Monsters & Fairytales (15 page)

Boxes started falling out of thin air. Of course they were. How was he sure that I wasn’t in the way? I walked into the living room to try to see if I could find him or grab him when he dropped a box. Then one popped next to me and that’s when I knew it’d be okay for me to step out of the house.

I ran out the door and down the stairs. Yanking the main door open, I did one of those cartoon skidding-to-a-halt things. There was someone walking up. Joe? How the hell is he here right at this moment? Did he remember me? This was it.

“Mira?”

He held his hand up over his eyes to act like I was far away or something.

“Hey, Joe.”

I was honestly relieved.
I didn’t care how much sense it didn’t make
, I was just glad I didn’t have to meet him all over again. Well, I suppose given the circumstances, meeting him again wouldn’t have been the worst thing ever. But that was said and done, now. We were in a new day. He remembered me. I had fallen in the fountain, everyone had seen it, and I had been able to forget it had happened for a few hours. It was a win-win situation.

“Day two of unpacking, huh?”
He asked as he walked up closer to me.

“Yep.
Can’t wait for it to be finished with.”

“I bet. Take it the movers never showed up?”

The way he said it, there was an air of annoyance about it.
Was he doubting
me? I wouldn’t lie. I wasn’t a liar.

“No, as a matter of fact they didn’t. So I’m doing this by myself, thank you.”

If he was going to treat me like that, then I was going to put him in his place. His entire posture dropped. I had won again. Man, what did this guy see in me?

“Do you need any help this time?”

“That is very nice of you, but as you can see, I am dry and fully capable of walking this time.”

I gestured to myself from head to toe. When I looked back up, I moved a piece of hair out of my face. He was smiling at me. It made my cheeks hot.

“Yes, I can see.” He laughed. “I really like you all neat and dry. Not that you soaking wet was so terrible, though.”

He quickly fixed his words. Why would he try to not offend me? I was a total wreck yesterday. Oh, Joe, there’s no need to get on my good side any more than you already are.

“Yes, I’m sure the difference is subtle.” I winked at him. “Thank you, though.”

“You’re a tricky one.” He laughed, mockingly.

Grinning at him, I went back to what I was doing. The handle on my car didn’t budge. I walked around to the other side and it didn’t move, either. Wow, I actually locked my car for once. That meant my keys were upstairs and I was looking like a fool in front of Joe again. Maybe he wasn’t watching me and he had gone inside? I looked up to check. Of course not, it’s Joe after all. He was there to see my every embarrassing moment.

“Left my keys upstairs.”
I sighed.

“Happens to me all the time.
Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He smiled.

“I wasn’t.” I glared at him.

Was he always this self-righteous? I walked past him and went for the door. It didn’t move.
Of course; no keys.
There had to be a buzzer somewhere.

“Excuse me.” I asked Joe, who was just standing there, watching me.

“By all means.”

He held his hands up and stepped back. There was a list of apartments on the wall next to the door. I found 3B with little effort. Impressed with myself, I went to press it, but Mr. Self-Righteous over there dangled his keys in my face.

“You know, these things really do come in handy.”

Joe smiled a devious smile. He was just so happy to be the one taking care of me again.

“You know, you just saw me locked out of my car. Why on earth would I have the keys to this door?”

“I was meaning that all you had to do was ask me.” He said dryly.

“Well, I figured it was obvious.” I mocked him.

“You’re fun.” He laughed.

“Life of the party.”
I smiled.

Why was he so irritating now? What was going on? Was I letting Sebastian misconstrue my initial thoughts of him? I was completely infatuated with this guy the other day. We were going on a date tomorrow. I had to loosen up. I needed to forget Sebastian. He was leaving. Joe was real.

“Thank you.” I said when he opened the door for me.

“My pleasure.”
He smiled.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you around.” I waved to him.

“Bye, Mira.” He winked.

“Bye, Joe.”

I ran up the stairs and threw myself into my apartment. Boxes were still apparating into my living room. I’d hear a pop and then one would fall onto the hardwood floor. It was weird they weren’t piling up or getting broken.
             

I wondered if he needed any help packing on the other side or if he was just sending the ones already packed. If he were sending the already packed ones, he should be done by now. I didn’t like him doing all the work anyway.

“
Sebas
-” I yelled when another box popped through.

Suddenly, a weird noise slowly got louder. Then a burst of air hit my face. I heard squealing and whimpering as if a pig were just let loose in the middle of a fair. Spike collapsed to the floor.

“Fun ride?”
I asked him.

He looked like he was going to vomit. I really hoped he wouldn’t. I mean my entire apartment was either hardwood or tile, but I still, I didn’t want to clean up dog vomit.

Spike dizzily got up and walked over to the kitchen to lie down. I wasn’t sure what the difference was, maybe he knew the boxes were still coming. He had a point. I sat on the bar and watched my living room steadily get fuller. They’d have to stop sometime. And finally, they did. A gust of wind and I was looking at the human version of Sebastian.

“What is all this?” I asked him.

“Your boxes.
I can move whatever I can hold. I told you this.” He smiled.

“Of course.
Hey, do you remember anything yet?” I asked him.

I was impatiently ungrateful sometimes.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I just want to know if you can tell me how I lived yesterday twice without affecting anyone. I mean, I spent the whole day inside, but if I had gone out, and I already met these people, that just
doesn’t
make sense.”

“I have no idea.” He frowned.

“Yeah.”
I rolled my eyes.

