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I plaster on my best customer service smile as she approaches the counter.
“Hi there, welcome. How can we help today?” My voice is so saccharine sweet, it sounds foreign even to my own ears.
The cantankerous woman huffs, hand on her hips and foot tapping. “I’m looking for some books for James’ English class.” She slides a list over the counter. They’re all fairly traditional twelfth grade readings. “I downloaded them on his iPad, but the teacher is insisting he can’t bring that to school, for some reason.”
Her son James is eight years younger than me; the only memories I have of him are as a snotty toddler, back when I was still friends with Jenna, before the ’incident’ in seventh grade. That’s how Àvia used to refer to it, at least, and I’ve been calling it that ever since it happened, but the word feels too tight now. Like it can’t fit all my resentment around it.
Sara snatches the list and skims it. “We have all of these in the classics section,” she says, pointing to the farthest stack to the left.
Mrs Collins doesn’t move. “Esmeralda, would you mind finding these for me?”
Sara’s lips pucker. “No, she—”
“Oh come on. Don’t tell me there are ghosts hiding in the stacks?”
My fingers itch with the urge to slap her, but then she laughs, and I’m forcing an uncomfortable smile, like a sympathetic response. I catch myself in the act and school my expression into a scowl, though, because I don’t find the joke funny. I never have. And it’s time I stop acting like I do just to appease these small-minded people.
“No ghosts.” Tei’s voice coming from behind Mrs Collins makes my heart lurch. “Only monsters. At least today.”
That earns a genuine grin from me. If only that horrid woman knew my monster wasn’t joking.
Wait, mine?
Mrs Collins startles, whipping around, and Tei tips an imaginary hat in her direction. He stands casually, a hand draped in his pocket and a book tucked under his arm. It’s far too easy for me to imagine him with a crown nested between his — currently invisible — horns.
“Oh. You’re the newcomer. The one who moved into the villa on Carey Street? My daughter mentioned seeing you at her bar.”
Leave it to the old lady to know all of the town’s business, or to Jenna, for that matter, to still be a huge gossip. I’m surprised by neither development.Everything about Tei, from his looks to his attitude to the expensive house he purchased on a whim, screams ’out of your league.’ And that’s before even taking into account the fact that he’s not human.
“That would be me. Now, that house, it certainly has a ghost living in it,” Tei says.
This time, a full blown laugh escapes me. Mrs Collins looks between the two of us, as lost as I’ve felt a million times interacting with the likes of her. For once, it feels good to be on the other side of the joke.
Tei walks up to the register fully ignoring Mrs Collins, and she takes a step back, as if his mere presence commands space. He slides the book and a credit card to Sara.
Then, as if we didn’t have an audience at all, he asks me, “are you coming over tonight?”
The tingly kind of heat is back. “Do you… do you want me to?”
He leans over the counter, as if to make our conversation more private, but it’s obvious our audience is still listening.
“I always want you.” He pauses, letting the words land. I don’t know how our spectators took them, but with me, they definitely hit their desired target. “I’ll make dinner?”
I’m certain that’s a blatant lie, and even so, I can’t combat the butterflies taking flight in my stomach. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
Tei’s smile is dazzling — and this time, purely for me, as neither woman can see his face. It’s truly the final nail in my coffin. He leans over the counter to place a peck on my cheek, then grabs the book Sara bagged for him, and strolls out without another glance to Mrs Collins.
Next to me, Sara buzzes. I’ll suffer a thorough interrogation from her once we’re alone, but it’s worth enduring that just to witness the look on Mrs Collins’ face right now.
“Charming young man,” she says. From her tone, I can’t tell if she’s being sincere, or if she’s just struggling to formulate a better description. Tei is certainly charming; as far as the young man part… even the most clueless of humans has to realize, on a subconscious level, that he’s so much more than that. “How did you meet him?”
The smile spreading on my lips feels devious, luxuriating. It tastes like payback. Like freedom from the cage these people forced me in all those years ago. That Àvia forced me in, even if for my own good.
That I myself chose to stay in.
But no more.
My chin tips forward, defiant, as I answer, “at the cemetery. Lots of things go bump in the night, there. We were just two of them.”
