At five o'clock I can finally go home. The day has dragged on and on, the thought of maybe seeing him tonight makes me feel happy.
A scary thought suddenly enters my mind, what am I going to wear? Throughout my life there's never been any guys interested in me. So I've never thought it necessary to buy nice clothes. Although I have to say even I was crazy buying that stupid white coat. Of course I had to be wearing it when I met him. Shutup Ellie, he didn't care, he likes you and you're going to stop thinking like this. I tell myself firmly, I'm sick of all these self-doubting feelings I always have around males.
I spend an hour searching throughout my room for something decent to wear. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just grey trackpants, black jackets, white tennis shoes and nothing girly or glamorous. I decide to just wear an old black skirt I haven't worn for years which amazingly still fits, a black singlet and dark ballet flats. I look in the mirror hoping to see something relatively nice.
Oh god. Now I just need some thick black eyeliner and white tips in my hair. I look like a friggin'goth. The skirt is way too long, even longer than the hem of my school dress in high school and the singlet definitely does not look nice on me to say the least. I slip on a hoodie over the stupid singlet and take off the skirt. Maybe with a pair of shorts I'll look sort of acceptable to the opposite sex. Can I just be a guy. Then I could wear hoodies and jeans all I wanted and all the girls would come rushing. But nope, I have to be a female and be forced to wear stupid dresses to look nice. Thoughts rushing through my head, I don't even know his name, oh my god you idiot Ellie you didn't even ask him what his name is. But he didn't ask you either, he obviously doesn't like you. But he asked you out on a date, at his house, of course he likes you. Stupid thoughts.
I comb my hair and even dab on a bit of old foundation that I found at the bottom of my handbag. Definitely not date worthy, but if this guy is going to like me he'll have to know what I'm really like. I take my keys and head out the door. Its half past 8, he should have finished whatever job he's doing by now.
I tap his address into my GPS and press the accelerator. According to the GPS, it should take me twenty minutes to get there. Plenty of time to calm down and compose myself.
Twenty minutes later I have arrived at my destination says the perky voice of my GPS and I get out. Surely this can't be his house. It's massive. If he hadn't told me I would have sworn this was a work office, not where someone lives. It's four stories high, all the windows are large glass ones and I can see a reflection of the rest of the city on it. Some of the windows have light shining through them, most of the ones on the last story do but none at the bottom. How many people are here at the moment? Does he live alone, is he even single, was he just inviting me over as a friend? I'm way too confused and I haven't even had a proper conversation with him. I woke slowly over to the door and ring the doorbell. It's made of marble, real marble. I feel like this guy is stooping down very low to even invite me over to his house. I hear footsteps approaching the door and my face lights up in a smile expecting to see his face.
"Hello miss, I take it you're Loki's friend?" a middle aged woman with curly black hair and a crinkly smile says. I frown when she says friend she puts particular emphasis on it, like she personally doesn't think it should go any further. And his name, Loki, unusual, unique, I like it.
"Yes, ah where is he? And um, who are you?" I almost slap myself after saying that, it sounded so rude, but the woman didn't seem to mind.
"Mister Loki hasn't come home from work yet, but he texted me to say he's on his way, and I'm his house companion, miss," she explains.
"House companion?" I ask, confused, it was an expression I'd never heard before.
"Well really I'm just a maid, but Mister Loki doesn't like the idea of that so we call it something else. All though this might change, you're the first person he's invited over for a while now." She looks a bit distracted while she's telling me this, obviously thinking about the reason for Loki's absence of outside company.
"Come in? I'll make you some tea while you wait, oh and my name's Ceila, but you can just call me Celly," she ushered me inside and showed me to the lounge room.
I looked about in wonder, although they weren't used very often, as all the cushions were all in perfect condition and they couch coverings had never been washed everything looked immaculate. I think of my dingy little flat and feel myself reddening at the thought of even bringing Loki back there. Loki. His name. I loved it already. It just perfectly sums him up, slightly eccentric and absolutely overwhelming. I start when Celly brings my tea into the lounge room. She smiles slightly at my reaction, as if she can guess what I was thinking about. I don't mind her though, apart from the exaggeration she put on "Loki's friend" before she seems nice enough. I sip the tea, usually I don't even drink tea, at home I have coffee, juice or a milkshake if I can be bothered.
The sound of a key turning at the door makes me suddenly set my tea down on the coffee table spilling it slightly. I fumble around with my bag trying to wipe off the spill. Thankfully its gone by the time he comes down the hallway.
I turn around and he smiles when he sees me sitting on the couch.
"Hello there, haven't been waiting there too long I hope?" he asks, my heart melting at his sweet voice.
"No only a few minutes, nice place you got here," I say raising my eyebrows.
He laughs and gives me one of his amazing smiles, only the second one I've seen and already I love them.
"Want a private tour?" he whispers.
"Sure." A private tour, private… tour... Private… My thoughts drifting away into nothing. I couldn't concentrate properly around Loki.
I stand up and drink the rest of my tea in one gulp. Bad move, it's still really hot. I try to curse but all that comes out is this weird sound.
"Shit girl, you need some water?" he's slightly amused but he looks a bit worried too.
I nod, my throat is on fire, I hope there's no permanent damage.
He comes back with a glass of water and I take it, grateful. I almost gulp it down all at once but I really don't want to repeat that mistake all over again. After a while I regain the skill of speech but my throat still feels burnt, hot and red.
"Second take, let me take you on this private tour."
He leads me up the stairs and I follow with the water still in my hand. Careful not to spill any of it we make our way down a hallway ornamented with all this beautiful artwork. It was beautiful in a weird way, two of the most famous superheroes Iron Man and Captain America, they were painted on top of a skyscraper, on the side of the buiding was a sign but I couldn't quite make out the words, they had been blurred out deliberately by the artist. All the colours in the painting were vivid and the artist was obviously very talented. Loki noticed I was looking at the paintings.
"Like those?" he asked.
"Yeah, love them, I don't know why but they're just… beautiful,"
He contemplated that for a moment before continuing on down the hall. There were other paintings, good ones but none of them caught my attention like the one of the two superheroes did. Loki didn't seem like the type to be still into superheroes, but then again, he's interested in me so who knows.
At the end of the hall he turns around and faces me. I freeze, literally, my feet are stuck to the ground and my eyes dart right up to his.
"I really need to know now, what is your name?"
I smile and reply, "Ellie."