Ellery & The Enigma

Overzealous

It had been three days and Ellery hyperbolically wondered if Luca had gotten into some sort of accident and died.

Four days, she got the call back for an interview from one of the vintage clothing stores. It also sold books, which quite frankly, she was more excited about.

Five days, she went to the interview. She wore a chic blouse and linen pants. She even wore heels. Her mother told her that she looked more like a CEO than a sales associate but it was cute.

A week. She tried to forget about Luca, he was likely just one of the many fleeting distractions she would need to get through this summer before returning to Montreal with all of her real friends.

One day past the week mark she woke up to the sound of knocking on her window. Was it a dream? A hallucination? She didn't even hope that it was Luca, it had been a week, he must just not care. The floor wasn't cold when she rolled out of bed which she found very strange and unnatural. She couldn't wait until the summer was over. When she drew back the gauzy white curtains, there he was, crouched on the fire escape. She opened the window.

"Hey," he looked bashful and careful. "Sorry I never got your number and also never made plans this week. I wanted to, I really did, I hope you don't think I'm an asshole."

She had thought he was an asshole, but actually seeing him in person made that accusation make a little less sense. He wasn't even wearing a hat and she could now see that his hair was a very medium brown, just long enough to curl and wave at the ends. She figured that he put a lot of time into making it look like that.

"It's fine," she said, as it was always most important to hide her true feelings from potential assholes. "I've been busy."

"Oh, well that's good. I guess in that case my window visit seems a little... overzealous."

She rubbed her sleep-filled eyes. "Also, its early. What are you doing awake?"

"My friends surprised me with a camping trip for my birthday and literally stole me from my bed and kept me for a week. We just got back because they all had to go to work today," he explained, resting his arm to the top of the pushed-up window, probably flexing on purpose. His shirt rode up but she refused to look at his stomach. "It was fun, we mostly drank beer and listened to music and looked for squirrels."

"You weren't going to eat them, were you?"

He looked aghast, pressing a hand to his chest for effect, "What kind of person do you take me for?"

She considered replying with the kind who ignores a girl for a week but that was silly and he'd had a reason.

"There was also this cool lake near the campsite and the water was like, super clear. Fun to swim in until two of my friends got leeches on their feet. We avoided it after that."

"Nice," she said, because she had just become aware that she was wearing a stupid sheer nightgown that had flowers covering her nipples. She crossed her arms and his eyes followed the movement.

"Nice pyjamas," he said, and she was tempted to push him off of the fire escape.

"Anyway, I work today I need to go shower," she said, but on the inside she was beaming, ridiculously.

"Okay, here, give me your number and we can hang out later." He passed her his phone, in one of those glittery cases from Urban Outfitters, already open to a new contact. She input her number and gave it back.

"See you 'round, Celery." He said with a wink and ducked back out of her window.

She flopped back onto her bed dramatically. At this point, she had worn lingerie more times around him than actual clothes. She checked the time, it was eight a.m. and she couldn't remember the last time in the past month that she had woken up that early. Her first shift at the vintage store was at twelve-thirty and she had already decided what she was going to wear (a flowing off-the-shoulder top and cigarette pants).

She wanted to text an update to her roommate but she hadn't talked about him at all yet and was still uncertain about mentioning it because she hated when she had high hopes for something but it didn't work out and not only did she have to deal with disappointment but also explain why it didn't work out to everyone else.

She was taught how to use the cash register by a petite redhead who was only a couple of years older than her. The store itself was very open-concept, with two levels and both new vintage-looking as well as actual vintage clothes. She sat on the stool behind the counter and tried to channel the "look" her coworker had advised: untouchable and bored. She wasn't sure why she'd always thought that you were supposed to look accessible and friendly in retail.

"Oh, also?" Ava said, calling from the lower floor, "The manager is fine with using your phone as long as your don't have a customer in front of you."

She did the usual round of social media checking before it vibrated with a text from a new number (maybe: Luca): hey it's luca.

She tried not to smile. They chatted off and on for the rest of the day about their jobs (he worked at a bookstore which she found a little too good to be true) and coffee preferences.

Only two customers came into the store and were both women. Since she was on upper level mens section which meant that she spent most of the day on her phone and doodling on the Post-It note pad by the telephone. There was also a telephone that could call the one on the lower level, the two phones perhaps ten feet away at most.

She came across a funny pug meme and on impulse, sent it to Luca. He replied immediately: ICONIC!

She liked him and that made her nervous. But also excited.

****

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