Of course you don’t know anything. At least all my boxes were moved. I could finally get the ones out of my car. Grabbing my keys, we walked out together. I made sure to triple check that I had my keys before letting the door close behind us. I was not going to need Joe’s help this time. I’m a big girl, I could do it all on my own, for once.

We walked outside and I shielded my eyes in the sunlight. How long was I waiting upstairs? Oh well, at least Joe wasn’t around this time. I felt relieved it was just me and Sebastian.

“How does it open?” Sebastian asked, fiddling with the handles.

“Oh, I have to unlock it first.”

I hadn’t realized I was staring at the spot where Joe had been standing earlier. My mind wasn’t all there, still. At least it was working in other aspects, I supposed. I liked Sebastian, but running into Joe again helped assure me what was real and what wasn’t. I liked Joe more again, and I needed to.

I found the trunk key and unlocked it. I held Sebastian back as it flew open. Six years with this car and I was used to the way the trunk opened. It could knock someone out if they weren’t paying attention. I never knew why Rida hadn't gotten it fixed. In a way though, I guess there wasn’t technically anything wrong with it.

“Thanks.” He sighed.

He picked up a few heavy boxes and then started for the door. I grabbed the lightest one; if I had a strong beast to help me unload boxes and coincidentally turned my movers away, well, I was going to use him to my full advantage.

I opened the door for myself for the first time and let in Sebastian. He used his foot to keep it open so I could walk in safely before him. When I was halfway up the stairs and couldn’t hear his feet behind me, I turned around to check on him. Sebastian wasn’t there anymore. A pop and a bark from upstairs caught my attention again.

“Jesus!” I shrieked when I went to move, but Sebastian was standing right in front of me.

He reached out with his empty hands and steadied me. My eyes shot right through him. How could he? But I suppose I should have known that as soon as he was out of sight from anyone else, he would have cheated.
             

“May I?” He asked holding his hands out for my box.

“How do you expect to get any exercise if you just keep apparating everywhere?”

I clutched the box tightly to me and walked past him up the stairs. I was embarrassed and wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

“What is apparating?” He asked.

“You know, magically transport from one place to another?”

I stopped to look back at him. What the heck did he call it then?

“I have never heard of that term.”

“
Harry Potter has.” I mumbled.

I carried on up to the apartment while he went to get the rest of the boxes. Spike was freaking out when I opened the door. I guess I’d be pretty scared, too, if boxes suddenly appeared from nowhere. I set down what was in my hands and sat down against the side of the kitchen bar that was facing the living room. With my head back and eyes closed, I stretched my legs out. I didn’t know why I was so exhausted. Spike didn’t seem to mind my decision to take it easy. He was curled up in my lap within seconds.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry Sebastian is scaring you. Don’t worry, it’s almost over.” I said petting his head.

There was a knock at the door.
Seriously?
Was he trying to prove a point now? 

“Uh, it’s open!” I yelled out.

I didn’t want to get up yet. I was enjoying the puppy love. Spike stood up when the door opened though.
So much for cuddle time.

“Hey, I don’t think I was ever formally introduced to this guy.” Someone else’s voice other than Sebastian’s said.

I leaned over to look around the corner. Joe was kneeling down petting Spike.

“Joe?” I asked.

“Hey Mira.
I just, well, you really have a lot of boxes. And I don’t feel right sitting in my apartment while you carry them up by yourself. Or, well, I guess sit here and rest with your dog.”

“Hey, I’m allowed to have a break. Moving is tough.” I grinned.

“Of course.”
He laughed.

He was nervous. Something was wrong. What was it?

“But honestly, there aren't that many left. I can handle it.”

He had walked in my apartment now and was leaning on my counter looking down at me.

“You’re so awesome.” He said sarcastically.

“Thank you very much.”

I nodded my head agreeing with him.

“Nice place you have, here. Your layout is much different than mine.” He said.

“Thanks. It’ll look a lot better with furniture, I promise.” I smiled.

“Yea?
I love the dip in your living room, you almost don’t need couches. How many bedrooms is it?”

“Two. I picked this one because of the living room, actually.
Made me feel like I was in a fire pit, and for some reason that made me feel homey.”
I smiled.

It was the truth, but I could tell it freaked him out a bit. What was with him being so nosey, anyhow?

“Yeah.
Well okay, I’ll see you around.” He turned and headed for the door.

“Thursday.”
I said.

“Huh?”

Joe stopped and looked back at me.

“Or, you could say tomorrow if it makes you feel better?”

I could feel my face turning red. My heart was racing. Had I calculated that wrong? Today was Wednesday, he had told me Tuesday, but I had changed it to today, and then he had said the day after, right? That’d be Thursday. Yes, I was right. But maybe that’s not what he said...

“Mira, I think this is the last of them.” Sebastian said, walking into the apartment. He played the role of human so coolly, I wanted to laugh.

“Thanks.” I nodded to him.

“Yeah, Thursday.
I’ll, I’ll see you then.”

Joe waved and walked out. He had gotten the wrong impression. I could just tell. That was the issue; he had thought Sebastian was my boyfriend. I had just told him that I had two rooms, though. Why would he jump to the worst assumption? I guess he sort of had to. If he didn’t think the worst scenario true, then he honestly didn’t like me.
Typical men.

“Joe?”

I chased after him. He was standing just outside my door. He hadn’t gotten very far. Was he counting on me to feel sorry for him? This guy was good.