5. Catherine
Chapter 5
Catherine
A smile appears on my face, my body relaxing as I watch Matt walking away. He almost ruined my plans with Melissa and Jenny. I didn’t think I would be able to hang out with my friends when he appeared out of nowhere earlier. He said to meet here at six. I wasn’t expecting him to be here. If I’m being honest, I don’t care why he is here. I don’t think my night would have ended like this if it hadn't been for the Soul Reaper coming to my rescue. Matt would have made up some excuses and separated me from my friends.
A prickling sensation crawled up my back when I stepped foot in the park. He is here. I know he is. I only get this feeling when he is around. I just don’t know where he is. My intuition tells me that he is the Soul Reaper who protected me earlier, but I can’t be sure, and I’m not going to make myself a fool by asking the Soul Reaper hey are you the guy who writes the sweetest poems for me, leaves me gifts and owns my heart. I won’t do that even if I could find the Reaper again. After waiting a few seconds making sure that Matt isn’t going to change his mind, I look at Mel and Jenny's location and make my way towards them.
It takes me five minutes to get from the entrance of Haunted Nights to the Spooktacular pumpkin patch where the creepy displays of vampires, ghosts, and slashers are positioned for a fun photo-op. Jenny sees me first as Mel is too busy looking down at her phone. “Does this mean you’re going to be able to hang out with us after all?” Jenny asks. The hope in her voice makes my heart ache.
“Yes, I am,” I say, fighting back tears.
“Tonight wouldn’t have been the same without you.” Mel claps her hands together, squealing with excitement, before giving me her phone. “Can you take a picture of me, Cat?” Melissa begs desperation in her tone. “You’re the only one who knows how to capture the right angles.” She points her eyes to Jenny with a joking smile on her face. Jenny takes horrible pictures as if she repels a camera. I take a couple of cute pictures of Melissa and look for the best one for her.
“Mel, it’s impossible to pick one. They all look so good,” I complain. She always makes me do this and it’s impossible to pick one. She is very photogenic with her blond hair, blue eyes, dimples, curvy body, and legs for days. “I swear you can’t take a bad picture.”
“Are you done taking pictures?” Jenny asks Melissa. “I want to ride some rides before it gets later.” Jenny is not a big-picture taker. She would rather live in the moment and not on her phone. She hates getting her picture taken, even if she’s as photogenic as Mel is.
“Just one more,” Mel pleads. “Of all of us.”
Jenny rolls her eyes. “Fine.”
Mel squeals and points to an empty spot in the corner. We follow, and she hands me the phone for me to take the selfie. We pose, but before I can click the button to take the picture a black-gloved hand wraps around my wrist taking the phone from me. My heart starts beating fast as I take in the Soul Reapers. The girls complain but I’m so stunned that no words come out.
“I’ll gladly take your pictures.” The Soul Reaper says in a deep husky tone. My breath catches in my throat at the intense look in those onyx eyes.
It’s him. I know it is.
“That would be amazing. Thank you,” Mel says breaking the heated stare he and I are sharing.
“Yes, please.” Jenny chimes in.
“I have one request,” he says, not taking his eyes off me. “For this gorgeous woman in front of me to take a picture with me.” My face begins to heat over his request, and my pulse quickens. “Will you make this man's request come true?” The hidden message I’ll do the same for you makes my heart pound against my rib cage. Am I reading too much into this?
A shy smile appears on my face. “Sure.” I finally say, after Mel’s very obvious shove to my shoulder. He takes the picture of Mel, Jenny and I first and then hands his phone to Mel to take ours. I stand next to him, shifting from foot to foot, my nerves getting the better of me. He wraps his arms around my shoulder, and I instantly look up at him.
“Thank you for the picture.” He says in a tone that if I could be looking at his face, he would have a smile plastered on it. He grabs his phone from Mel and walks away, leaving me standing staring after him, confused over his action. How did he know to give Mel the phone and not Jenny? They were both standing next to him. Why did he want to take a picture with me?
Jenny and Mel bombard me with squeals snapping me back into the moment.
“Did that just really happen?” Jenny asks.
“Yes, it did.” Mel shakes her phone in front of us. “And I have the picture to prove it.” “Wait, I thought you took it with his phone.” I hungrily reach for her phone. She took two pictures of him and me. His posture is relaxed, mine is a little ridged, and my face is red in the first. The second one shows him and me looking at each other, giving off a sense of familiarity and comfort by the way his posture is close to mine and the way I’m looking up at him like a love-sick puppy.
“They came out so cute. You should print it out and frame it,” Mel says.
“There’s no line for the doll haunted house,” Jenny says.
“Oh, let’s go before it’s packed again,” Mel says. The moment with the Soul Reaper was completely forgotten, at least by them. I won't ever forget this moment.
For the next thirty minutes, I couldn’t get out of my head thinking about the past two interactions with him. I looked from Reaper to Reaper, searching for him, feeling disappointed when it wasn’t. Not sure how I knew it wasn’t him when they were all dressed the same. I’m about to say fuck it and go, tired of pretending with the girls that I was having a good time with them when goosebumps form on my skin. I look around to see him purposely strolling my way.
“Well if it isn’t the most gorgeous woman in the world.” I feel my face heating again. “If you keep giving me those blushes, you might turn me into an addict,” he says, caressing my cheeks before walking away. A cheesy grin forms on my face as I watch him walk away, chuckling softly at my reaction.
“What’s so funny,” Mel asks as she and Jenny step out of the ice cream shop.
“Nothing,” I say, unable to keep the smile away. She and Jenny look at each other, a question in their eyes. “Shall we go ride Dragons?” I nod my head towards the ride, trying to distract them so they don’t ask me about the interaction. I don’t want to share the moment I had with him. Not because it’s something bad, but I want to keep it private only for him and I to know. “It doesn’t seem to have a long wait.”
“Let’s go.” They both say in unison, and we make our way towards the ride.
For the rest of the last two hours, he would come towards me and tell me something that made my heart beat fast, and my cheeks turn pink whenever my friends were distracted as if he was in on my plan to keep our interactions a secret. Even when he didn’t come towards me, the feeling of someone watching me never disappeared.