conundrum

who. are. You.

Setting my phone on cold surface of the counter, i backed up slowly and stared wildly at the stranger on my couch who was resting his eyes peacefully. A thousand thoughts swam through my head at once; who is he? Is he dangerous? Does he want to hurt me? And why did he lie about who he was? None of it made sense. I grabbed the spatula i was going to use for the morning pancakes and walked over to ben. Or whoever he was.

"Hey" i said quietly, shoving his arm around with the spatula. What was i doing? Sure i invited him in , thinking he was BEN! Not whoever is sleeping on my couch. Saying 'hey' with a stern confidence, i shoved him harder with the spatula. He stirred. Slowly blinking he eyes open, he gave me a close-mouthed smile. It was so difficult not to melt like butter in front of him then and there. I shook my head reminding myself that this man was a STRANGER in my house. I jutted the spatula toward him once more. He became confused and scooted himself up into the corner of the pull out.

"What are you doing? Y'know, it's pretty unfair to try and attack your opponent while he's asleep and vulnerable, let alone unarmed." he brought the blanket close to his chest and threw it around his shoulders. And looked up at me. I glared.

"Who are you." i demanded. Making the stern, most serious face i could.

"What?" he said, tilting his perfect stupid head slightly. I stepped back a bit, regaining my threatening posture.

" i said. Who are you." i sighed "i know your name isn't ben and i know you weren't supposed to be on a date with me last night." i bring up my spatula close to his idiotic face. "Who are you." he was in shock, i could tell because his dumb mouth was agape and his eyes bulged. "So" i say, tearing the blanket away from him and tossing it into the pile next to the window "Did you not think i'd find out? How stupid do you think i am? I bet you're some sort of serial killer huh? Get sad lowley pathetic girls to go out with you, make them feel safe," at this point i was pacing around the room in fury, i knew he was too good to be true "and then you take them and dice them up into little bite-size pieces and sell them in the local market as chili meat or something huh?" i turned back over to him, scowling. And he started chuckling at me. Which made me all the more angry. "You know what? I don't give a fuck about who you are" i grabbed his coat and things from the coat rack, and opened the door "god, the one time i feel good about myself it turns out to be another fucking joke" i turned toward him " get the fuck out" with that i threw his things out into the hallway, not worrying if something was broken or not.

He walked up to me. "You're not even gonna let me expl-"

"No! Just get out! And i opened the door wide for him. Not even glancing at the stranger, and slammed the door behind him.

Of course it was a joke. Bet someone sick bastard put him up to it too. God why did i think that someone that beautiful would ever even look at me, let alone want to be around me. I walked back to the kitchen and turned off the stove, tossing the pan in the sink and plopping down on the couch. Feeling something underneath me i got up. He had left his book here. I guess that's too bad, because he's not going to get it back.

__________________________________________________

After sleeping away my woes for a good part of the day, i got ready for my shift at work. Slipping on my work shirt and a pair of black jeans and sneakers and went out the door. Trying to get the stranger off of my mind i put in my earphones and listened to shitty indie music on the way there. Greeted by a ding, i walked into work and set my things in the locker room and headed out with a sleeve of yellow stickers. I walked behind the counter and turned on the intercom.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for shopping at your local thrift store! Just a reminder; everything tagged with a yellow sticker is half off today! Again, thank you for shopping and have a great day."