As Told By Nerdy

Chapter 20 - More Promises

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 2.3

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Chapter 20 – More Promises

“Kid’s! Dinner!” Mom called from down stairs.

It startled and confused me at once. “Dinner? How long was I out?”

Leon’s soft chuckle chimed in my ears. I had that impulsive desire to stare again. I know. He’s my boyfriend now… sort of? And I probably have every right to stare but I feel nothing but embarrassment and total idiocy whenever I do.

I have always been cautious when dealing with people (I was saying this like it was a bad thing). Most of the time, it was better to avoid acquaintances altogether. But him? I couldn’t bring myself to shun even the slightest. He was a magnet that on some unexplainable turn of fate, attuned to my polarity.

He found my hands and led me down the stairs, gazing deeply into my eyes as we trudged as though in a sluggish motion in a movie. My heart leapt vehemently inside my chest.

           

Dinner was great! I mean I couldn’t eat… but great.

Ugh. How could I when his eyes lingered on me in a constant scrutiny? I lost count on how many times my face flushed.

And Mom. Oh, my dear mother. She kept throwing meaningful glances at me every now and then. Give me a break people!

On the lighter side, Mom and Leon seemed to get along well. When I said well, I mean, why-don’t-you-date-Mom-instead well.

“Say hi to Arthur for me,” said Mom three seconds after desert. She practically shooed Leon out the door and my poor Leon being his polite self as was ever, excused himself ever so graciously.

He could be a saint for all I knew. I know. I’ve gaped on his back for ten seconds half-expecting angel wings to sprout from his scapulae or something. Mom was the wicked witch, slash, step mother, except that she is my real Mom. And I was the ugly duckling who never turned into a swan.

“Open the package. Put it on your window,” he whispered hurriedly on my ear before he finally let himself out of the door.

“Seriously, Mom,” I groaned crossing my arms over my chest, forty seven seconds after Leon left.

Mom kept humming, seemingly too pleased with herself as I stormed to my room then slammed the door.

Slumping beside the bulky package Leon sent me, I began tearing and snatching on the paper furiously. My eyes widened when I was done. It was a climbing equipment-ish made of sturdy synthetic material I guess, very similar to those ladders attached on a helicopter ridge.

I fumbled with the ropes and dragged the ladder to my open window and found a metal bolt on each of the two ends of the ropes. I stared at it for several moments.

“Ugh. What the heck am I going to do with this?” I complained.

I found the ledge and fastened both bolts on the steel bars that protruded from it running through my window. Tugging it with an effort, I made sure that it was safely clamped enough to support my weight if I climb down. I winced at the thought remembering that I wasn’t nor ever will be a huge fan of heights.