Even Angels Aren't Perfect Part 3

Chapter 2(continued)

When the man came out of the store, he looked satisfied and content with himself. He must have been done with his errands. Without a look in my direction, he continued on his way. Judging by the route he was going, I could guess where his house was. I had nothing better to do than to irritate him as long as possible. I quickly scurried to catch up with him.

“Let me guess,” he said suddenly, “You have some business the same place I do. Sure in an awful lot of effort for an errand. What exactly is it you need to do?”

His demeanor and clothing suggested middle class, so he couldn’t live in the slummy apartments nearby. The roads only led to a few places easily, so that meant he’d have to live in the close by buildings, the extension of that part of housing in the city. What was over there? A few chains, a mom and pop souvenir shop… none of those would work. Oh! There was a car shop that sold specialty parts. It was the only one relatively close where a person could buy parts. Michaelo’s was the name, if I remember correctly.

“I have to drop by Michaelo’s and pick up a part if you must know,” I answered.

He faltered for a half second, surprised at my knowledge and ready answer to his question. I was sure he expected me to stammer at the very least. But he recovered quickly, hiding his shock.

“A part? Are you going to tell me you’re a mechanic now?”

“Oh, yes, it’s always been my dream to wheel around in small spaces while covered in car fluids. It would be such a joy.”

His lips twitched slightly, fighting the urge to smile.

“No,” I continued, “It’s for my friend Abby. She works on motorcycles and has a special one in her garage.”

This wasn’t entirely untrue. Abby did work on them and needed parts, but I wasn’t going to buy them for her. And it wasn’t in her garage, but the coffee shop back parking lot. The best lies have some truth in them.

As we were talking, Michaelo’s came into view. I walked up to it, looking to see where the man was. He hadn’t moved, and when given a questioning look, he simply said, “Go on then. This should be interesting.”

He thought I couldn’t back up my story. What he didn’t know was that Abby told me about parts so many times I had the rarest ones committed to memory.

I went in and asked the clerk for the rarest part I knew of, knowing he wouldn’t have it in stock. And sure enough, he told me I was out of luck, just in the earshot of the man behind me.

The look on his face was priceless when I came out. He was expecting me to have no more tricks up my sleeve, and he had been very, very wrong.

“Told you I wasn’t following you,” I said snarkily

He scoffed in disbelief.

“You really are stubborn.”

It looked like it was time for me to head back, as I had no reason to keep going besides curiosity. But the man was so interesting; I had to ask a few more questions.

“Did you just move in? I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Yeah, I came from the next city over. That doesn’t mean I’m a newbie to the city though. It’s the same over there.”

That made sense, and explained his actions from earlier and his ability to deal with others.

“You know, you never told me your name,” I said casually.

“What is this, 20 questions? Why all of a sudden so curious?”

He was guarded again, his rougher side present in the face of possible danger.

“I just wondered. I gave you my name,” I replied defensively.

“Well that would be your problem, not mine.”

God, he was infuriating. I would just have to be even more frustrating.

“Fine, I’ll just give you one. Zachary, Casey, Fred. Oh, I know! I’ll call you Eugene!”

He gave me a glare, paired with a discontented face.

“Or, you know, you could just tell me,” I said with an innocent smile.

“You’re so bizarre! All right, fine. My name’s Aaron, okay? Are you happy now?”

“Yes. That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

I gave him a cheerful smile, one he didn’t return due to his face being overcome with exasperation.

“Now that you didn’t get what you came for, isn’t it time to go anywhere else but here?” he asked.

I looked at my watch, my eyes widening when I noticed the time. That couldn’t be the correct time, right? It said 9:50 p.m. Oh, god, I was so dead! Even if I’d been back at The Friendly Bean, I still wouldn’t make it in time. The doors closed at 10 and nobody was let in, under almost any circumstances. I was doomed. Klaus wouldn’t let me in no matter how much I begged. What was I going to do?

