Hate with a Passion

It was a nice, sunny day. I woke up and looked out the window and decided it would be a good day to go outside. I got dressed and left my apartment, headed to the coffee shop down the street. The birds were chirping and there was a nice, early-morning breeze, and then it happened. I got stuck with him.

I am a very young, twenty-four-year-old detective, my name being Castor Felmier. I take pride in how I look, making sure my wavy blond hair always looks presentable and wearing light makeup to highlight my bright blue eyes; when I go to work, I always wear my nicest clothes. I loved my workplace and all my coworkers until I he showed up: my enemy, Avery Spade.

Avery and I have never gotten along very well, even from the start.
When we first met, we were introduced to each other as work partners. He had beautiful black hair and electric blue eyes. The very first thing he said to me was, "You look like a girl." Although I do wear makeup and like to look stylish, I don't appreciate people telling me that I look like a girl. I don't remember all the details, but it ended in a huge screaming match between me and him, insulting whatever we could about each other. That was the very beginning of our not-so-friendly relationship.

Now, on this fine, lovely
morning, I was just strolling down the street when I saw Avery sprinting towards me; behind him, there were two shady-looking men chasing him down the street. As I'm taking this in, he catches up to where I am, and to my surprise, grabs my arm and keeps sprinting. I stumble along with him through block after block, wondering what the heck is going on and where is he taking me; as we're not very close and we don't particularly like each other, I was tempted to wrestle loose of his grip and leave him on his own, but I decided not to because this seemed like a serious matter that was targeted towards me as well.

Avery drags me down a few more blocks before we turn into an alleyway. He enters a building, drags me up the stairs, and shoves me through a doorway with so much force that I fall over. He quickly slams the door and then turns around and offers his hand. As much as I don't like him, I decide to take it.

I get up and look around.
There's a small living room connected to the kitchen, and two doors that I'm guessing are a bathroom and bedroom.
It wasn't anything fancy, but it was decent and livable.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Avery suggested.

I sat down in an armchair next to the window. "Is this your home?"

"Yes, and no. My real home is somewhere else, this is sort of my second home you could say. I use it usually when I'm too busy to go to my house, and it's a safe space I use when I'm working, like just now. Why do you even care?"

I ignored his question. "Rich jerk." I mumbled.

"What was that? Did you say something?"

"No, it's nothing." I smiled. "So... why did you bring me here? Why were those guys chasing you?"

Avery stared at me, then looked down at his hands resting in his lap. "They were looking for me, and you as well since you are my partner. As much as I don't like you... I decided to save you and bring you along instead of leaving you alone. If we stay here for some time, we should be able to leave safely without worrying about them lurking around."

Just then, we heard a knock at the door. Avery gets up and looks through the peephole on the door. "Shoot, they found where my place is," Avery said urgently "follow me." He fumbled with a few locks that are installed on the door, then walked over to a curtain and moved it to the side.

Behind the curtain there was a ladder going up to a trapdoor. He climbed up the ladder, opened the trapdoor, and beckoned for me to follow him up.
When I got up, I saw that we were on a flat rooftop with railing surrounding the edge of the rooftop.

"We're stuck up here until they leave, which could be at least twenty-four hours" Avery told me.

"What? That long? But I won't be able to take a shower or wash my face or—"

"Dude calm down! It's only twenty-four hours. Also—"

"But—"

"Are you sure you're not a
girl?"

"No, of course not! Stop saying stuff like that!"

"Then calm down and don't worry about that stuff, I have it all under control." He pointed across the roof to a door that goes to a small room. "There are supplies for situations like this in here, and a small bathroom.
Unfortunately, I can't say there's a shower, but there's at least somewhere you can wash your face. Happy now?"

My face turns red. "Yeah, thanks." I mumbled.

We both work together setting up; as he works on the food, I get a tent, blankets, and pillows and set up our sleeping area.

"Have you ever had to do this before? You seem very prepared for something like this." I asked, curious as to why Avery seemed like he was used to doing this.

"Yeah, it has. Not too often, but often enough that I always need to be prepared for it. Just think of it as a sleepover with one of your friends.
Even if I'm not really your friend." He laughs. "You want some ramen? This is the only thing I have right now. When we get out of this, I'll treat you to something better at my other house."

"Can you- wait, never mind." I turn away and continue eating my ramen. What am I doing? We're not even friends, but I'm talking to him as if we're best friends. He stares at me with curiosity, but we sit in silence while we eat.

After we finish eating, we both go and stand by the edge of the railing and stare at the stars. I take a few steps away from him, trying to distance myself. "Do you like stars?" I asked.

"Yeah, I love stars." Avery
answered, with a slight smile on his face.

We stand there for a few minutes, silent, just gazing at the sky and all the stars in the darkness.

Avery coughed. "Hey, I've been wondering something for a while.
Actually, I have been wondering this since the day we met. Why don't you like me?"

I sighed and turned to look at him. "I don't really appreciate being told I look like a girl. People use that statement to insult me since I'm into fashion and I use makeup. So, I interpreted your statement as an insult."

"Yeah, I want to apologize for that. I realized that it probably came across as rude and wasn't the most proper thing to say to someone I just met." He laughed.

I smiled. "Yeah, I guess. I should also apologize; I probably shouldn't have reacted the way I did." I turned my body to completely face him and took a step towards him. "But why did you say that about me?"

He turned to me and smiled mischievously. "Well... I don't know if I should tell you."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to... freak you
out."

"Just tell me."

He took a step towards me so that there was only a foot between us. "Are you sure about that?"

Part of me was curious, but part of me was also kind of worried. What did he mean by that? "Yes. I really want to know what you meant when you said that."

Avery took one more step
towards me and said, "When I said,
'You look like a girl', I meant that I found you attractive." He clamped his hands on the sides of my face and kissed me.

I didn't know what to think at first. Heck, I couldn't even think. After a few seconds my brain caught up, and the only thing I could think of is that I liked it. Why had we ever hated each other, when we seem to have liked each other for so long without realizing it?

He pulled away and stared into my eyes. "So... I'm assuming since you didn't punch me that you didn't hate it?"

I stare at him, blushing and still absolutely dumbfounded. "Um... yeah
—yeah I totally liked it."

"Does that mean you'll be my boyfriend?"

I pull myself together and can't keep myself from smiling. "Yes, of course!" I yawn.

Avery's face lit up and he hugged me. "Why don't we go to sleep, and in the morning we should be able to leave. I'll bring you over to my real home for breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan."

The End