I knocked loudly on the door. After a lot of rustling inside, Monroe answered. "That was cute," I said sarcastically, holding up his phone.
"Heh," he said, taking the phone from me. "I was wondering where I left that."
"Where you 'forgot' it?" I corrected, making air quotes. Air quotes were annoying as fuck. "You just wanted to see me again. It's a little creepy, I admit. Now that I'm here, though, you should probably invite me in for a drink."
I walked in without being invited. "If you kicked me out of your house, why are you asking for a drink now?"
"Because you drank my booze," I told him, sitting down on his couch and looking around. "And now I'm going to drink yours."
He sighed and went off to the kitchen. I saw a large case over in the corner of the room; I went over and opened it up. Taking the instrument out of the case, I started to play a simple diddy. "You play the cello?" Monroe asked when he returned, two beers in hand.
"No," I said sarcastically. "I'm just a musical savant. I picked up this instrument for the first time and can play Bach. It's no big deal." I played some real music.
"Shut up," he said, taking a drink and rolling his eyes.
I took the time to admire the instrument. It was well-shaped and nicely tuned. I loved the color of it as well. "This is a good cello," I stated.
"Thanks," he said. I put the instrument away and took the other beer from Monroe.
"So, have you always been a big fan of fairy tales?" I asked, looking around the room and see multiple books on fairy tales.
He chuckled as he took another sip of beer. "I've always had a soft spot for 'Little Red Riding Hood,'" he said, and I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
"I've never read the original Grimm fairy tales; I always preferred the Disney versions," I explained. "I was probably too old to watch them, but I always loved as Disney princesses."
"Yeah, Disney has a habit of watering down some pretty gruesome tales," he said. "You should give the originals a shot. You might enjoy them."
"Yeah, maybe I will," I said, willing to try. "Could I borrow your book? I really hate going to the library. I'll give it back to you when I'm done. It shouldn't take me long either; I have a lot of free time. Ewan always has his buddies over and I'm stuck by myself."
"Is that your nurse boyfriend?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, you have a problem with that?"
He held up his hands to signify an unwillingness to fight. "No problem at all. Did you guys meet in med-school?"
"No, you moron. We met at a bar like normal people do. He came up to me, grabbed my ass, called a beautiful, and bought me a drink. It was practically look at first sight. Three steps to obtaining a woman's heart: sexual assault, flattery, and alcohol." We both laughed at this.
"I'll keep that in mind." We sat in silence for a few moments. It was less awkward than I'd anticipated. I figured that being alone with this odd, sweater-wearing man would be weird but it wasn't. I felt absolutely comfortable just sitting next to him, drinking his booze.
All of a sudden, my phone rang. "Hello?" I said, picking it up quickly.
"We need you," Wu said. "Got a dead woman that you need to take a look at." He gave me the address.
"Sure thing, Wu. Be right there," I responded and hung up. I gulped down the last of my beer and stood up. "Sorry, dude. Death's a-calling. I need to go to work."
Monroe stood up and took the empty bottle from me. "Alright," he said simply and he walked over to his bookshelf. He pulled a large book off of the shelf and handed it to me. "A complete set of Grimm fairy tales."
"Thanks, Monroe," I said, taking the book from him. "You know, you're alright."
"And you bestow too-kind compliments," he said sarcastically.
I stuck my tongue out. "Good-bye, Monroe," I said as I turned to the door.
"Hey, Beyla. You're alright, too," he said with a nod.
"Thanks," I said with a smirk. "I'll be back some time to drop this off when I'm done."
"Bye," he said and I walked out the door.