Hello, hello! Sorry for the long absence, things got kinda hectic…
On the bright side, finals are over! I'm a free elf!
Also, holy shit thank you so much for the amazing feedback! June really was a draining month for me, and all the positivity you sent my way managed to put a smile on my face, even during some really horrible days. So I can't thank you enough!
I'm so glad that many of you seemed to enjoy the last chapter! Every time someone tells me they like the way I write Bucky, I become as red as tomato and smile like an idiot. Writing him still intimidates the living shit out of me! And so many of you have embraced Chloe (and darling Mrs. Adriana) and all I'm trying to say is that you're the sweetest readers there are!
So now that my emotional rambling is over, on to the next chapter! This one is much longer than expected...Oops! Also it was kinda written in the middle of the night, so excuse any extra mistakes.
Enjoy!
XoXo,
Lady Turwaithiel
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs
Of flowers, coffee and plum tarts
Chapter 5: To alcohol's defense, I'm equally stupid sober
The apartment was drenched in blessed silence; the light filtering through the curtains, making the dust that floated around look like specks of gold.
Everything was calm, peaceful and-
Ring-ring.
Chloe groaned and buried her face in the pillow.
Ring-ring.
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
Ring-ring.
Clutching her throbbing head, Chloe sat up on her bed and almost fell back as a wave of dizziness hit her.
Ring-ring.
"I hate you." Chloe mumbled, as she looked around for her phone, until she spotted her handbag hanging form the bedpost and fished her phone out with clumsy fingers.
"Hello?"
"Wakey wakey, regret and headachy!" a voice exclaimed.
Chloe groaned and fell back on the bed.
"Sophie, can you please lower your voice a little?"
"Why, am I talking loud?" she yelled right in her ear.
Chloe winced and glared at the phone.
"You're an asshole."
"I know." Sophie said smugly "How are you?"
"Miserable…" Chloe sighed, and then frowned "Wait, how did you know I'm hangover?"
"I'm glad you asked, plant-head." she said, and Chloe could almost hear her grin "You see, I received a truly heartfelt message from you yesterday evening…"
"Oh no…" Chloe whined "Please don't!"
Sophie just cleared her throat dramatically and started reading; Chloe just buried her face in the pillow, and mumbling "stop".
"I just want you to know that I love you, that you're the best friend anyone could wish for, that I will always be there for and I don't ever wanna lose you cause you're my rock. You're awesome and I love you and I hope you know how much you mean to me."
"I truly loathe you." Chloe mumbled in her pillow.
"I love you too."
"If you did you would just delete this."
"Oh, no dear; I'm saving this, and screenshotting it, and making it my phone background. Maybe I'll print it too, frame it in my living room."
"You suck."
"Okay, if you say so. Now check that you didn't send anything to any of your exes."
Chloe's eyes widened with horror.
"Oh no…" she gasped, put Sophie on hold, and checked her earlier messages.
Any colour that resided in her face disappeared.
"Nooooooooooooooo!" she whimpered and picked up the call with Sophie.
"Well?"
"I did."
An exasperated sigh echoed from the line.
"Whom?"
"You know whom."
"Congratulations." Sophie sighed "Did he answer?"
"Yes." Chloe said in defeat.
"Is it bad?"
"Depends what you define as bad. I can't begin to imagine how much alcohol was involved in this. Take care, Chloe."
"Not too bad."
"No, not too bad. Which kinda makes feel worse?"
"I suppose it would." Sophie sighed again "But since you, well actually since he brought it up, how much did you drink?"
"Not more than usual, I think?" Chloe said, rolling to the side "But it was some traditional Romanian drink, and they told me it was very strong, but everyone kept drinking so I thought I could handle it. I overestimated myself."
"Chloe. Dude." Sophie said in exasperation, a common theme in this conversation, it seemed "You can't outdrink Balkan people, have you no common sense?!"
"I have Irish blood!"
"Fascinating. You're hangover regardless."
Chloe just groaned as she tried to get up again, and felt the room spinning around.
"By the way, did you get back safely? Are you home?"
"Yep, I'm home." Chloe said and finally managed to sit up without feeling the need to vomit.
"Did you get there okay?"
"Apparently…I mean I can't remember much, I think Vasili put me in a taxi, I vaguely remember trying to go up the stairs but after that I'm kinda lost and-" Chloe said, looking around the room, until her eyes landed on her nightstand, making her pause.
"Chlo?"
