“Flirting is a woman’s trade, one must keep in practice.” - Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
I marched over the corner awkwardly, slowly regaining my composure as I went so I had on a light smile. I glanced at the guy; he was around my age, light brown hair, jeans, and a polo. He was so normal looking, all I could think of was how Elliot was anything but normal. My thoughts continued to drift until I was standing in front of his table. As the guy looked up, my thoughts cleared again. I was really spacey that day.
“Oh, um,” I stuttered, trying to recall Bria's advice, “Hey!”
“Hi?” he said, almost like a question. I really hated this.
“Oh my gosh, I thought you were someone else.” I said, trying to look surprised. The guy just kept that same confused and annoyed look on his face, seeing right through me. I have always been a horrible actor, liar, magician. Maybe that's why I'm a terrible flirt, too.
“Really?” he said, unconvinced and uninterested in me as he turned his attention to the laptop on the table, the sarcasm breaking down my confidence like a bulldozer.
“Yeah, but he was cuter.” I snapped. That sure got his attention, so I smiled in that bitter way as he inspected me, finally giving the time of day. The words were out of my mouth as quick as water over Niagara Falls, no stopping them. Even though he seemed appalled and I'd probably bruised his ego, I didn't really care. He was a jerk.
“Who are you?” he asked, still a salty air of annoyance. My flirt switch was turned off, and now I was just being snippy.
I laughed ruefully, muttering “Now you're interested. How appropriate.”
He seemed dumbfounded and at a loss for words, starting to move his mouth but nothing came out. I seized the moment, ending any conversation we had, saying “Bye.” and walking away back to the table.
Bria's bat ears had heard everything and she was scowling at me. I didn't sit down, pouting and putting on puppy dog eyes. “He was mean. I wanna go home.” She stared back, expression cold as absolute zero. Sophie was slightly more sympathetic, only a small frown.
“No!” she protested, about as angry as a fire-breathing dragon. “You're going to flirt with someone and you are going to like it.”
“B, you're getting a bit ridiculous...” I started.
We started to bicker back and forth; it's not like we enjoyed fighting with each other. I couldn't stop myself, harsh and crude things spilling out of my mouth again. We weren't even giving the other the courtesy of being heard, both arguing at the same time so quickly that I could only catch a few words. We had plenty to say, though.
“Stop, stop stop!” Sophie said, pushing us away from each other with both arms. She wasn't yelling, but somehow everything she had said rang clear. She looked desperately between us, shocked at our brutality. “Just stop.” she huffed. “Addy, try one more time, for Bria?” she looked to me, then quickly to Bria. “Bria, you have to understand how uncomfortable this is for Addy, let her learn at her own pace.”
Simultaneously we nodded, shooting apologetic looks over Sophie's shoulder. When she stepped out from between us we grasped each other, apologizing. Sophie watched by, pleasantly surprised. I think I might have been wrong, maybe Sophie was the mother and we were the bickering children. I could tell from her face she hated seeing us fight, we usually didn't this often. I blamed it on the stress of my writer's block and Bria's new job. But I didn't really know.
Sophie took control of the situation, grabbing me by the elbow and saying “Come on, I'll come with you this time.”
“Wait,” I stopped her, “who are we talking to?”
Bria answered, hands still rubbing the exhaustion off her face and smearing her makeup in the process, “The guy that works here.”
I started to fight them again, pulling away from Sophie and ignoring the hurt in her eyes. Anybody but Harry Potter Boy, I would actually have to face him again some other day. I'd see him so often and it would be just too awkward, I refused, shaking my head profusely. “No, not Ha-him.” I corrected myself.
Sophie was giving me looks like she had before when she caught me spacing off, they made me uncomfortable. “Why not?” Bria asked, oblivious.
“He works here!” I whisper-yelled after learning in closer to them. He wasn't standing too far away, either. The last thing I wanted was to embarrass myself further with him knowing.
“So, Henry's nice. He won't mind.” Sophie said, taking a stronger hold of me so it almost hurt and pulling me over to the cash register.
Henry.
I almost laughed. It sounded kind of like Harry.
“Hey, Henry!” Sophie called out to the boy who had been sorting out the money in the cash register. His mop-top hair almost did a flip when he turned to look at us, those black glasses that had earned him his nickname were lopsided so he straightened them, smiling as we approached. Whatever terrified expression I wore, he ignored it.
“'Sup, Soph?” he asked, leaning against the back counter by all the machines.
“Nothing much. Just thought I'd introduce you to one my friends! This is Addy.” Sophie's smile was intoxicating and I was grateful for her mere presence.
Harry Potter Boy, I mean Henry, reached out his hand to shake mine, his fingers were long to match his tall and gangly body. I smiled politely, as did he. “I'm Henry.”
“Addy.” My meek voice answered his. He had the kind of voice that just made you think of him as lighthearted, joyful.
“Yeah, I see you around all the time.” he continued. I nodded, trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing. Smiling, yeah, I was supposed to be smiling.
I didn't really know what to say, but Sophie saved me “Addy is a writer.”
Henry's eyes bugged out in shock, hopefully the good kind. “Wow, that's awesome! Wait, what's your name? Maybe I'll recognize it.”
“Adelaide Maddox.” I confirmed, biting my lip with nervousness. Sophie still stood by me, almost behind so she felt more like a guardian angel than a matchmaker. With her by me, everything just felt easier, and I was more relaxed, though my heart still pounded as I waited for Henry to either recognize me as a writer, or have no idea who I was. I'm not even sure which I preferred. My author identity is a huge part of me, but it seems I always run away from the attention.
