you're beautiful here

t h i r t e e n

Chapter 13

"Do you want to come to my apartment?"

Felix's eyes widened. He was closing up Mugz when Alice came. She was on her third appearance; normally she would just come in the morning and around 7. Both businesses closed at 11, but she would often go straight home after work if she wasn't staying for the night. Sometimes he could catch her though the window, most days he would miss her.

When she walked in about 10 minutes before close on a Thursday, he was surprised but didn't think too much of it. It was a colder night, maybe she just wanted something hot for her short walk home.

"Wh-what?" he asked, looking up from the table he had been wiping down.

She chuckled. "Do you wanna have girl's night?" she joked. He removed the tension from his shoulders at her lightheartedness. "Well, actually, I kinda need some help moving things around and I could use a second set of hands." She put her hands up in a pleading manner. Her bottom lip gutted out.

He looked down at the last table he needed to clean. He hadn't really slept somewhere other than Mugz in a long time. It was an odd feeling, but nevertheless, he said, "Give me a few minutes."

Felix regretted saying yes as he heaved one side of a heavy black bookshelf across Alice's living room. Both of them sputtered for air when the shelf finally hit the ground. Alice leaned one arm against the solid piece of wood.

"I really didn't think they were that heavy when I ordered them," Alice explained, winded. "And we still need to move the other one," she added, frowning and looking over to where it stood.

"We could give up," Felix tried, tired. He was by no means strong, and he could feel his muscles crying when he moved. They had already spent an hour building the two, and it was now nearing midnight.

Alice pouted. "There's just one more. It'll be hard, but we will persevere," she announced in a super-hero tone while puffing her chest out. Felix let out a puff of air. He would do anything for her, but this was testing that concept.

He moved to the other shelf that they had built. As soon as they began lifting, though, Felix let out a sharp cry and dropped his side.

"Are you okay?" Alice quickly put down the side of the shelf she had been lifting and hastily moved over to where Felix held his finger tightly in his fist.

"Something is leading me to believe that we built something wrong." He was trying to play it off cool, but his finger was in searing pain. He released the pressure for a moment to look at the damage but quickly wrapped it again when he saw crimson begin spreading.

"I have a first aid kit in the bathroom," Alice said, hurrying across the living room and towards the hallway Felix had yet to enter. He had never seen her so worried. Felix followed behind.

Alice directed him to sit on the closed toilet seat, and he did. He watched as she rummaged through her cabinet, finding the kit after a moment. "I am fairly certain I know how to use most of this." Felix's eyes widened a bit, either from the pain or the concern.

Alice patted the bandaged finger and Felix sucked in a tight breath. "Yeah, gotcha, won't do that," Alice said. "But you should be good as new." She let out a huff of air with a slight smile and turned to put the materials away.

Felix tentatively moved his bandaged finger around, making sure he didn't hurt himself. He glanced up at Alice absentmindedly putting the objects in the kit. He loved to look at her when she wasn't thinking about anything. It was like she was a real person instead of someone his mind had created. She was real, she was here in this moment, and that's all that really mattered.