Aquila's Tears

Careful Little Mouse

    I ran until my lungs burned and ached. I left like such an i***t. Why do I always act so impulsively? The second I saw Zane it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest, and that all of the oxygen had left the room. I did intend on paying him back in the long run, I just didn’t anticipate ever seeing him outside of his club. What are the chances that his sister would move next door to me, and then mindlessly barge into her apartment to hide from my crazy ex, Derek? I sure know how to make a mess of everything. Well the damage had been done, and my debt had been paid. Now I just had to avoid seeing Lenora in the hallway, and never go back to The Lunar Star so I could save face and never have to experience that feeling of mortification ever again.

    I stopped running to catch my breath and looked around as I took a big swig of my water. I had run a good twenty blocks from my apartment, but luckily in my blind embarrassment I ran in a direction I recognized. I was about ten blocks past my university. I reached for the pocket in my leggings wanting to check the time. Damn it. I had left my phone at Lenora’s which meant I would have to go back and face them again. Luckily, I still had my keys. I contemplated waiting until the next day to retrieve my phone as I began jogging back to my apartment complex. I decided I would wait. I could live a night without my phone if it meant I could avoid seeing Zane again. The way my heart fluttered when he was near it was almost painful. I had this undeniable urge to be close to him. He was an attractive man, but this felt different than normal infatuation. A car wailed on its horn as I stepped blindly into an intersection. I fell back onto the sidewalk and smacked myself in the head to clear my thoughts. That man seriously messed with my ability to focus or think straight. He’s going to be the death of me.

    As I reached my apartment building, I was relieved to see that the moving truck was no longer parked outside. I let out a big sigh and approached the stairs. I noticed there were a dozen roses with a smashed clear glass vase to the right of the bottom of the stairs. I wondered idly if one of our neighbor’s had a fight as I bound up the stairs and saw a partially ripped up present sitting at my doorstep. I picked it up looking it over as I unlocked my apartment door and stepped inside.

    “Aurora, is that you?” Cal called from the living room.

    “Yeah it’s me.” I responded walking into the kitchen, placing my keys and water bottle on the counter to further inspect the torn-up gift. It looked like someone’s cat had taken its nails to it. I began to tear off the paper as Cal joined me.

    “What’s that? Why is it torn to s**t?” Cal asked while plopping down into one of the kitchen bar stools.

    “I’m not sure. It doesn’t say who it's from but it was on our doorstep. How did you not see it?” I responded while fumbling with the box and opting to fetch scissors from a nearby drawer.

    “I’m making shirts for the dance squad, so I was carrying a big box. That’s probably why I didn’t see it.” Cal said as he watched me cut open the box lid trying to peer inside.

    “Oh, it stinks!” I exclaimed, shoving the box towards Cal. An overwhelming smell of old lady perfume and decay drifted from the box.

    “Why does it smell like that?” Cal complained as he pulled out a partially broken bottle of perfume and a small bundle wrapped in white cloth. He carefully unrolled the bundle on the kitchen counter using just his index and thumb. He jolted back, falling off of the barstool, and let out a shriek the second the contents were revealed. A putrid dead mouse rolled onto the kitchen counter. The smell of death filled the room.

    “Ugh! That’s f*****g disgust!” I screamed. Acting fast I grabbed paper towels and a plastic grocery bag. Carefully using the paper towels, I picked up the rotting mouse carcass and dropped it, the paper towels, the perfume and the white cloth the mouse was wrapped in into the grocery bag. All the while Cal was gagging and washing his hands in the kitchen sink.

    “Derek must have done this as a sick prank.” I growled as I headed towards the front door to discard the bag in the dumpsters. “I’ll be right back.”

    “Why do you have to always date psychos, Aurora?!” Cal called after me as I stepped outside into the hallway.

    I held the bag out in front of me at arm’s length trying in vain to keep the stench away from my poor nose. I quickly took the stairs and jogged towards the dumpsters that were to the left and about a block from the apartment building. After tossing the bag into the dumpster I headed back to the apartment. Why in the world would Derek leave such a nasty gift? He knew I hated the smell of old lady’s perfume. The powdery overbearing flowery smell always made my stomach lurch forward. Then it clicked. Derek always called me his ‘little mouse’. Was this his way of saying he was going to hurt me or worse? I shivered as I bounded up the stairs to my apartment door.

