The days went strangely fast when you spent them sorting books in a never-ending library. I'd made a good routine for myself where I arrive by the estate at 8am, begins my day by starting the coffee machine to make some coffee for both me and Reed since I realized how he always starts his days with coffee.
Then my first period with writing down books in the register and placing them back on their shelves begins. I've already cleaned up the heavy mess which by the way didn't take too long. As soon as all the broken furniture and dirt was gone I could focus fully on the books.
Reed comes by and says hello or mostly stare me down like the odd fellow he is, if we didn't meet in the kitchen or hallway. Around 10am I take a short break, reading on the balcony or maybe scrolling thru my phone.
At lunch I head down to the kitchen to heat up some food or cook something incredibly simple. I'm not directly a good chef, even if I'm eager at times to try and cook something fun.
Once again, I make coffee for my slave driver who comes to the kitchen, take the coffee, and leave. It feels like he want to stay away from me as much as he can while also wanting to stay strangely close at times.
Either he's annoyed with me, cranky and a boring twat. Or kind of settled, curious but withdrawn. It feels as if he might be of that people-shy kind, which in itself isn't strange when you grew up in a ghost castle with a silver spoon in your mouth. A whole box of them!
Then living all alone when your siblings moved out... It must make you shy. And the thought makes me smile, how this sassy twat to governing man could be shy. But my own conclusion is how he mostly gets tired of my sassiness.
Because after a while I realized how incredibly boring it was to just be stiff and awkward together with Reed. And I turned to my humour, feeling the need to turn this boring man funny. I tried to joke with him more, tease him and do whatever I could to make that grumpy man smile. Mostly, he just glared back at me, but it was just as fun!
The afternoons are mostly spent continuing registering and placing books on the shelves after I dust them off and register them in the computer. I take a slightly longer break around 4pm, taking a stroll in the park since Reed didn't want me to go to the forest. And it irritates me. Because I had liked it so much that time I went there, and it filled me with such joy. The forest gave me energy, like a huge garden close to my prison.
This day it had stormed really hard when I went here, and it was a struggle driving. Reed texted me how he could come and get me, but then I was already on my way. I arrived almost twenty minutes late though and threw myself in thru the door just as Reed was on his way out, seemingly worried when he saw me.
"Are you okay?!"
"I survived! I'm alive!" I had burst with a grin, panting slightly.
"You should have taken it slow or turned back so I,"
"I did take it slow and therefore I'm late."
"You shouldn't have been hurrying here."
"Fuck what a storm! Though the sun is shining which is good. I heard it would rain later."
"It should blow all day but ease in the evening. So, you must not go out during the day."
"What? Why?!"
"The risk of fallen trees is great."
"But in the park,"
"You stay inside!"
"I stay inside!"
I don't know how, but Reed has an extremely strong ability to get what he wants. He makes me do what he wants with just a few words, a change in his tone. It happens at regular intervals, and he reacts either with a smug smile or an apologetic look. As if he's proud or ashamed, that fucker.
I just think he's of that domination kind; and obeying him is probably the best thing to keep everyone happy and settle. Keep the beast at bay, Belle! I'm easily influenced so that could also be the reason.
I sat in the library like always and registered books from the First World War, finding some quite interesting books and parchment in rolls that must have been written during the war. I don't know how Reed got them, but they fascinated me and I found myself reading them before registering them.
One parchment wasn't even in English but in some foreign language I didn't recognize. It had a seal and was fragile and well read. I didn't dare sign numbers on the parchments but tied a label around each of them.
"...Does he know?..."
"...Keep quiet!..."
"What?" I looked up from the parchment, holding a magnifying glass I had found with a shout of joy in a cabinet. It gave me a Sherlock Holmes feeling, making me giggle when I found it. I looked around. "Hello?"
It was a while ago since I heard it last time, the mumbling kind of sound. I've heard it from time to time. Sometimes it seemed like voices I couldn't interpret. Mostly I thought it was from my music, but after a while that I imagined things.
Once I thought it could be someone upstairs, but then Mr. Sparkles jumped down from a shelf and I thought it was his purring I heard. But now it was different. I thought I could distinguish a dialogue.
"Reed?" Silence.
I pushed out the chair and got up, placing the magnifying glass on the table by the parchment. Now, for the first time in a long time, I had no music playing, and it was not my imagination! I heard voices, or at least something. They spoke, they did!
