A Rose to Change a Life

#4 Devin: Teasings

Bumping into her on purpose as another form of greeting was the best idea I've had in a long time, seriously. At first, it was not my intent, but seeing Elva and Elise striding out of the pool area, out of the thankful shadows of a tree, giggling like two little girls, I could not NOT envelop her in a hug. Knowing me and knowing her I knew it would not have happened if I had not taken the subliminal offensive. I would do it again anytime, simply to feel her curvy body pressed against me, making me wish we were more than acquaintances with the occasional date thrown in. Not even her hitting me made me moody, it was just her way to react to my charme – needless to say that I DID notice her lingering longer than her thoughts took to catch up, she was a smart girl indeed. She almost pouted then, calling me an idiot, which made me crack up with laughter like a maniac. I was glad Elise joined in, otherwise, I might have looked I like I was laughing at her. Which I kind of was and was not at the same time, know what I mean? Gah.. It was complicated.

I was glad when Elise left, leaving us alone, I could finally show her why I asked her out now. She was smitten by the place I picked for our picnic, blown away by the lovely nature, leaving her uh-ing and aww-ing. 

I led her to an open space, spreading everything out, daring her to help me – every time she did I would snap at her fingers, she was fidgety and could not leave it all enough alone. The sight of the strawberries led her to false conclusions, which I immediately deflattenend, even though I HAD thought a second about it, but I pledged it to be overkill. Her presence was comforting, which is why I did not mind at all to tell her the story about my dad, he was after all the guy who introduced me to the world of fumes and tires. Normally any other girl would have been bored out of her mind by my story, but I saw the way her eyes were fastened on every word which came out of my mouth – confirming it when she punched me in the arm. Again. What was it with her and punching me? Not that I minded much, though a kiss would have been a better alternative. It was one of my favourites about her, she did not care what others thought about her, not even me, and her lousy attempts to counter my teasings – which I had enough time to practise with my brother – were just cute. Come on, the sandwiches were glorious. I wonder if she had killed me if she found out that I had picked them up at a sandwich bar on my way over....

My innuendoes were simply said to get under her skin, like the 'serving strawberries deliciously" did – I had to admit, it was a good idea on her part to literally 'plug my mouth" with a strawberry. Might be the new woman self-defense ad: Have some men waiting to suck the life out of you? Staring at your lips the whole time? Yes? Then simply pluck their mouths with a strawberry and eat the whipping cream yourself."

Of course I did get back to her for that, I was not called Mr.Tease for nothing. (I called myself that in my head. Pathetic, but hey, whatever worked.) Tickling her seemed like a good revenge, until the moment she went all Karate Kid on me, which I found rather odd. It was the second time it had happened and I knew for a fact that it was not a coincidence, a ticking of her muscle, or to show-off her self-defense skills. I tried to look over it, continuing telling her things she wanted to know about it, I did not mind, she would open up to me when she was ready, but when I had pulled her into me on our way back because the weather had grown colder the later it got, I found out more about her. Way more.  

I had never seen somebody freak the way she did, flaying her arms, screaming and scratching herself. It looked like a person who had an overdose including hallucinations. I willed my body to help her, my mind was more confused that before, she was turning into a puzzle the longer I spent time with her, she did not even notice that she hit me square in the jaw. I was a tough guy, I could handle it, but it hurt to see her like this, despite us knowing each other for a short period of time only. My legs were already moving when Elva wrestled out of my arms, I thought she was crazy when she sprinted towards the lake – yes the one where all the nude bathers were twirling around how God made them – thankfully I caught her before she went in deeper than her knees, pulling her into my lap and trying to talk her down from her freak-out.

When she started to cry I was more than surprised, never had I guessed her to be a girl who shed tears easily, though neither did I peg her for someone who had a dark secret hidden inside herself, her mood was way too happy for that – well, looks could be deceiving, I guess. I was talking from experience, which is why I did not look at her with pity, or any other of those emotions, no, I gave her a look of silent comfort and understanding. If she knew how I had cried when my grandfather hit me for the first time, or when I could not take the stares from my classmates anymore, spending my lunch break in a stall in the boys bathroom crying my eyes out. Over the years I learned that tears could be something relieving, not something oppressing or embarrassing like most men believed nowadays. If you could not be man enough to show what you were feeling, then you should not call yourself a man. Period.

She calmed down after a while and I was ready to take her home, it was an exhausting day today and I still had to pick up Kean. Or rather stay with him at the house, he might be seventeen already, but he was incapable of taking care for himself, if I did not feed him he would look like Christian Bale in The Machinist, all bones and skin, ugly. Elva had this vibe to distract me of all my family problems and focus solemnly on me and her.
I noticed I didn't even have her address, which she found funny enough to laugh about, that girl perfectioned gall humor like a pro – almost having a nuclear-mental- breakdown and switching to a cackling hyena in the next. Authentic at least and that was rare these days. Just look at the solarium- tanned-make-up-blow-up- girls in shorts too short for the human eye to bear, scrambling after the attention of stickfigures with no respect for woman just to fit in. Yeah, that was what I called genuine rendition, riiiiiiight.  

I could not simply let her walk into her current residence all alone, that would have been wrong and totally not my style. I might have a cheeky mouth sometimes – okay, more often than not – but chivalry was not dead in my book.
Elise was worried the moment we set foot into the door, her eyes sparkled with unspoken worry, I could see why Elva loved her as much. Elva did make up a lie, which I did not like at all, but it was not my place to tell, so I only raised an eyebrow and looked at her with my best 'you-should-tell-her-face'
Elva then invited me into her room, where she almost apologized for her earlier freakout. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she felt guilty and ashamed of it, but what should she be ashamed of? Having a past? Having a past, which was catching up with her? Showing the softer part of herself? I would not tell her, but the situation in the park made me even more intrigued to trust her and find more out about her all at once. It might make me look like a creep, which was why I sustained from saying it. Yet. Pushing her into the direction of the shower was hard, because I kind of like the image of a soaking Elva, not caring that her shoes made squishing noises on the floor, or if her shirt stuck to her lower back – it was even harder to not pull her towards me in her short bathing robe, which was honest to God red again, she looked darn good in it. I did notice her, I mean who would not look at a 5'8" woman with short white hair wearing clothes which made it barely possible to catch a glimpse of what lay underneath it all? What? I was still a guy with functioning body parts. 

I fiddled with my phone, knowing that I had to leave right now or otherwise Kean was stuck somewhere he didn't want to be alone at. I was afraid he'd get punched again. I was almost at the front door when I heard her blurt the words, "I don't want you to go.", stopping me dead in the tracks. She would feel rejected if I left, so I told her the truth, that my brother needed me and that I was sorry to leave. I practically saw her effort of forming a fake half-smile, I studied her face often enough to differentiate between them....