Putting a stop to their conversation, grim exited the hotel and hopped into the car. After putting the shades on, he started the car and drove in the direction of the library. Before exiting the building, he told Jeremy to look for another place for them to live by the night. Probably the one topping among the extravagant places of Los Angeles. But how could one arrange a new place on this short notice? Well, it was a cakewalk for the one who was a spirit.
.....
Stretching the little arms to their full length, legs sprawling on the bed, Ellen opened her mouth wide to take in the air deeply, not troubling her hand to cover the mouth. She snuggled close to the sheets, reminiscing on the dream she had last night. She saw her six years old self in a park learning how to ride a bicycle with her dad standing by her side holding the bicycle while her mom was filming them.
She still had this clip in a storage device. The period that had been passed since she last dreamt about them, she thought she would be sad once she had them in her dream but after dreaming about them last night, she was happy. The dream didn't feel like a delightful illusion created by her unconscious mind. It felt so real and too good to be true. Too good to exist in reality, yet, when she woke up, she was happy.
But the happiness turned into panic when she grabbed her ringing phone. The clock said fifteen past eleven. She might be condemned to entering the library for not showing up on time. She could imagine Mrs. Benson throwing a hissy fit on her for being late. Sliding the thumb on the screen and putting it on the speaker, she tossed the phone behind her on the bed and kicked the blanket off her body.
"I'M DOOMED CHLOE! Mrs. Benson ain't gonna let it slide this time! It's not that she had my other mistakes sink in, I might lose my job today!", striding to the bathroom, she uttered in a loud voice.
"... saying hello to you", walking back in the room with a toothbrush held in between his teeth, she didn't hear what Chloe said, only the last words. Taking a shirt and flares out of the closet, she went inside the bathroom to spit the foam in the sink and stuck her head out of the bathroom door to yell "I don't have a damn time to reply to the so-called Hellos."
The answer from the girl served to leave Chloe in a stupefied state. She revisited her mind, finding any bitter memory of her mom and her innocent baby. No, her mom was always nice to Ellen. Ellen also had a soft spot in her heart for her best friend's mom. She shrugged off the thoughts thinking Ellen might have not heard whom she was talking about.
"She also said that I should bring you with me when I visit them this month", as Chloe heard the slight sound of things colliding with each other coming, she spoke assuming Ellen might be hearing her.
"She? Who are you talking a-", once slipping on the shoes, Ellen grabbed the phone from the bed and held it close to her mouth.
"Your mom?", after hearing the acknowledged hum from the other side, she titled her head to the left and nibbled on the left side of her inner cheek, a gesture she used to do when she messed things up. She thought Chloe was delivering her grim's message. Reasonably. Why would he tell Chloe to deliver his message when he had Ellen's phone number now? Grim had been visiting her mind more than he should have a lot lately. Who was to blame? Ellen? No. It was the stupid pervert always screwing up Ellen's calm temper. That was what Ellen believed.
"Ahh... I thought you were talking about that thickhead. Give your mom my greetings too", putting the phone on the table she grabbed a rubber band and tied her hair in a messy loose bun. She looked like a bear who just walked out of a cave after waking up from its thousand years of slumber. A cute bear. She couldn't care much. People would be so busy with their business to spare a good few seconds for the girl.
"Aren't you thinking about him frequently?", a teasing giggle heard from the other side.
"It's just your misconception. Will talk to you later. Love you", without waiting for Chloe's response she hung up the call. If she stayed for a more second, her best friend would smell something fishy. Yes, a moment ago Ellen was also thinking about how grim was lingering in her thoughts. But it didn't mean anything. It was natural to have someone on your mind if that person was repeatedly irritating the hell out of you. She didn't have time to make her best friend understand this so she simply hung the call.
Sliding the phone inside the bag, she checked for the keys and exited the house. She didn't even have time for a quick breakfast. When she was out, she ran her eyes in all directions. Perhaps looking for a certain someone. Grim would lurk around her house almost every day and now when she wanted him to be there so that she could have a fast, nonstopped ride, he wasn't there.
"Good for nothing pervert", muttering under her breath she sighed.
She could stand there and curse words at grim, rather, she jogged towards the road to hail a cab. She had missed the bus so now she would've to spent her hard-earned money on a ride. Well, there would be no money if the source of it would be taken away from her. Instead of reconsidering her only option to go with public transport, she sat inside the car and gave the address to the driver.
After a few minutes, she paid the fare, jumped out and entered the library practically running. As anticipated, she was welcomed by an infuriated scowl.
"I--I was--", great. She was short of words, to be exact, of excuse. Telling your boss that you were late because you overslept would only have you a termination letter thrown at your face.
"No explanation?", Mrs. Benson inquired. Finding baffled expressions swept across Ellen's face, she crossed her arms in a bossy manner and stepped closer to the girl.
"You will be off to home at ten tonight", composed tone, lips closed in a straight narrow line and arched brows made the poor girl feel uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't complain though. She thought it would be the end of her job here but here her boss gave her detention instead. Detention at the place she always considered her second home. Not the library but the books. Where there is another whole new world of fantasies and happy ending tales. Where your mind goes free and wild. Where you get lost in a fabricated world of beautiful words and be far-fetched from the paws of gloomy and woeful reality. As much as she enjoyed writing, she would also love to get lost in the fantasies brought by other writers.
"Any refusal?", just as Ellen was about to shook her head, her eyes met certain someone who had a decisive grin on his lips.
"You abnormal freak", she gritted, clearly on the verge of exploding. First, she had to take a taxi because grim not coming to her house and now he was sitting there, entertaining himself from Mrs. Benson's bossy attitude towards the girl and announcing what more looked like a punishment. She would kill the latter. She tried to walk towards him but stopped by a body standing before her.
"You think I'm a freak? Not just a freak but an abnormal one?", Mrs. Benson narrowed her eyes at the girl who just kept shaking her head in denial. Skies poking fun at the poor girl or grim always witnessing her humiliating moments, she felt helpless in between these two every time.
"Believe me I didn't call you one, Mrs. Benson", what did she wake up to today? She thought she would have a good day because of the dream she had but beautiful dreams don't have any impact on your real life. Do they?
"So you were referring it to yourself or is there anyone else standing beside me? But I don't see one. Do you think I'm stupid?", with a shook of her head she lifted her arm in the air and pointed at a table behind Mrs. Benson.
"That was for him."
Mrs. Benson rotated her body to see whom her worker was referring to. Upon finding the familiar figure, she sighed in disbelief and turned back to Ellen.
"You're calling such nice and gentleman an abnormal freak? Are you a toddler, Ellen? When will you learn how to respect people?", if she wasn't thrown out of the library earlier, she was confident that that would happen now. Had she not only arrived late, but she also called Mrs. Benson's new favourite boy a freak, accurately saying, an abnormal freak.