A Princess's Guide to Dragon Domestication

(2) It's Not True If It Isn't Bizarre Enough

By the time I got back home, it was quite dark, and I was tired.

Who would've thought that one could get tired of doing nothing? Not that I was complaining. Nope, I wasn't giving this job up for anything.

I dragged my feet across the pavement to exaggerate my exhaustion but stopped as soon as I spotted a guy doing "angry" push-ups on the porch next to mine.

It was Raees. The not-so-creepy creepy guy.

No. The not-so-creepy creepy yet-extremely-strong-by-the-looks-of-it guy.

He seemed agitated, pulling his shirt away from himself before raising it up to take it off, but then he looked up and caught me staring at him. This, for some reason, made him smirk before wiping his forehead with the edge of it and pulling it back down.

He got up and started walking towards me. The closer he came, the more his smirk grew. He stopped when he reached the fence that separated his house and mine. "Remember me now, Princess?"

"Sure; you're Mr. Creep McCreepy from this morning," I said, making him frown. "By the way, indecent exposure isn't something we tolerate here."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow at me, his green eyes sparkling from the streetlight on top of our heads. "Do you make a habit of staring at intolerable things?"

"Stare in horror? Yes, I sometimes do that."

"Horror, or recognition?" he said, focusing on something behind me before looking at me again.

Oh, my God. Please don't tell me this guy is some famous model.

"Where's your friend?" I asked him while crossing my arms. Zane, if I remembered correctly.

"Why do you ask?" He didn't answer the question, and that didn't escape my notice.

"He seemed like a much better person to talk to," I said before smirking. "And much better to look at." I left him with that thought.

I shouldn't have done that; he was huge and scary, and I wasn't suicidal, but deflating someone's oversized ego is always worth it.

"Who was that?" Ricky asked as soon as I got inside.

"The neighbour," I said. The house beside ours was usually empty. Apart from the occasional person coming and going, there didn't seem to be much of a family that lived there.

"And why were you talking to him?" he asked while crossing his arms. "He's a stranger, Maisha. He could be as axe-murderer for all you know."

"Or a secret agent," I retorted while dropping my bag on the floor.

"Or a criminal." My brother said with a slight smile this time.

"A vampire."

He scoffed but continued anyways. "A high-end thief."

"Or a magical creature from a different land!"

"Okay." My brother looked at me as if I'd lost it. "That's a little too farfetched."

"And your ideas aren't?"

"Whatever, sis." He rolled his eyes at me before turning serious. "Just be careful while I'm gone, okay?"

He was leaving with his friends to go camping and wouldn't be back for a week. I was happy. A whole week without someone waking me up by pushing me off the bed or throwing water at me. A week of no one eating my breakfast or hiding my stuff.