Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 13 - Thursday: Wisps and Lunch Dates

And then it hit me. One of my male dolls was wearing a female doll's head and a ballet-type skirt. The female doll was wearing the male's head. She was using one of her boots as a spade to dig a hole in the soft soil of the potted philodendron near my bedroom door. I found another of my dolls halfway inside one of my dresser drawers. Only her bottom and legs were hanging down outside it. She might have been trying to escape from the carnage on the bed. A couple of dolls were trying to do ballet or something, posing in various uncomfortable-looking poses. They were leaning against the bag of cloth cut-offs to keep them from falling over. Two others, a male and a female, were having a wrestling match...

I have a sudden eye-opening flashback to Hunter and me entangled on the beach.

Oh, my word!

I struggle to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside me. I guess they were probably not supposed to be wrestling... Well, they were wrestling in the story I wove for the blog. My cheeks are burning, and I peek at Hunter to see if he's noticing it. Fortunately, he is too busy trying to stop the car's windshield wipers from automatically coming on at random intervals. My mother's car has loads of personality...

Apparently, Hunter had been in my room to close the windows and did some choreography of his own. I'm not sure what he thought I'd been up to with the dolls. I couldn't stop laughing while I was taking some extra pictures. I incorporated them into the silly scenario I wrote as part of the advertisement for my doll fashions.

Hunter really likes to be a pest, but he lent me his laptop, so, I'll forgive him. I was finally able to upload my first new post in months. From all the comments on my site, I could tell that my regular clients were missing my stories and the source of unique clothing for their dolls. Seeing it made me feel a little hopeful and very generous towards Hunter. If my new outfits sell well, I'm going to feel even more generous.

"Our practice can go on pretty late, Missy. You'll start to get cold. If you're not comfortable getting a lift from Ash, I'll ask around for someone else or maybe my mom will be back and can..."

"No," I stop him. I'm making things worse again. I want to be less of a nuisance, not more of one. "I'll go with Asher. Thank you. As long as it's not too inconvenient for him."

Hunter laughs. "You're talking about the dude who won't even see a snake bite during a marathon as inconvenient. It's all good."

I'm pretty certain that the word "inconvenient" is never used when describing snakebites.

"Besides, if you catch a cold, Ma will nurse you to a point where you'll end up escaping out the window to go live in the park. For some reason, she gets really mad when people do that."

Is he talking from actual experience or just having verbal diarrhoea again? I shake my head, laughing. "Very well, Mr Dramatic, I'll make sure that I don't catch a cold."

There is a bit of a bite in the air in the mornings and evenings. Pretty soon the school cardigan is not going to be warm enough anymore. Almost time to switch to the winter uniform. I'm not looking forward to it. Thick black tights, a long-sleeved shirt, a pull-over jersey, and a blazer. Winter school uniforms have a way of making one feel over-stuffed and cold at the same time.

We don't speak much during our trip. Hunter is singing along with almost every song that plays on the radio. The fact that he clearly does not know the words or tunes to many of them does nothing to dampen his enthusiasm. It's rather endearing, and I find myself smiling while I listen. He has a really nice singing voice. Just husky enough to stir something in my stomach and pure of pitch enough to flutter my heart.

I've noticed that conversation-less moments between us, even during complete silence, aren't really that uncomfortable anymore. Well, not always.

I'm finding it more and more easy to breathe comfortably when I'm alone with Hunter... provided that we're not hog-tied together on the beach. The realisation struck me yesterday evening in the study. We didn't have to talk to each other. We could just be in the same space, each comfortably thinking their own thoughts, doing their own thing. Being with Hunter was gradually starting to feel a little warmer and almost companionable. Except for my heart which almost always beats just a little bit faster than it should. I no longer dread our one-on-one interactions as much. Even in spite of our mishap on the beach.