His Muse

τέσσερις(4)| elit

Mandy and I closed that night, my mind ticking like a clock in attempt to dissect what I heard earlier as we cleaned up. I looked in the mirror as I washed my hands in the staff toilet after tidying up the cafe, most of my hair had come lose from the bun I'd tied it in earlier in the day and my mascara had ran a little bit. I looked a little haphazard, but my bank account thankfully wasn't so haggard-looking so I didn't mind. Immediately, my thoughts switched to the rent money that would be deposited into my landlady's bank account by tomorrow.

"Are you still thinking about Theo?" Mandy asked as she wiped her hands with tissue.

"No" I replied.

"Good, you shouldn't know people like him"

"Why does anyone care if I know him or not, isn't that my personal business?"

"In this small town?" she asked incredulously, "nothing is personal business around here"

"Well it's gonna have to be and fyi, I barely talked to the guy" I answered back as I dumped my wet tissues in the bin.

As I turned to open the door, Mandy grabbed my forearm forcefully, her other arm stopping the door from opening, "why are you getting so heated up about it? It's just advice, nobody said you had to take it" she said, her eyes squinting as she sized my face up.

"I'll walk" I declared, forcing my hand out of her death-like grasp, "excuse me please"

It was silent for a few seconds as I waited for her to drop her hands and allow me to open the door.

"Okay, I apologize if I'm behaving like a bitch. It's just that..." she paused, sighing, "when you see a bad person, you want to keep the good ones out of harm's way"

"Have you ever spoken to him?"

"No"

"So how do you know he's a bad person?"

"You know what? Let's just drop this matter. C'mon lemme take you home, it's nearly 10:30" she concluded, gesturing for me to pass as she opened the door again, "it's your personal business"

We lugged the bins round the front for the waste collectors in the morning and strolled to her car, the previous matter forgotten as we counted up our tips.

"I want you to meet someone" she said as we walked down the alley to the carpark. I looked at her, my face evidently showing my apprehensive reaction to her words.

"He's cool, trust me" she added, throwing her head back and laughing as she did, "I mean you're a pretty, single girl and he's quite easy on the eye" she trailed off, obviously hinting at a potential relationship. As she did, I noticed a young man sitting on the hood of her car, his long arms dug into his furry jean jacket. When he saw us, he quickly got up and walked over, offering Mandy a quick hug.

"Ivory" she said, gesturing to me, "this is my friend" she finished, pointing back at him.

"Hi" I greeted, "pleasure to meet you...I like the jacket" I complimented stretching my hands out in a handshake.

He shook it firmly, looking intensely into my eyes as he did which reminded me of the way Theo also looked at me. That slightly, arrogant yet mysterious gaze they gave you when you commanded their attention, "no no no, the pleasure is all mine" he spoke up, drawing out the 'l'. His voice was deep and commanding, the bass reverberating like a thunderstorm in the air. But whereas Theo's had a rich, silky tone to it - a tone that naturally attached itself to his voice when he spoke, this man's was wasted among the long whispers of nothing in the trees as the wind charged through it, it had quite an unsettling, menacing quality about it.