It had sounded like the voices came from behind me and I took some vigilant steps in that direction. I walked down the room, section after section. Curious but still a bit... uneasy? When I reached the short end, I stopped. I heard nothing, but a shiver went up along my spine. I perked my ears, trying to hear signs that someone was there somewhere.
Meanwhile, I started humming a children's song my little sister listened to a lot as a child, and which we used to sing together during Halloween. It was a happy kid-melody which I hoped would ease my increasing pulse. Because it was something odd going on and it freaked me out slightly.
"I saw a ghost... A spooky ghost... It flew away, when I said hey," I sang tentatively, crouching down by a damper on the side of the fireplace.
It sounded like the wind blowing in thru it which wasn't strange considering the stormy weather. It sounded almost like a whining, and I began to wonder if I had imagined the murmur and taken the wind for voices after all. But how could I hear it so far away? It didn't make any sense! I leaned in closer with my ear. It was buzzing. Was it murmurs? I frowned, tried to concentrate.
"...Shift..."
"...Borders..."
"Run!"
"Fuck!"
I flinched and staggered back, trembled for my balance before I fell. With a thump I hit the floor and I moaned, rolling over on my back for a second before I crawled up on my feet, rushing towards the exit while glancing back towards the damper. Whatever it was, it was scary! And hell no, I wasn't going to stay there a second longer!
Mr. Sparkles, who lay asleep in the window, flinched when I hurried past him, his hair standing up before he rushed away between the shelves. I threw myself at the door, fumbling for the handle. In the corridor towards the stairs, I could see Reed walking in my direction from his office with a coat over his arm. He looked almost startled when he saw me rush up to him, panting heavily.
"Reed, Reed!"
"What?!"
"You're wrong and I'm right!" He cocked an eyebrow at me confused and I pointed back over my shoulder at the direction of the library, still panting.
"What, Ryan; speak clearly."
"This is a ghost castle, Reed! A fucking ghost castle!" Now he raised his eyebrows in amazement before a smug smile spread across his lips. I narrowed my eyes at him. "I hear voices among the books!"
"You're imagine things..." Reed began to walk down the stairs and I followed him, looking back behind us meanwhile.
"No, it's true!"
"Have you eaten and drunk as you should?" I sighed.
"Reed! I'm not crazy! This castle is HAUNTED!"
"Stop fooling around."
"I heard voices in a damper by the fireplace further in and,"
"Didn't I tell you to stay in the first section to begin with?"
"I thought someone was talking to me and,"
"Like I said, you're imagine things."
"Or you're hiding something." He turned to me, and I tried not to grin at him. I crossed my arms smugly. "Admit it; you're hiding your victims somewhere in the castle!"
"First, this isn't a castle. Second, what victims?"
"Those you suck blood from to gain energy!" I said simply with a shrug. "You cannot fool me, you are Dracula! Or his spawn, I've seen the picture of the old vampire on the wall."
"I have to work now." He's so boring. I followed him, feeling pretty stupid now that I was so far from the library. But I swear it was voices I heard.
"Was it a secret meeting you held?"
"Or your music."
"No!" I burst. "I had no music on this time! There were voices! It was heard from the damper at the short end, whether I should be there or not!"
"It's probably just the wind."
"No."
"Yes."
"No! Someone was speaking, they did."
"And what did this ghost say?" Reed reached for an umbrella in a stand next to the door.
"Something about borders, maybe about a shift, or shifting? Then just yelled Run! I couldn't hear what they said before that though, but they seemed to be in a hurry." When I said that, Reed stopped dead in his steps and he looked back at me. "I heard it, Reed!" I said smugly.
His expression turned almost startled. He leaned his head to the side, raising his nose in that twat way of his.
"Reed!" He scrutinized me for a second before he pasted his typical dead expression on his face.
"You're imagine things. What you heard was the wind. There are long chimneys on this house and the sound travel thus far down to the dampers in the library."
"Before the opposite is proven, I think it is ghosts!" Although Reed's conclusion seemed quite logical. "I think you keep something from me."
"I don't have to tell you everything."
"A slave doesn't need to know everything I suppose."
