What's His Deal? - Hunter x OC

Chapter Five - Reading With Goldie Is Super Fun! Not.

We sat down at the table, and I opened up the book to page one. 

"Just warning you, I read fast. I'm not waiting for you because you owe me for doing this."

"Alright, hurry up and start then." Goldie says impatiently.

I fall silent, and I start to read. The only sound that can be heard was the turning of the pages, and the occasional reaction to different parts of the passages.

Confession time: I've never done this type of thing before, even with close friends. If we were to read a book together, we would each have a separate copy and read it, but not share a book. It was strange to sometimes feel the brush of Goldie's arm against mine. To be exact, it was uncomfortable, but I had to push through it in order to get the inevitable favor he'll owe me after this.

After some time has passed, I checked my watch. 5:27 pm. It had been two hours since I arrived at the castle, and I'm assuming I'll be here for another hour or two if my mom hasn't arrived home yet.  I was getting slightly bored of the book, wanting to take a break and do something else.

I nudged Goldie's arm. "Hey, Goldie, I'm bored. I want to do something else now."

"What??" He exclaimed. "It's only been 30 minutes-"
"It's been about two hours."
"WHAT."

He grabs my wrist to check the time, and sure enough, it's been 2 hours. I'm not sure how he even knew that I had a watch.

"How did we get so immersed in the book? Was I needed for anything? Emperor Belos will be upset if I was needed and I wasn't there-" Goldie started to stammer.

"Hey, you're going to be fine." I try to comfort him. "If no one came looking for you, you probably weren't needed."

That came out harsher than I intended. I've never seen him this anxious before. Granted, this is my second time talking to him so I haven't seen fully what kind of person he is yet.

"Are there any places that might calm you down?" I ask. "And could also possibly entertain me?"

 "Well, I know one place."

He stands up, and gestures for me to follow. I pick up my belongings, and head out the door with him.

He leads me through several hallways, until we reached two huge doors. 

"Welcome to the Emperors Garden." He says, unlocking the door with his staff.

I stood in shock for the third time today. 

There were plants everywhere, growing in abundant amounts. Colorful flowers of every variation, cleanly-shaped bushes, patches of healthy, tended to grass, and even more endless vegetation I couldn't name. The garden seemed to be in one huge greenhouse, putting the greenhouse at Hexside to shame.

Long green vines covered some of the walls, making it seem like you weren't even indoors. The sunset shone through the windows, making the light a pinkish yellow. 

"Wow..." I whisper, seeing something new every time I moved my head.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" I hear Goldie say. "I come here sometimes, just to think, or destress."
"I-, I'm at a loss for words."

I started to walk around, examining the the exotic plants that couldn't have possibly come from this area of the Boiling Isles. 

"I'm not part of the Plant track, but this is amazing." I marvel.

"That's the Emperors Coven for you. Are you entertained now?" Goldie teased.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved off.

One plant caught my eye. A plant that resembled a mouth, opened wide, waiting for prey.

"A Venus flytrap." I say in awe. "It takes 5-12 days for it to digest its food. They can grow up to 5 inches in diameter, and need high humidity and lots of sunlight to flourish..."

"Are you sure you aren't in the Plant track?" Goldie suddenly appears behind me. 

I flinched. "Ah, didn't see you there. Forgot you were here with me for a second."

"For someone who seems quite tough, you scare pretty easily." Goldie analyzed.
"Scare easily? Whaaat? Says who?-" I sweat.

When I turned around, he had disappeared.

"Very funny Goldie, you can come out now." I called out. "Hiding that quickly is impressive, but you don't have to prove a point here!"

Silence.

"Fine then." I say aloud. "I guess I'll be here all by myself, with absolutely no supervision..."

I sit down at a nearby bench, swing my legs back and forth. It's only a matter of time until he comes out, he can't last forever.

I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

This is getting boring. I pulled out my scroll, and checked Penstagram. 

"Huh, there's some new strats for flyer derby..." I mutter, scrolling through various posts.

Suddenly, a pair of hands grab my shoulders, and a slightly annoying voice yells "BOO!"

I flinch hard, and quickly stand up. "Goldie?!-"

"Got ya" he starts to laugh. I could hear  the smile on his face.

I felt my face turn red. "That isn't-. You can't-" I sputter.

"How's that for entertaining..." Goldie stops. "Hold on, I've never learned your name. What is your name, Ms. Jumpy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." I retort, still embarrassed. "Besides, I haven't learned your name either Goldie."

"We aren't doing a name trade if that's what you're implying." Goldie sighed. "I can simply look you up in our records if you still refuse to give me your name. Tell me now or I might be finding out something embarrassing~"

"Go ahead and try." I cut him off. "There probably isn't any records yet, seeing as we just moved-"

"Rosalinda Moenia." Goldie quipped, reading off a piece of paper that had suddenly appeared in his hand. "Fifteen. Attends Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. Born on October 24th. Shall I go on?"

"It's Ro, to you." I grumble.

"Well, Rosalinda, I see it fit that I get to call you that, since you call me Goldie all the time." Goldie claimed. "It's only fair."

"Wha-, that only because-, ARGH." I stomped my foot. There's no use arguing, but that doesn't mean I won't stop.

"Oh, that's cute, but arguing won't do anything." Goldie said, reading my mind.

"You're insufferable." I scoff. "Although... I don't understand how you've warmed up to me so quickly Goldie. Am I just that amazing?" I walked towards him.

"W-Wha?-" He stutters, backing away.

Finally, a win for me. This is getting interesting. 

"I mean, I did block your path, causing you to trip, fall on top of me, and ruin your mission chasing that fugitive, and I proved to be even more tiresome when I didn't let you have the book." I listed. "So, why? Genuinely."

"Well-, I-"

I leaned forward. "Well?..."

"Ro?"

I whip my head around, and see my dad in the doorway.