Knock it Down

“Whoa, whoa! Why are you yelling at me? How do you even know about this? Did that big mouth Quinn tell you?”

“Beryl–”

“And where do you get off yelling at me? I tried calling Quinn tons of times and I even went by your apartment! I can’t wait around for you two.”

“You need to get out of there, Beryl. Now–”

Too exhausted to bother arguing, I hung up on him. Eat that, you arrogant bastard! Yelling at me… pfft! Who does he think he is?

After I angrily shoved my cellphone back into my tiny shirt pocket, I apologized to Antony. He just smiled at me and nodded his head towards Valerie, who was fast asleep against him. How could she sleep after all that had just happened? She was quite a kid.

I followed him while he carried her back to her room, placing her in her bed. She really was cute, even if she was totally bizarre. It was at that moment I decided that hell or high water, this spook was going down. I had her number. She was in my sights. Chilly energy be damned!

“I apologize for what happened tonight. It got out of hand. This is the first truly violent attack we’ve had… aside from the stairs, of course. Are you sure you’re all right?”

I smiled, pulling on my coat, trying my best to ignore the pain in my arms and back, “Yeah, I’m good. Is it okay if I come by tomorrow night?”

“Whatever for?”

“Well, I’m gonna do my research and consult a couple of friends. Hopefully by tomorrow night I’ll be able to do more than just get thrown around like a ragdoll.”

“Er, you mean… you’re not giving up?”

“Hell no! It’ll take a lot more than some bitter spook to scare me off.”

He seemed relieved, “I can’t thank you enough… you’re the first person who hasn’t run away screaming.”

“This ghost is toast. Just gimme some time, okay?”

“All you need.”

“Great. Well, I’ll see ya tomorrow night, then.”

He nodded, escorting me out the door. I made it to the stairs before he called out to me, “I hope your boyfriend isn’t too worried.”

A wide grin overtook my lips and I wasn’t about to stop it. Was that a veiled attempt at acquiring my status of attachment? Oh, I am good! This one is totally in the bag, vampy voodoo or not.

Coming out of my daze, my grin turned from devious to goofy. Still, I think it was pretty effective when I said, “Don’t be silly–I don’t have a boyfriend.” And then walked off.

That’s right, Beryl! Reel’em in… but not too quickly. Gotta go for that whole ‘mysteriously available, but not easily obtained’ vibe!