Love's Inferno

Chapter 2 - The Oxygen Tank Directive

Dante

The Tele-Tubby had balls.... or she was stupid. I couldn't quite tell. What was obvious to me was that she had no idea who I was and while that was by design, I couldn't help but wonder why she had bothered to protect me last night and protection it unmistakably was. She's a foreigner - much like me but without the... access that I have- and she was alone late at night. Yes, Kensington held a pretext of being safe but that doesn't mitigate the very real danger of it being well-passed eleven o'clock at night, in a notoriously quiet neighbourhood.

London, much like New York, doesn't sleep but we weren't living in Tottenham Court or any of the overtly touristy areas. Not that that had deterred the recent string of fucking hate crimes in London lately. I mean wasn't there a serial killer targeting black women- specifically- on the loose lately? See... stupid. I mean what was she thinking walking home that late by herself? I mean late for her. Shiloh usually returned home around six or seven and then went about doing whatever it was that cartoonish people did. I only know this because the girl makes a lot of noise - if she's not yelling on the phone it's hammering and it always starts around eight or nine. 

I'd seen her carrying, or rather hauling, different, oddly sized things into her apartment over the last few weeks but nothing could've prepared me for what she'd done to the inside of that place. It was magnificent. I'd left my place for the better part of a month and gotten some of the guys to fix the place for me while I was away on business. While my place was minimalistic and industrial hers was... warm. Warm and oddly seductive inside. It felt like a home and that's what was seductive about it that and the fact that the whole place smelled of her perfume. Everything was tasteful and organised... in its own way. How the fuck she even got that behemoth of a bookshelf up the fucking stairs is mind-blowing in and of itself. If she manages to assemble it? I mean... she will. Of that, I have no doubt. The girl re-did the putrid carpets alone... like by herself. The guys had even struggled with that. She looks so...unassuming for someone who knew how to install wood-panelling - what did they have woodwork classes in her school? Because the flooring was mint. I mean mint. Completely seamless and considering the immeasurable fuck-up that was the guys that installed the flooring in the first place I'd expect that she went through a lot of trouble doing it but you'd never be able to tell. I was surprised she hadn't ripped the cup-boarding out but then again she's only been here a few weeks. I mean she must be aware of safety precautions because she did all of that dangerous shit by herself which could explain why I've only seen her in various overalls and Crocs over the last couple of weeks.

She must be safety conscious... so why was she hobbling home in heels alone at eleven o'clock? The things looked sore. I could tell. They weren't cheap either - those redback heels don't come cheap. I had a girlfriend who used to badger me for every new drop and then promptly complain about the pain every time she wore them and she loved heels but those? Forget about it. So why she would ever do that to herself when she loves Crocs is beyond me. I could only really tell how much pain she was in when she yanked them off once we were inside. Her feet were angry, red and swollen which is why I wasn't going to let her haul anything else up the stairs including her surprisingly heavy laptop bag. I mean the thing was Jekel & Hyde and while true leather is plus what with all the rain but it was heavy. Well for her, but there she stood on the steps protecting herself as if she wasn't stuffed into stylish death traps with a three-pound laptop case to boot. She protected herself without a fuss...no animation just pure determination and I... well I'm impressed. I'll admit it. There were no hysterics involved just fortitude. The only hysterics came from the blue man rolling around on the pavement which caused some of the neighbours' lights to flip on  and then promptly off when they spotted Vitto and I.