I twisted the handle and pushed the door forward, careful not to make too much noise. I stepped inside and shut the door quickly not to let any hot air out as I latched the locks with habit. I walked in and headed to the left, walking swiftly into my room and shutting the door gently behind me. I rested my forehead on the wooden frame, breathing in the familiar aroma of the black cherry candles I had all around the room. I let his heavy jacket slide off of me slowly as I caught it with my left hand and I rubbed my thumb over it's thick material.
He placed his jacket on my shoulders with a warm smile. I looked up at him with a slight embarrassed expression, not expecting him to be this gentlemanly on a friendly dinner meet, but this was apart of William's character after all.
"We don't want you catching a cold hmm? And this just means we don't have to prolong the inevitable of seeing each other again." My cheeks began to fill with warmth as we watched Charles pull the car in front of us. William opened the door and gestured me in kindly.
I made my way to the closet that I had forgotten to close or even bothered to clean up the shoe mess I had made on my way out. I sighed and reached for a hanger that I then put his jacket on and I hung it up on my door hook. I then undressed and laid the dress on my vanity's chair, as I made my way to my wardrobe. I went through a couple drawers and ended up picking a dark grey tank top and some black sweat pants that I'd end up kicking off in the middle of the night. Once I was clothed I ran my hands through my long black hair and I sighed. Wasn't this what I was expecting? A dinner meet, not a date. But why did it feel like a date? Why is this even bothering me? I reached for my brush as I started to comb out my hip length hair. I then stood in front of the mirror and placed the brush on my nightstand. My fingers then danced along my forearm as I watched them.
William shut my door then jogged to the other side and slid in the left side.
"Hello Charles, right on time as always." He said with a big smile and a joyful tone behind his words. Charles gave a smile back and chuckled a bit.
"I'm a little early, give me some credit old man." He said with a wink, knowing he's the oldest in the car. William gave a short laugh and nodded.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you old friend." He said as he sat back in his seat with ease. He was a tall man, and I admired how he filled the back seat nicely as I was small and looked almost child like if it wasn't for the womanly meat on my bones. His hand was placed gently beside him as he watched the outside world wiz by as Charles made his way back to my home. William's hair was starting to fall, whatever product he had used was starting to give out, letting pieces sit messily around his face. He then turned to me, wanting to observe what I was doing before making awkward eye contact that he was not expecting. He rose his arm, causing his fingers to brush my arm sending a shiver down my spine. He noticed my slightly uncomfortable reaction and apologized quickly, making sure I understood it was an accident.
"Is your arm okai?" He asked giving me an almost worried look. I sat in confusion for a second as all he did was brush my skin, but I then remembered the incident at the restaurant.
"Oh, yes, it's fine. All the ice has melted but I don't feel any bad stinging anymore." I said giving him a smile. He smiled back and nodded.
I unwrapped my arm, seeing the glow of pink across my skin. I poked it then retreated immediately, giving a soft 'ow' in return. It wasn't too bad but it was going to be there awhile. I walked into my bathroom and stuck my arm under the cool water. After I was satisfied I shut off the water and made my way back into the room and my eyes watched the mirror as I could see his coat in it's reflection. It's like his presence was in my room, my space. It was a weird feeling, almost nervousness? Being uneasy? Uncomfortable was too strong of a word but maybe it wasn't? The thought of him stepping apart of himself into my safe haven where I sleep, spend my time, undress myself, take care of myself seemed a bit odd. It's like his ghost was staring right back at me in the form of his jacket. After a few seconds I laughed at myself and tried to shake off the feeling. You're being weird, it's just a jacket, it was offered in an act of kindness. I then turned off my lights and I pushed the covers of my bed over so that I could snuggle myself in. Once I made myself comfortable I laid my head to sleep.
♥ ♥ ♥
Knock knock. I started to stir in my sleep. Knock knock knock. I shuttered my eyes open, stretching a little then snuggling right back into bed, ignoring the persons attempt to get permission of entry into my room. KNOCK KNOCK. I stayed still as the door creaked open and I heard an exasperated sigh.
"It's almost noon and she's not even up...." It was my mothers voice, even tho i should greet her I didn't wanna move. Then I heard murmured voices coming from deeper in the house meaning that we had company. I sighed softly, but not loud enough that my mom could hear. I don't wanna deal with company right now, peopling is not easy this early, just go away. She shuffled into my room as I could hear her house slippers colliding with the wooden floors, then becoming almost unnoticeable as she reached my rug. It sounded as if she was making her way to my bed but then something had caught her attention. Then silence.
"Ohhh this is nice, and the fabric...this has to be from a high end shop." I peaked my eyes open a bit to see what she was doing as she was feeling the sleeve of William's jacket. I shot myself up after seeing this and almost scared the soul right out of my mom. She jumped back to the sudden movement and gave me a wide eyed look.
