His Wild Blue Air

Day 7

Sunday

Pretending was one of her strong suits. Christ, she'd pretended hell of a lot to a lot of people since she'd moved here. She pretended on being happy, being fine, being unaffected by how messed up her life had been.

Like everyone had said, her life could make up a mystery novel, with her being the only one who knew the whole thing. Even John, who knew the most about her among all the townies, didn't know the whole thing.

It may be unhealthy, but it was what she wanted. She'd been on the receiving end of scathing judgement back in the States, she didn't need it now.

So yeah, in conclusion, she deserved an Oscar.

And yet, somehow, in the weirdest way Skylar couldn't possibly fathom, she let her guards down in front of Ethan Boyd, older stranger entrepreneur with an odd sense of humor and who was kind of clingy. He had waltzed into her life, a lumbering sleepy adorable giant, and he knocked her walls down without so much as an effort.

Even John had to take almost a year for her to open up and tell him almost everything!

But this guy, he just came in with his dreamy blue eyes and godlike physique and talked her into playing a ridiculous game. A ridiculous game which would lead her to revealing her darkest secret to him. It was ridiculous and entirely unbelievable.

She felt like she was living a romantic comedy, except her life was so much more messed up that it would turn this whole thing into a romantic drama.

Wait, hold on. She stopped typing on her computer and stared past the monitor into space.

Romantic comedy? Romantic drama? Romantic?! Where the hell did that come from?

She did not have the feels for Ethan. Ethan was just a peculiar man with a peculiar way to crack open her peculiar chest containing her peculiar secrets. Besides, he wasn't even halfway into her past. Her past was not as simple as having a baby boy who died. She just wished she had enough to strain to not spill anything else to him.

She wasn't looking for romance. She wasn't even looking for a relationship. She wasn't looking for sparks to fly and fireworks to erupt. She just wanted a normal single life with her dog and her friends. Relationships were the starting points of messes. She was staying as far away from that as possible.

Skylar glanced at the clock and realized there was still an hour to breakfast. She yawned and stood up, turning off her monitor screen. She hadn't had enough sleep last night. She emerged from the study and made her way into the kitchen.

As she opened the fridge to retrieve the carton of eggs, she told herself one more time that Ethan Boyd was nothing more than a peculiar guest.

**

Skylar was reading a book in the living room when she heard heavy footsteps upstairs.

The sleeping giant was awake. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already ten. Well, he was going to have to reheat the food himself.

She went back to reading, determined to ignore his loud and oblivious singing upstairs. She managed to comprehend two paragraphs before it got too much and she just couldn't focus anymore. So she put down the book with helpless chuckle and leaned back, trying to hear what he was singing.

"You're so beautiful / give the world a show," he belted out without shame.

"You're kidding." She flattened her lips as she tried her hardest to not laugh.