    “Aurora,” a deep familiar voice called out “Hey. Are you okay?”

    I looked up and was met with the eyes of Zane. I instantly tripped my foot catching the final stair causing me to fly forward. My other leg didn’t respond in time as I clenched my eyes shut preparing to connect with the hard-concrete floor. Instead two strong hands caught me by the shoulders and held me in place. I opened my eyes to see Zane smiling at me. My heart melted. He had the most beautiful smile.

    “Woah!” he chuckled, “Don’t worry. I caught you. You’re not hurt, are you?”

    “I’m fine.” I did a quick body scan as I regained my balance standing on my own “Thank you for catching me.” I blushed at the proximity. He was still holding onto my shoulders and his face was close to mine.

    “Really” I stammered “I’m fine. See? Look. I can stand on my own.”

    “Oh” Zane muttered realizing he was still holding on to me he let go taking a step back and running his fingers through his long black hair. “I uh… I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

    I stood there staring at him and nodded. He was so handsome. His green eyes peered back at me from dark thick lashes and thick black brows. A smirk played at the corners of his lips as he watched me watching him. My heart was racing, my palms felt clammy, and it felt as though my knees would give out. Surely his looks alone wouldn’t make me feel this weak.

    “Well I should uh…” I began as I pointed towards my apartment door, turning my body.

    “Wait” Zane commanded, causing me to turn back to him. He quickly pulled out his wallet and held out two one-hundred dollar bills “Please take this back. It’s the least I can do for what you had to go through last night. Really, our security should have acted faster, and you should have never been made to feel unsafe there.” He took my left hand, sending shockwaves up my arm. He placed the bills in my hand, closing my fingers gently around them before letting go. I stood there frozen looking at him wide eyed, not sure how to respond. Is this how he felt when I forced my money on him earlier?

    “and I uh…” Zane looked away for a split second and cleared his throat before staring back into my eyes intensely with desire “I was wondering if I could take you out on a date tomorrow if you’re free.”

    Here I was a big smelly sweaty mess with putrid trash hands being asked out by the most handsome man I had ever witnessed. I was gobsmacked. I was frozen in fear. I tried to muster out a response.

    “Absolutely she will!” Cal suddenly spoke from the doorway causing me to jump “Aurora, you get off of work at five tomorrow evening right?”

    “Yeah,” I responded blushing glancing over at Cal “That’s right.”

    “Okay then,” Zane smiled brightly at me “Then that settles it. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 7pm. How does dinner at Atlas sound?”

    “Sounds good” I smiled back not knowing what Atlas was.

    “Perfect!” Zane beamed as he began to walk past me to the stairs “Oh, before I forget.” He pulls out my phone from his pocket and hands it to me “You forgot your phone. Let me give you my number.” I unlocked my phone and then handed it back to him. He typed it in, and then texted himself.

    “There we go, now I have your number too.” His smile reached his eyes “Well, I will see you tomorrow, Aurora. Have a good night.” Zane then walked down the stairs as Cal grabbed me by the arm and drug me back into our apartment.

    “Oh my God!” Cal screeched so loud I was worried Zane would hear him “You do know who that is right? That was the Zane Driscoll, owner of Atlanta’s hottest club The Lunar Star, heir to Artemis Finance, and Atlanta’s most eligible bachelor, and he just asked out you, Aurora! Is this real life? Pinch me!” Cal placed the back of one hand to his forehead and dramatically fanned himself with the other.

    “Oh no.” I moaned “What am I getting myself into? I’m just an orphaned barista and college student! I don’t even know what the restaurant Atlas is.” I stopped in the kitchen to wash my hands, and then made my way into the living room and slumped down on our plush black L-Shaped sectional. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. What is going on with my life recently? I had finals to prepare for in two weeks. Not to mention that in three weeks I had to pack up and find my own place since Cal and Mira would both be moving out of state and country. I didn’t have time to be dating anyone. I had to get my own life together!

    “How do you not know what Atlas is? Girl, it is fine dining!” Cal groaned as he sunk down on the couch next to me wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me in tight “Don’t you worry! Mira and I will help you prepare. Mira is going to flip! Our sweet little Aurora is finally getting a chance at a good solid man! Oh, I am so happy I could cry!”

