It had been a few days since it had happened. There had been a trouble unleashed on Haven and I had been one of the lovely citizens that had been affected that day. A few random people at the coffee bar were also traumatized by the event, but the police chief and I... well, let's just say, things were awkward. We were nervous around each other and we hadn't been able to make eye contact since. And nosy Nathan wasn't giving up on finding out the reason why.
This had been a different case he and Audrey had dragged me on currently... something to do with a fire bug running around the town and destroying new businesses. Truth be told, it seemed kind of sad. I mean, I'm not even the cop here and I have it all figured out already. All the places that got hit have displays of local art. I bet it was some creepy kid who got mad that they wouldn't show his 'masterpieces', so he did... this. I would tell the other two... eventually. It was just fun at the moment, watching those two running around, collecting needless evidence.
Well, at least it was fun... until I saw him walking up.
"Dwight! Have you heard anything? Any leads? Any suspects?" Nathan asked, as he approached from the opposite direction.
"Not yet. I have a small group sifting through the traffic light videos and security cameras. It was a well lit, well populated area so, whoever this person is, they couldn't seriously think that no one would catch anything." Dwight replied, "Don't worry, bud. I'll make sure you are my first call when I find anything out."
When Nathan looked back to me, he noticed my eyes were drawn to the radio, the floor, anywhere that wasn't outside of that window where Dwight was standing. He walked up and knocked on the glass. I rolled it down, trying my best to look at Nathan and not Dwight, but it was kind of hard to miss a guy that big. My face flushed the second I saw his and I knew it, so I began fumbling with the radio again, nervously.
I think Nathan was too stupid to know anything, but he definitely liked seeing me squirming in my seat for whatever reason. I asked, "So, what's up, Nate? Are we heading out of here yet or what? Because I got to get back to the Gull soon."
"Funny you should say that, I was going to ask if you two wanted to come over to Audrey's later and have a barbeque out on the deck." Nathan suggested, looking back and forth between Dwight and I with a nefarious grin.
Huh. Maybe he did know more than I thought.
Unnerved about the idea, almost clenching my teeth, I replied, "Well, it's such a short commute and all... why not?"
Why not!? I will tell you why not! Because Dwight was going to be there. I couldn't be around him right now and try to act normal. Right there, in that moment, was a good test to that. But it's not like I couldn't go. Then Nathan and Audrey would definitely know something was up.
Dammit, why? Why did he have to invite Dwight!?
"Yeah, I got nothing planned." the chief had answered, before adding, "Call if you need me to pick up anything on the way."
Well, that was Dwight. Always the helpful hand. And, man, do I remember those hands and just how badly they wanted to help me that night. How they felt against my aching skin. It was...
God, no! I couldn't be thinking about Squatch like that. It had to just be remnants from that trouble she afflicted us with. That girl from the other day had the power of suggestion, and it was messing with my mind, badly. The memories of how his calloused fingers felt, the scratchiness of his stubble against my skin... that hazel green of his eyes that grew almost gold when I...
But no! If she never had suggested that it happen, then we never would have... not in a million years! ...Right?
Later on, at Audrey's, Dwight and I had done very well at avoiding each other's eye contact or engaging in any type of conversation where we'd actually have to interact. I wasn't proud of it, but I had some practice with this once or twice in high school. It was what I called 'the avoid-dance.' Let's just say... tequila became my enemy far, far too soon in life and I was ashamed of how poorly I'd treated some of the girls and pretty much all of the guys in my past. But I thought I had gotten passed stuff like this; I really had!
After a few hours, mostly everyone had left. Audrey and Nathan were making googly eyes at each other off in the kitchen somewhere, which left me alone out on the deck with the one person I did not want to talk to.
I knew I wouldn't be that lucky, though. Hell, am I ever?
"Hey, Duke... listen..." he started.
"Just, please... Can we please forget about the whole thing, Squatch?"
"Well, it might make it a lot easier if you would even look at me. Everyone's starting to notice, Duke. They're starting to ask questions about what happened."
"And you've been telling people!?" I asked, hastily, my head snapping in his direction.
