For a second or two, I thought she wouldn’t come and just bail on having to sit in a vehicle with me for 15 minutes.
Then the door opened and a beaming, rosy-cheeked autumn fairy entered my car.
Her hair fell in curls around her face and she wore that tight orange jumper again that kept cropping up in my rather telling dreams.
“Good morning, Ross.” Autumn’s smile warmed me from the crown of my head to the sole of my hooves.
“Good morning, Autumn.”
I smiled back, careful not to be too intense, although maybe I should have been because that was when she kissed me, after all.
“I...Did ye have a nice evening?” she asked, clearly clutching at straws.
“Yes, thank you, I did. What about you?”
“Oh, I, yeah, it was good.” Autumn bit her lip.
My spirits soared and, for a moment, I considered leaning over the middle console and kissing her again.
Gods, I wanted to. But then the moment passed and I steered us away from the curb and in the direction of the city centre.
I didn’t know why I felt so shy in her presence all of a sudden. Autumn had always unsettled me and made me nervous, but nowhere near what she did to me after that kiss. I wanted to say more, but I didn’t even know how.
“Do you have any plans for next weekend already?” she asked by the time we drove past the Silverlight Theatre to get as close to Scales & Steam as possible.
Is it normal to ask about someone’s weekend plans on a Monday? Gods, why are social interactions so hard?
“Oh, no, not really. What about you?” I didn’t have any friends. I’d only ever had acquaintances at work, and once I’d quit the contact had tapered off. One or two had tried to keep in touch while I’d been at the clinic but building my business had taken over everything. I’d spend the weekend alone, reminiscing about our kisses.
“Ah, there is a pumpkin patch outing. All of us will go, you know, Taran and Maeve, and we’ll meet up with Bee and Kjartanthere. And Stella, of course. She’s also going to come along and we can bring guests,” she stammered.
“That sounds nice,” I said.
Why is she telling me this?
Autumn’s eyes pierced me as if she was trying to convey an idea to me without speaking.
“I hope you enjoy it,” I added.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s gonna be great.”
I shrugged and then her face fell.
What the hell am I supposed to do? Does she want me to kiss her again? Is that why she’s disappointed?
Because she clearly was fucking disappointed with me.
“Alright, have a great day. I’ll see you tomorrow at five.” I tried for a smile. She had Friday off, so I’d have to go three days without seeing her. I already hated the weekend more than I usually did. Autumn gave me a half-hearted half-smile back.
What the hell did I do wrong?
Two hours later I stopped after the first batch of coffee of the day to have a sandwich and a bag of Singed Lime, my emotional support crisps. I was starving and had my phone next to me to read some new posts in my favourite online magazine, Grind Culture.
I’d just finished the bag of crisps when my phone chimed with a message from Autumn.
Autumn: Hi Ross, the annual autumn feast at the pumpkin farm is on Saturday
She told me this in person earlier. Why is she telling me again?