I leaned against the stair railing, examining him when he put on his coat in front of the mirror, then reaching for a hat. I couldn't help but grin, almost wishing I brought the magnifying glass with me so I could give it to him and say elementary, my dear slavedriver.
He wasn't as slim and supple as Sherlock Holmes was portrayed as. But he had the same demeanour and properly raised head. A muscular variant of Sherlock. Handsome and... hot. Gosh.
I looked at him, glancing at me thru the mirror. Suddenly I felt how my breathing became faster and how I had a good desire to touch his stubbled cheek. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes when that sweet scent reached me.
I opened my eyes again, meeting his almost sparkling eyes thru the mirror. What was his secrets? And why did I feel the need to walk up to him?
Somehow, I didn't want him to leave and I got an urge to prevent him. Something inside me wished for him to stay by my side and made me believe that he would if I really begged him to. But why? Why did I feel like this? I crossed my arms to occupy them from fiddling in a nervous gesture while breaking our eye contact.
"Where are you going?"
"I need to check the trees along the roads."
"But you said it's dangerous in the storm..." I couldn't help but mention it.
"There is a bit of a crisis in the southern part. I must go there and check so that the trees hasn't fallen across the road. Or else the emergency services cannot get to the farms outside town if needed." Why did the thought of him out in this weather worry me this much? I took a trembling breath.
"It's going to rain until evening. Can't you wait until then?" I asked in almost a weak voice.
And then Reed smiled a reassuring smile at me. It was a rare thing, him smiling in another way than his smug smile. It was as if he understood my concern. He turned to me.
"Don't worry."
"You worried about me earlier."
"It's another thing." I huffed at that.
"I'm not some fragile little doll or something!"
"More like a mischievous pup."
"Yeah, right! Besides, Dracula shouldn't be outside during sun hours." Reed just huffed, but couldn't hide his grin. "Oh, Mr. Cranky do have some humour!" With a low snicker he reached for the doorhandle again; and I almost gasped. "No, you should wait out the rain at least!"
"What if there's an injured animal?"
"Well, it would be sad but,"
"If an animal is in danger, it needs my help."
"But if you are injured no one can help you."
"I will be alright, Ryan, I promise." His voice was soothingly, making me blush for some reason. I snickered, trying to hide it.
"Of course, I would try and save you if you needed help! Imagine me coming as a noble knight in shining armour, picking you up on my white stallion, the blue scooter. I would bring you back to the castle, but instead of giving you a kiss I sacrifice you to the ghosts to be allowed to be free myself!"
"Where do you get all your ideas from?" I giggled, and Reed looked at me; his eyes gleaming for a split of a second.
"My imagination, which I found in books. Oh, and movies. Did you know that you can learn a lot from Disney movies, for example? Like how to build your own scooter from scratch when you're a fish-dude, OR how you can cut your hair with a sword! But even better; clean your makeup off in one swift with your shirtsleeve!" Reed didn't answer that, just turned to the door once again after hesitating.
"I will be back soon."
"Hey, what about the ghosts?!"
"Take a break, maybe you're just tired and need some rest."
"The voices are real..."
"Sure," he said, and I huffed.
"They are!" Then I smiled, crossing my arms. "Since I can't convince you to stay, promise to be careful."
"Don't worry. I'm used to be outside in the forest in any weather."
"I'm not used knowing you are."
I blushed again. I fucking blushed badly! Did I say that aloud? He gave me a strange look and I looked away.
"It goes fast, barely an hour. I promise you I'll be alright."
"I can come with you..."
"Or you stay here so I know that you are safe. That's the most important thing."
"Why is my life more important than yours?!" Did he look troubled? He didn't meet my eyes. "I can help you."
"You help me by staying here."
"Have you even eaten anything?" I checked the old clock on the wall. "It's before lunch."
"No, I grab something later. You know where there's food. Please, eat."
"Oh!" I burst and he flinched. "If I'm not allowed to come with you, I can cook something for you for when you return!" He frowned and turned back to me.
"You?" I rubbed my hands together with a mischievous grin. He looked almost nervous.
"Heh, heh; I'm gonna put my soul in it!"
"Will you manage it?"
"Hey, you don't have to be afraid! I won't poison you! I'm going to eat something anyway, and why not have lunch together then? We never hang out, which we don't have to since you're my slave driver and not my actually friend."
He narrowed his eyes at me.
