Starry Days & Sunlit Nights: Volume 2 - Haze of Shadows

Chapter 1.7 - Pumpkin Pie

Jay returned Yumi's wave as he walked away after dropping her off at her home, a cozy two-floor house not too different from her last one, apart from it being made of more fireproof material. His own residence wasn't too far away from hers, just a mere four blocks away.

Without either of the two girls around, the walk home was pretty quiet and boring. He supposed that he was really lucky knowing them; they made things a lot livelier, so he enjoyed hanging around them. The magic and action was really just a bonus. Life here was really different than the place he had left a little more than a year ago.

"I wonder how they're doing right now," he wondered out loud to no one in particular. His family had been supportive of his journey for independence, and sent him money now and then, and he was serious about his reason to leave, but he did miss them sometimes, if not often.

He shrugged to himself. "Probably doing great."

Jay arrived at a three-floor building, the Lake Mirror Apartments. Several jack-o'-lanterns decorated the outside, as well as the main corridor, in the spirit of the upcoming Halloween night.

His room was up on the second floor, the furthest from the stairs. The door was half-open and the light was on, when he was sure he had locked up before he had left, although he wasn't the least bit surprised. Certain of who he would meet inside, he entered his home.

Jeanne Marie Beaulac, his eighteen-year-old landlady. Her wavy hair was a long cascade of glittering gold, and matched her milk white skin and blue eyes. As usual, even if she didn't leave the house, she elected to wear glossy pink lipstick and purple eyeshadow. For some reason or other, she came into his room all the time with her master key.

She was facing the window, looking out to the street with her mobile phone held next to her head.

"Oui, Papa. Prends soin de toi."

When she put down her phone with a sigh, the girl finally noticed her tenant.

"Was that your dad?" She never spoke to anyone else in French.

"Yeah," Jeanne sighed. "He's not coming for Christmas again."

Jay smiled optimistically in his effort to reassure her. "Hey, it's just late October, he's still got plenty of time to change his mind."

Jeanne rolled her eyes. "You don't know him like I do. If he could change his mind that simply, he wouldn't have—." She stopped herself, and Jay quickly became remorseful.

"S-Sorry," the boy apologized.

"Don't be, let's just put that behind us." Jeanne gestured to the package on his desk. "That came in the mail this morning, after you left."

"Thanks for bringing it in," Jay said. She didn't really need to; his neighbors weren't really the type to pluck things out of each other's mailboxes downstairs.

"A new game console?"

"Close, a paintball pistol."

Jeanne raised an eyebrow. "A paintball pistol? What the heck would you need one of those for?"

"Because reasons," Jay replied ambiguously, to his landlady's chagrin.

"Does it have anything to do with you hanging out with Yumi every day?"

Jay winced. Spot on. The young woman frowned.

"You two haven't been doing anything weird, have you?"

Jay's face turned bright crimson. "O-Of course not!"

His landlady came closer to him and stared into his olive green eyes, causing his blush to deepen. While it was true that he and Yumi were doing something unusual, it wasn't anything like what she implied. At least she seemed convinced that he wasn't lying. The boy tried to change the subject. "What'd you come by for, by the way?"

The girl's face flushed light pink. Averting her eyes, she answered him. "Well, I made too much for myself, and I think you might appreciate having a home cooked meal, since you're probably too lazy to make yourself anything healthy after coming home this late. There's some dessert too, so I can't be bothered bringing them all down this time."

That was her roundabout way of inviting him to dine with her. "Sure," the boy accepted. What he still didn't get was why she had to come inside his home and wait for him.

When he followed her up to her spacious room on the third floor and set foot in the dining room, he discovered physical evidence that whoever said all girls belonged in the kitchen was a liar.

"Uh, Jeanne?"

"Yeah?"

"What is that?"

"Pumpkin pie, obviously."

It looked nothing like a pumpkin pie! It was more like the ungodly lovechild between the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow and Scottish haggis. And then there was the dark brown stew with large vegetable chunks on the table, presumably the main course.

While Jeanne was a nice girl deep down, and was very pretty, Jay wished she would stop pretending she was a chef, for the sake of their health. At the same time, he was her only willing victim.

As soon as they started eating, Jay started gobbling down as much food as he could, reasoning that he could probably finish one serving before the effects kicked in. Jeanne, who was reluctant to eat more than two spoonfuls of her own work, watched him in astonishment and turned red.

"I-Idiot, you don't have to force yourself if you don't like it."

Maybe he didn't like the actual dish, but he really appreciated the things his landlady did for him, and if eating her masterpieces would make her happy, so was he. Before long, he managed to consume his whole bowl. It actually wasn't as bad as he had expected it to be; perhaps her cooking had gotten a little better now?

Just as he thought that, Jeanne nearly retched her third spoonful of stew. Probably not. Maybe his body had just gotten used to it after so long. He poured her a glass of water to help wash it down.

"Thanks," Jeanne said before taking deep gulps.

As Jay got up to get a slice of 'pumpkin pie', she continued. "Thanks for always going along with my selfish whims."

She was serious, that much was evident in her tone. In a way, he could relate to her, and that was one of the main reasons he stuck around. "No problem," he answered simply.

Jeanne leaned on her chair's backrest. "It's been a long time since I spent time with anyone as a family. Don't you ever miss yours?"

The boy shrugged. "Sometimes, but I know they're better off without me around. I told you that almost a year ago."

"It's been that long already? Time's flown by."

Jay took his seat again and silently prepared himself for the dessert, hoping his accumulated resistance was enough to withstand it.

"For what it's worth, I'll stick around for you on Christmas," Jay offered seriously. "You won't be getting rid of me anytime soon."

"Thank you," Jeanne replied honestly. She felt very warm, and a smile crept upon her face. As soon as she was aware of it, however, she immediately shifted to her pricklier tone. "I-I mean, what's one more guest, right? At least your holidays won't be boring."

Jay chuckled and took a bite out of his pumpkin pie. "Of course."

A second later, he collapsed while foaming at the mouth.