I could spend the night over at Abby’s house, but how was I going to get there? She didn’t have a car that really worked without the fear of it breaking down, and there was no way I was getting home in a cab. It was impossible to catch one this time of day. So I was left with walking home, a prospect that scared even the roughest and toughest of bikers in the city. All the crazies and psychos came out to prowl the streets. I didn’t even have any sort of protection. Crap.

“Hey! Earth to kid! You still alive?” Aaron’s voice jolted me out of my panicked state.

We had been walking without me noticing it, and now we were in front of the houses I thought about earlier. He must live here.

Wait a minute… I was already at a house! If I could get Aaron to let me sleep here, everything would be all right. It didn’t seem likely or that much fun, but it was a hell of a lot better than trying to make it out in the streets until I got to Abby’s. There was a stabbing just last week because a guy had been walking home alone. But how was I going to convince him to let me stay?

“Uh, yeah…” I responded, “I was just thinking about how late it is… and how dark it is…”

He looked at me strangely, trying to see where I was going with this.

“Aaron… do you think that maybe… because it’s so late and we're already here that maybe…” I trailed off, hoping I wouldn’t have to ask outright.

“What? What do you want?” he asked, pausing a moment in thought.

But then his confusion cleared, and his face took on a fixed adamant expression.

“No way. The last thing I want to do is spend even more time with you than I already have today. I don’t let strangers sleep in my house.”

“We’re not strangers,” I protested, “I’m Lucy and you’re Aaron. We just spent a whole day together. By coincidence of course.”

“No. I don’t even understand why you would want to. Just no.”

“Are you going to make me walk back in the dark? By myself?”

 “Yes.”

I shuffled my feet together and looked as scared as possible, something not hard to do in this situation.

“But there are psychopaths out here!”

“What makes you so sure I’m not a psychopath?”

“I just am. I’m a good judge of character.”

“That’s an awful lot to bet just on your ability to judge people.”

“Whatever. Besides, if you were going to hurt me, you would have done it by now.”

He turned away, going up the small steps to the cozy little house made of bricks, searching through his key ring for the correct key in the darkness. I had to keep trying.

“But what if I get mugged, or assaulted, or even kidnapped?”

If I couldn’t make him understand, I’d have to make him feel bad.

“Well, that would suck. Have fun with that,” he said, indifference coloring his voice.

“But it’d be your fault. Are you okay living with that?”

“I’ll take my chances. I can always just drown my ‘sorrows.’ Bye.”

He found the key and turned it in the lock, stepping in the door. Any second now he’d close it on my face and I’d be faced with dangers I couldn’t handle. I needed this. With one last attempt, I had to show him how scared I really was, to put my actual emotions into my voice. He seemed like the kind of guy who couldn’t stand tears.

“Wait!” I interrupted hastily to stand in the view of the door, “I-I… Please… Look, I’m scared of the dark, and I live really far away from here, and it’s impossible to catch a taxi this late at night, and I have no other way of getting home but walking there. Please don’t make me walk all the way back to my house. Please.”

He stopped closing the door, only to stare at me with an incredulous look.

“So you’re telling me that you followed me clear across town, despite any of my protests, and yet you still want my sympathy? Did you think you could just transport home? What went on in that little brain of yours?”

I didn’t say anything, looking down at the ground. He was going to leave me here. After all, why shouldn’t he? I was not his friend, just a random annoyance. Suddenly, his voice broke through my clouded mind.

“God, I know I’m going to regret this,” he said reluctantly, then paused before saying,  “All right, you can sleep on the couch, but only until the sun comes up. Got that?”

Was he serious? I looked up at him, his reluctance and the way he was holding the door suggested he was. He was actually going to let me stay!

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I exclaimed, still elated and relieved that I didn’t have to face the dangers of the night.

While Aaron could be a serial killer, I was never wrong about the intentions of someone, and he didn’t give me that kind of vibe.

“Oh, but don’t touch anything,” he warned, looking uncertain about whether this was an intelligent thing to do or not.

“Can I touch the couch?” I asked playfully.

“Don’t make me change my mind, pipsqueak.”