She stared at it, eyes narrowing at the glass of water carefully covered with a napkin and the aspirin that lay next to it.
"Wait…"
"What?"
Slowly, Chloe looked down at her bare feet, then at the floor where her shoes were placed and finally at the foot of the bed where her stockings were folded and placed.
It was all too neat.
"Chloe?"
"Someone was here."
"What?!"
"There's a glass of water and an aspirin, and my shoes are off and my stockings are folded, and I never fold anything, someone must have been with me but I remember I got in the taxi alone, I don't-"
And then all was silent.
"Chlo?"
Nothing.
Somewhere in America, Sophie looked at her phone to check if the line died. It hadn't.
"Can you hear me?"
"Yes." Chloe finally said, her voice sounding like she was chocking.
"What happened?"
"Sophie."
"Chloe."
"Remember that Italian project about using trees instead of tombs? With the organic pods?"
"Yes?" Sophie asked very, very confused.
"Can you contact them to see how this is going? I want a peach tree, if possible."
"Chloe you're scarring me."
"And if not, have some flowers planted over my grave."
"Chloe what the fuck is going on?" her best friend finally snapped.
"What is going on is that the one who helped me in my house was my neighbor, after he found me crying and unable to unlock the door in the corridor."
"Which neighbor?"
"The neighbor."
Silence fell on Sophie's line.
"What kind of flowers do you want?" her voice finally asked seriously.
"Improvise, I believe in you. But I do want you to play 'Over the rainbow'."
"How cheesy can you be? If we go with Wizard of Oz, we're playing 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead'."
"Fuck you."
And then they both broke down in hysterical laughter.
"Holy shit Chloe!" Sophie said between snorts "How do you manage to make such a fool of yourself constantly?"
"I don't know okay?!" Chloe whined "It's a talent, and you should be more supportive! My head hurts and I'm dehydrated and embarrassed beyond belief and you're not helping!"
"Well darling, you reap what you sow…"
Chloe pressed a pillow in her face and let out a muffled scream.
"Sophie what will I doooo…?" she wailed in desperation.
"Go and thank him?"
Chloe threw the pillow at the wall.
"Are you serious right now?" she said, her voice almost a shriek "How on earth can I face him after all that?"
"Chloe. You're aware how dangerous it was for you to be that drunk in that building? The man saved your ass, probably quite literally. How many would have just left you there? Or worse?"
Chloe clenched her jaw.
"I'm quite aware of that."
"I know you are." Sophie answered solemnly "So just go and thank him."
"I can't!" Chloe sighed, taking the napkin off of the glass and swallowing her aspirin "If I recall correctly, I apologized to him about thinking he's hot. I said that. To his face."
Sophie started chuckling manically.
"Would you please shut up?"
"Nope." she said, putting extra emphasis on the 'p' "But seriously, what's up with the guy? He's good looking, a gentleman and did you say he left you an aspirin?"
"Yes."
"Did you take that?"
"Just now."
"Okay good. As I was saying, he's too good to be true, are you sure he's not a serial killer or some shit?"
"I highly doubt it, but you never know." Chloe said with a smile "Can we please focus on my problem?"
"I don't know dude, send him flowers and a thank you card."
"I'm not sending flowers to a guy."
"Okay a bottle of wine or something, I don't know!"
"Yes, maybe, that does sound good…" Chloe trailed off.
"Okay cool. Now excuse me, it's three o'clock here, and I'm getting sleepy."
"Sophie! Why are you awake that late?!" Chloe chastised.
"Sorry, mom." her friend groaned "I was working on something."
Chloe sighed.
"I'm just looking out for you."
"As am I." Sophie retorted "Anyway, we'll talk later."
"Okay, goodnight! Thanks for checking in on me."
"No problem. Bye!"
"Bye…" Chloe said miserably and shut the phone.
Staring at the wall opposite to her bed for a few more seconds, Chloe sighed and got up. Her head felt heavy, and for a few seconds it seemed that the room was spinning. After making sure she was steady on her feet, Chloe exited her room and entered the bathroom.
"Fucking glorious." she grumbled as she saw her reflection in the mirror.
Her hair was a mess, her eyes puffy and bloodshot, and her cheeks smudged with mascara.
Blinking to clear her vision from a sudden wave of blurriness, she grabbed her make-up removal wipes and tiredly wiped her face clean.
