Don't Drop Your Mask

“We’ve got the handshake under our tongues,” I sang along, quite awfully, I might add, to my stereo as I finally got around to my… mid autumn cleaning?

Either way, I was singing to all the MGMT that happened to be on my iPod in my little dock. I’ve had a pretty sunny disposition lately. The weather’s nicer. The leaves are changing. I have a cute little turtle... well a puppy named Turtle to take care of.

I smiled at my finally clean apartment and flopped down on the couch. Night was settling in and I was getting tired. I closed my eyes when a loud thump.

Immediately, I thought, Oh my God, somebody’s breaking in!

My dumb little attack dog ran into my room under the bed. I grabbed a spatula and inched closer to my balcony where the noise came from.

“Charlie?” I asked. Over the past week, he’d become a regular.

He groaned and looked up at me. “Hey, Layla.”

“Wh-what are you doing here?” I asked. “How did you get here?” I helped him sit up in a chair.

“Um, my brother just uh, dropped in. Do you live here?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“No way. Apparently, I live right above you!”

I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so weirded out.

“Hold on, so your brother threw you off the balcony?”

“No, I was fixing my lights on my balcony and then he scared me and I flung over and grabbed the rail. And, uh, then I flung here.”

“How?”

“Um, he wouldn’t help me up.”

“…oh. Do you… want something to drink?”

“Are you inviting me in?” he asked slyly.

I laughed. “Well it’s that or you try to climb back up.”

As he walked in and I thanked everything that’s holy that I cleaned my apartment, he got a phone call.

I, being the nosy person I was, looking for something interesting in my dull life, tried to listen in.

I heard the name “Travis” from the other line. And someone’s angry and someone can’t just show up like that, and Charlie just nodded.

“Lemonade okay?” I asked as he shut his phone.

“That’s fine,” he said, sounding distant and sick.

“Are you feeling okay? I mean besides that drop from your apartment. Your voice sounds different.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m not used to this weather. I think I’m coming down with something.”

“Oh. Where are you from?”

“LA,” he said quickly.

“Oh. It is pretty hot there.”

“Yeah. Well, my friend is probably tearing up my apartment,” he said looking up.

“Your brother you mean?”

“What? Yeah. Sorry. I’m really getting sick.” He laughed and showed himself out.

“Okay bye,” I said to the closed door.

I fell asleep on the couch shortly after that, and woke back up shortly after that. I grabbed my old iPod and put on some music. I tried to get Turtle to take a walk with me but he wouldn’t move more than three feet at a time, so I left by myself.

I put my ipod facedown to guide my little journey. I hummed along with my songs. I stopped suddenly when something obstructed my view of the ground. Black shoes. I stared down for a bit then slowly looked up.

“Layla!” I heard his voice crack.

I put on a twisted half grin. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” I said, pushing past him and pulling out one of my ear buds.

“Yeah,” he sounded kind of guilty.

“So what have you been up to?”

“Uhm, you know, the usual.”

This was weird, he’s always been the one in control of our conversations. It was usually me that was awkward and nervous. I stopped. “What’s with you?”

“What?”

“You’re different. Is something wrong?”

He straightened up. “Everything’s right.”

I rolled my eyes. “So you’re back to this now?”

He chuckled. “You know, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you, a pretty lady like you shouldn’t be out here all alone at night.”

“I didn’t even get hurt this ti—“ perfect time to trip, right?

He laughed and caught me. “So have you thought of my name yet?”

“How about the father?”

He laughed. “What?”

“You know, like dad’s are always on business trips, in and out of town, you only see them every few days.”

He laughed. “That’s a tough connection.”

I sat down, getting hit with a wave of exhaustion. “Well,” I yawned, “how about the traveling salesman?”

He sat down next to me and I laid my head on his shoulder. I know, this guy’s totally a stranger and a whack job, running around the city thinking he’s a superhero. I started drifting off. “I promise I’ll be around more.”