18. Myer
M yer~
The knocking on my front door was consistent, loud, and very demanding.
While I’d done my best to hurry out of the shower, a possible emergency had me wrapping a towel around my wet body, then praying that I didn’t slip while racing towards the front door.
The fact that it was Sunday morning also played a role in my near-naked body rushing to answer the front door.
Sundays were for church and lazy breakfasts in the kitchen, not the sounds of fists banging on the door like I was about to be raided.
Swinging the door open, I said, “Jesus Christ, what’s going on?”
Ignoring me, Calista muscled her way into my home, and after the way that we’d ended things last night, I was honestly surprised to see her here.
By all accounts, that cheek kiss at the end of our date had felt a lot like the kiss of death, but I had taken my lumps like an adult, accepting that she wasn’t interested in me.
“Louise just put a hex on me, and you’re next,” she announced as she turned to face me, standing in the middle of my living room.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked as I tightened my hold on the towel.
Calista threw her hands up in the air, letting them drop dramatically for emphasis. “I said that she just put a hex on me, and you’re next.”
“A hex?” I echoed. “Like an actual hex? A curse?”
“She knocked on my door, threw salt at me, lit a match to either set me or my house on fire, then spoke about undoing the evil that I’d done,” she went on. “Of course, she used the word he and not she, but she was very adamant that she was cursing me.”
“On a Sunday? The Lord’s day?’
“Right?” she squeaked. “Oh, but get this...I got a regular hex, Myer. That’s how little she thinks of me. I got just your random run-of-the-mill curse. You, on the other hand, are in for something a little more special, and it doesn’t even matter to her that I’ve been neighbors with her longer.”
I cocked my head, confused as to why I was getting the special treatment. “Really?”
“She said that Jury believes that you’re what’s standing in my way of becoming enlightened, and so you deserve a harsher punishment,” she explained, and this whole crazy situation really had me wondering if I should move.
“But...what happened to being pure for God?” I asked. “Does God approve of witchcraft?”
“Fuck if I know,” she retorted. “But if I were you, I’d start parking my cars in the garage and checking the break lines each morning.”
Stepping closer to her, I reached out with my free hand, then slid it down her right arm. “Okay, let’s calm down a bit and think this through,” I told her. “Did she manage to finish the curse?’
Calista shook her head. “No, I had so many questions that I couldn’t help but interrupt her.”
“Okay, then you should be good, right?” I said reassuringly. “I mean, how affective could the curse be when it wasn’t completed?”
“She said that she had other curses at her disposal,” she informed me, looking at me pointedly. “Ones that didn’t require my presence.”
“Oh,” I muttered. “I could see how that might be a problem.”
“Look, while I don’t necessarily believe in 1-900 psychic lines, I do believe in bad energy and stuff like that,” she said, looking up at me seriously. “So, I do not need Louise Mackrell’s bad juju invading my personal space.”
“Say the word, and I’ll beat the living snot out of Jury Patton,” I offered. “Since this is all about him, I have no problem shoving his curses up his ass.”
I watched Calista’s shoulders sag as she let out a deep sigh. “No, it’s okay,” she lied. “I don’t want you going to jail for something that no judge in his right mind would believe.”
“Then tell me what you need me to do, baby,” I told her, meaning every word. Whether the curse was real or not, I did not enjoy seeing Calista this worked up over some looney birds across the street.
It was then that she finally realized that I had rushed out of the shower upon her arrival. “Uhm...” Her hand gestured up and down. “I...uhm, I guess you were in the shower.”
“I was,” I confirmed, trying not to laugh at her embarrassed expression.
“Yeah, I can see...how you’re all wet and...and well, naked.”
“I have a towel,” I said, hoping that she didn’t freak out, then race towards the front door. “So, I’m only partially naked.”
Calista began gnawing on her lower lip, and I’d give anything to know what she was thinking.
While last night could have ended on a better note, the fact that she had raced over to warn me of my impending doom was a good sign.
If she didn’t consider me a friend, then she wouldn’t have rushed over here, and I could work with friendship.
In fact, starting out as friends would help solidify something stronger between us later on.
“Yeah, I...” She pointed towards the front door. “I should probably get going and let you...let you finish doing your shower thing.”
“Maybe you should stay,” I told her. “I mean, what if Louise comes knocking on my door? Do you really want me to fight the forces of evil in only a towel?”
Calista clucked her tongue before saying, “You could always get dressed.”
I stepped to her, invading her space just a little more. “I suppose that I could.”
“You know...those...those things are supposed to be a myth,” she mumbled before clearing her throat.
“What things?” I asked, my voice a little lower than it’d been just a second ago.
“Eight-pack abs,” she answered a bit breathlessly.
“Well, maybe you should get a really good look,” I told her. “After all, I’m getting older, and so it’s getting harder and harder to maintain these days.”
“Why do you have them?” she asked. “Is it to impress women?”
That got a smile out of me. “It’s so that the guys at the shipping yard don’t make fun of me.”
She finally looked away from my abs, and her lips twitched as she stared up at me. “They bully you, do they?”
“You’ll be hard pressed to find any guy at the shipping yard that’s out of shape,” I informed her. “It’s hard work, and if you let yourself go, then you can slow the crew down.”
“Must be nice to have...have a metabolism that helps with all...all that,” she muttered, her cheeks turning pink.
“You can touch them if you want,” I teased. “Remember, I won’t have them forever.”
I watched Calista’s face soften, and my heart slammed into my chest when she said, “I’m sorry about last night. I...I was nervous about the kiss.”
“Why were you nervous?”
Candid as always, she answered, “Because I really like you, Myer. I really like you, and I haven’t liked anyone like this in a really long time, so...so I freaked out.”
“Well, as luck would have it, I happen to like you, too.”
Her lips twitched again. “I kind of gathered that from how you asked me to dinner yesterday.”
“Well, in light of how you’ve been cursed, I think we should definitely experience that kiss now,” I said, hoping that I was doing the right thing here. “I mean, can you imagine if we both met our demise without ever kissing?”
“That sounds like it’d be a real shame,” she replied, her hand reaching out to finally put me out of my misery and touch my abs.
“I agree.”
“Okay, but before I let you kiss me, I need to make one thing very clear here, Myer.”
“What is it, baby?”
“If you turn out to be a cheating douchebag and break my heart, I will let Louise put ten hexes on you,” she threatened. “I will make sure that she puts all the hexes on you. All of them.”
My free hand reached up to cup her face. “Baby, I’m not a cheating douchebag,” I assured her. “I might piss you off every now and again, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll always say or do the right thing in your eyes, but I will never cheat on you. I can swear that on my life, Calista.”
She nodded. “Okay, well...then I guess you can kiss me.”
“Let me go get dressed, and then-”
“No need to get dressed,” she whispered huskily, and if all the angels in Heaven started singing right now, it’d be appropriate.
“No?”
Calista shook her head. “No.”
“Look, I’m not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth here, but after last night, I’m going to need you to spell it out for me, baby. I need you to be absolutely sure about this.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” she retorted, and that was clarification enough.