Sweet Love // Worick Arcangelo

Chapter 2 // Handy Men

     After Nettie got off the phone, she went to lock up the shop. "I'm exhausted...," she said as she rubbed her forehead. Walking to her yellow buggy, she drove to her apartment. Luckily, for her the place was already furnished, so she didn't have to worry about that. As she parked in front of the building the outside looked like it belonged in Ergastulum. "162, 162, 162, ah... here you are," she observed. She took her key, walked into the apartment; it had a rustic look to it. The apartment had a bedroom, living room, bathroom, and a nice kitchen. She walked towards the big window, she had a beautiful view of the starry city being on the third floor.

     Being the forgetful girl she is had to walk back down to her car to get her suitcases. Lugging her suitcases up flights of stairs, Nettie huffed as she dragged her luggage. Panting as she finally stepped into the apartment. "This place really needs to invest in an elevator, she quickly picked out some clothes for the nights and took a quick shower. Putting her sheets and blanket on her bed, and hopped in. "I have an early start tomorrow", she thought closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep.

     Nettie stretched as she rolled out of bed, she freshens up. Quickly putting on clothes, and getting into her car driving to her store. She noticed two figures in front of her store, she turned off her car, and walked up to them. "Hello, are you the Handy Men here to help with my building", she pondered.

     Worick turned towards the voice, and notice a woman walking to them. She looked even more beautiful, then how he originally thought. She was a few inches shorter than him, cocoa colored skin, with midnight curls that fell to her shoulder. She wore denim shorts with a plain white t-shirt. Finally, noticing she was standing in front of him while, he was practically drooling over her. Worick held out his hand, "yeah, I'm Worick, and this is Nicolas", pointing to the short Asian. Nettie and Worick shook hands, she smiled sweetly at him. Time just seemed to stop, there was an obvious attraction, but Nettie wasn't really the one for flings; she just thought she was too old for that, and it led to heartbreak. They finally released eachother's hands, and gazes; Nettie turned towards Nicolas then proceeded to shake his hand as well. "Nice to meet you, Nicolas", she noticed he was staring directly at her, unlike Worick who was checking her out, but he was observing her. He didn't say anything back, only nodded his head. "Don't mind Nic, he's deaf so he doesn't talk much", Worick chimed. Nettie nodded her head completely understanding. "Well, lets get started, I'm so excited", Nettie beamed. 

     Quickly unlocking the door, the Handy Men analyzed their surroundings. Not wanting to say it out loud, but Work notice the place looked like a rundown whorehouse despite it recently being built. They all began to work on painting the walls. Nettie had classic jazz playing gently in the background, as they all worked in comfortable silence. She seemed oblivious of the dangers around her, she was alone with two strangers, and didn't seem the least bit worried.

     Worick decided to spark up a conversation, "what made you move to this hellhole", he asked. She chuckled with amusement, "I used to visit my grandmother here all the time, I practically lived here", she replied. He hummed in acknowledgment, she took that as a sign to continue. "I moved for college, but I decided to move to this 'hellhole'", she said using his pervious description of the city. "This place is going to be my bakery, and I want to bring everyone together one cake at a time", she said with passion. He smiled gently at her, then something crossed his mind, "even tags". Nettie looked up at him brow furrowed in confusion, "tags", she said aloud. "Is that a gang or something?", she asked. Worick was shocked, but the pieces of the puzzles seemed to come together. The explains why she called them to help paint, instead of to kill somebody. "You don't know what tags are", he stated rather than question. "No, but regardless who they are they are welcomed to eat here whenever they want", she said gently. Worick stared at her in admiration, she smiled at him turning back to painting. Worick wanted to keep her out of this world, but he doesn't think he be able to stay away from her.