Falling For The Delivery Girl

Chapter 8: Struck By A Shoe

8.14am
Thursday
17th September 2009

Isla pushed the button again, her feet tapping rhythms on the cobblestone. No one answered. She sighed deeply and was about to leave when someone blonde answered the door. Walter widened his eyes in shock and attempted to shut the door but not until Isla rushed towards it, pushing with all her strength despite her twisted ankle.

"Walter," she said, searching for his eyes as she tried to pried the door open. But she was losing it. "Please. I don't know you that well but I trust you enough to ask you something. Just some questions, that's all. It's very important."

"Questions? I think you mean 'questionsssss' with an endless 's'. It may be important to you. But not to me. I'm so sorry but-" Walter muttered, flinching. He hesitated for awhile and continued, "- but I have to go to work. My work is much important that your questions."

Isla raised an eyebrow at that and loosened her grip of the door. Catching her off guard, Walter instinctively shoved the door close. She gritted her teeth, knocking the door ferociously with her fist. She yelled for his name, feeling frustrated and confused.

Knowing well that Walter was avoiding her, the girl just descended the stairs and carefully swung her bad leg over the bicycle. She cast a long glance at the movements in the apartment above, suprised to find Walter closing the blinds in Marc's apartment.

Before he pulled the last blind down, he caught her looking and grinned back at her mischievously. Anger boiled up in her chest, she unmounted her bicycle and glared at him with her hands on her hips.

He shrugged nonchalantly and mouthed 'sorry', an amused look still plastered on his face. Isla bent down to pull a sneaker off and threw it at him precisely when he pulled the blinds closed. The shoe hit the bricked wall, ricochet and landed in a flower pot below.

Isla rushed to retrieve her shoe back, searching for it. When she found it, the front door opened. And a certain red headed lady was cursing at her. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry," Isla said, smiling apologetically. "I'm just finding for my shoe."

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7.24pm
Thursday
17th September 2009

Isla had no idea how long she had been sitting on the front steps when the last bit of sunlight drowned into the horizon. The sky was a dark canopy but bright nonetheless with a myriad of stars dotted on it. She looked up to admire the autumn scenery, trying hard to distract herself from the cold that was threatening to permeate her body.

But despite all the effort, she was losing control. Her breath came out in puffs and she rubbed her arms for warmth. She loved the autumn but she loathed the cold that came with it. How could something beautiful be so cruel, she thought. For a moment, she closed her eyes and floated into fantasy, something she didn't do often anymore.

Then, someone scoffed.

It snapped her out from her reverie and she blinked her sleepy eyes open to look at him. Marc DeLuca stood just below the steps, his hands in the pocket of his jeans. His head tilted to the side as he gazed at her with cat-like curiosity. For once, he was acting rather casual.

"Are you sitting here the whole time?" he asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. Isla nodded and continued staring at him as the boy ascended the steps soundlessly. "Did Walter reject you?" he randomly said, searching for his keys.

"Reject me?" Isla choked. Of all the things he could say, she thought. "No, I like him very much but not that way. We're just - acquaintances. If there's anything more, we're just friends. Besides, I just met him yesterday."