I think I was holding my breath, not for more than a few seconds before Henry's face lit up with recognition, but a slight edge of confusion. “Wait, not that Adelaide?”
I only nodded shyly, Sophie called out with pride, “Yep, she's kinda famous.” I couldn't help the blush, the word 'famous' would never feel like it would fit me. I'm just Addy, that quiet girl in the corner that types a lot.
Henry still looked astonished, not starstruck, merely surprised. The kind of surprise that comes with finding twenty dollars on the ground. It's still great, but it's not the lottery or anything. I could deal with twenty dollars, that was still flattering. “And all this time I never even knew.” he confided with me.
“Well, we've never talked before now. I'm glad we changed that.” And there it was, the flirting. I all but hated myself for it the second those words left my mouth. Unlike many people, I don't just have a crush on somebody for a week or even a month. Once I set my eyes on something, it's all I can see. Talking to Henry like that just felt odd, and I was estranged. The only way I could justify myself, was to keep thinking it was all just practice. It's just practice.
“Me too.” Henry admitted, and I knew he meant it. A sinking feeling took over me and I recognized it as guilt. The kind of feeling that I'll never get used to, just feeling low. I forced a half-hearted smile. Oh, gosh I am a truly horrible person. Just the way he seemed so sincere, so real, just made my act feel that much more sickening. I needed to to get out of there, my lungs were tightening and my fingers wouldn't stop fidgeting.
“Yeah, um so we should you know, talk again...sometime. But, right now, I really should be going.” I mumbled, catching one last pitiful glance at Henry before stalking to the door, the little bells ringing above me. Why did he have to look like a child who just got his kite crushed? I should've said something else, but I couldn't. Right as I went through the doors I turned and waved, just seeing Henry start to do the same before I rushed down the sidewalk.
I had just gotten past a few shops on the street when I heard the bells hanging above the doors dingaling again, the shouts of Bria barely reaching me through our distance. She was scrambling from running after me, hitching her purse onto her shoulder as she called out. “Addy! Wait! Addy!”
I didn't hesitate at the entrance to the building, pulling the door open and taking the steps up quickly. I walked frustratingly, exaggerating every move I made, fumbling with my keys before shoving them in and almost ripping the doors off the hinges. Bria's stumbling sounds came from the stairs, I could hear her feet stomping as she tried to catch me. My fingers gripped the door with force enough to crunch it, yet I resisted the urge to slam it shut behind me, instead leaving it completely ajar. When I fell onto the couch, I tugged at my hair, groaned, and clamped my eyes closed. The pain of my fingers gripping my head lulled me so I could concentrate on something other than my flare of anger. I could actually try to figure out why I was so angry.
The clomp-clomp of Bria's heels came from the hall, I almost felt pain for the wood floors she was permanently damaging. I was expecting her to stomp in, deliver some vigilante justice, and curse at me for leaving. But when those spikey feet came into view of my apartment, she stopped altogether. She faltered, walking in slowly before stopping and ripping the shoes off before tossing them aside. She observed me for a moment before whispering once again, “Addy?”
I peered through the spaces in between my hands and saw her standing just to my side, peering down with a wary look to her. I breathed in a long breath before I said “Yeah?”
“Wha-what's wrong?”
I sighed again. Sometimes finding a way to collect all the thoughts that clog your mind and trying to fit them into one sentence, just seems impossible. Maybe I couldn't say everything I was thinking-heck, I'm not even sure what it was I was thinking- but I tried to. “Just,” I paused, swallowing before continuing, “Just don't make me do that again.”
“I'm sorry.” I heard the tremble in her voice. No matter how much we drive each other crazy sometimes, neither of us can doubt just how much we mean to the other. And I heard it in her voice, the same way Bria knew she'd done something wrong. There was no edge to her tone or usual up-beat attitude that makes Bria who she is. Something about seeing her that way made me snap out of it.
“I know you are. And I'm sorry too, for the way I acted.”
She chuckled sadly, almost like when people choke with laugher when they cry, “Don't be. Feisty Addy is entertaining.” It was my turn to laugh.
She sat down beside me, then. We looked straight into each other's eyes, even though her's are brown they seemed so bright and alive.
“Addy, I know that you were uncomfortable-” she started.
“I was more than uncomfortable, I was mortified.” I looked away, whispering something before I even knew the words had come tumbling out of my mouth. “I'm not a user, I don't use people like that. Not like they did.”
Bria heard me, we were too close for her not too. She didn't comment on it, unsure of what to say to that. “But Addy, it worked!”
My ears pricked up. “What do you mean?”
“You flirted with someone, maybe it was just for ten seconds, but you still did it! And someday, you'll use your new powers on Elliot. I'm not going to make you practice anymore, but I do want to take you out tonight.”
I groaned again. “I think I've had enough mission work-”
“It's not mission work!” she interrupted fiercely. “It's this little thing called fun, maybe you should try it sometime.” She teased, laying a hand on me and pushing me playfully.
I laughed and agreed. “Let's keep everything legal, shall we?”
“You ruin all my plans.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Not what you were expecting? Exactly what you thought would happen? Tell me! I love to know what you think!
Remember to vote! This story is entered in the Watty Awards and every single vote matters even more!
Henry ------>
Ginger Jesus Song --->
Thanks for being patient with uploads. This week has been crazy. I've had sports camps, and injuries from said sports camps, but I'm on the mend so don't worry about me! I can still type :)
Thanks for reading!
<3 thatcrazybookworm