o2.
xxx
"hurry, Aurdrey! We haven't got all day."
Halle continued to plague her child as he tried as best he could to scrawl the word yardsale on an old, pink poster. If her relentless shouting hadn't been enough, the neighborhood would surely be lured by the brilliant affiche, which could possibly even be spotted from space.
"I'm moving as fast as I can, mom," he murmured.
Axiomatically Audrey hadn't really fancied seeing his mother this way; all domineering and frustrated, and Halle honestly hated the affect her tyranny had on him but it was the only way things would get done.
Halle ran her fingers through her wayward hair, sighing and kneeling next to her son, who'd evaded her penitent hand by shrugging his tiny shoulders.
"I know you are, baby," she almost whispered. "I'm just a little excited is all. This'll be good for us. I mean, we could use the extra money, huh?" She half-nudged Audrey's elbow and he failed miserably in stifling his thin smile. "Here. Let me help." With long, thin fingers did Halle slide the deep black marker from Audrey's hand and begin to expertly limn two appealing daisies; one embellishing the top corner, and the other opposite at the bottom. She then dropped the utensil and held up the sheet at arm's length, studying it, her head cocked to one side and her lip missing beneath a row of sparkling white teeth. "I think it looks pretty good, dont you?" She looked up at me, expecting. I nodded meekly, my eyes watching the knot of my fingers and a tightness forming about my throat. I could hardly breathe but still managed to mumble, "yes." She eyed me momentarily, studying me, her kissable lips pressed into a line. Her glare still appeared the same as when she'd first spotted me convulsing like a coward in the corner of her cellar, but a twinge of solace glinted almost in her eyes now. She feels bad for me. The dreadfully awkward silence I'd hoped to avoid had this truly happened hung over us like the clouds and I squirmed uncomfortably. I felt defeated, victim to their scutiny. God, I wish I knew what they were thinking.
At long last, Halle dropped her hard gaze on me and glanced for a quick second at Audrey. "Alright!" she sprouted, clasping her hands together. "Lets get this sign up. Tony, could you help me carry a few more things out?" Her inquiry toward me was a lot less enthused, my faux title foreign to her lips, her voice a staggering whisper and her eyes downcast slightly. Is she afraid of me? My lips, defying me, twitched into a ghost of a smile as I nodded.
x
"How long have you been here?" Halle glanced up at me with shimmery, golden eyes. Her voice was as soft as I presumed her rich, bronze skin to be.
"Not very long," I whispered.
She handed me a box leaking with old antique jewels. "Why're you giving these away?" I asked quietly. Halle shook her head and grimaced as if the twinkling gems, notably behind the times but still too precious to lose left a bitter taste in her mouth. "They're like a thousand years old. They've been here for years and have done nothing but collect dust," she mused. I gaped her internally, was she seriously just giving these brilliant stones away? "So put them to use." The words left my lips a bit more fervently than I'd intended them to. She only looked at me. "I'm sorry." I truly was.
I hauled the awefully light box and a few others out to front yard. The yard was perfectly manicured; as I'd presumed it to be, emerald and glistening with sparkling droplets of water. The garden was now a remarkable trove of iridescent flowers, no longer the dull-yet-charming ruby-pink I'd last seen. I caught myself beholding its serenity.
"You like my flowers?" Halle'd somehow krept up on me and nudged my elbow. She was a dwarf next to me, her tiny stature reaching just a couple notches above my shoulder. I nodded, entriely too wonderstruck to speak, yet I'd still endeavored to husk, "they're beautiful." Her lips curled into the most graceful grin I'd ever seen and I could've sworn her cheeks went puce for just a moment as her light chestnut eyes found mine. They glimmered knowingly with fascination and intensity. My stomach was a whirlwind of butterflies and I could momentarily feel my knees buckle. She opened her mouth to speak but in place of her small, soughful voice came a much deeper, huskier one.
"Hal?" I cringed at the bittersweet sound of his all too masculine voice.
Sydney.
