Fate's Little Bell

Chapter 10

When Jeongguk finally arrived, just a couple minutes before twelve, he texted me to tell me that he was outside.

I squealed, sounding rather pig-like, to my dismay, and ran downstairs to open the door.

"Hi!" I said excitedly, as I opened the door and saw him leaning gracefully against the railing on our stoop. He looked up from his phone and smiled at me. At that moment, I could've happily died. My life was complete.

"Hey." He stood up, glancing at me, up and down, it a quick motion. "You look cute."

"Thank you," I mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed. "You don't look too bad yourself."

He had changed into a loose, but not baggy, white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. On his feet, he wore a kick-ass pair of black combat boots that probably cost more than all the shoes I owned combined. For a coat, he wore an olive green lightly padded bomber jacket and on his head he had a black beanie that seemed to only be staying on his head by pure will power. He definitely looked a thousand times better than I did, which wasn't surprising in the least.

He smiled. "Do you... need to get your coat?"

"Oh, yeah, right," I said, remembering that I'd been in such a rush to get the door that I hadn't grabbed any of my stuff. "Do you want to come in while I finish getting ready?"

"Okay." He sounded a little shy. As he passed me, he reached out and tugged on one of my braids making me giggle. "I like your hair."

I locked the door. "Thank you."

He hesitated slightly in the hallway, unsure of where to go.

"We're upstairs," I said, pointing. "Our tenants live on this floor."

He started up the stairs, and I followed him, trying and mostly failing to keep my eyes on my feet. Normally, I don't go around checking out guys' butts, but when they're directly in your line of sight, it's a bit hard not to.

"You can sit on the bench while I grab my stuff," I told him once we reached the landing. "If you want to, of course."

Jeongguk nodded, looking around the tiny space at all our shelves and hooks covered with shoes, umbrellas, random do-dads, and bags. Suddenly, I felt extremely embarrassed by my shabby, messy, and probably weird smelling house. "Um, I'm gonna go in, and I'm gonna close the door, because otherwise our dog will come out and start sniffing you and putting his nose in bad places and yeah...." I trailed off, feeling even more embarrassed. I could already hear Skipper on the other side of the door, impatiently awaiting his chance to thoroughly investigate this new human who'd arrived on his territory.

"Oh, I'd like to meet your dog," he said, sitting down on the reddish brown leather bench. "I like dogs."

I hesitated. "Okay...," I replied after a moment, "but don't say I didn't warn you."

As I opened the door, Skipper, our medium sized dog that vaguely looked like a black coated golden retriever, pushed his way through and promptly started sniffing Jeongguk like there was no tomorrow. I glanced away, both embarrassed for myself and him. "Um, I'm gonna go in.... If he starts bothering you too much, let me know and I'll come rescue you."

"Okay. What's his name again?"

"Skipper." I went into the house, amidst the gleeful noise of him talking to the dog.

I went into my room, passing by the living room where my brother was sitting on the couch staring at the episode of Beyblades he was watching on the TV. I grabbed my semi-deteriorated faux leather purse and loaded it up with my wallet, my phone, gum, mints, and more chapstick and lip gloss than I could ever possibly need. As I left my room, I said to him, "Daniel, close your mouth. I'm leaving now, but Momma will be home soon. If something happens, you can text me."