With clumsy fingers she started the water running in the bathtub, wiggled out of her clothes and carefully stepped over her dress as it pooled around her feet; getting into the tub. She shivered as the cold water came in contact with her, goosebumps covering her freckled skin.
A couple of minutes later she exited the bathtub, cold but much more awake, and almost fell down as her wet foot slipped on the tiles. She just barely managed to latch on the edge of the bathtub in the last second before she hit the ground.
Taking a trembling breath, she steadied herself on her still weak legs, put on her nice fluffy bathrobe and ventured forth to the kitchen.
I haven't been this hangover in ages…
With shaking hands, she opened a cupboard and retrieved a small tin box, opened and sighed with delight as the scent of peppermint ginger tea hit her nostrils.
Humming softly, she put some water to the kettle, and opened the fridge and stared at its contents, searching for something appropriate to fill her belly with. During her college years she would always eat eggs after a hangover; but then again, it was her roommate who was cooking them. Though eggs were within her limited capabilities, she had burned her good share, and was not in the mood for any of that right now. So she opted for a nice peanut butter and banana sandwich.
She knew she should go water her plants, but as she finally sat down with her cup of tea, she decided to just sit down for a moment and calm down a bit.
That was one crazy night.
Annika, who lived pretty close, had come over and they had headed out around 9:30pm to meet the rest of the group downtown. They went to a bar, drank some beers, went to another bar, and then headed to Andrei's house, where they did shots of that traditional devilish drink. Somewhere around that time her memories got very, very hazy and she could remember only bits and pieces.
Chloe frowned.
Wait what happened to Annika? We were supposed to return together, but she definitely wasn't with me in the cab.
After a few minutes of intense concentration, she finally managed to remember that Annika fell asleep on the couch and Andrei decided they'd better let her sleep, as she was too drunk to go home.
Vasili had argued that Chloe should not be send home alone either, but she had insisted that she was perfectly fine and so he had put her in a taxi and told her address to the driver.
And the next thing she could remember were stairs and the cold floor of the corridor and Sergiu's face floating in front of her. And an epic emotional outburst.
She let her head drop on the table in front of her.
You're pathetic Paylor.
If he didn't think she was ridiculous until now, last night's shenanigans surely convinced him otherwise.
And she seriously felt extra guilty; the guy was so nice to her, and she kept putting him in super awkward situations.
I'm never needing help ever again, she vowed. From now on, I'll be the most self sufficient and responsible girl in all of Bucharest. Yes.
With that in mind, she got up and grabbed her watering can, and went off to take care of her plants.
Sophie's right though, I need to send him a 'thank you' gift.
And then hide for about a month.
In the end, she ended up buying a box of baked goodies from the bakery. Wine, as Sophie had suggested, would have been classier, but he didn't strike her as a wine guy. Plus alcohol would have been an ironic choice.
But pastries…well, who doesn't like pastries?
Also good wine is expensive as shit, and she was broke.
Chloe was unable to find a "thank you" card, since everything was in Romanian, and although she was getting significantly better a speaking, she still failed miserably at reading and writing the language.
So when she got home, she scrambled around her library and finally found the box containing her stationary set; a gift from long ago. She pulled out an envelope, some paper and her calligraphy pen and paused.
What do I write?
After a few minutes of thought, she carefully picked up the envelope and wrote down a simple Thank You.
On the paper, she wrote:
"I hope you like pastries (I strongly recommend the cream puffs).
Until I can return the extreme kindness and help you have shown to me, I hope they suffice as both an expression of gratitude and an apology for all the trouble I've put you through.
I didn't make those by the way, so they're safe to eat.
Chloe
P.S. If for some reason you belong in the category of people who don't enjoy sweets, I'm sure Mrs. Konstantinidou would be more than happy to eat these in your behalf."
Looking at the paper again, she nodded approvingly.
Too serious and it becomes weird, too playful and it's insincere.
Carefully folding the paper and putting it in the envelope, she rose and grabbed the box. Opening the door, she looked around the corridor to make sure she was alone, and then tiptoed to Sergiu's door. Pausing again, she listened carefully for any sound suggesting he was about to exit his house, and meeting only silence, she gingerly placed the box in front of his doorstep, and the envelope on top of it.
And with that, she dashed back into her home and closed the door behind her in a hurry.
From the coffee table, she heard the muffled sound of her phone ringing, and looking at the screen she saw Annika's name flashing.
"Hello!" she said cheerfully, and was met with a desperate moan.
"Are you alive?" she asked with a smile.