Halle turned and beamed her most precious smile, embracing his thick, muscular person into her arms. I watched warily as he nuzzled his nose into her hair and sniffed, momentarily glancing at me. He pulled away and asked Halle of my identity, staring at me, scrutinizing me.
"This is Tony."
Sydney held out his hand to me and I hesitantly grasped it, internally cursing my emasculate arm. His grip exerted a lot more power and strength against my gentler, effeminate one. "Sydney," he murmured affably, a little smirk peeking underneath his manly mustache. I nodded smoothly.
"You a friend of Audrey's or—" His glare employs a bit more intensity and he gently tosses his head to one side, his eyebrows particially risen. Scrutinizing me.
"I... um... er..." My throat felt gravely numb as my lips eagerly endeavored to articulate a passable reason as to why I'd be here. I gave Halle a quick glance with anxious eyes hoping she'd suspect my unease and accumulate some terse excuse. She caught my gaze and quickly gave me a reassuring look, her eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Tony's here to help out a little." She smiled her most believable smile at the two of us and it was almost terribly suspenseful gauging Sydney's impassive face for a response or contortion. He merely nodded but still attacked me with his dark eyes. I acquired a morsel of what little virility I had and stared back, but with a lot less potency. He's a hell of a lot more intimidating in person than he'd ever been from the depths of the basement, where he and I'd both remained untouchable. My subconcious trembles.
Sydney bent his arm and briefly regarded the time. His eyes widened slightly, his lips mometarily pursed as he took one last formidable look at me. "Baby, I have to go." He frowned as if his departure would be the most adverese misfortune we'd ever see. Halle mocked his frown and crooned, "but, you just got here. Have you even spoken to Audrey or my mother yet?" Sydney sighed, exasperated. He swore that he'd greeted the two of them when he'd first arrived but even I could see the dishonesty on his lips; Halle hadn't seemed to be fooled either. She stood akimbo now, acquiescing halfheartedly to his cajoling. "I'll be back later on, I promise." Sydney gave Halle a leery grin before sweetly kissing her lips. I reached my eyes to the cloudless, azure sky envoiusly, my hands unmindlfully crawling into my pants' pockets.
x
"Would you like some tea?" Halle asked me that night. The day was a fairly productive one, in spite of all the edgy stares and even edgier inquiries. According to the neighborhood, now Halle's a saint for taking in a "homeless man". She watched me from the missing aparture to the kitchen, an oversized, ivory button-up nightshirt hanging from the small of her shoulders. "Please."
I ran my fingertips along the soft, creamy leather of the loveseat and momentarily admired the smooth, glossy woodwork sliding my naked feet against it. I gaped a few paintings that flushed classically with the pure blanched walling. Halle returned and set next to me, one leg tucked beneath the other. She idly entertained her fingers, only periodically glancing up at me. Talk to me, I don't bite.
"The tea'll be ready in a little bit," she whispered.
Not particularly what I'd meant but, its a start.
I looked at her once more before tearing the silence to pieces. "I'm sure you have a ton of questions." She laughed softly, staring at me with meek humor lingering her irises. "A ton would be an understatement." The amusement still hadn't left her eyes despite her voice, its softness evident but a morsel of solemnity still lingered there. I found a chuckle in my feeble being, its capacity nearly choking me as it left my throat.
"You can ask me anything," I assured her lightly.
She took her bottom lip into her mouth and rummaged her thoughts for second.
"Why this house?" She peered at me through her thick lashes.
"I don't know. It reminded me of some place—home," I answered gently, candidly.
There truly had been something wistfully nostalgic to Halle's home. Had it been the all too recognizable, ataraxic track of metal or the tranquil modern decor, I don't know. But, what ever it was it was achingly alluring and was doing funny things to my equanimity.
My shoulders were bent and heavy as it increasingly became harder to breathe. Was it hot in here? I tried as best I could to stifle the tears that'd been toying with my ducts and retract my equilibrium. I glanced calmly at Halle, who'd been staring at me the entire time.
"Home," she iterated, her eyes twinkling for just a moment before metamorphising into something of which I couldn't read. She looked back up at me, her eyes still hooded, and grinned a small, lopsided grin. "What happened? If you don't mind."
