Pretty Young Thing

chapter two

            Vincentia laughed, her hand slamming against the table. Isaac might have been right about the tables, but that was before we sat down. Now was a completely different story. I swear it was the loudest spot in the entire bar.

Grabbing my glass, I gestured to her. She sent me a nod with a smile and turned back to the group that had gathered around us.

That tended to happen when Vincentia Risueno decided to go out. Groups gathered to hear her speak; to speak about anything really. She had a way with words. Something I'd always envied about her, but loved about her all the same. She had this ability to make people hang on her every word.

She could captivate you with a single sentence. She just had to give you one glance and a smile. Like a black widow, devouring her prey after mating and not a soul was safe. A real-life superpower if you will.

I, on the other hand, was not blessed with such a gift. No. I was cursed for eternity with the innate ability to stop talking when things went south. I like to consider it more or less word vomit and heaven help my poor victims.

I made my way back to the bar, my shoulders relaxing the farther I got from all the noise. After I placed my glass on the wooden bar, I practically fell onto the stool.

"How does someone go from laughing and smiling to looking so exhausted with a matter of seconds?"

I turned at the question and came face to face with the man from before. The one with foxes on his socks. He was still there. Sitting on the same exact stool, swirling the drink in his glass. Whether or not it was the same one as before, I might never know.

I leaned away from him. Glancing passed him, I could clearly see into the booth that Vincentia and I were at. A shiver ran down my spine in that moment. Turning my attention back to the man, my heart rate picked up.

"Were you watching me?"

He chuckled, "It probably sounds really creepy if I say yes, doesn't it?"

I pursed my lips for a moment as I pretended to think, but then I smiled, "Just a little bit, yeah."

"Then I definitely was not trying to catch your eye while thinking of the multitude of things I could possibly say to start a conversation with you that wouldn't come off as completely asinine."

I laughed, "Well, I mean, you did it."

He smiled, his nose scrunching the tiniest bit and he shook his head, "Did I?" He laughed then, rocking back on his stool, "Because if I'm being honest with you, it felt incredibly asinine on my end."

"No, it just needs—" I looked from hi to the bar and back again before laughing, "I'm sorry. I just—Who uses the word asinine that much?"

"Oh," his eyes widened and his gaze snapped to his drink, "I guess, um—"