Thirteen
Maron
Two weeks later
I was still seeing Dimitri,though things hadn't heated up yet in the sexy times department. His kisses were still warm but chaste, and our intellectual chats were beginning to get a little stale. I wasn't bored but... well, I was kind of bored.
However, he was still handsome as all get out and I'd found a book of poetry in the briefcase he'd brought over the other night when he'd stopped by to ask me if I wanted to watch the Science Channel with him.
I hadn't. What I'd wanted to do was shovel cake in my face and watch The Real Housewives, but I didn't think Dimitri was the kind of man who liked watching women with three inch acrylic nails try to walk in heels while thinking up yo mama jokes.
So I watched some show with him about the origins of the universe and by the time it was done, I was practically drooling on my popcorn in boredom. Dimitri was in nerd heaven, though.
I kept looking at him trying to find something that made me burn, but I had yet to find it. Still super hot, though.
"What do you think about the storm out there?" I'd asked him.
Dimitri shrugged. "Odd but not unheard of."
"Do you believe things were falling out of the sky?"
He'd chuckled then. "Are you Chicken Little?" he asked.
I frowned at him. "I'm not trying to push a conspiracy theory or anything, I'm just curious." I'd always hated that human tale. There was a lot of crossover between their world and ours because the people here couldn't resist popping over to see what the mortals had. So now we had their television networks, a lot of their books, and more of their culture than I was sometimes comfortable with, but the tale of Chicken Little had always bothered me. The chicken truly believed the sky had fallen but ended up getting eaten for his trouble.
Dimitri turned his attention from the television to me. "I can't imagine things coming out of it. It looks to be an odd storm cloud, yes, but I don't see too much to be alarmed by."
I was more alarmed by his calm demeanor over it. Something odd was happening up there and everyone waswaytoo calm about it.
"Okay," I said finally.
Dimitri crossed his arms. "Spill it," he said. "Something's bothering you."
I pressed my lips together for a moment. He didn't seem like he was humoring me. In fact, it was the opposite. He seemed to genuinely want to know. "It's been sitting over our town for way too long. There's been rumors about the thing for awhile now, but no one seems to be doing anything about it!"
"It's our nature, Maron. Both human and supe. It's not bothering us right now, so all we do is watch."
"Why watch when we can blow it out of the sky?"
A laugh burst from him. "You sound like you're from Texas or something."
I couldn't help it. I laughed, too. "I would rather take care of it before something happens, you know?"
"I know. But what if it's harmless? Wouldn't you feel guilty if you destroyed it?"
"It's not harmless," I insisted.
"How do you know?"
"It's just a gut feeling I have."
At that Dimitri turned his attention back to the television. "Gut feelings aren't science, Maron."
Oooh burn. Strike two.
I hadn't seen him since that night, though it wasn't from him trying. I'd replied to the texts he sent and kept claiming I was busy. He'd asked me to go out with him tonight, but all I wanted to do was stay in and work on a piece I'd drawn up the other night. It was a moon and stars piece and I'd hand drawn and sawed out a large wolf. The symbolism of it wasn't lost on me. I wanted to throw it away, but it was made of pure silver, so I couldn’t without wasting a lot of money.
I stepped away from my bench and hit the News button my phone. It popped up to the front page of the Midnight Cove newspaper. I usually skimmed it a few times a week just to make sure I was keeping up with the most current news. Today's news, though, had me sinking down to the couch.