"I...er... I moved away."
"What for?"
"I wasn't needed there any longer."
"Is that what you were told or how you felt?"
"I was told."
Halle's breath hitched and her eyes went glossy again, her eyebrows softly knitted.
"By who?" The curiosity left the tip of her tongue, forced almost.
"My people."
Her lips were pressed tightly and a bit too much consolation bore her childlike eyes.
"So, you just left?"
"I hadn't had much of a choice not to."
This made her think.
"I still don't get it," she murmured, doing things with her fingers in her hair that'd I'd yearned to. "Were you that much of a burden to your people?"
"I wouldn't put it like that."
"Then how would you put it? Enlighten me."
"I would have been a burden but not in the way that you think."
"I'm listening."
"My parents were most-known around my homeplace. My people practically worshipped them." I dragged a lungful of air between my lips and dreaded the aweful truth in the words forthcoming. "We'd been at war with a neighboring colony at the time over territory, I think. I don't remember much, nor do I know of what actually occured but, my parents had been killed at the enemy's hand and naturally their deaths left our colony in anarchy."
"So by sending you away, they were protecting you?"
"Yes."
I glared at her, hoping she'd been able to swallow so much information. I still couldn't quite distinguish her emotion, as her eyes were foggy again, her lips forming a grim line. She was flushed. Who was I to think she could handle so much. Halle's hands were in her lap, one atop the other as she sheepishly tilted her crisp, honey irises to dance with mine, her head leaning to one side. She's doing it again. Studying me, scrutinizing me.
"Tony," she whispered, her eyes still at mine.
I almost hadn't answered.
"Hm?"
"You're not from here, are you?"
I blinked at her, taken aback by her inquiry. Had she been listening?
"I've told you, I—"
"I know what you said, Tony. You're not from here—this planet I mean."
Every one of my nerves were standing at attention now, an unsettling brisk chill slithering down my spine. How could she possibly, so suddenly assume this? I'd tried as best I could to remain tight-lipped and not disclose entirely too much.
I could only gape her with wide eyes, my equilibrium was no longer existent. My fingertips had begun to drip with the foreign substance again and I uncomfortably squirmed against the soft leather cloud beneath me. Her eyes burned with intensity as opposed to mine, which wandered clumsily with disconcertion. My mouth was unbearably dry and I was abruptly reminded of the tea. The thought ironically summoned for the seething kettle to sing, much to my relief.
I'd been parched, to my surprise and downed the scalding drink long before Halle had. As time lapsed and the soft azure sky birthed a deeper black with resonating stars, we talked as though we were long lost relatives meeting for the first time. Our colloguy held a person of its own almost, with its own emotions and conversions. When we'd indulged in the subject of Halle's no good partner, Sydney, she'd begin to waver and I'd momentarily lost her until I changed the subject. He was supposed to be here, he promised.
Alas, fatigue pricked my eyes, but I faught back praying that Halle wouldn't notice. Then, I yawned.
"You're sleepy," she murmured softly, her disappointment hardly imperceptible.
She stood and held her hand to me. She wants me to hold her hand? I gently grasped it, ouch! I stood abreast her and glanced down into her eyes. She'd felt it too. Her and I both flushed and averted our eyes shyly like two children who'd been meeting someone they hardly knew for the first time. She lead my to the door and hesitantly knotted her fingers about the glass knob. She turned to me and gripped my shoulders, looking fondly into my eyes.
"Stay please. I can't let you leave. Not in this condition."
"Do you honestly think thats a good idea?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
I gave a look and she shuddered, rolling her eyes.
"Sydney."
I nodded.
"He'll understand. It's not like I'm asking you to sleep with me."
I hiccuped, feeling a flourish of blood rush to my face and the butterflies in my stomach were a raging whirlpool. I swallowed and vaguely thought of what it'd be like sleeping with her. Feeling her, soft and supple underneath my small-but-fulfilling embrace.
"What about tomorrow? What happens then?"
"You stay again."
"You want me to live here?"
xxx
honestly my favorite chapter so far!
more coming soon c:
sydney's to the side ➳