It Wasn't Meant To Turn Out Like This

Mayza sank back on her heels, swiping the back of her forearm across her forehead to wipe away the sweat that collected there. She kneeled in the ploughed dirt of the Haner family garden in the backyard. The garden was half vegetables and half flowers and bushes. Mayza had grown bored inside the house and had glanced out one of the windows to see the weeds slowly overtaking the plants and decided to clean up the garden.

Mayza turned her head at the sound of the backdoor opening and smiled upon seeing Brian walking towards her. Ever since Michelle had left, Brian had been looking and acting more like himself each passing day. He looked a lot less like a whipped zombie and more like his free-spirited, lovable, cocky self.

“Can’t help but adore a woman who’s comfortable on her knees,” Brian said with a smirk, gripping the hand Mayza extended and pulling her easily to her feet without exerting any energy. She frowned at him; however, her lips twitched as they attempted to smile. Mayza settled with looking down and wiping the dirt from her hands on the old shorts she’d thrown on before stepping outside.

“Why are you here?” Mayza asked, fighting to keep a straight face as she looked back up at him.

“David Silveria from Korn owns Tuna Town—you know Tuna Town, right?” Brian asked. Mayza nodded. She was familiar with the restaurant, having eaten with the guys there a couple of times. The food was delicious. “Well, I’m good friends with him, and he’s been looking for someone to help out his head chef. There were two chefs at one point, but the head chef’s assistant moved, leaving just the one chef, and he’s completely overwhelmed. I mentioned you to David, and he was instantly curious. So I told him a little more about you, and he said that neither David nor the chef has any aversion to hiring or working with a fairy.” Brian grinned and held up a piece of paper. “This is the application you’ll need to fill out.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Bri,” Mayza said, the smile finally breaking her straight face. “Can you set it on the counter in the kitchen for me? I have dirty hands.”

“I actually had something else to ask you,” Brian said, his smile falling slightly.

“I’m all ears,” Mayza answered, leading the way back into the house. Brian put the application down on one of he counters. Mayza turned on the faucet and ran her hands under the jet of water before grabbing the bar of soap and beginning to scrub.

“Well,” Brian began, leaning his hip against the counter next to Mayza, “ever since Michelle’s left, the house has just been empty-feeling. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad to have Michelle gone and out of my life. That girl was ten different types of bad. It’s just I hate coming home every night to an empty house, except for Pinkly, of course. Maybe what’s even worse is knowing that I’ll come home the next night to the exact same emptiness as before.”

“I’m failing to see the point of this speech,” Mayza joked, prodding Brian in the direction of getting to his point. She shut the water off and wiped her hands dry on a towel, turning to face Brian.

“My house is really roomy because I bought it with the mindset of one day finding a nice girl to marry and make plenty of hellions with,” Brian plowed on, obviously having thought a lot about the speech and sticking to his plan. “But until I find her, the house is just creepily empty. I feel lonely inside it.”

It finally clicked exactly what Brian was getting at. “Are you asking me to move in?” Mayza asked with a grin.

Brian blushed. “Yes,” he said, sounding a little relieved that she figured it out before he had to ask her out loud. For such a confident guy, he was awful shy sometimes.

“I’d love to,” Mayza answered with a smile. “Besides, I think Senior and Suzy are both starting to twitch—I’m disrupting their sex routine.”

“Please don’t talk about that,” Brian groaned, pulling Mayza into a hug. “I’ve finally convinced myself that a giant stork dropped me off on the doorstep and I was too damn cute to give up.”