"But we're going to spend a lot of time together in the future so why not... just meet over a meal and try to get to know each other? Then you don't have to sit alone in the dining room like Dracula, and I won't have to stay in the kitchen like servants should in a castle."
"You are not my slave."
"No, not at all," I said with an amused grin.
"Focus on your own health."
"I will! But let me prepare food for both of us so you have something when you return!" I laughed. "What can go wrong?!"
"Okay, sounds good. At least then I know you stay here. See you later then."
"Yes, sir!" I teased, knowing how he hated that word. I strutted towards the kitchen, glancing back at him. "I'll cook you something special!"
When I entered the kitchen I smiled broadly, enthusiastically dancing up to the pantry. Cooking for someone else is way more fun than cooking something for yourself. I had been craving something Asian with rice all day since last night after Mike and I chilled in front of the TV, watching Mulan. Living with Mike was fun. We're compatible and don't get on each other's nerves despite the cramped space.
Now we both work a lot and Mike in different shifts, so we are rarely home at the same time for longer periods. But once we are, we try to socialize and do stuff we both likes. Mike usually cooks and I clean, and he's a good chef; having a dad who worked as a chef in his younger days and taught Mike the basics.
To my delight there was rice in the pantry, and I grabbed the jar before I went to the kitchen island and sat down on one of the bar stools, fishing up my phone. I started scrolling thru google for fun recipes to try, finding one for some Asian beef stew. It seemed tasty!
After checking the list of ingredients, I began to look in the fridge, pantry, and freezer for what was needed to make this delicious meal. While I was rummaging around far down in the vegetable box in the fridge, my phone beeped, indicating how there was an incoming video call and I swiped green.
"Yo!"
"How is the slave doing?! Did you survive the journey to Dracula?" Mike snickered and I laughed, grabbing some carrots and celery before straightening up. "Wow, that kitchen is huge!"
"Yes, it is! Look at it!" I showed Mike the room.
"Cool. So, how's everything?"
"It's stormy as fuck outside! But I'm fine!"
"I know. I had a hard time gathering all our advertising signs that has blown around across the parking lot."
"Didn't you brought them inside last night before you guys closed?"
"I forgot."
"Poor you!" I smiled, placing the phone on the kitchen fan over the stove so I could see Mike while cooking. "Do you know what I'm doing?!"
"Preparing some lunch?" We used to talk or chat during our breaks, but it was fun seeing him this time. We could talk during our work too, even if he wasn't allowed to. But, he didn't care.
"Dah! I'm preparing lunch for Mr. Cranky Pants!"
"No way, are YOU going to cook? Not only warm something up?"
"Don't sound so surprised! I thought he might get less grumpy if he got some warm food in his belly after being out in the storm."
"Is he outside in this weather?"
"Yes, there was something about the roads and some trees. I didn't think a landlord would have to do all the hard work himself."
"Are you sure he hasn't any employees?"
"I never see any... But there should be some employees, right?!"
"Weird."
"Maybe they have a staff house somewhere in the reserve? Or somewhere here at the estate since it's fucking huge."
"The east wing maybe?"
"It is in bad shape, remember?"
"Are you sure? I bet it is in perfect shape!"
"But why am I not allowed to go there then?" I asked while picking out a frying pan, saucepan, and other utensils I needed. I filled the saucepan with water and rice, salted it before placing it on the stove. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe he's ashamed of how he lets you slave for him unemployed?"
"But I'm the one who should be ashamed, destroying his car and all."
"Becca should be ashamed."
"Stop."
"It wasn't you."
"Now we pretend like it was. Anyway, I just think Reed does everything himself because he's such a control freak!"
"What are you going to cook the lord of crankiness?"
"An Asian dish I found on google!"
While I was cooking, I told Mike about the voices in the library and how they had freaked me out. I also told him how Reed thought it was the wind, but that I got the feeling how he knows more than he lets on. Mike mostly laughed, also he seemingly believing how I imagined things.
"You have such an imagination! You go crazy being alone too much among so many books!"
"Bah, I'm not crazy."
"It's all in your head."
"I'm sure it's someone! If not his staff, Reed is hiding his victims in the east wing."
"And you hear them thru a secret door!"
"Yeah, the secret door must be if his victims try to burn him or throw onion at him!"
