So Different

This evening’s chat with Ric was more the norm, thank God. We joked and laughed and talked about the Braves before he told me all about his day and I told him about mine, without mentioning the baseball cards as I wanted that to be a surprise. He loved hearing about my dinner, Ric was a fanatic when it came to his favorite food, and I promised to take him to The Post for burgers if he ever ended up visiting. I knew he would never come here and I think deep down he knew it too but it was a harmless fantasy that we could talk about. Wandering up and down the streets and alleys of Halcyon I keep him talking for the better part of an hour, knowing that Mom could use the break, before he eventually petered out and ended it with his signature ‘Yep’. This time I didn’t get to talk to Mom as he hangs up right away, but that meant I didn’t get to talk to Dad either so I considered it coming out even. I stop and note the darkening sky as I get my bearings then turn and head back toward the highway.

Later that night I am nursing a beer while leaned back in one of the sturdy wooden chairs inside The Hitching Post with my feet up on the chair across the table from me. I stare at the baseball highlights on the screen in the corner as the local mechanic and butcher play a game of 8-ball just below the television. Something amused me about THE mechanic and THE butcher having a game on THE only public pool table in town. Much like the businesses I’d noted earlier, this town had exactly one of everything. Technically I had dibs to play the winner though they could play all night as much as I cared. The warming beer, the highlights, the clack of the balls, all of it faded to the background as the feeling of that firm grip on my hips and that split-second moment where I was pinned to the dresser continued to surface in my memory, unbidden but not unwelcome. For a gal who was so prickly and standoffish she certainly knew how to take control of a situation, or a man, when she wanted to. Not just physically either. The way she had ‘scolded’ me for interrupting her without raising her voice with a single razor sharp question, letting me know she would suffer no foolishness, was just…nngh! Combined with that thick, voluptuous figure of hers and that tight bun she wore today she was total ‘Mommy’ material. I knew from experience that this was just my own overactive imagination seeing things that weren’t really there but boy it was fun to fantasize.

My fascination went deeper than just my own weird kinks. Mei was so…different! On the surface she seemed an insufferable snob but first impressions were deceiving. There were moments sprinkled through our interaction that sparkled like little gems. The way she thanked me for not spreading gossip about her, the way her mood ever so subtly warmed when she found out I wanted the cards for somebody else, and, in a weird way, even how she tried to warn me off of settling down here before the town got its hooks into me. This ‘ice queen’ had a heart. Terry had described as ‘not mean, just real shy and quiet’ but that didn’t sum her up. He was right about her not being mean-spirited, even in her sarcasm there was no malice, but shy she definitely was not. It was more that she only spoke if she actually had something to say, unlike my own blabbermouth self who sometimes jabbered just to fill the silence. For somebody that needed constant distraction to drown out the voices in his own head I admired her repose.

As I reflect on those few minutes with her I am once again struck by her courage. As an overly rambunctious young buck who stood just over six foot tall there was a certain level of unspoken and unconscious caution I expected when interacting with a woman who didn’t know me while in a private location like that. Not that I was treated like some violent pervert, far from it, but there was a totally understandable element of mild caution as the woman ascertained whether I was safe or not. There was none of that with Mei. She’d looked me with the same fearless steel in her countenance as when she’d been holding me at gunpoint. But who knows, maybe she’d been packing a cannon beneath that apron of hers the whole time.

Thoughts of her apron quickly turned to that wild dress she had on. She looked like some turn of the century funeral director in that long black dress but DAMN if it didn’t deepen the blacks of her eyes and raven gloss of her hair. I’d met some girls in my time with odd fashion sense but usually I could sense that their style was chosen to elicit a reaction or was a cry for attention. Not so with Mei, at least from what I could tell. She didn’t seem to care a whit whether I liked, disliked or even acknowledged her attire. She simply…inhabited it. It wasn’t a cry for attention, it was an expression. I had met SO many people over the years who went on and on about how they ‘just didn’t give a damn’ about what other people thought of them. More often than not the loudest of these people were the ones that conformed the most. It was exceedingly rare to meet somebody who actually didn’t give a damn. She was so…fucking…COOL! GAH!

I shake my head and laugh at myself. What was it about this particular girl? I’d worried that if I ever met the mystery woman again all the alluring mystique would have evaporated. Yet I found myself more distracted by her than ever. She was different, so different, in ways I’d only begun to fathom.

It was a shame that Mei and I’s first encounter in the real world had turned out the way it had but I had every confidence I’d smooth that out in no time at all once I had a chance to talk to her again. Well…not EVERY confidence. That girl seemed impervious to my usual charms. Normally that would have been a deal-breaker for me but for some reason, with her, it only fascinated me further. Terry had called her the insolvable Rubik’s Cube, a hopeless cause, yet against the odds my mind was already turning pieces. Halcyon wasn’t simply a stop along my journey. It had become a project. My first at bat had been a swing and a miss but we were still in the early innings and I had nowhere else to be right now.

“Thought I might find you here, D.” Comes a familiar flirty voice from behind me and a moment later there are fingers teasing my hair and a kiss pressing into my cheek. “Buy a girl a drink?”