"In theory…" her new friend's hoarse voice answered "How about you?"
"Hangover-wise? Bad, but handling it."
"Lucky."
"You didn't let me finish. Because embarrassment-wise, well…"
"Will I enjoy this story?"
"Most definitely."
"Hit me. I need something to distract me from this headache."
Plopping down on her sofa, Chloe took a deep breath and started recounting last night's adventures to a soon laughing Annika.
A few hours later, as she exited the house to meet up with everyone for coffee and to talk about an upcoming group assignment, she noticed the box was gone.
Despite her still throbbing headache, Chloe smiled.
As Chloe would proudly announce if you asked her, she had become a true ninja.
It had been five days since the horrendous drunk incident, and she had successfully managed to avoid her neighbor at every turn.
And it had not been easy, not at all, no sir. As she had figured quite quickly since she moved in, he had the amazing ability to sneak up on you without making a sound. The only indicators of his presence tended to be the inevitable sound of the door and the running water.
And occasionally, the screaming.
She tended not to think about that. The first night she heard it, she had woken up with her heart aflutter. No matter how much she denied it, she was a bit afraid of living on her own. She had remained still, listening. Nothing happened.
It was just a dream, Chloe, nothing more.
That was almost a month ago; it had taken her one more incident to figure out that her neighbor was plagued by nightmares.
She wasn't that surprised; her youngest brother, Billie, suffered from the same problem. But whenever he woke up screaming there would always be someone there to assure him everything was alright. Sergiu had no one.
That really saddened her.
From what she had gathered from Mrs. Adriana, he appeared to have no family or friends, though the old lady was not in fact sure. Chloe highly doubted the last part; he was a bit sulky and quiet, but too nice to not have friends.
That idea though made Chloe feel slightly guilty for avoiding him; but she really didn't know how to meet his eye. Whatever dignity she had managed to preserve after the whole phone call and groceries incident had crumbled into dust, let alone what her confidence had suffered.
If we don't meet much, it's highly unlikely I make a fool of myself again.
And so had started her Odyssey of avoiding a person she couldn't see coming. She had made a whole plan, and she had executed it flawlessly. The mornings actually tended to be the easiest time of the day, with only Thursday posing a problem; but she hadn't needed to deal with that yet. As for afternoons, she had learned from Mrs. Adriana that Sergiu usually returned home around 5:00 pm, the time when she left for class. So she started leaving a bit earlier and having a cup of coffee at the cafeteria with Annika, who spent more time at the university since she was still studying for her Bachelor's degree. As for nights, she always waited to hear his door closing before she ventured out.
She almost ran into him once, while he was talking with Mrs. Adriana at the building entrance, but she heard them fast enough not to descent the stairs and into their line of sight.
And still, in a way she hadn't been able to completely avoid him; the next morning after she delivered his gift, she found a post-it on her door.
"Glad to help kid.
Be careful with the liquor."
She had blushed so much she had turned the same colour as her hair, strongly resembling a tomato. She was sure he wasn't chastising her or anything, but it was surely patronizing, and the term "kid" really stung.
He's not even that older than me…is he?
She couldn't deny it was very sweet of him, though. It only made it worse. "Kid" is what her older siblings called her; a very clear indication of her place in the food chain. She was the naïve youngling, cute and needing guidance. If there ever were any chances of a different kind of relationship, she had just landed herself butt-first in the little sister zone.
Well, that's that.
With all that in mind, she was glad to keep her distance for a while.
But as always, karma wasn't very fond of her plans.
Chloe's stepped out of the train station and eyed the cloudy afternoon sky.
I hope it doesn't start raining before I get home.
"Chloe are you listening?" echoed a voice from her phone.
"Sorry mom, I was distracted."
"I figured." her mom sighed "Anyway sweetheart, I'll hang up, my break's almost over."
"Okay, love you!"
"Love you too!"
"Byeeee…" Chloe sang as she ended the call.
She paused for a moment, wondering if she should stop over the supermarket to get some fresh milk, but decided to go to Annika's family shop instead.
Walking between grey buildings with long strides, she dreamed of the nice cup of coffee she would make when she got home.
Eyeing the cloudy sky once more Chloe checked her bag, and cursed under her breath as she realized she forgot her umbrella home.
That was the time when she noticed a man a few feet behind her. Frowning, she closed her bag and quickened her footsteps, not looking back.