"In reality, I rather think that's where he has the surveillance station and perhaps his most expensive possessions."
"Does he even have cameras?"
"He should have at a place like that one. You probably hear his employees after all."
"Yeah, maybe. Why is he ashamed of me though? He could lie and pretend that he pays me. I wouldn't snitch!"
"Maybe you look too..." Mike's expression said it all and he swat with his hand. "...Not a rich man's employee."
"I dunno..."
"Or it could be where he has his TV?"
"Fuck!" I cursed when it suddenly splashed up butter on my finger.
"How's it going?" I grabbed the phone and switched camera to show Mike my progress in the kitchen.
"It's going well! I have chopped up the steak and will now fry it in butter and some hoisin sauce. I took some extra Japanese soy with heat to warm Reed properly."
"Naw!"
"Stop, I just mean it can be tasty on a day like this."
"And the other pot, in the corner?"
"Oh, I felt like improvising! It's a ginger sauce!"
"Improvising, you?!" I giggled, stirring in the sauce with a wooden spoon. I could see Mike frowning. "Ryan, you're burning something over there, on the other stove." I followed his nod to a small cloud of smoke coming from a wok where I was frying vegetables. "You have to move the wok away from the hob."
"Don't interfere in what I do!" I burst but hurried there.
"All carrots are burnt, and peppers."
"What do you know, maybe I like it burnt?"
"Well, it cannot get worse than what you tried to cook me that time you wanted to try Mexican food!" Mike laughed.
I moved the wok to the side and tried to scrape the vegetables from the bottom. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I felt a bit stressed that I might have taken on more than I could manage, adding my own dishes to the recipe. But I wasn't going to give up and especially not in front of Mike!
"Now it's boiling over in that other pot..."
"The sauce!" I burst, hurrying over there. At the same time the meat began to burn, and I could see how I forgot to lower the heat of the rice which now began to dry in the bottom of the pan. I whined in panic. "I need to end the call, you distract me!"
"Because that's what's happening!" Mike laughed. "We'll, good luck with your gourmet meal!"
I tore the rice from the stove. Suspiciously black smoke came from the pan, and I hurried with it to the kitchen door, opening it to place the now burning saucepan out on the stairs.
I rushed back inside to turn off the heat on the sauce which now most resembled a sticky goo, and I started waving off all the smoke with a kitchen towel in hope of not accidentally starting the smoke alarms.
The kitchen was full of suspicious smoke that due to the strong wind outside soon was pulled out in the storm like a pillar of dooms day! The vegetables were more black than colourful and the meat... well, at least it was well done!
I hated raw meat anyway. I chose to try and strain the sauce from the lumps that formed while I began to pick out plates to serve the... food, on.
When I added sauce, vegetables, and meat, I realized that I had forgotten the rice outside, in the rain. I hurried back to the door, but when the wind grabbed the pan of rice, I threw myself on my stomach to grab it before it fell over the edge. The rice was now floating in rainwater.
"Fucking piece of mess!" At least it wasn't burning anymore. I hurried inside, closing the door with a heavy sigh.
I strained the rice before scraping out the few white rice grains that still seemed eatable in a bowl to heat in the microwave. While I stared at the spinning bowl through the hatch I heard a soft meow and could see Mr. Sparkles jump up on the kitchen counter next to me. He stared sceptically at me.
"I know, this sucks. I'm not a good chef. If Reed eats this he deserves a medal in suffering for being a martyr." The microwave pinged and I reached for the bowl. "Fuck!" I hissed when I wasn't prepared for it to be so hot and it fell out of my grasp. I closed my eyes, waiting for the crash.
But no crash came, and I opened my eyes confused. Reed stood leaning forward next to me, catching the bowl just above the floor. His reflexes must be extreme, but how I didn't even hear him come was at least as surprising. I stared wide-eyed at him, at the bowl and back at his face again. Then I chuckled nervously, rubbing my sore hands against my pants. I winced.
"Hi Reed! I was just wrapping up your lunch!"
He didn't answer. He just looked around at the mess in the kitchen, at the plates on which the less appetizing food lay before he gently pushed me against the sink.
"I had everything under control, just so you know," I stated when he with gentle hands grabbed mine, bringing them in under cold water.
He held my hands steady as I instinctively tried to pull them back, and I looked up at him, frowning. He didn't meet my eyes, just looked down at my hands. And the feeling of his hands against my skin... It made me swallow hard, staring at him.
