Page 21 of Charmed, I'm Sure
After paying for my coffee, I hover by the collectionarea as I wait. My phone dings with another incoming text message. There is only one soul who would bother me this early in the day.
Dog Boy: Good Morning! Hope your coffee’s strong, your fox is well-behaved, and your hexes are aimed at someone else today.
P.S. But if you are hexing me, at least make me taller this time.
My thumb hovers over the response box. Each message pushes me closer and closer to giving in and responding. It’s so close, but then I remember that I don’t want to lead him on.
Clicking the screen back off, I just people-watch as I wait. All these happy couples with their broad smiles and affection makes me want to vomit. Why do people have to touch each other so much?
It’s sickening really. Can you not be around each other without subjecting all of us to the love fest?
Clarissa walks over with my coffee, the ice gently moving around in the cup. She backs away slowly as if I might hex her for existing. I mean, it’s possible. Depends on how this first sip tastes. If she got the order wrong…all bets are off.
The hot, cinnamon and apple flavor splashes along my tongue as the kick from the espresso zings into my system. Fine, she will go hex-free for now.
Pushing open the door, I stop mid-step as a tiny voice screams, “Watch it!”
One of the delivery squirrels is standing there with his canvas bag stuffed full of envelopes, a furry paw on his hip, and eyes that would kill me if they could. He’s probably related to the one I turned into a snail because he took so long to get my new spellbook to me. It’s not my fault he was moving at a snail’s pace so I thought he might as well be a snail.
Maybe…be faster…I don’t know what to tell you. My phone dings again in my pocket, the death march tune floating through the air. I can’t help the little smirk that comes across my face as I think about all the things that DogBoy could have sent this time.
Nyx pops into existence next to me as the smell of sugary cotton candy, sweat, and thrill fills the surrounding air. Ew.
“You’re smiling again because of him.”
“Am not. What was it this time? Carnival or fair?”
He snorts as he shakes his head. “Don’t change the topic. I see it with my two cold, beady black eyes. You were smiling.”
I shrug my shoulders and turn around the corner heading toward Curios & Curses. My little shop is in the back, where lighting is limited, and few people are brave enough to venture. Elora has often joked that it fits my personality, all dark and gloom. I tend to think that only the right souls will come this far in and they are ripe for the picking if you ask me.
This part of town is full of bright, happy shops. I mean, look, the Apple & Ash General Store literally has shiny, red apples in one of those picturesque wooden crates right out front. People are mingling in front of the shop as if it isn’t a grocery store. A few doors down is The Hex Appeal Salon that is known for making you look however you want to look. Blonde hair? Check. Pouty, red lips? Check.
My lip sneers when I see another person coming out of the salon. I can practically taste the magic used to give her that appearance. It’s floating around her like a cloud of magical dust.
I pick up the pace, hoping to bypass everyone and make it to the side of town that is far darker and far more my speed. The back street is where my shop is, which is known for curses, hexes, and any little trinket you need to dabble in the dark magic. You need bones for scrying? I’ve got just about every species you could imagine.
The only other shops back here are run by people like me. Take, for example, Tooth & Talon Ink. As you have probably gathered, it’s a tattoo salon, and they also offer piercings. While I’ve not been brave enough to get one of my own, I have gone so far as to hang out with the tattoo artstis when I close the shop, but don’t quite want to go home yet.
I’m just rounding the corner from the bright side of town when I’m hit from behind and someone wraps their hairy, meaty arms around me. It only takes a second for his smell to gather in my nose and I know immediately who it is. Dog Boy.
My body locks up like he just poured ice water down my spine. I can literally feel my muscles seizing up.
No. Nope. Absolutely not.
His arms are warm, surprisingly soft yet solid, and annoyingly comfortable. The exact type of embrace that would trick someone into believing that the world isn’t a shit hole.
“Dog Boy,” I manage through gritted teeth. “You’ve got two seconds to let go of me before I hex you to be three feet tall.”
He laughs—actually fucking laughs—like I’m joking.
Spinning around, ready to give him a piece of my mind, I realize that all I’ve done is turn in his embrace. He didn’t let go like I thought he would, nor did he loosen his hold. If anything, it feels like I’m closer to him now.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he says in a sultry voice, not that I would know what that is, but still.
“This isn’t a good morning. This is assault.”
His grip loosens just a smidge, and I lean back to glare at him. He’s…he’s smiling, all crinkled eyes and dimples. He smiles at me as if this hug fulfilled every dream of his today.Ugh…he’s going to be a touchy person.