Despite common warnings, Chloe walked around Pantelimon district without issue, especially during mornings. She was however always careful when the sun started going down. Though there was still light, the clouds had drenched the streets in considerable darkness.
Going down the street, she stopped for a moment to give a few coins to an old homeless man. Raising her head, she saw the man still behind her, stopping as well.
Thankfully, she hadn't forgotten her pepper-spray.
She kept walking, glancing behind her often. The man was keeping a distance, and didn't seem to be in a hurry. However when she crossed to the other side of the street, he did the same.
Yep, he's following me alright.
If he meant to go unnoticed, he was bad at it.
Judging her distance from the nearest open and well-lit place, Chloe concluded that she would reach the market much sooner.
And truly, almost a minute later, she turned and right across the corner stood her salvation.
Entering in rush, Chloe sighed with relief. Looking outside from the window, she noticed the man had stopped across the street. She turned towards the counter, hoping to see Annika or at least her uncle. He was a complete douche, but not so much that he would ignore her if she asked his help.
To her disappointment, it was the shift of the other employee, a girl who didn't speak a word in English, and who always looked at Chloe with annoyance. Chloe had no idea why.
Well…if he's not gone by the time I buy my stuff, I'll call Annie to come pick me up.
Grabbing a basket, and constantly keeping her ears open in case the bell on the door indicated the man got in the shop, Chloe headed towards the dairy section.
As she turned down an aisle, she almost did a V-turn and ran out the shop.
Instead, she hid behind the liquor stand.
Standing at the other end of the shop, with his back turned on her, was Sergiu.
Really karma? Really?! Now?! .
Okay Chlo. You got this. Just stay right where you are.
Then in her mind's eye she saw Sergiu noticing her, crouched behind bottles of wine.
No, no, nope. Stay cool. We're just here to buy things. No need to pay me any mind.
Rising, she quickly crossed past the aisle he was in, and made it to the dairy section, throwing two cartons of milk in her basket.
And that was all she really needed to buy.
Bending her waist, she checked out the window, praying to every deity there was that the creep was gone.
Of course, he wasn't.
With a sigh, she just decided to browse.
There has to be something else I need.
She stepped around the store like a startled deer, checking every corner; afraid she would take a turn and come face to face with her neighbor.
She checked every aisle, but saw no Sergiu.
He probably left.
Calming down, she walked around more freely, and a few minutes later decided that it was probably safe to leave or at least pay for her milk.
Heading towards the cashier though, she noticed a single can of Campbell's tomato soup. She eyed it with interest.
It's getting colder…Some soup would be nice.
Getting on her tippy-toes, Chloe reached for the can.
Now, Chloe was a rather tall girl, but that damned soup was near the back end of the shelf, and no matter how much she stretched, she couldn't reach it. Frowning, she starting jumping, and still her fingers barely grazed it.
Suddenly a hand appeared behind her, grabbing the can. Slowly, Chloe turned her head around, facing the red sweater of the person standing right behind her. Warily raising her gaze upwards, she met a pair of steel blue eyes.
Shit.
"Hello." Sergiu told her, handing her the can and taking a step back. Chloe swallowed.
"Hi…Thank you…" she mumbled.
"You're welcome." he said.
Silence fell between them, and Chloe looked at the can in her hands as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.
"By the way, you were right." he suddenly said.
Chloe looked at him questioningly, blinking slowly.
"The cream puffs were really good." he stated simply.
Chloe felt her cheeks burn as she looked down at her feet. She struggled to find something to say as he stood opposite to her.
"Well... I'm glad you liked them."
He nodded.
"Are you alright, by the way?" he asked "I haven't seen you in a while."
Drop the basket and flee. Flee this accursed earth, Chloe.
"Well, I was busy with a project for university, I didn't go out a lot…" she managed to say, rather convincingly.
"I see."
It was quiet once more, and Chloe started questioning her sanity.
"So, is it an interesting project?"
Chloe blinked.
It then became apparent to her that, weird as it seemed, that Sergiu was trying to engage in conversation. And he wasn't very good at it.
Chloe Paylor was many things and good talker was one of them; and as such, she considered it her duty to make others feel at ease when talking to her.
So she swallowed her own nervousness, buried her shame, and smiled her brightest smile.
"Yes, the first one I'm so excited about actually! It's about how of Romania's folklore has entered international popular culture."
He raised an eyebrow.
"So it's a project about vampires."
Chloe took a deep breath in order to protest, paused with a raised finger frozen midair, and finally winced.