"That's William's." I said as I threw my legs over the side of the bed, not really sure if I was ready to make impact with the ground. She blinked a couple times and brought her attention back onto the coat.
"Well, it's certainly very nice...anywho, I came in here to get you up, aunt Cheri and Mathew are here." She said while walking a little closer to my bed. I rolled my eyes and she put her hands on her hips and gave me a look like 'come on now'. I sighed and stood up as I picked up my hair brush.
"I have a fun idea." She said as she jumped up a bit and walked over and placed her hand on the outer door handle. I looked at her ready to hear this idea as I was brushing my hair. She smiled real big and left the room quickly rejoining our company in the living room. I furrowed my brows with confusion as I brushed my hair faster and made my way out of the room. I walked out into the main room that connected the front door to the rest of the house and walked to the left into the big open living room. I squinted my eyes as it was really bright and we had a ceiling that slanted to the right and had a huge sun-globe window that didn't help. This room was covered in windows, the whole back wall had three ceiling to middle windows and the side wall had a sliding glass door. I rubbed my eyes and looked over at the chair next to me as I sat down. Cheri was talking to mom about getting their hair done at this really nice salon she went to last week, and Mathew had a friend over with him and they were playing with some makeshift swords. They would yell pirate noises and phrases while jumping on furniture and yelling that they were the captain then arguing that the other was not. Cheri looked over at me and furrowed her brows.
"Oh my heavens, did you just wake up? You look like s-"
"She be a poor ol' maid is what she be lookin' like." Yelled Mathew as he pointed his sword at me and laughing. I rolled my eyes dramatically and looked at Cheri.
"Thanks, yea I did just wake up, it seems so early."
"Well I hope you got some good rest after that date you had last night." Mom said as she picked up her mug of coffee and took a sip while eyeing Cheri, who's jaw dropped open and shot her gaze right at me.
"It wasn't a date mom."
"Date or not, Omgosh what did you wear?? You don't own anything nearly as fancy as that man." Cheri said nervously running her fingers in her overly styled hair.
"He bought her a dress and had it delivered to here." Mom says as she gave another sip of her cup as Cheri freaked out.
"Oh my stars, he did not??? we have to see it! Ohhh I bet you looked adorable. Why couldn't that be me?" She exclaimed at my mom who was nodding at her as if she understood the pain.
"Um, haha, mom you uh had an idea right? Let's hear it." I announced as the boys both stopped playing as hard so they could ease drop on a potential plan that they could beg and bother about. Moms eyebrows raised as she placed her cup on the glass table and she swallowed her sip.
"Yes, I thought we could all take a trip to the strip mall down by Freddy's? I saw it when we went a couple weeks ago for Mathew's party, I thought it would be a fun little family thing." My heart skipped a little when I heard the name 'Freddy's' as if the word gave me any bit of excitement. The boys started freaking out and running around the house as if they had just won a million dollars.
"I think that's a lovely idea, we could also take the boys to Freddy's and just have Willow watch them while we have a much needed girls shopping time." Cheri said while the boys paused in their tracks and started begging.
"Please please pleaseeeee we love Freddy's ! Come on pleaseeeee." Mathew begged as he got down on his knees and folded his little hands. I wide eyed started at my mom, trying to ask her for help when she smiled at me. I squinted at her as Mathew's friend started begging as well.
"I don't know you that well but...pleaseeeeee. I'll give you a dollar! Here you want a dollar-" the boy exclaimed as he reached for his pocket quickly. Both mom and Cheri laughed softly as I waved my hands at the boy and shook my head.
"No no no, no need for the dollar, I'll take you boys." I said as I almost immediately regretted it when they started freaking out again, jumping up and down holding each other. You would've thought they were going to meet some famous celebrity and be the next millionaire by the way they were freaking out over a pizzeria. The pizza wasn't even that good.
"Well that settles it then. You boys go get cleaned up okai?" They nodded at my mom and started picking up their toys and washing their hands. Cheri looked at my mom with amazement and shook her head.
"I can never get those kids to do a dang thing." Cheri said while picking up a wine glass and taking a sip.
"Willow, I'll give you some money for the boys and a little for yourself, though I'm sure you'll be plenty entertained." My mom winked at me and I shook my head quickly.
"Mom gross, don't say things like that." I said as I stood up to go get ready for the day, "and aunt Cheri, you owe me for this." She laughed and agreed, saying they'll pick me out something at the store and bring me home sweets from the candy shoppe. To which I smiled and made my way into my room.
♥ ♥ ♥
"Alright kids, now be safe, listen to Willow I don't wanna hear any problems about you guys when we get back, do you understand?" Cheri asked while hanging out of my moms SUV window. Her face was all caked up with makeup, as she always did when she left the house, and her hair was did up into a ponytail. I could see moms head peaking over her sisters trying to catch a glimpse of my face.
