Flat Tire (Complete)

Flat Tire

It really was a rookie mistake. I had willingly let the stranger into my house to make a quick phone call. Her car had broken down outside my house after all and it felt like the right thing to do at the time.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience!" the young woman said, her face flushed with embarrassment as she shied away from my interested gaze. "I appreciate it very much!"

I turned my head and gaze her a small smile.

"It's no problem really, although I have to ask. What's a city girl like you doing all the way out here at dusk?" I hummed as I led her to my front door and unlocked it for her.

The woman sighed and brushed a strand of her long, chocolate hair out of her face.

"Oh, just trying to make my way back to town. I work in the next town over at an elementary school!" the young woman said, with a bit more pep in her step as she boldly entered my house.

She politely took off her shoes upon my request and she even hung up her coat on the coat rack. I smiled and nodded, glancing over her as I slipped off my own sneakers and placed them on the shoe rack. The woman was in her mid-twenties to early thirties, and her eyes were big and doe like. They shone like a turquoise sea, and they gleamed with the relief of being out of the bitter evening.

"Do you mind if I make you dinner?" the woman asked bravely after she had made her call to her boyfriend.

I frowned and looked up at her. While she had made her call, I had taken a seat in my favorite armchair, a half read, romance novel was sitting comfortably in the palm of my hands.

"Make me dinner? Why would you want to do that? You're the guest after all," I said, again with my small, shy smile on my lips.

The young woman hummed and suddenly looked sheepish.

"Yeah, I guess that's an awkward thing to ask but you invited me into your home and allowed me to use your phone! And, not to mention that I ruined your grass when pulling over," the woman said as her embarrassment grew.

I scoffed gently and waved her off.

"Oh please! The grass can grow back and even though there's few houses on this road, the people always fly up and down during the day and night. I didn't want you to get hit and do further damage to your car. However, if you insist on making dinner, I'll let you. Just don't go telling anyone I'm a bad host," I joked as I folded my bookmark in between the creases of the pages.

I shut my book and set it down on the coffee table before leading the young woman to my kitchen.

It was small just like the rest of my house. I was single after all, and I didn't need much space. I didn't have any family or pets, it was just me, the wild, and the ever-faithful silence.

"I love your kitchen! It's adorable!" the woman gushed as I showed her around, letting her know where everything was.

I chuckled and shook my head.

"It's old and I haven't had time to remodel but oh well. It works for just me living here," I said as I grabbed her a pot and filled it halfway with water.

"You live here by yourself?" the woman asked.

I nodded and eyed the woman over once more from the corner of my eye. She looked very familiar for some reason. The woman pulled out a box of pasta and gently opened it up. She grabbed a bowl and placed it down on the marble countertop beside her. I watched as she broke some of the raw pasta up into smaller, more manageable pieces.