those few seconds he had been a complete dick to me, I had memorized every feature and every inch of him.
I was going insane, that was the only explanation.
I looked around the street at the other houses which all seemed like they belonged to peasants, compared to my house. A slow smile slipped across my lips as I thought about my mom, and how she would have made one of the smaller houses charming and sweet. But as much as she was different from Judith, she would also have hated Briton Thorlackson just as much as Judith and my father did. I couldn’t fault them on it. He seemed like an elitist snob who was rich, dark, and mysterious. He got what he wanted, when he wanted. I could tell that.
And because I was an idiotic teenaged girl, that’s what was hot about him for me. He was like an evil lord from the romance novels I had read at my grandma’s. It was ingrained in us to want that in a man and I had fallen for it. As intelligent as I knew I was and as savvy as I had hoped I was, I had fallen for the evil dark lord.
Le sigh.
Well, not anymore. The small dose of manly brutishness had been enough.
I muttered to myself, “Telling me not to talk and just dance—asshole!”
My mother would have liked Josh though, safe and sweet. I looked up at the sky and whispered, “Goodnight, Mom. I like Josh. I think you would have too.”
Suddenly, the wind got colder for a moment. Colder and fiercer. I had to hold my hair down as it tossed it around my face. I held down the blonde locks, thick with mousse and hairspray, just as they were whipping around my face. Just then something caught my eye.
Out in the dark yard, behind the very large maple tree, I saw movement—a dark figure shifting as if to hide behind the tree. A peeping tom? Creepy. And you always think in the city you’ll see the weirdos, and there I was in a small town, blatantly staring at a man watching me. Maybe it was Josh. But wouldn’t he just say hi and be my Romeo to his Juliet?
I held my hair to my face as I tried to focus my eyes. But with so little light behind the shape, it was hard to see clearly. I lost it completely when it stopped moving. I squinted in disbelief as I looked at two red slits I could see glowing mid-trunk on the tree. I would have thought they were cat’s eyes, catching the light but they seemed much too large and far too high up the trunk of the tree. Not to mention, they were red.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought they belonged to the dark figure hiding amongst the tree trunk, but that had clearly been a man behind the tree spying on me. What man had red eyes?
I blinked several times, assuming it was a hallucination.
When the red eyes never left and the figure never moved from the tree, my stomach sank and my heart raced, but I didn’t move. I was frozen in fear, no—terror.
I blinked one more time and the red eyes were gone, but the unmoving figure remained. I forced myself to be like my mom, and I did the thing she always told me to do. I smiled and waved, shouting across the yard, “Goodnight.” I acted crazy, ‘cause no one messed with crazy people. My soft voice carried across the night air, “Have sweet dreams.”
I walked backwards, not taking my eyes from the trunk of the tree in case the dark figure ran at me and jumped onto the balcony. I turned quickly at the last second and burst into my room. I slammed the door and closed all of the curtains tightly.
I was hyperventilating and barely able to see straight as I climbed into my bed. I pushed away the thoughts of the red eyes and the dark figure. Instead, I forced myself to think about Josh but instantly my mind went for Briton.
Why couldn’t I just get him out of my mind? The guy was an ass.
Maybe I could just stop women from voting and encourage them to start making sandwiches again, to match my thinking about Briton all night
I was going insane, that was the only explanation.
I looked around the street at the other houses which all seemed like they belonged to peasants, compared to my house. A slow smile slipped across my lips as I thought about my mom, and how she would have made one of the smaller houses charming and sweet. But as much as she was different from Judith, she would also have hated Briton Thorlackson just as much as Judith and my father did. I couldn’t fault them on it. He seemed like an elitist snob who was rich, dark, and mysterious. He got what he wanted, when he wanted. I could tell that.
And because I was an idiotic teenaged girl, that’s what was hot about him for me. He was like an evil lord from the romance novels I had read at my grandma’s. It was ingrained in us to want that in a man and I had fallen for it. As intelligent as I knew I was and as savvy as I had hoped I was, I had fallen for the evil dark lord.
Le sigh.
Well, not anymore. The small dose of manly brutishness had been enough.
I muttered to myself, “Telling me not to talk and just dance—asshole!”
My mother would have liked Josh though, safe and sweet. I looked up at the sky and whispered, “Goodnight, Mom. I like Josh. I think you would have too.”
Suddenly, the wind got colder for a moment. Colder and fiercer. I had to hold my hair down as it tossed it around my face. I held down the blonde locks, thick with mousse and hairspray, just as they were whipping around my face. Just then something caught my eye.
Out in the dark yard, behind the very large maple tree, I saw movement—a dark figure shifting as if to hide behind the tree. A peeping tom? Creepy. And you always think in the city you’ll see the weirdos, and there I was in a small town, blatantly staring at a man watching me. Maybe it was Josh. But wouldn’t he just say hi and be my Romeo to his Juliet?
I held my hair to my face as I tried to focus my eyes. But with so little light behind the shape, it was hard to see clearly. I lost it completely when it stopped moving. I squinted in disbelief as I looked at two red slits I could see glowing mid-trunk on the tree. I would have thought they were cat’s eyes, catching the light but they seemed much too large and far too high up the trunk of the tree. Not to mention, they were red.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought they belonged to the dark figure hiding amongst the tree trunk, but that had clearly been a man behind the tree spying on me. What man had red eyes?
I blinked several times, assuming it was a hallucination.
When the red eyes never left and the figure never moved from the tree, my stomach sank and my heart raced, but I didn’t move. I was frozen in fear, no—terror.
I blinked one more time and the red eyes were gone, but the unmoving figure remained. I forced myself to be like my mom, and I did the thing she always told me to do. I smiled and waved, shouting across the yard, “Goodnight.” I acted crazy, ‘cause no one messed with crazy people. My soft voice carried across the night air, “Have sweet dreams.”
I walked backwards, not taking my eyes from the trunk of the tree in case the dark figure ran at me and jumped onto the balcony. I turned quickly at the last second and burst into my room. I slammed the door and closed all of the curtains tightly.
I was hyperventilating and barely able to see straight as I climbed into my bed. I pushed away the thoughts of the red eyes and the dark figure. Instead, I forced myself to think about Josh but instantly my mind went for Briton.
Why couldn’t I just get him out of my mind? The guy was an ass.
Maybe I could just stop women from voting and encourage them to start making sandwiches again, to match my thinking about Briton all night
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