The Last Genie: A Novella

Chapter 25

The next morning, Ithel woke up first. He could hear who he assumed was Claire in the kitchen, and as a trickle of fear slipped into his heart, he thought, "What am I doing here?" Then, he looked over at Grace and thought, "Would she be better off without me?" Followed by a softer, "Is she going to hurt me?"

Luckily before his doubts could get any louder, Grace stirred awake and seeing that Ithel was staring at her smiled and said, "Good morning."

"Morning," said Ithel. "It sounds like your friend is already up."

After listening for a second, she said, "I think you're right. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go get something to eat."

Ithel threw on his clothes and thought about his back-story as Grace finished getting ready. Then, they went downstairs and with a little trepidation Grace led Ithel into the kitchen to meet her friend.

As they stepped into the kitchen, Claire looked up at them, and Grace could feel a little heat rising up her neck. But, she plastered on a smile and said, "Good morning, Claire, this is my friend, Ron."

Ithel waved at her, and Claire said, "Hello."

"He's an old friend from college, and he's just moved into town and doesn't have a place to stay yet."

"Fun," said Claire. "Would y'all like any breakfast?"

"No thanks. We're going to try and find us a new apartment, and we'll probably just pick up some Starbucks on the way."

"You're moving in together?"

"That's the plan, but we got to get going."

Claire was pretty surprised but said excitedly, "Ok, y'all have fun."

"It was nice to meet you," said Ithel.

"You too," said Claire.

Ithel turned to go, and Grace and Claire locked eyes. Claire mouthed, "He's hot."

Heat rushed to Grace's cheeks. She quickly looked away and said, "Ok, we'll see you later."

Claire said, "Bye," as Grace hurried away.

Once they were outside, Grace said, "That went well."

Ithel, who thought it had, said, "Yeah."

After spending most of the day looking at apartment after apartment that didn't work for her, Grace decided to see if her apartment complex had anything available because she liked her apartment and the complex as a whole.

As they were driving to the complex's leasing office, Ithel saw Grace staring at her old apartment and asked, "Have you spoken with her at all since that day?"

"Who? Kari?"

Ithel nodded.

"No."

"I think you should."

"I know. I just haven't had time."

After they got to the leasing office, Grace quickly explained to them how she had had a falling out with her roommate, and luckily for her an apartment had just opened up, which Grace would be able to move into tomorrow as long as she signed a new lease. They didn't mention that Ithel was also going to live there to avoid them asking any questions about his background.

Being the prudent person she was, Grace insisted on a tour of the new apartment, and it actually had nicer views than her old apartment and was slightly larger.

Before she knew it, Grace had signed her new lease and was back in Ithel's car with her new keys in her hands.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked out," said Grace. Then, feeling a bit insecure she asked Ithel, "You do like the apartment. Don't you?"

"I do."

"Good."

"What do you want to do now?"

After a moment's thought, Grace asked, "Have you ever been axe throwing?"

Ithel gave her a quizzical look and said, "I have. Have you?"

"A few times. It's a lot of fun. There's pretty cool bar downtown that has it. Do you want to go?"

"I think my version of axe throwing is different than yours?"

"It's probably not that different. Basically, all you do is throw an axe at a target on a wall, and you get more points the closest you get to the bull's eye."

"I actually have played games like this before. Does this bar also have food?"

"It does."

"Then, let's go."

Ithel asked, "Where to now?"