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‘Yes, Ferris Ayers. I’ll probably get to that later, but now to answer your question. You’re here to keep me company through the night, and yet, I don’t even know your name.’ I was avoiding useless explanations, at least on the firstdate.
‘Bea.’
‘I like that... Bea.’ Her name seemed to have rolled on my lips, spreading its sweet scent to the deepest corners of my mind. ‘You see, I can’t usually sleep before dawn, and I don’t really enjoy being alone.’ I felt I owed her a small explanation so she could better understand my madness. ‘I have a butler, Alfred, who usually keeps me company, but once in a while, he has to go out of town.’
‘Alfred!?’ She chuckled, and I knew exactly why.
‘His real name is Halifaster. Can’t go around calling people like that. Can’t help it if I like Batman. Even if at the end of the day I think I may be the Joker.’ In the end, I was as fucked-up as he was. ‘Should I have called him Igor?’
‘Don’t tell me you’re hiding a pair of fangs.’ She seemed amused.
Although a pair of fangs was a much better alternative to what really hid inside me. ‘No, a pair of fangs is one of the few things that I don’t hide.’
‘I won’t try to pry, I promise,’ she was trying to assure me of the impossible. She would ask sooner or later. They all do.
‘Don’t make promises that you can’t keep.’
‘Cocky much!?’
‘More like damaged goods.’ Severely damaged in my case.
‘We all are damaged goods one way or another, Mr. Ayers.’
‘Mr. Ayers!? Really? In the hour you’ve been around, I think you have seen all shades of me. I would say it’s ok to call me Ferris.’ Formalities didn’t suit the roles we were playing that night.
‘Ok,’ she took a small pause. ‘This room is the most amazing place I’ve seen.’
‘For a second there, I thought you were about to say that about me,’ I laughed, loosening up in an attempt to still my demons. ‘Seriously now, it was made at my specific request. I needed a place where I could feel my best, especially since I don’t usually leave the house.’
‘You don’t? How come?’
‘Just not a fan of the outside world.’ Or of people, if we were on the subject. ‘Besides, I only need a laptop to control everything around me.’
‘You can’t control everything.’
‘Maybe not me, but my money can. I just sign a cheque, and things get solved.’ That’s the way my world functions, I order and everyone else obeys — except I couldn’t order their hearts.
My words seemed to have upset her. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, trying to get inside her mind.
‘Nothing regarding this night.’ Bea seemed to have been carrying secrets of her own.
‘I have time. Try me.’
‘You have enough burdens of your own. I can’t now.’
‘Ok, ok... I didn’t want to upset you, although it seems I’m best at this job.’ I wasn’t going to push any limits, especially since I knew best what it feels like to be cornered.
‘On the contrary.’ She was just trying to be nice.
‘Don’t tell me that you discovered the bundle of joy secretly hiding inside of me,’ I laughed, knowing that she was just trying not to make me feel bad for asking.
‘At least I got you to laugh.’
‘Yes indeed,’ I chuckled. She was right, I did laugh. It’s been a while since I did that. ‘So, tell me about you. What gets to you? What makesyousmile?’
‘Not that many things make me smile lately.’
‘Maybe I could try and change that.’ I did have the means to make anyone smile... Anyone except me, but surprisingly Bea seemed to do that job.