He smiled, "No. God, no! What do you think I do, huh? Go plastering it on a billboard? Geez, what is wrong with you? Besides... don't you normally do this kind of thing?"
I had to admit, it had hurt a little at his assumption. I was trying my best not to show it, but I was offended by what he'd said. I must have been more hurt than I realized, as I heard my breath hitch when I said, "I don't know if that's what you run off doing with your buddies, but I don't."
"Look, man..." Dwight started. I think he had noticed the change in tone when I spoke also, because he seemed to soften up a bit. He picked up his hand and, for a minute, I thought he was going to put it on top of mine in an attempt for comfort. But it seemed he had second-guessed whatever he was going to do and went for his beer awkwardly, sipping it before he had continued, "All I'm saying is that you need to relax. It wasn't that big of a deal. We were under the power of that girl's trouble. It's not like it was really us, you know."
That's what the problem was, though! That he was acting like all of this was so casual when it wasn't. She didn't make us do a crossword together; she made us see sides of each other we probably would have never seen otherwise. She made us open ourselves up to each other in ways that so few had seen. This was something I legitimately had a reason to freak out over, in my opinion. How could Dwight be acting so nonchalantly about the whole thing? This was huge.
I couldn't take it anymore. All of this was starting to make me feel sick to my stomach. Or maybe I had just had a little too much to drink, but the circumstances certainly weren't helping. God, why did I let those stupid assumptions Dwight had about me bother me so badly? Don't you want your buddies to think that you do things like this? Isn't that what made you 'cool'? I guess that was 'cool' in my twenties, but I had more important things to worry about now. Hell, I always had more important things to worry about! I lived in Haven!
I was too irritated to continue conversing with our police chief, so I decided to simply get up and walk out, back to the Rouge. I was hoping some sleep would help straighten my head of everything, although I'm not sure that's exactly what I got.
I drifted to sleep the second my head hit the pillow, but all I could see when I began dreaming were his eyes so close to mine, green with flecks of brilliant gold. That gold would come out, almost take over sometimes. Nothing supernatural, like when my eyes turned silver. His were natural; I think his mood affected the color of his eyes mostly. I'd noticed it before... that midnight blue undertones that were there hiding in the shadows decided to pop out more when he was feeling upset or sad. But the gold, that only came out when he was extremely passionate about something. I noticed it once or twice before when he'd gotten angry. But this time I got to see his eyes change when he got overstimulated or extremely excited... and they were beautiful.
His fingers trailed along my ribs before running up my chest and into my hair, tugging it gently, but using it as an anchor to hold him in place. I could feel his breath, deep panting gasps against my cheek, my lips. His lips... centimeters away, but they seemed like miles. The closer I got, the further they were. He whispered my name, but it didn't sound right. It had almost sounded like...
Was that a bell? No, wait! Chimes, maybe? I just couldn't place it, for a moment, but then it struck me... it was...
That's when I had shot up in my bed, my ringtone repeating incessantly. My phone. That's what I had been hearing. I almost wanted to pick it up and chuck it across the room like a football, but I had decided that, considering the dream I was having, I should be sending whoever interrupted a fruit basket. The call was from Audrey saying that she had left my rent check in something I used as a secret hiding spot up on deck. Only she and a few select others knew about it, so I knew it had been safe there for the hour or two since she dropped it off.
I made my pot of coffee and headed out to grab the check, but when I reached inside the hiding spot, there were two things there. One was clearly Audrey's check, but the other was a small yellow piece of paper, folded up so much that it was tiny. It seemed odd to me, but I put it in my pocket, not yet awake enough to comprehend anything but how to find a cup and pour. But when I sat down to sip my coffee and had woken up some, I decided to check out that note and see what it was.
By the wear in the creases of it, I could tell it had been folded and unfolded a number of times. The paper was wearing away in spots from erasing and rewriting over and over. It seemed like an important message that someone wasn't sure they wanted me to have, yet all it said on it was, "Meet me here at 8:00."
No signature, but I already knew who left it. Dwight.