We Meet Again

For the rest of the day, I can’t stop thinking about that strange individual. He’s too intriguing.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a man that tall and handsome. Attractive people don’t live in this city. At least not anymore.

Before, when the world was normal, there were a lot of rich people who would walk around here when they wanted to feel edgy and, for some reason, they were always more attractive than us poor folks.

Lion has a rich man’s face and a rich way of speaking… but he stinks like the last crackhead who chased me, so I don’t know what to make of him.

The only thing I can say is that for some reason, his height and size don’t intimidate me, I don’t feel scared, which is something new. Lately, whenever a man enters my coffee shop, I’m ready to run or grab a knife to defend myself, but not with Lion. Maybe because he has a pretty face.

Or maybe because he was way too pathetic that first time when the werewolves were chasing him. Yes, I think that’s the reason.

But whatever it is, the appearance of this strange character is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a very long time.

➿➿➿➿➿

“You’ll never guess what happened to me at work,” I start as I walk out of the supermarket next to Jonah. My voice sounds calm and collected, but the truth is I’ve been waiting all weekend to tell him this, “It was insane.”

I’ve tweaked the details a bit to make it sound even more interesting because it’s the only cool thing that’s happened to me in a very long time.

“I can guess, Jolene,” he responds with a bored and bitchy tone, as always. “Mr. Hades left without paying again. Super interesting.”

“I said insane, idiot, not something that happens every fucking week,” I spit out as I follow him to his car, carrying my own bags because Jonah thinks he’s doing enough by driving me to and from my house, “You should actually be grateful to have me here today. I had a near-death experience this Friday.”

“You choked on your own saliva again?” he gasps, pretending to be shocked, and gives me his usual ‘you’re pathetic’ face as he unlocks the car, “Because that happens to you a lot and I’m actually worried about your life. I’m not even kidding, you should probably check that out before you choke to death one day.”

Jonah is a self-absorbed jerk. He’s mean and snarky and no one can stand him. Even before the world went to shit, he didn’t have friends because he’s unbearable.

The only reason why I’m his friend is because I’m equally unbearable and I don’t have any other friends either. We have a lot in common, actually.

No one wants to be around us. Not even ourselves.

“Actually, yes, I did. But something more interesting happened later. Something I won’t tell you because you don’t deserve it,” I snap, “I hope your gay p**n is enough to keep you entertained because you’re missing out on a GREAT story. You’ll never hear it now.”

“I didn’t want to hear your BORING story anyway, bitch,” he lies, saying the last word through gritted teeth, being as unnecessarily dramatic as always. He loves to pretend his life is a soap opera.

And I know he’s lying because Jonah can’t survive without knowing everything that’s happening around him in detail. But he gets into his car, slamming the door so hard that I know he immediately regretted it.

“You can’t leave me here alone, asshole!” I complain as he starts the engine (making much more noise than necessary), “I was kidding about the gay p**n! Just take me home and be angry aft…”

“Of course, I can leave your ass here. No bitches allowed in my car,” he says and speeds away without looking back at me for a single moment, almost running over three people in his tantrum.

I know he won’t come back. He’s too sensitive about his sexuality to do so. And I’m too proud to beg or apologize, or even get into his stupid car if by some miracle he came back for me, so I just stand there as if I don’t care.

But I care.

Oh, I do care.

It’s midday and there are a lot more people around than usual, but it’s still fucking dangerous to walk these streets. And my house is far from here.

“That fucking idiot, he makes me feel so homophobic,” I mutter as I start walking because I have no other choice. It’s not like I have family or more friends who can pick me up.

I’m on my own, as always.

Me, myself and I. The whole friend group is here, walking home… trying not to get jumped and killed either by the criminals or the werewolves. How fun.

This is not the type of adrenaline I seek in my life, by the way.

As I walk with my hands occupied by the bags of groceries, I can feel my phone vibrating. I know it’s Jonah because he’s the only person who calls me, but I roll my eyes and keep walking. I’m halfway there anyway; I don’t need him to come back for me.

But it will be nice to ignore his calls all day and make him feel guilty for leaving me to my fate. He can be dramatic all he wants but he shouldn’t put me in actual danger, that’s fucked up.

I stop and I peek in before passing through the death alley where all the crackheads gather. When I make sure they’re asleep, I hurry through, basically running.

I’m almost out of danger when I hear footsteps approaching and my heart stops, thinking one of the crackheads woke up and is now chasing me to attack me, but that’s not the case. Someone else is running straight to me.

I can recognize him only because he’s running toward me in the same clothes he wore the last two times I saw him, with the same pathetic panicked face as the first time. I manage to see his arms, completely covered in tattoos and his nice muscles tensing as he runs… he’s probably escaping again.

“Jolene?!” he exclaims, but I can’t even move out of the way or anything because he’s running too fast. So fast, I almost don’t understand how he moved almost a mile in two seconds, “Come here.”