Autumn Leaves & Pumpkins Please

ten | pregnart

october 24th

dallas, america

My legs turned into cooked noodles in combination with my jaw dropped onto the floor. All I could say was that I was speechless and even that I was unable to clarify. The room was ghost-silent, except for my incomprehensible stammering of varied syllables. My mother slowly tip-toed into the kitchen.

"Would you like tea, Xavier?" she asked.

Xavier lifted his masculine arm and rolled up the sleeve of his coat in order to look at his watch. But he never looked at his watch, instead he kept his eyes on me. They reminded me of spring; bright green leaves and grass, clear skies and flourishing flowers. They also reminded me of passion and serenity, something that he always seemed to carry around with him. Yet there was a glaze of darkness and dreariness spread over his iris and it appeared to darken whenever he got a bit mad or more serious.

"I have to leave soon, Miss Morris, but thank you for the offer. I'm only here to discuss some things with your daughter."

"Of course. I'm right here in the kitchen if you need me."

My mother closed the door between the kitchen and the living room and therefore created a barrier between me and her – the only one who could safe me. She left me alone with Satan, I was going to die.

"May I sit?" he asked.

"I'd rather have you not shed your bacteria onto my couch, but I think you still would if I said no."

"I consider that as a yes, so thank you." He sat down and wiped invisible dust off his jeans. I was surprised to see him in daily clothing, but I preferred him in a suit.

I sat down on the chair across the couch and quickly tried to fixate my messy hair. I had been watching series all day, so I had put no effort into my appearance.

"Xavier, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm here to ask you for assistance."

"Okay, we'll get back to that later. First of all, why are you in America and how the f**k did you know where I live?"

"I'm in the United States due to personal events and finding out where you live wasn't so hard. I have some contacts here and asked them to do me a favor."

"What are you, a drugs dealer?"

"Besides stripping for a living, I also tend to exchange drugs, yes."

"Very funny," I fake laughed which made him chuckle a little. "Now why do you need my help?"

He reached for something in his pocket, so I swiftly leaned in and gestured that he needed to stop doing whatever he was doing. He paused moving for a split second and looked at me with one brow frowned.

"I'm not going to pull out my dildo, don't worry," he told me.

I moved back into my seat and sighed deeply in order to compress my laughter, but I wasn't able to stop myself from giggling. Xavier started chuckling too, but the tone was so deep that I immediately stopped.

He pulled out a couple of papers and handed them over to me. I held his gaze a couple of seconds before moving on to the papers.

"Come on, love, you don't know how to read? Wouldn't be surprising."

There was this love-hate relationship between me and his British accent. Everything he said sounded so much better to me, but it also made everything sound so incredibly cocky, which he himself was already. Guess I had to live with that.

I started to read the papers and saw that they were about us. Some headlines said we were the new, best couple in London, others suggested we must be dating, others that there was a possibility we were dating. When I read further, I found out that indeed people were really trying to figure out who I was and what my function was in society. Some thought I was an actress, others were sure that I was a vet he met in a bar, others claimed that I was a w***e.

The last one made me laugh. I showed it to him and he shrugged.

"Agreed."

"Screw you. I can only say that about myself. You can only compliment me."

"Having s*x with you was already a compliment."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Anyhow, what are you trying to show me with these papers?" I threw them back into his lap and crossed my arms. He folded them a couple of times and then put them back into his grey coat. Then he slid a hand through his shiny, healthy appearing hair and seemed a bit annoyed. He was such a bad tempered man, would never be able to live with someone like him.

Friends with benefits maybe.

No, Autumn, no thinking about that. God. Error 404, no self-control found.

"I want to make a deal with you. You see, not only newspapers are bloody thrilled about us, social media platforms such as online magazines, i********:, Twitter, f*******:, etcetera too. It makes me as a person grow, but also my business. The company. It is an amazing opportunity to convince new people to engage in buying my magazine, because people are interested in my life, what I do and my company."

"And my part?"

"You get the dream of every girl nowadays, wealth and fame. That includes millions of likes on i********:, a lot of money and loads of free stuff. Everyone will be wanting to work with you and that could be handy for any future plans," he explained, "and you get to spend time with me."

"Wow, what a privilege!" I exclaimed sarcastically to his last sentence.

"It actually is these days. There's not much time left to associate with me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Anyway, are you in?"

I thought for a bit.

"I could definitely use the money, but I'm not so keen of the fame."

"Do it and there will finally be something your mother will be proud of after twenty years."

"f**k you."

"Funny you say that, it's usually 'f**k me'."

"Give me more details on how you want to achieve your plan. How's it going to work?"

He sighed and this time looked at his watch for real. The gold reflected artificial light of my lamps and made me realize how poor I was.

"You will spend time with me and make sure people believe that we're in a relationship."

"So you're basically using me as a publicity stunt?"

"Yes."

"Okay, thank you for being so straight to the point about that."

"Autumn, I have to leave." He stood up and waited for me to do so, so I did too. "Come here."

"Wh-"

"Just come here. Stand closer to me."

"I'm not your f*****g puppy."

"Bloody hell, Autumn, always so stubborn when you're not drunk or horny. I just want to give you something."

"I swear if you pull out your d**k I'm going to stab you. In the d**k. Repeatedly."

"Sounds promising."

I walked towards him until I felt his breath touching my face. He stared right into my eyes for a couple of seconds and started smiling a bit. It was wicked yet very sweet. His stare seemed to enchant me, because I suddenly couldn't talk and only could think about his lips on mine.

I wanted to tell him that I had been thinking about him. When I was about to have s*x with my boyfriend, when I was at school, when I was studying, all the time. I wanted to tell him that I read his books to visualize him saying certain things.

His face started coming closer until the tips of our noses touched.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked.

"Yes."

He made me lose my mind. He made me function differently. He made me say things I didn't want to, because of my non-existing dignity.

When came even more close, I closed my eyes and prepared for our passionate kiss. But when I thought his lips were about to touch mine, they made a swift left towards my ear.

"Cheers. Then our deal is all set." He backed off and walked out of my house without even saying goodbye.

I thought he was talking about the kiss we were about to have, not the deal. That sneaky son of a motherfucker. A couple of seconds later I realized he had handed me something; a little card with his details on it. I threw it onto the floor and kicked it away. It was stuck to the floor, so I kicked it again and the only result was me having my foot in pain.

"f**k!" I shouted.

My mom came in from the kitchen and looked at me funny.

"What?!" she shouted in the same tone.

"Nothing!" I replied in the same tone.

"Who was that again?!" she shouted.

"Xavier f*****g Montgomery!"

"Are you pregnant with his child?!"

I buried my head into my head and sighed deeply.