"You make sure those boys are safe!" She yelled from behind her sister who was trying to finagle her way back into the car, her breasts catching the part of the window almost every time. Mathew shooed her off embarrassed and ready to go inside the pizzeria. Once she was in they pulled off and made their way to their own destination that was going to be much more exciting than what I was about to face. The parking lot seemed a bit empty, a few cars were lined on one side, some gaps here and there and then the other side was completely empty besides one loner car. Mathew's friend, who I learned his name was Trent on the car ride over, poked me on the side and looked up at me with his bright green eyes. I nodded already knowing what he was going to ask. We walked into the pizzeria, which was warmer than outside probably due to all the sweaty kids, pizza ovens, and the big floodlights that lit up the stage and most of the pizzeria. There were several kids running around and only a few adults talking at various tables around the room. It looked like one of the party rooms were booked and held most of the guests. The smell of greasy pizza filled my senses as one of the waiters came running with an oversized pizza on a wooden baking pan. He set it down on one of the tables a few feet from us and told them to have a happy fun day, his smile then faded as he rushed back to the kitchen. I was then greeted to another one of Trent's pokes.
"Can we go play the arcade games first? I promise me and Mathew will stay together." He said clearly excited to have some fun, but was also a well behaved kid. I smiled and took out some of the money mom gave me and I gave them both half of the quarters. Trent and Mathew looked at each other with excitement as they made their way to the arcade room, running past several of the games in the main area. Why couldn't they have just stayed in here where I can see them. I sighed a little as I wasn't sure what I was going to do to entertain myself until I saw a familiar face from across the restaurant. He was near the arcade room so I decided to walk quickly over to him. Without thinking about what I was going to say I was already right behind him. I breathed and then tapped his shoulder as a rush of anxiety shot through me. Henry turned around a bit confused then looked down to me. I waved as he smiled and turned slightly back around to tell the employee who he was talking to before, that he'd get back with them in a moment.
"Why hello! There's a friendly face, back at the pizzeria again so soon?" He asked while placing his hands in his blue dress pants pockets. He had on a lighter blue button up dress shirt and a mix of all sorts of blues on his tie. He has a chunky black watch that clung to his wrist and a friendship bracelet on his other. His face seemed a bit tired, needed a shave and his bags under his eyes were getting dark. If he didn't have his happy glow of his personality you would've thought he was miserable. His messy dirty blonde hair showed he was at least getting some sleep. I smiled at him.
"Well my little cousin really loves this place, so I'm here with him and his friend from school."
"Well, what a good older cousin you are, not many kids sign up for things like that, unless it wasn't your choice then..." he laughed and hit me gently with his elbow and I laughed back and shook my head.
"Yea, no it was definitely not by choice at first." I kicked my feet a little on the ground, feeling awkward and unsure what to talk about. Henry seemed to be feeling the same way as he stared at me with slight discomfort.
"Well, we're glad your here anyways, this place is full of magical surprises yes?" While looking slightly behind me than right back at me, to which I ignored.
"It sure is...Henry, is William here?" I finally asked, feeling as if I had just addressed the elephant in the room, though it only seemed like a big deal to myself. Henry shook his head.
"No, he's not here. He hasn't came in, but Mary said he called and said he wasn't sure if he was coming in today or not, so that's up to chance." He said seeming a bit confused as to why his partner wouldn't show up. I turned my head towards the arcade as I watched Mathew and Trent rapidly push buttons on an old pac man machine.
"That's really unfortunate, I was looking forward to seeing him again." I looked back up to Henry as he gave me a certain kind of look, as if he was questioning my choices, "I- I have his jacket and I wanted to return it, though I left it in my mothers car.."
"You have his jacket? That's strange he never gives out his jackets to anyone, or not as far as I knew." He said furrowing his brows a bit as the thought about if William ever offered his coat to anyone came into his head. I rolled my eyes. He's such a gentleman, of course he's probably given it out a dozen times.
"Yea, he let me borrow it after our dinner meet up, it was getting chilly outside."
"Well I'm glad he was generous to you, but don't you think he..." Henry's sentence trailed off as he again looked behind me now peaking my interest. I went to turn around but Henry continued. "But don't you think he's a bit out of your age range? I mean he's in his thirties and you're just soon about to be able to drink in what was it..." I looked at him and tilted my head as I remembered Cheri introducing me to him, but I couldn't believe he remembered slightly.
"In three days, I'll be 21."
"Ah yes three days, but don't you think you should be careful? William is an amazing man do not get me wrong, a real lady killer. He gets more charm from the ladies than I could ever wish to have. So this isn't me telling you he's a creep or a horrible person he just-" Henry was caught off guard by something walking behind me again. I watched as his eyes followed something, his expression was jolly and he didn't seem to be afraid but my unknowingness seemed to quickly unsettle me. I turned around swiftly as a smile was starting to form on Henry's face. There he was.