Senseless

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I was reading a poem from a book the next time I saw her, around mid-afternoon, two days after our previous encounter. That was another thing I enjoyed. Poetry. I liked the describing words, liked imagining what the salty taste of the beach was.

"Those are beautiful words," she said as she sat down beside me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "They are." Words I would never understand.

She said. "You intrigue me."

I put down my poetry book and said, "And you intrigue me."

"How curious," she smiled. "What's your name?"

"Achilleus Icarus Hayes," I told her. "May I ask the same?

"Everest Everly Evers," she told me, eyebrows raised and the barest hint of a smile playing at her lips.

Everest Everly Evers. "I like your name, Everest Everly Evers."

"And I like your name, Achilleus Icarus Hayes," Everest said, then paused for a second before continuing. "In fact, Achilleus Icarus Hayes, I like you. Would you care to spend a little time at my house?"

I'd never seen what it looked like when someone blushed, but I was positive that's what I did right then. "I'd feel bad," I said.

"Feel bad?" Everest Everly Evers asked.

I think I blushed even harder. "I'm going to be entering your residence without doing anything to earn it."

"So?"

"It's my policy. I only take what I earn. Nothing more."

She laughed. I couldn't hear much of it, but from what I did hear, it was beautiful. Like her. "Are you always like this?" she asked.

I grinned, still blushing, and looked down. "Every day."

Everest smiled again. "Please," she pleaded. "You can bring your dog."

I shook my head and folded my arms across my chest. "Only if you let me do a job for you."

"Fine," she said. "You draw me a picture. Then, I can force you to hang out with me. Deal?"

Normally, a picture wouldn't qualify as a job, but maybe I would find something else to do for Everest once we got to her house. "Deal," I said. "But only for an hour."

Secretly, I wanted to stay longer. But that would be taking way more than I had paid off. It would be going against everything I stood for, so I forced myself to keep my mouth closed.

"Time doesn't matter, Achilleus," she whispered. "I just want you."

"Okay, Everest," I whispered back.

Everest stood up from the bench. "I hope you don't mind walking. Vancouver won't let me get a car."

"I wouldn't ride in your car even if you had one," I said, tapping the side of my head twice as I followed her down the park's trail. It was made of this thing called gravel. Felt the same as the grass to me, but it must be different for the NPP, or what I considered the Normal People Population.

Everest Everly Evers groaned, but I could sense the slight humor behind her words. "I bet you don't even sit on that damned bench without doing something to earn it."

"I donate to the park's renovation budget," I said, fully sincere.

Everest slapped her face, laughing so hard it was silent. Or maybe she was making noise and it was just my ears having their completely-deaf moment of the day.