“I owe you one.” I say, pulling my feet off the chair and sitting up taller. Cassidy sits across from me as I wave the waitress over.

“Five, but whose counting.” She quips then reaches across the table, the tips of her fingers playing across the tips of mine. My gaze follows her slender arm up to her shoulders and across the tempting shape of her braless tits and poking nips through her shirt. I’d seen those breasts just last night, I’d sucked on the delectable little morsels, but damned if I could remember the details. My night with Cassidy was already blurring with the memories of the dozen ladies before her. Did she have a mole on her left tit or was that Denise? Leaning back to give me a better view she says. “Saw you wandering around town earlier. I wondered if you had gotten lost.”

“Getting lost can’t be easy in Halcyon.”

“It would take some effort.” She chuckles as she takes her beer from the waitress, who had known her order without even being told. “Saw you talking on the phone, laughin and smilin. Got a girl back in Georgia or something?” Holding my gaze she takes a long sip.

My brow rises just a smidge as I recognized the question for what it was. “My brother actually.”

“Ah.” Beneath the table a suddenly bare foot begin to rub up and down my calf. Last night I’d leaned my leg into that touch, tonight I sit still. Cas picks up on the change right away and pulls back. Her eyes narrow slightly as she takes a sip of her beer. “So when you coming down to the salon? Or am I gonna have to hog-tie you and drag you down there to trim that shaggy mess.”

“Don’t you dare threaten me with a good time, hot stuff.” I jest, already knowing that Cassidy wouldn’t be hog-tying anybody despite her big talk.

She laughs and the foot returns to tickle my bare ankle. “So what did you get up to in our fair town?”

“I was just exploring my new home.” I say, taking a healthy swig of my warm brew. “Good to get the lay of the land.”

“Home?” Her eyes brighten. “We could use some new blood around here.”

“Heh. Yeah.” I say, picking at the label of my bottle. The butcher sinks the 8 ball and looks my way. I give him a wave to indicate I’d pass. The pair start racking up for a new game. “It’s a nice little town. It’s got everything a guy could need.” After a pause I add. “Found the wildest little antique shop at the far end of town. Like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“Pff!” She scoffs. “Mei’s place? Wild is one word you could use.”

“I think it was called Raymond’s, actually.”

“Yeah, Ray still technically owns it but his weirdo granddaughter runs it for him now.”

At the word ‘weirdo’ my eyes flit up from the label to meet hers. “Oh?”

“You’d know if you saw her, trust me.”

“There was a woman inside who helped me out. In a really fancy dress.”

“Chinese?”

“Her accent sounded local.”

Cassidy rolls her eyes. “Very funny. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I met her.”

Taking my hand she turns it over to look at my palm. “And you got out of there without frostbite? Lucky you.”

I bristle but say nothing at the offhanded insults. “She seemed nice enough.”

“You’re new here. You’ll see.” She shrugs and takes another drink. “Every town needs an eccentric I guess.”

“Sounds like you don’t like her that much.” I say, trying to sound casual while also probing for intel. “Is she really that weird?”

“You have no idea.” She slides her chair closer, lowering her voice so it didn’t carry. “She’s a total loner. Wears those crazy clothes. Drives around in her Grandpa’s old bug. Keeps to herself. Thinks she’s better than everybody. If she’s got any real friends other than Marigold I’ve never heard of them.” Glancing left and right she leans even closer. “Back in school she didn’t take part in any of the activities. Always got a parent’s note to skip gym even though there was nothing wrong with her. She wouldn’t even go the bathroom! She’d always run home. Scared we might find out that her shit stinks as much as the rest of ours.”

“Marigold.” I mutter, committing the name to memory.

“The other town kook.” She says. “Those two deserve each other. I don’t know why Mei couldn’t be like her sister Grace. Talk about night and day! Just goes to show you genetics is only half the story.”

“Total opposites, huh?”

“You can say that again.”

“Siblings can be like that.”

“Some. But I bet your brother is as cute as you are.”

“You have no idea.” I say softly. “Ric’s the man. The man of the hour. Tower of power. Too sweet to be sour.”

“Heh!” Her fingers walk up my arm. “Enough about hunky brothers and local oddballs. If you’re so interested in antiques I got a reeeeal nice old sofa you could come over and check out.” With twinkling eyes she adds. “It’s still got lots of…spring left in it.”

I think about it…and think about it some more. Another roll in the hay was damned tempting and sex was always tough to turn down. But her asking about whether I had a girlfriend and her interest in me calling this place home had sent up some warning flags. Plus it just didn’t feel right tonight. The way she’d talked about Mei had soured my good mood. And, amazingly, for the first time in a long time, I just wasn’t in the mood. The playing with my hair, the kiss, the tits through her shirt, the footsie and the fingers along my arm…and not a twitch. My gut and my dick were both telling me to take a pass.

Taking her hand I kiss it then gently but firmly push it back her way. “I’ll take a rain check, Cas.” I finish the dregs of my beer. “Another time?”

“Sure.” She says, leaning back again. “I’ll hold you to that, D.”