Chapter 677: Odd One Out
“Well?” Irene inquired, her tone as formal as formalities go, yet her eyes so far straying away from mine. Not so formal. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
It was like a fairy tale out of one of those high school rom-coms, or a script ripped scene by scene from a Taylor Swift music video or something. The similarities were too on the nose to ignore.
Party’s grooving, everyone’s vibin, then at the very tail-end of it, the unassuming, reclusive true beauty of the event turns up, blow everyone back, takes the main character’s breath away – and now I got nothing to say.
I slowly shuffled a step out of the way, “Come in,” I muttered, getting one-two’d in the nose by another hit of her pheromones as she strolled in with her head down like the ground was the most fascinating she’s ever seen.
More to clear my head than anything, I threw my eyes back out the porch, seeing and then remembering there were still uninvited guests hanging out near the driveway-all three color-coded silhouettes, standing watch like prideful parents on graduation.
“There’s no invitation list, y’know?” I echoed out at them, swinging the door a little wider. “Feel free to come and watch your beloved detective let her hair down even more.”
“Tempting,” Blue said, sounding as sorrowful as one can be. “But I’m afraid no can do, Boyfriend.”
.....
“Office still cramped up the ass with paperwork,” Green said, sighing yet smiling. “Someone’s gotta go pick up after her slack, right?”
“We’ll leave the fun part to you... okay?” Red finished off, already opening and scrambling into the backdoor of their parked cruiser. “Make sure she has tons of it, boyfriend. We’re counting on you.”
And with a unison of giggle and waves goodbye, they sped right off into the dark of night, leaving me with the proverbial bricks of responsibility for this prim and proper detective so far out of her element.
Come to think of it, with her impromptu arrival, I got the whole gang rounded up here under one roof, don’t I? Adalia slumbering in one end on the second floor, Ash still sulking on the other. Amelia also dropped in a while back, Amanda devised this whole thing, Sammy was the catalyst for it, and Sera was skulking about... somewhere. Yeah, that’s pretty much everyone on the in with this whole magic and myth business.
Well, mostly everyone...
Wish you could see this, Ria. Wish you were here... I can only guess the things you’d say if you just knew how far things have changed since you’ve gone. Perhaps one day, you’ll know.
Maybe one day, I’ll have the chance to tell you.
“Hey, you mind?” Someone close within the crowd nodded at me. “Shut the door. Got a draft coming in, dude.”
And just like the draft that one dude-bro was whining about, I shut my thoughts closed and turned around back to the noise complaint-less party that’s still going strong.
When I said it was like a scene taken right out of a cliche, I was not embellishing.
Irene was standing there, just standing there in the middle of the hall in that usual assessing, guarded cross-armed stance of hers, doing absolutely nothing to draw any focus to herself whatsoever, and yet still garnering the undivided attention of everyone within her vicinity anyway, and if she in any way noticed any of the gawking and gaping surrounding her at all angles, she did a very good job showing she’s totally oblivious to it.
In fact maybe too good... that subtle crease in her brows, that tightening in her gaze... speaking of attention, it seems something has snared hers completely, and by the look of things, it wasn’t anything pleasant.
“See something illegal, officer?” I asked once I managed to squeeze my way through the ogling crowd she was drawing. “If its underage drinking, then I assure you that I-”
“Minors, I can turn a blind eye to an extent,” She muttered in a tone reflecting the sternness of her gaze, as it drifted and settled to one corner of the room. “Her being here, however... that’s a different story. Explain yourself.”
I followed her eyes, and it took a moment or two of adjusting to the teeming sight, before I spotted that little blotch of deep violet hoarding up all the leftover cookies with one sweep of her baggy sleeves like an oversized squirrel storing up nuts in its cheeks.
“Sera’s alright,” I quickly said. “She’s handled crowds before. She knows when to behave. I trust her.”
“You do?” Irene glanced at me, face empty of any semblance of fun. “Funny. I remember you sometime back pouring out to me precisely because of a lack of trust towards her.”
“Things change.”
“What kind of things, exactly?”
“Things.”
“And did they change enough that you’d even-?”
“Irene,” I planted a hand on her shoulder, seeing right through this brittle brick wall of stoicness she’s stacking. “If you came here to lecture on my responsibilities, a phone call would suffice, ‘kay? Now, how ’bout you just enjoy yourself doing what you came here to do?”
When she looked away, I smiled.
“So, you were stalking Amanda’s feed again, huh?” I glanced back, and she still wasn’t looking. I continued. “Must have seen something so enticing to make you wanna join in on the fun, didn’t you?”
“Don’t tease me, please...” Irene said wearily. “Those three already milked that cow to death, don’t do it too.”
“Or maybe it’s what you didn’t see that has you all hot and bothered,” I went on, pretending I haven’t heard her. “Like for instance, you? With me? Here? Having fun? Together? You are my fire?”
“Don’t start!”
I chuckled. “Ahh, jealousy. Tis’ such a wonderful motivator, ain’t it?”
And snap, just like that-her wall cracked. Irene looked to the floor again, squirming in place, her lips tightly pursed as she fell back to a tense silence.
“But in all seriousness, aren’t you here to relax, unwind?” I asked, placing myself in the corner of her eye. “It’s what you do at parties, right?”
“I wasn’t even planning on coming here to begin with,” She said with a huff.
“Yet here you are anyway,” I simply said, then raised a brow. “So, what’s your plan now?”
To that, she kept quiet again... and though her squirming and fidgeting was quite the endearing sight, it was also quite the bemusing one to see.
“It’s like all manners of fun are a strange and foreign concept to you or something,” I said, “And this, coming from the reigning city-wide paintball champion, the prestigious detective of no equal match, and heartthrob seductress of all men... and some women.”
“Get to your point.”
“Point is-should be plenty used to this, right? Or are you sure it’s not you that’s not used to crowds?”
“Crowds, I’m used to,” Irene immediately said, her gaze snapping towards me once more. “Parties, drugs, alcholol, shootouts, murder, arson, kidnapping, ransoms, I’m used to it all.”
Okay, that took a dark turn outta nowhere.
“So then, what seems to be the problem?”
“It’s you,” She muttered, a faint red glowing faintly in her cheeks. “I’m not used to you.”
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