don't need a souvenir or photo to remember your face or scent… I don't need anything to remember the times we spent together, good and bad. My request may seem harsh and selfish, but I wouldn't have asked such a difficult task of you, unless it were for a good reason. The reason I was going to give you, I decided you needn't know, you need only know it was to protect you. Because if you truly love me Dante, you'll let me go. One day we shall meet again, who knows when or where. May fate decide the future, we have or don't have. The undecided future. Be well and be happy… Patty Lowell.
Dante's first tear escaped, it dribbled down his cheek, then finally hung at the edge of his face, before falling and hitting the floor. She hadn't mentioned the use of the blood, 'maybe it doesn't have a use…' Dante thought to himself, but otherwise, why would she have given it to him?