Granting a Thief's Wishes

"I can't exactly chain him to a tree just for you now, can I?" Nicholas said over the roaring thunder. It looked like a storm was about to happen, after so many sunny days. Of all the damn nights...why tonight?

"Yes, you can," I said with a serious expression. I needed to meet Bryan/Ryan or whatever his name was A.S.A.P. I thought Nicholas understood that. I thought we had an agreement. I felt so stressed out, damn it. "You could nail him to the ground for all I care. I just want to talk to him. And my bracelet back." I know, I couldn't resist adding that last bit nastily.

"Susannah, calm down."

Why on earth do people kept saying "calm down" to people in distress? Couldn't they see that it was like dumping a truck of oil all over an already burning forest fire. The moment those words escaped those lips of his, I was already fuming.

"Calm down?" I hissed. "What is wrong with you?" I exclaimed angrily, starting to walk again. But the first step I took, Maddie's flip flops' strapped broke apart. Great, was I jinxing myself too?

"You okay?"

"No, I am not okay!" I said to a very stunned Nicholas. He stood a few inches from me, looking genuinely worried I might add. Well good, I wanted him to worry. I wanted him to torture himself. Maybe he would be so in guilt that he'd give back my bracelet.

Or commit suicide. That won't be such a bad idea since I was about to kill him anyway.

I bent down and took the flip flips off, but as soon as I got up - out of nowhere - a flyer smacked my face. When I finally grabbed hold of it, I scrunched it up and threw it angrily to the ground.

Nicholas was looking half-amused, half-worried now.

"You're like a lightning rod tonight, aren't you? Only instead of attracting lightning, you're attracting bad luck."

"Don't give me more reasons to hate you."

Without warning, he swooped me up in his arms. For the first shocked-5-seconds, I was speechless. "What are you doing?" I finally said.

"Kidnapping. Much more challenging," he teased. I was trying so, very hard not to punch him. Trust me, I was. I didn't have enough energy to fight off anyway. To be honest, I was getting more emotionally drained every time the thought of bracelet or fairy came into mind.

Maybe I should just hunt for a witch with answers. But they were pretty quiet these days. Selfish cows.

Stop it, Susannah.

Plus, as hard as it was to admit it, but Nicholas was pretty warm. And it was pretty cold...and I was wearing a stupid dress.

"I'll make it up to you," he said. "Come over to my place, maybe Ryan had already went home."

Ryan. That was his name.

"If this is a move to hit on me--"

"Wouldn't even dream about it."

Right, so that backfired on me and I was actually offended.

Minimalist. That was all I could say.

Their house was so minimalist. Black and white, a bit of green here and there. There weren't many furniture either. I couldn't even spot one picture frame that didn't had some picture of a prairie or something.

"Our other housemate is a neat freak," he explained. "And she likes to keep stuff fairly simple and up-to-standards, as she called it. Whatever that means," he scoffed. I sat on the white leather couch and picked up a Marie Claire magazine.

Neat freak, eh?

Maddie came into mind. Then I stared at the flip flops.

Barely a day and it was already ruined.

I looked over at the clock and it reads 8:53 p.m.

"Still early," I said.

"Yeah, weird though. They were so sure that tonight would be the perfect night for a party."

I felt as if I should blame him for it. He was the one who had stolen my bracelet from me, for goodness' sake. "Hey Nicholas?" I called. He was in the kitchen, probably. "Where's my bracelet?"

"You're really impatient, aren't you?"

"Gee, how did you find out?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He re-appeared in front of me, handing me a cup of hot chocolate. I took it gratefully.

"I'm not giving it to you," he said finally, and I spluttered on my hot chocolate. Just as I thought the warm liquid was starting to make me a tad better.

"Excuse me? What do you mean you're not giving it to me?" I said in the most venomous voice I could muster. And trust me, I sounded pretty murderous that I surprised myself. He looked guiltily away.

"Nicholas Peterson, you answer me right now!"

"I'm 22, and you're 18. And yet you sound exactly like my mom."

I grabbed his hoodie and brought him close to me. It took me every ounce of strength that was left in me to not commit a murder right there and then. "I'm sick of playing games," I said. "And frankly, I don't like games."

"Now, there's a shocker," he said sarcastically. I, of course, ignored him. "You're angry," he said, in a much smaller voice.

"Damn straight I am. Now, where's the bracelet?"

"Remember the other housemate I told you about?" He said after I let him go (but I kept glaring daggers at him). Ugh, I felt so unnaturally angry for some reason. Maybe it was that time of that stupid month again.

"What about her?" I asked, breathing in and out. They did it all the time in yoga, right? This should relax you, right?

"She just went up to her hometown in Ohio for a couple of days."

"Why do I care-- NO!" I gasped.

"Wow, you catch on pretty quick."

"How could you?!" I screamed, standing up and pacing around the room. "I can't believe this," I muttered over and over again.

"Susannah," he said, "I threw the bracelet on the table the other day. I mean, I didn't know it was important then. But then Megan left a note said that she would be going to Ohio for some high school reunion. She's been talking about her parents a lot, I think she was beginning to be homesick--"

"I do not care."

"Well...yeah anyway," he continued. "Apparently when I called her up, she had that bracelet with her saying it would match her new...dress...and that she thought it belonged to a friend and stuff...oh come on, Susannah!" He exclaimed, walking towards me. "I know Megan, she's like a little sister to me. She's the most responsible person I've ever met. She'll be back in two days!"

The bracelet was gone. Gone. To some stranger named Megan because she thought it would suit her new dress. Who would do that?

Okay fine, when Nicole left a pair of necklace on the living room's glass table, I wore it without her permission because I was running late for a debate that our college hosted. How was I supposed to know it was her cousin's necklace and she needed it for her cousin's engagement party?

Long story for another time.

I needed to focus on breathing. In and out...in and out...

"I think you need to...sit down," he said.

"Breathe in...breathe out...yoogaa...bliss..."

"You're not breathing, Susannah. You're hyperventilating."

I sat down, trying to calm myself down. He was right. It wasn't that big of a deal. I was overreacting. I trusted Nicholas' words, saying that this Megan person was a responsible person and would not ever cause any harm to my bracelet.

I felt lightheaded, and the thunder roaring outside was making my stomach churn. "Can you call a cab for me?"

Then I remembered all the clutter around the house that Maddie probably gave up trying to sort out because Nicole was crazy when she was involved in fashion. Bits and pieces of buttons and fabric flying out everywhere, Maddie trying to ignore it by possibly cranking up the volume, listening to Beyonce as loudly as she could.

My head hurts just thinking about it.

"I think you should stay for the night," Nicholas said casually. "As long as you don't mess up Megan's room too much that she could strangle you for it, I mean. You don't look pretty good anyway."

"If it's not any trouble," I said, feeling myself blush. I wasn't used to sleeping over.

"The least I could do after causing this much trouble," he said, winking playfully. Forgetting about my exhaustion for a moment there, I gave him a small smile. "I shall get you some Advil then?"

"Thanks."

As he disappeared into the kitchen once more, I couldn't help but feel a strong urge to forgive him. Just a tiny bit. Nicole can be outrageous too when she wanted to have some fun. Maybe some people were just like that.

It wasn't as if Nicholas knew I was a weird fairy with a very important bracelet. I might as well relax a bit.

Except, I couldn't. Not without imagining the bracelet getting eaten by a hungry lion that had escaped from a zoo and made its' way to the reunion for every 5 seconds.