"Yeah…" she said, half apologetic, half entertained.
He looked amused by that.
"Do you want me to get that for you?" he asked suddenly, looking at her basket. She followed his gaze down, then back at him.
"Absolutely not!" she said in horror "It's not heavy at all. And I won't buy anything else; I'm actually heading for the cashier. "
He nodded, and as she awkwardly headed towards the cashier, he walked besides her. Chloe stole a glance at his own things; she noticed some canned food, pasta, rice, and for some reason, quite a few pens.
"You didn't have to thank me, you know."
Looking away from his things, she raised her head to meet his gaze.
"I did."
"It's what anyone would have done."
A small breathless chuckle escaped Chloe's lips.
"No it isn't." she nodded negatively, with a small smile on her face "I wish it was like that, but it isn't. Do you know how many people would have ignored me? Or take advantage of the situation? What you did…it's not something many would do. You're a good man."
His jaw clenched.
"Because I did something any slightly decent person should do?"
She laughed then, without any real mirth.
"Well, it sounds bad when you put it like that…" she said, placing her things on the counter and smiling at the girl behind it "Salut!"
The cashier just glanced at them with disdain and scanned her items.
"Mulţumesc!" she said, putting them in a bag, and paying. She paused, and decided to wait for Sergiu. She noticed the cashier was significantly friendlier with him.
As he finished, he suddenly snatched the bag out of her hands.
"Oh come on!" Chloe exclaimed "It's not even heavy!"
"Then there's no problem if I carry it."
And out the door he was.
Blinking slowly and sharing a confused look with the cashier, she dashed after him.
"You're infuriating!" she yelled as she caught up to him.
"If you say so."
She rolled her eyes, and suddenly grew rigid.
At the corner of the street, staring at them was the man who had followed her.
Shit. How could I forget about him?
Noticing her sudden change of demeanor, Sergiu stopped and followed her gaze.
"What is it?"
"Nothing." Chloe said, hoping he would drop the subject.
Sergiu's eyes turned into two icy slits as he looked at the man, who under the intense gaze, turned around and left.
Seems my purse is not worth the trouble.
Sergiu slowly turned towards her, dead serious.
"How long was he following you?"
Chloe pursed her lips and sighed.
"I noticed him halfway from the station. I thought he would be gone by now."
He sighed.
"You shouldn't walk alone."
"It's fine. Really." she told him, and took her pepper spray out "See? Under control."
He didn't answer, but he didn't look very convinced.
"Can I have my bag back now?" she changed the subject as they entered the building.
"No."
As she came face to face with the dreaded stairs, she turned to him with a pout.
"You know what I would actually appreciate if you carried? Me, up those stairs."
He turned and looked at her tiredly.
"Not happening."
She sighed in defeat.
"It was worth a try."
He did however stop with her when she needed to catch her breath.
"Stop judging me." she said between pants.
"I'm not."
When they finally reached their floor, he handed her the bag. With a snort she took it.
"Thanks. Expect cream puffs!"
"Why?"
"For the bag."
"You aren't buying me anything for carrying a half-empty bag. That's just ridiculous."
"So is carrying the damn thing for me." she retorted.
He stated at her, frowning. She tilted her chin up and raised an eyebrow.
"You are a stubborn girl."
"Yep."
He glared at her.
"So here's what we'll do. You will stop carrying my things unless I ask you to, or I swear to god I will buy a box of pastries for every bag you carry. Deal?" she said, offering her hand.
He looked at her hand for a moment, then sighed in defeat.
"You play dirty." he said, taking her hand "Deal. I will no longer be helpful unless I am specifically asked to."
His handshake was firm; his skin of his hand rough and callused.
As he retrieved it, she found herself looking at his other hand.
She took her gaze away as quickly as she could, but he had noticed her staring. Meeting his eyes, she looked down in embarrassment and cleared her throat.
"Well anyway, thank you again for everything. "
"You're welcome. It's a compression glove, by the way."
She looked up at him once more, feeling her face go red.
"I didn't mean to…"
"I know you didn't. That's why I'm telling you. It helps with pain."
She blinked.
"Oh." was all she managed say.
Silence fell, as he clearly waited for her to press the subject. She didn't.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"You're really discreet, aren't you?"
"Don't know what you're talking about." she said with a smile "Have a nice day!"
And with that, she entered her apartment.
Outside, rain started falling.
Song of the chapter
Beer fear (last night) – Lucy Spraggan
