Shadow

07

Fluke was feeling so familiar with the Precinct's surroundings that he walked into Ohm's office without even thinking about knocking on the door. To his utter surprise, a woman with long wavy hair was leaning over the detective's desk and had a wide smile on her lips. The two seemed to be talking animatedly, but something sparked inside Fluke, making him feel his face burn with embarrassment.

As the young man watched the scene, torn between announcing his presence to the couple or simply leaving without being noticed, the office owner found him standing at the door and invited him in.

"Hey, Fluke! Glad to–", Ohm started to say, but didn't have time to finish because as soon as Fluke had walked into his office, he'd also left with a simple "Forgot to do something, I'll be back later." , without even giving the other a chance to say anything.

"What the hell?", Ohm muttered to himself, but shrugged his worries off and went back to the conversation with the woman. He would have time to talk to the boy later.

After her meeting with Ohm, the young woman went to the Police Department kitchen to have a coffee, but when she got there, she found the room empty except for Fluke sitting on the couch alone.

The young woman had noticed that the boy was starting to gather his belongings from the table next to the sofa, when she hurried to sit next to him, repeating the same wide smile he had seen on her face when she was talking to Ohm, the memory bringing a bitter taste to the back of his throat.

"Hey can I keep you company?", she said taking a sip from the cup of coffee she had in her hand.

Fluke cast a quick glance in the woman's direction and said softly. "If I were you, I wouldn't drink this coffee."

To the boy's surprise, the small kitchen was filled with the roaring laughter of his company. "Oh, don't worry, I'm used to things here!!", she said, taking another sip after regaining her calm.

As Fluke remained quiet and almost fell off the couch to keep as much distance from the girl as possible, she decided to take the first step:

"By the way, we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves, I'm Samantha Coates, the interpreter the Precinct always calls when they need help on a case!", she said, offering her hand in Fluke's direction.

"Oh, I remember you! I talked to you on the phone about the case we're investigating now.", Fluke replied without greeting Samantha, who decided to withdraw her hand in a gesture that was supposed to have a comical effect.

"Yes, exactly!". She laughed once more until her voice was lost in the middle of the room, the silence stretching out once more between them.

"Well I have to go now!", Fluke said getting up from the couch.

"Oh, ok! See you around!", the girl waved in his direction.

"Oh, before you go, let me inform you: getting the coffee is fine, but you should know that other things have an owner, ok?", Fluke smiled with his brightest smile, but Samantha felt like she was in the middle of Antarctica.

Soon after, the boy left the kitchen to do his job.

"Hey, Sammy!", Boun walked into the kitchen right away, but without receiving an answer from the woman sitting there with her cup of coffee, he decided to wave his hand in front of her trying to get her attention. "Sammy? Sammy~! Hey, Samantha!"

"Oh, hi! Boun! Sorry!", she replied finally snapping out of the trance she was in.

"What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost!", he teased his longtime friend.

"On the contrary, my friend! It was someone very real! So much so that it made me shiver!", Samantha replied rubbing her arms trying to get some heat to warm her body. She hadn't spoken to Fluke long, but what little she'd noticed of her first impression of him was quite different from all the compliments Ohm had given him just moments before. The detective had described the unit's new member as "a ray of sunshine", to which Samantha accused her friend of being hopelessly in love to make such a comparison. But after interacting with the boy in person, she felt he looked much more like an ice bucket in the middle of freezing rain.