Even though he took off his jacket and hat before he came in here, he was wet. The rain had crept over his shoulders, and it was dripping from his hair as well. He frowned, looking at me sternly.
"Don't you understand the danger of cooking?"
"What danger?!"
"It's both the heat and,"
"Stop, I said I had everything under control!"
"Because the huge cloud of black smoke that came from the kitchen indicated that you had it under control?!"
"I'm cooking Asian food! It's supposed to be hot!"
"Sure. Hasn't your mother taught you that vintage porcelain cannot be used in a microwave and how hot it gets if you do place such a bowl in one?" I looked down at the bowl with rice.
"I... It..." I couldn't say anything against it. I chose not to comment more on it. "The food is ready. But, um. I can heat up something else."
"No, I would love to eat the food you cooked for me with such control." His voice was completely dead, but I could really feel his sarcasm.
"Stop that, cranky!" I burst.
"Will you join me for the meal?" he asked, shutting off the water before reaching for a towel to rub my hands. I winced again. He turned my palms up. "But first we need to take care of your hands."
"Nothing's wrong with them! Let's eat while it's kind of warm."
Reed ignored me once again and went to the pantry to grab a jar of honey. I frowned at him as he then went to a kitchen drawer, grabbing a roll of bandage. When he came back he first took one of my hands and rubbed some honey on it with a honey spoon, then wrapping it in a thin layer of bandage.
I moaned and rolled my eyes at him when he did the same with my other hand, even if his hands against mine felt nice.
"Stop this nonsense, it's not that bad!"
"Honey heals burns well. You should wear this for today and maybe overnight."
"No, I don't need it!"
"You will wear this today!"
"I will wear this today!" I answered, then pouting with my lower lip. "You're so bossy!"
"Let's eat before everything is cold." I glared after him when he sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for me to serve the food.
"You know this food isn't edible."
"It sure is, you were in control, weren't you?" Sassy twat!
It was with slouched shoulders I with both plates went up to the table and placed the one with the least burnt food in front of Reed before sitting down opposite him with the other plate. I then remembered that we had nothing to drink and hurried to get a carafe of water and a glass each.
And Reed that fucker sat there with his perfect posture and upper-class demeanour, taking a piece of meat and some rice on his fork. He brought it to his mouth, taking a sniff at it, then taking it in his mouth; trying not to show the disgust he felt inside.
If I hadn't learned to recognize his dead-like-a-fish facial expression I would have missed how that bite of food tormented him badly. I could see his nostrils tightened, his jaws as well and it twitched in one of his eyebrows. But otherwise, he showed no sign that the food was disgusting. He just chewed it slowly, seemingly unbothered.
I just stared at him, then down at my own plate. I wrinkled my forehead before resolutely taking my own bite, leading the fork to my mouth with a mixture of disgust and fear. But if he could sit here in the belief that he's so fucking polite and courteous that he eats whatever is offered, I will at least show him that I'm not worse!
But the difference between Reed and me was how I grimaced when the burnt taste combined with the strong taste got my eyes to water and I almost gaged, fighting against the need to puke. For my dear life I chewed and chewed! Reed watched me while eating his portion calmly and quietly as I writhed in the chair, shutting down a whining. I panted as my forehead sweated up.
"Where did you find this delicious recipe?" he asked with such a calm and unbothered voice that I gave him a death stare. "What? I must say I've never tasted anything like this before."
"You're evil, Reed! EVIL!" I gasped when I finally managed to swallow a second bite. "You fucking know this is totally disgusting!"
"I've tasted better, but even worse. And I don't like that vocabulary of yours." I huffed at that, reaching for his plate. "I wasn't done."
"Well now you are!" I burst, taking both our plates to the kitchen counter, throwing everything into the trash bin, even the plates. They're dead now, that's a fact.
Even though I didn't wanna show it to Reed, I felt anxious. I had hoped to manage making something good for him. I wanted to please him, but I just...
"Ryan, it's okay." Reed's voice wasn't sarcastic anymore. "I am glad that you,"
"Sure," I huffed. I couldn't show him how my failure made me, not sad but... disappointed.
I went to the freezer and grabbed a large jar of ice cream and two spoons before going back, placing the jar in the middle of the table, handing Reed a spoon. He cocked an eyebrow at me.