    “You could cry?” I grumbled “I just might! What am I going to wear? This is so stressful. Why did I let you say yes?”

    “Otherwise you would just have stood there gawking at the poor guy.” Cal beamed “I had to help you out. I know you wanted to say yes, it was written all over your cute little blushing face!”

    “Was it that obvious?” I sighed. “I guess there’s no point in complaining about it now. What in the world am I even going to talk about with him? I doubt there is very little that Mr. Zane Driscoll and Ms. Aurora Howell have in common.” I grabbed a pillow and shoved my face into it letting out a little shriek.

    “Honey, calm down, you're going to be fine!” Cal pulled the pillow away from my face and looked me in the eyes “Worse comes to worse just let him talk about himself. Rich guys always love talking about themselves and their endeavors. Keep asking him about himself and you’ll be fine.”

    “It sure sounds like you’ve got a lot of experience with this.” I gave Cal a suspicious side eye glance.

    “Trust me,” Cal winked, “I’ve been around the block a couple of times.”

    Just then we hear the door unlock and bust open with the sound of rustling bags.

    “I’m home! Can someone please come help me with the groceries?” Mira called from the front door. We both jumped up and helped Mira who was standing in the doorway with grocery bags stacked up to her elbows determined, but in visible discomfort. We quickly made work of setting her arms free placing the bags on the floor around us all the while laughing.

    “You won’t believe what happened today!” Cal exclaimed after Mira was finally free “Oh boy, do I have some tea to spill!”

    “Well, alright spill then!” Mira called from the fridge as she put away the milk and eggs.

    “So, you remember how Monica told us that the owner, Zane Driscoll, personally paid our tab, and tipped her a hundred dollars?” Cal gossiped as he unloaded the grocery bags

    “Yeah, go on” Mira had closed the fridge and was giving me a look of concern.

    “Well, somehow Zane ended up here, and asked out our little Aurora!” Cal was so excited he almost dropped the box of cereal he was absentmindedly placing in the pantry.

    “What?!” Mira grabbed me by the hands. “What was he doing here?”

    “Yeah, by the way how did he get your phone?” Cal’s face scrunched up in suspicion.

    “Well, you see…” I sighed “His younger sister, Lenora, moved in next door.”

    I then went on to explain to them the whole scenario as I finished putting away the groceries and the two of them stood there frozen completely enamored by the events of my day. Every time I would say Zane’s name or think about him, I could feel my heart skip a beat and my cheeks flush.

    “You need to be careful, Aurora.” Mira stated after I finished “Men like him are only after one thing, and no offense, but you’re definitely out of his class.” What she said stung a little, but it’s the truth. Zane and I were from two completely different worlds.

    “Oh hush,” Cal smacked Mira on the arm. “One little date isn’t going to hurt. Plus, you know Aurora doesn’t put out on the first date. Just ask her sleazy ex-boyfriend, Derek.”

    “Cal!” I whined playfully jabbing him in the ribs with my fingers “I know I need to be cautious. I don’t know what it is, but this feels different. I’ve never felt like this before, and it doesn’t feel like total infatuation. I can’t explain it, but I want to at least give him a chance.”

    “Who knows this could be her ticket out of here” Cal teased, and I glared at him.

    “That’s true” Mira mused “At least then we’d have less to worry about when I move out of the country, and you move to New York.” She was intending it to be a joke, but it caused a silence to lull over us.

    “Hey now,” I said with a big smile trying to lighten the mood “I’ll be alright here! I’ve got my internship, and then I’ll be able to join a practitioner’s office. You’ll see! You won’t have to worry about me at all! Plus, I think I found an affordable place within walking distance of my internship!”

    They hated the idea of leaving me, but I didn’t want to be the reason that they hold back on their dreams. I was sadder than I let on, but I would never show that to them externally. I’ll still have them in my life, but it will be in a different way. It’s not like they’ll be gone forever just in a different place living their lives to the fullest, and that’s all I could ever ask for. I was grateful for my friends. They were the closest thing to a family that I had. Cal and Mira both walked over to me and embraced me in a group hug.

    “I’ll be okay you guys, I promise I’ve got this!” I reassured them again.

    “We know.” Cal sighed.

    “For now, let’s focus on what you’re going to wear for tomorrow’s big date with Zane Driscoll.” Mira shook her head and smiled “I swear the situations you get yourself into!”