Charmed Life

He was unbelievable. And not in a good way, either.

We stood there, not saying anything for a good five minutes. It was getting awkward, but if he felt it, he didn’t show it. He started humming. Humming! It was so bad I couldn’t even tell what song it was.

Finally, I couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Okay! Give me a ride!” I said, exasperated, throwing my hands into the air. He smirked. He actually smirked at me, and it almost made me smile at the playfulness on his face.

Almost.

“Oh,” he feigned innocence. “You want a ride?”

“Yes, please!” I dragged the word out, letting the sarcasm drip freely.

He smiled, sticking a hand out. “I’m James, by the way.”

It was my turn to smirk. “I know. Alayna.” I shook his outstretched hand.

He nodded at my nametag, which I’d pinned to my tank so I wouldn’t lose the damned thing again. “I know.”

I was surprised to find that his car, which was parked in The Grille’s private garage, was just a regular old black sedan. I expected something flashier, but this suited him just fine.

Bending down, he glanced underneath the car, and I frowned. Because this was odd, but mostly because he had a really nice butt, and I didn’t appreciate how much I appreciated his butt. I didn’t say anything, but was he expecting someone to be hiding under there?

Shoot. What if my breaking into his house had made him all paranoid?

I gave him directions to my apartment, and we drove in silence, ignoring the elephant in the car.

I should have known he wouldn’t be able ignore it forever. “So, about last night….” He let the sentence hang, waiting for me to fill in the gaps.

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to face him. “I really, really am.” What else did you say to someone whose house you’d broken into the night before?

“No, I… I just wanted to let you know I never called the police.”

I snapped my mouth shut, since it was ready to interrupt him. “Oh… You didn’t?”

He shook his head, staring ahead at the road. “Nope.”

“But, you said --”

“I didn’t.”

Well, things could have gone way differently.

“Thanks… I guess.”

He paused for a second, and I knew what was coming next. He asked it like it was an afterthought, but we both knew it wasn’t. “Why were you in my house?”

I didn’t answer right away. “It’s a long story,” I improvised. “And we’re here.” We’d reach the rundown apartment complex not too far from CMU, and he parked in front of the dilapidated brick building I was pointing at. It was literally just a concrete cube with rooms and a narrow staircase carved into it. A hunched figure stood next to the stairs, smoking.

Home sweet home.

“You live here?” He asked incredulously, staring out his window at the sorry looking building, not bothering to hide his disdain. He turned to face me, and I just glared at him.

“No, I don’t. This is just so you don’t see where I really live, which is a cardboard box in that alley over there,” I pointed at the dark space between my building and the next.

“Thanks for the ride,” I declared. “I’ll be going now.” I exited the car, making my way towards the building. To my surprise (and horror), James followed. He locked his car, causing it to beep twice. Stopping at the mouth of the stairs, I whirled around to face him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I snapped.

“I’m walking you to your door.” He eyed the smoking figure suspiciously.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. I didn’t want him to see my apartment. This whole thing was embarrassing enough. “And you really don’t want to leave your car there.”

His car, though a sedan, was still shiny and new. It was parked next to a beat up old Honda Civic and another, even older car with all the external parts missing. It was honestly just an engine on wheels. I couldn’t even tell what kind of car it was anymore. He just shook his head dismissively.

“I don’t care about the car, I’m walking you to your door.” He was insistent, and I knew this battle was already lost. I turned, heading up the stairs. I lived all the way at the top, and the building didn’t have a fire escape or even one or those metal ladders. If anything happened, I’d probably have to throw a mattress out the window, jump, and hope for the best.

This didn’t go unnoticed.

“What if there was a fire? Jesus….” I rolled my eyes, continuing up the stairs. I was the only one who lived at the top, on the eight floor. I stood in front of the sliding metal door. It didn’t have a traditional lock, but was kept closed with a huge padlock that chained the door to the concrete doorway.

I didn’t unlock it, but turned and face him. “I’m here, safe and sound. You can leave now.”

He didn’t move. I stared at him, and after a beat, gave up. I fished around in my pocket for my keys. Unlocking the door, I slid it opened enough to step inside, and slipped in.

I stuck my head out the door. “Happy?”

He frowned, and still didn’t budge. I rolled my eyes at him as he stood at the top of the stairs, confused.

“Thanks for the ride, James. Good night.”

The door slid close with a definitive clank and I leaned back against it. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

I never regretted breaking and entering into anyone’s house before. Partly because I never took anything and partly because I never got caught. I’d been doing this for a while now, and besides the shit I got from my friend Hayden when he found out, I’d never gotten into trouble for it before. Well, except for that other time when the police were involved.

But I’d never, ever, come face to face with an owner before.

And even if I did, I doubt they’d stop themselves from calling the police, let alone drive me home.

I mean, who does that? “Thanks for breaking and entering, need a ride home?” No one, that’s who. No one sane, anyway. I usually did my thing, got out, and forgot about it until the next time. I had it down to a science.

But James Neal was disrupting all of that.

Dropping my bag on the floor, I bolted and locked the door, unable to keep James out of my head.

It shouldn’t have been a question. The fact that he caught me was bad. Yet, that stupid part of me was convinced it was the best thing to ever happen to me. The bigger, much smarter part of me smacked the small part upside the head, pointing out that getting caught committing a felony was never a good thing.

As for me? I still wasn’t sure whether I was happy about him catching me red handed or not.

Either way, there wasn’t anything I could do now. I just hoped his car was still where he parked it. You never knew in this part of town.