"What is,"
"At least we know this is good!" I snickered, taking a huge spoon of ice cream. I stared at him smugly as I sucked on the spoon, giving him a wink when he frowned.
"This is no food."
"So? At least I'm full. I don't need more food, do you?"
"We have something else, better, in the fridge. You need to eat properly." But I ignored Reed and scooped up more ice cream, staring up at him challenging from under my fringe. It twisted in the corner of his mouth. "Ryan..."
"Try to stop me." He sighed.
"I'm grateful you cooked for me."
"Tried to cook for you," I corrected him, shivering dramatically. "Let's admit it, it was a disaster." I used the spoon to point at him. "You got yourself a useless slave."
"You are not useless in any way."
"Uuh, I like the sound of that!" I cooed, waggling with my eyebrows.
"What really happened?" And now he for the first time chuckled heartedly. And the sound surprised me. I've never heard him do that.
I found myself staring at him as he hesitantly took a spoon of ice cream. I couldn't help but smiling proudly, like if I had won.
"I talked to Mike through a video call at the same time I was cooking and thought about trying to spice it all up, the meal I mean. I wanted to try making a sauce since I saw a lot of ginger in the fridge and assumed you would like it. The idea was that everything would be a stew in the end."
"Wow."
"I know. Why do you have so much ginger by the way?"
"It is good for your body."
The smell of the burnt food remained in the room but none of us pointed it out. I was just glad I didn't burn down the place. I found myself watching Reed more closely. His skin was so smooth, and his stubble looked invitingly to caress. I got the need to reach out a hand to touch it, but it would be weird.
To distract myself from his handsome face, I took a big spoon of ice cream while looking out the window. Rain fell down the glass, but the wind seemed to subside. I glanced down at my bandaged hands. Mr. Grumpy was a caring twat.
"Who is Mike?" The question surprised me, and I met Reed's gaze. He looked serious, but casual.
"My best friend, and roomie."
"Roomie?"
"Yes he has moved into my apartment recently."
"Why?" I couldn't admit that it was for financial reasons, even if it was obvious. So, I let one shoulder rise in a tired shrug.
"We didn't need two apartments when we spend all our free time together. He's so funny, Reed! He loves nerdy stuff like me, though he's more fit than me." At that, Reed seemed to clench his jaws. I frowned. "What? He goes to the gym more than four days a week. FOUR DAYS REED! I ain't that fit. Just look at my twig arms." I wiggled with them before snickering. "I hope I will gain some muscles from all your books."
"Do you own the apartment?"
"No, we rent it together."
"In town?"
"Yes."
"Why did you choose to move to that area? It's," But I just turned my head towards the window.
"Did you hear that?" I asked, tilting my head. He frowned, glancing at the window.
"What?"
"I..." I squinted, leaning closer to the window.
It had sounded like a child's laughter. As if a young girl was laughing. But that couldn't be possible, could it? The walls are thick and it's raining badly. There are no children here. It's the ghosts! It must be! But Reed doesn't believe me and would be a pain in the ass if he knew I actually considered the risk that it was ghosts. The chance was greater how I had gone mad!
"Ryan..."
"Na, nothing," I smiled at him. I'm insane, that's it. "Do you want more?" I nodded at the ice cream, but he just shook his head.
"No but thank you for the food." I cringed.
"You're welcome! I hope you liked it because you'll get it again!" I snickered, heading over to the sink to wash of everything before putting it in the dishwasher. "Gosh, it smells like wet dog in here!"
I didn't know where I got it from. My eyebrows reached toward my hairline as I turned to Reed.
"I do NOT know why I just said that!" I laughed. "Weird."
Reed got up, suddenly in a hurry. He took both our glasses and the water carafe and placed them on the kitchen counter next to the sink.
"I need to return working."
"Oh, well; of course." Confused, I stood there and looked after him when he without any more words hurried out of the kitchen, leaving me in my mess. "Why wouldn't you..."
I began to clean up after my chaotic cooking, feeling kind of confused. I had somehow reached out to Reed anyway. We had been talking together, had some kind of conversation and then not only an argument. I had even got Mr. Cranky Pants to laugh! And it made me smile, feeling all warm inside. Yes, he's odd... But what a man!