Wolfsbane and Wallflowers

Squirrels

The smell of cinnamon was drifting up from Mrs. Lewis’ apartment, that meant the cookies were in the oven. I sent a thank you text to the girls knowing full well that I was going to have to fill them in on every detail later. Now, I had to figure out what to wear. It was a lot of pressure. I flipped through my closet, past all the sun dresses. They were way too obvious. Crippling anxiety ensued and I ended up not changing my clothes at all. I didn’t want him to think I got pretty just for him and he had already seen me in my lounge clothes way too late in the day for it to be normal to put something else on. Instead, I washed my face and questioned why I was even going back over.

Was it weird? It was weird. Mrs. Lewis was bringing cookies but I didn’t really have a reason to accompany her. Thus, I ransacked my apartment for a welcome to the neighborhood gift. I settled on a bottle of honey bourbon that I had won at the work Christmas party. With my alcohol tolerance, I wasn’t gonna drink it. Might as well put it to use. I used a recycled gift bag and threw on a bow. I then doubted myself the whole way back downstairs. Obviously, he would know I hadn’t went anywhere to buy it. It was stupid. Why was I so nervous? I took a deep breath to try to calm my mind.

Deep breaths don’t really do s**t to calm the mind. Why is that even a thing? This poor guy probably does not want to entertain a random old lady and the weird neighbor girl when he has better things to do…. Like unloading a truck full of belongings. It was too late to turn around, Mrs. Lewis had already stepped out of her door.

“Lena dear, you could have at least put on some proper clothes. What will he think?” Mrs. Lewis scolded me a lot. For some reason, it did not bother me as much as it should have. Perhaps, it was because I knew it came from a place of affection or perhaps it was because I knew it made her feel useful. Helping take care of me, even though I didn’t really need looked after, gave the little old lady a purpose. Heck, maybe I did need looked after.

“It’s my day off Mrs. Lewis. I wanted to be comfortable.” I said sheepishly.

“You kids these days, when I was younger, we had to wear proper dresses. I’ll never understand those leggings. We called them tights and they were for under our dresses.” She sighed and shook her head. Lord have mercy the first time she sees a guy wearing a pair. Mrs. Lewis might very well faint.

“I said I’ll fix it. I know I messed up. It’s not exactly like I planned for it to happen.” Shouting from the back of the Uhaul took the attention off my scandalous legs. Flynn’s voice was hardly the lazy chatter from earlier. “I know, I know. What else do you want me to do? I moved all the way to the other side of the country and am keeping an eye on the situation.”

Mrs. Lewis gave a polite little cough to let him know we were there. I liked tea, I wanted to hear the rest of the conversation. He c****d his head out of the back of the truck and gave us a smile before ending the conversation with a much calmer “I’ll keep you updated.”

“What do I owe the pleasure of a second visit from you lovely ladies?” He said as he slid his phone into his pocket and jumped to the ground. It was a graceful, fluid movement that didn’t seem to fit his lumberjack appearance.

“We come bearing gifts.” I said, holding out the gift bag.

“I’m still working on the moving in thing, but you are welcome to come in,” he said as he took the bag.

Apparently, all the murder documentaries didn’t stop us from walking into this stranger’s house because we just followed him inside. Boxes were stacked up in the living room, mingling with haphazardly placed furniture. He cleared off a space at the dining room table. “I would offer you something to drink, but I haven’t been to the store yet. Is there even a*****e in town?”

“We have a small grocery store if you turn left at the light. It’s not as big as Wal-Mart or anything like that, but it has most things you might need.” The server in me rose to the surface, that friendly, how can I help attitude. Thank god, because I realized I had no idea how to talk to people in a casual setting that I didn’t already know. Whelp, it got really quiet. No one is talking. Come on Mrs. Lewis, say something.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you and I hope you enjoy the cookies. No one wants a little old lady buzzing about. I’ll just wander home while you two get to know each other.” Okay, that was not what she was supposed to say. Can I will myself to become invisible by sheer mental force? He walked her to the door and I stayed at the table, crawling out of my skin and battling my own consciousness. By the time he took the twenty steps back to the table, he was already a serial killer with a hundred victims and I had envisioned my own grisly demise seven different ways. I needed to get out of this house.

“Have you eaten yet? There is a little cafe up town. They make great breakfast. Everything else is s**t, but the breakfast is good.” Did I just invite him on a date? What on earth is wrong with me? “I mean, I figured you have been moving all day and that way you could see a bit of the town.”

“I was actually getting pretty hungry.” He could have said no. He did not. I couldn’t read his expression. Did he seem excited… to murder me? I looked around for any knives or axes.

“Let me run home and grab my wallet and phone.” Yes, I did go to a stranger’s house without my phone. “I’ll meet you out front.”

I fled from the scene. In that moment, I was a track star. Then, all the way up the stairs I wondered if I had insulted him or if he thought I was really eager.

The walk was lovely. I randomly pointed out little landmarks and rambled about their history. “That’s the school, all twelve grades in one building. The Beaumont Black Squirrels.”

“The mascot is a squirrel?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Yes, squirrels are terrifying and ferocious…. Obviously.” I let out a laugh and relaxed a little. I could do this, I could be normal and have pleasant conversation. “We don’t question rural Ohio mascots. Ours, at least, makes sense. There are tons of black squirrels in the area. There is one conference nearby that pretty much every school has a ridiculous mascot.”

“I find it hard to believe that there is something sillier than a Squirrel.” He playfully challenged.

“Well, the catholic school is the Flyers. You might have thought they would have gone that route because of Angels and all. Nope, they are an airplane. Then there is Big Red, which is not the chewing gum but I never figured out what Big Red was. Then, to round it off nicely there are the Rough Riders, Mounties and Trojans.”

“Was it a competition?” He asked.

“Possibly, but who would even win?” It was easy to talk to him and suddenly I felt guilty about convincing myself of his nefarious intentions and my imminent death at his hands.