Break My Fall

“This is not the liquor store.”

I sat up in my bed quickly, a shrill scream escaping my mouth right before I fell onto the floor. I scrambled around quickly trying to find some sort of weapon, my hand wrapping around a discarded shoe as I stood up. I held the shoe out in front of me, as if by some miracle it would protect me.

My breathing was heavy as I stared at my intruder: a familiar face, head tilted to the side, dressed in a suit and trench coat.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled, before saying more loudly. “How did you get in here?”

He looked around the room.

“I thought this was the liquor store,” he said, eyes meeting mine after a moment.

“Why would you think that?” I asked. “I don’t even live that close to the liquor store.”

“Well… you’re here,” he said. I looked at him in disbelief.

“That’s because I live here.”

“My mistake,” he said.

“Well?” I said, getting annoyed. I had just fallen asleep when this had all started. “You can leave now.”

“Right,” he said, but he just stood there. I sighed, walking past him to get to my bedroom door. I opened it quickly and turned to look back at Castiel, but he was gone. There was no sign that he had even been here.

“What the hell is going on?”

---

“So you remember that guy who came in here the other day and pretty much bought out the whole store?” I asked Emily. Today was one of the days that we worked together, and normally she was the one telling the… interesting?... stories. Anyways, today was my day for the storytelling.

“You mean the attractive one whose number you didn’t get?” she asked in return. I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. “What about him?”

“Well, he somehow managed to get in my apartment.” Emily’s eyes widened.

“And?” she urged and I sighed.

“I don’t even know how,” I said. “I went to make him leave and I just turned around and he was gone?”

“What, did he climb out your window?”

“Doubtful,” I said. “My apartment is pretty high up and there’s no fire escape at that window.”

“So, he just disappeared?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” I said. “I’m still trying to figure that out. I checked all the windows and the front door and everything was locked. The whole thing is just spooky.”

“Definitely,” Emily agreed. “Though, I think if that man popped up unexpectedly in my room, I would not mind at all.”

I rolled my eyes again, before saying, “You’re unbelievable.”

---

I had close up the store on my own that night. Emily begged me to let her leave early because she said, and I quote, “a hot date.” It didn’t help that I was still spooked about the whole strange man appearing in my apartment thing.

“Darcy.”

I was not the least bit surprised when I let out a shriek and dropped my keys that I had been using to try and lock the store.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?” I asked, glaring at Castiel who was apparently quickly trying to become my stalker.

He looked confused for a moment before answering.

“No,” he said. “I apologize; I seem to be frightening you.”

“You think?” I asked. I checked to make sure the store was locked before I started to quickly walk in the opposite direction of Castiel toward my car. When I reached my car, I turned to see Castiel standing there, looking like he was struggling with something.

I groaned loudly, knowing that deep inside, I wanted to make sure he was okay. I had a habit of going against my better judgment. I took a few cautious steps toward him before speaking.

“Are you alright?” He looked at me for a moment before looking away. Was he… nervous?

My gut was telling me to run, run away! But I kept pushing forward, taking a few more steps.

“This is difficult for me,” he finally said. “I don’t have good “people skills,” but I was told…I was wondering if I may buy you a drink of some sort.”

“Are you asking me out?” I asked disbelief clearly evident in my tone.

“Yes,” Castiel answered, looking quite accomplished.

“And you expect me to say yes, after you just magically appeared in my room in the middle of the night yesterday?”

“It wasn’t magic,” he said.

“Then what was it?”

“A mistake.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “A mistake? And you’re sorry and want to buy me a drink?”

“Yes, that sounds about right,” he said. I don’t know what it was, what instinct in my body was telling me to just go with this, to just accept everything.

“Fine,” I said. I pointed to my car. “Get in. I’m picking the place and you’re buying as many drinks as I tell you to.”