Chosen by the Goddess

Chapter 3

    Rhys rings the bell at 7 pm sharp. I go downstairs, to find him walking up and down the side walk, waiting for me, he seems nervous. I didn’t think we would get all fancy, so I threw on a pair of jeans and a yellow shirt.         Seeing him, made me suspect otherwise. 

    Rhys was wearing a navy buttoned up shirt that looked stunning on him. His dark hair was wild, but in a chic way. I feel intimidated by his looks, also underdressed. He smiles softly when he sees me.

    “Ready?” He asks. I decide that I’m not going to be self conscious about my clothes and nod. 

He motions me to follow and we start walking down the street. 

    “Where are we going?” I don’t really care, I just want to start a conversation because I am afraid of awkward silence. 

    “Theres a nice place just down the street. I thought a short way would be good. I don’t have the patience to drive around in New York…. Also your way home won’t be long.” After saying that last part, he eyes over to me, to see if I react. I don’t, but I understand what he is hinting at. 

    He’s meaning to tell me that short walks leave less time for dangerous things to happen, he just doesn’t want to say it, which I am grateful for. I don’t want to feel like a victim, or like I owe him something. 

    We don’t talk anymore, we walk silently, side-by-side. It is less uncomfortable than I expected. 

    The restaurant is in a small street, across from a park. There is no sign, indicating that you could eat there. I grow more suspicious when he pulls out keys to unlock the door. If he can unlock the door, he can also lock it, which means he could easily trap me in there, if he wanted to, without anyone knowing where I was. 

    Lets hope he doesn’t want to. I should’ve brought my pepper spray, which is still with Stephanie. If I die tonight, its on her. 

    He holds the door open for me to enter. I hesitate. I don’t know what’s waiting for me inside. But on the other hand, what do I have to lose? I work at a crappy bar, crash at a friends place until her girlfriend gets back from her semester abroad, I have absolutely no plan for life. I shrug  my shoulders and walk in. 

    I expect to see something at least remotely resembling a restaurant. Instead, I find myself in a stairwell, with concrete floors and walls, looking very much under construction. Probably the perfect place to hide a body. Not that I would know. I look at Rhys, he smiles at me. I have no idea who this man is, but I find myself trusting him. 

    “What kind of restaurant is this exactly?”

    “I never said we were going to a restaurant, come!” He orders me to follow and walks ahead. I slowly go along. I must’ve looked unsure of the situation, because when he stops to press the button of an elevator, he turns to me and says “No worries, you’ll like it”, with a grin. I nod. How does he know what I like? He doesn’t. Oh boy. 

    With a high pitched noise, the elevator announces its arrival. We step in and Rhys presses a button, I can’t see which because his back covers the numbers. We stand there for an awful long time. I feel my muscles tense up, I am not a fan of small confined spaces. 

    Somehow, Rhys must have noticed, because he steps closer to me, looks me in the eyes and, with a soft voice, says “relax, you are safe with me, I would never let anything happen to you.” That actually calms me down, I don’t know why, because usually, when a man tells me to relax, it has the opposite effect. Not with him, something about his voice soothes me. 

    The elevator doors open and Rhys steps out, offering his hand to me, I don’t take it. When he realizes that I'm not going to, he clears his throat and looks down to adjust his cufflinks. He seems nervous all of a sudden. He gets a hold of himself pretty quick, straightens his back and walks ahead, I follow. 

    We are on the roof of the building, that was probably the reason why the elevator ride had taken so long. The ground is covered in gravel and I am glad Im wearing sneakers, I had almost opted for heels. Rhys disappears behind a chimney, so that’s where I go. 

    I find him standing in front of a picknick blanket, laid out on the ground. On it, are pillows and a basket. He was not wrong when I said I was going to like it. We are standing close to the railing and I can overlook the city from here, New York at sunset really is something. Rhys is facing me, flashing a big smile “You like it right?”

    “Yes, I like it” I can’t help but chuckle. He looks so happy. He gestures me to sit down as he begins to unpack the basket. He names everything he takes out, before placing it on the blanket. 

    “Here we have… cut up veggies, can’t go much wrong there, I thought. Then hummus, of course, to go with it, you know.  Then there is, bread, in case you don’t like veggies. Fruit salad.” He was still looking for more, pretty much talking to himself by now. “Ah, chips and guac, and also… wine, I didn’t know what you preferred, so I got red and white.” 

    He looks really proud of himself. I raise my eyebrow and ask “Are you trying to get me drunk?” I don’t intend to hurt him, I mean it more in a teasing way, but I see a frown creep up on his face. 

    “I also brought apple juice, in case you didn’t feel like drinking today” With that, he reaches back into the basket and brings out a juice box. I giggle, he looks sweet, with that small box in his big hand.

     “I appreciate it, but I’ll take the white please.” He nods and, with a grin, opens the bottle and pours me some in a paper cup. 

    “Alright Delta, tell me a bit about yourself” he requests. 

    “I don’t remember telling you my name.” I say, slightly confused. 

    “Stephanie did.” Traitor. “By the way, where does the name come from? Are you named after the letter?” I wish.

    “No, Im named after the landform that is sometimes created when a river flows into the ocean. Im a pisces and my parents were hippies.”

    “Wow, what if you had been born later, making you an Aries? Did they have a name for that too, just in case?” He chuckles. I stare at him, blink a couple of times before saying in a serious tone “Fyre, with a Y.”

    “Oh…” he stares down into his cup, trying to change the topic he asks “Do you see them a lot? Your parents I mean?” I feel a lump in my throat. Of course he had to ask that, he couldn’t know better. I watch him grab a carrot and dip it in hummus, before popping it into his mouth. He seems a little distracted by the vegetable, but looks up when I take too long to answer. His eyes widen when he notices mine getting watery. 

    “Oh my… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you” he gets nervous, fumbles for a napkin and hands it to me. I take it, but close my eyes, trying to blink the tears away.

    “You did nothing wrong” I say, before I blow my nose. “Its been a while, but it still triggers me”. One teardrop managed to sneak down my cheek, I wipe it away. 

    Rhys looks at me, concerned, “you don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to”. I know that, but I want to.

         “There was a gas leak, in our house, it caused an explosion.” My voice is not stable, but I keep talking, still trying to fight my tears.

     “That night, my parents wanted to watch the game with my brother and I didn’t, so I stayed at a friends place, only a couple houses over. Her mom woke me up in the middle of the night because the police where there.” I can’t talk anymore, Im crouched down, crying. 

    I don’t realize Rhys standing up, but I notice him getting down next to me and pulling me onto his lap and against his chest. For now, that feels right.