My Peculiar Man

Part twelve

Did he think I was too heavy? 

No way. I was fit as a fiddle even if I didn't work out. 

Would it be too embarrassing if he got tired of carrying me before we reached the fifth floor? On the fourth floor...maybe the third floor. Or maybe,  I thought with horror, on the second floor itself.

I could easily picture his matter-of-fact voice in my head. You're too heavy, Elizabeth. Just how much did you eat at lunch?

I hung to his shoulders, clutching my bag with my other hand. 

Ethan scaled the stairs without any apparent effort, and I decided to believe that he didn't think I was too heavy.

"Don't you eat enough? You are very weak."

"I do eat a lot actually, but, er... today I couldn't have my er...lunch." That was a lie. I had stuffed myself with fries and hamburgers at lunch. I just didn't know how else to explain to him why I was such a weakling. 

"Why didn't you have lunch?"

"Er...because my best friend was missing and I wanted to find her." Not a total lie. Becca was missing but she had been definitely been there for lunch.

"Oh. So did you find her?"

"No. I couldn't find her anywhere. I'm quite worried about her, to be honest. She does not disappear like this. But I'm sure she will call me once she gets my message."

Second floor and he still hadn't dropped me. That was good news, right?

"What is your best friend's name?"

"Rebecca, though I call her Becca. Sometimes Bec. She would be very interested in meeting you. "

"Really?" He sounded happy that Becca wanted to meet him, though I had no idea why. She was basically a stranger to him. Why would he be happy that to a total stranger wanted to meet him? "I want to meet her too."

"Er...sure. I will tell her that."

"If you find her."

"Of course, I'll find her. She's definitely alright. I'm sure I'll find her."

No reply. Just the steady, rhythmic sound of his footsteps as he carried me on. Wasn't he going to assure me that Becca was going to be okay? 

Maybe he didn't know about stuff like that. That he was supposed to offer some comforting words in such situations. 

More silence. 

"Hey, Ethan. Er...you can put me down when you get tired. I can walk some now I think."

"I am not tired. I do a lot of weights. I can easily carry you till the fifth floor."

"Oh, no, no. No, please. I would really like it if you put me down before we reach the fifth floor. I don't want anyone to see that you carried me."

"Why not?"

Because people already hate me enough. They'll scream bloody murder if they found out that I had the galls to make you carry me after threatening to sue you. 

"Er...because I don't want everyone to know how weak I am."

Again, no reassurances that I wasn't weak. Just silence.

A few steps later, "so you don't want me to tell anyone about this?"

Jesus. Was he planning on telling people about this? 

Okay, so he did announce to a roomful of people about my fart once. 

"Yes, please. I would be very embarrassed if someone found out."