[RiddleRose]: 298.Gold Dust - NaNoWriMo '07.Chapter eight

Chapter eight.

He opened the door of the apartment building and walked through, crashing into the person who had been about to walk in. Wren grabbed hold of the door frame, swayed, and managed to stay on his feet. The other person fell over. She looked like she might be his own age, and she was very pretty. “I'm so sorry,” he said, offering a hand to help her up, “Are you alright?”

She stood up on her own, and brushed herself down, “Yes, I'm okay. You should watch where you're going though, I could have been an old woman or something!”

Wren shook his head and grinned, “Lucky for me you weren't then, eh?” he turned on a bit of a Scottish accent. She was really very pretty. “Do you need help finding someone? I haven't seen you here before.”

She hesitated, then said, “Actually, yes. I'm looking for a David Mountcastle, I was told he lives here. Unless I've got the address wrong, and this isn't,” she looked at her hand, where the address presumeably was written,” 43 Willow street. Is it? Do you know him?”

Wren scrutinized her. David Mountcastle was Neil's false name, the one he used when he was dealing. But this girl didn't look like she was coming for Dust. She wasn't wearing any gold, for one thing. But on the other hand, she also didn't look like a police woman, she was too young. She looked to be about Wren's own age. Maybe she was some old connection of Neil's? He decided to be honest- well, a little honest. “Yeah, he does live here. And yes, this is 43 Willow. But I was actually just up to visit him and he seems to be out.” he shook his head in apparent disgust, “The bastard told me he'd be here today, but no. Anyway, perhaps you should come back later.”

But she had only heard one thing from that sentence apparently. “You know him? Personally? How much do you know about him? Please, I need information.”

Wren was taken aback. Maybe she was police after all... but no. she really was too young. And anyway, she looked more desperate than anything else. Maybe Neil had gotten her pregnant! Oh my. Wouldn't that be an interesting development. He was tempted to ask, but decided at the last minute that it would be rude. Instead he said, “Yeah, we been buddies since way back. I guess I probably know more about him than anyone.” this was true, although he refrained from saying they had been friends since high school, because Neil liked to pretend to be a lot older than Wren. He was actually twenty one. He told anyone who asked that he was twenty nine. He got away with it too.

She didn't say anything, so he said, “If you give me your name I can tell him you came...?”

She jumped. It looked like she had completely forgotten that he was there. “Oh! I'm Livia, but don't bother telling him. I'll corner him eventually.”

“Okay... well, I gotta go. Bye Livia! I'm David McKirney by the way. And yes, I know David and I have the same name. No need to comment on it.” he grinned, tipped his hat to her, and began to walk down the steps. The fact that both of their alter egos were named David was a private joke between Neil and himself. Both of the last names began with M as well, meaning that the initials were DM. In high school, both Neil and Wren had been Dungeon Masters, and DM alter egos were their way of making fun of themselves way back when. All of Wren's various personae had the initials DM, although not all of them were named David. 

Wren had gotten about five feet along, when he felt her hand on his arm. “I've made up my mind,” she said, “I'm coming with you. If you're friends with him, you'll lead me to him eventually, and I can't afford to spend any extra time hunting.”

Wren grinned, in a slightly confused way, and said, “don't you think you should check and make sure that's okay with me first?”

“Well,” she said, “I could. But it wouldn't make any difference what you said, I'd follow you anyway. So I thought I'd just skip that step to save time.”

Wren blinked. This girl was obviously obsessed with him, and had turned into a stalker as a result. Well, he could shake her whenever he wanted, so he'd humor her, and let her tag along. It would make dealing a bit difficult, but that was okay. Wren rarely got a real challenge. So he said, “Okay, follow me for as long as you like. But I'm not gonna wait if you can't catch up. And you might not like some of the places I'm going.”

She looked a little apprehensive, but that was what she got, if she was going to follow him. He would have to remember to call himself David McKirney all day though. Oh well. He'd done similar things a couple of times. It wasn't that hard.

His first deal was in a couple of hours, and he was hungry again, so he walked down to the little café down the street, and ordered some lunch and a coffee. He completely ignored Livia, acting as if he was on his own. She sat at a different table, facing him, but didn't try to talk. He decided that he might as well give her a little show throughout the day. It would a be a show of the type “Look at me, I'm a sexy beast.” He grinned at the thought.

To this end he began to hold himself slightly differently, he turned the Scottish accent up a notch, and he began to act a little differently. When he was done with the coffee and the meal, he walked out of the café, with a very slight swagger in his step.

He couldn't go home with her following him, so he decided to spend the rest of the day outside. It was a crisp fall day, but he was bundled up warmly enough, and it was really the perfect day to go to the park. So, to the park he went. 

Wren liked the park. It was filled with trees, jungle gyms, benches, and some of the most interesting people a person could meet. There were homeless people, there were people walking their dogs, there were people walking their children, there were always a few couples meeting secretly, and always some young romantic girl staring longingly at them.

For Livia's sake, he approached one of these girls, one who looked only slightly younger than he was, went down on one knee, kissed her hand, and told her that she was the most beautiful girl in all the universe. He turned the Scottish accent up all the way for this, and surreptitiously felt her pulse in her wrist. It was speeding up by the minute. She was blushing too, a good sign. When he got to the part in his speech where he told her that the moon had nothing on her, he also caressed the palm of her hand, and continued to look adoringly into her eyes.

He concluded his speech with, “I shall be here tomorrow at sunset, if you will meet me here...” and he was immensely gratified when she nodded almost imperceptibly, and gave him a sidelong glance. He kissed her hand again, pressed it romantically to his heart, and left with many a backward glance. He had gotten quite far away, when he saw her give a start, and a look of mingled horror and anticipation crossed her face. He grinned. A job well done. 

Livia was a mix of emotions. She knew that this mysterious fellow was probably just turning on the charm for her sake, but what the hell had that been back there? That girl had just completely fallen for that whole chivalry act. And he had been awfully convincing. She made a mental note to watch herself. This guy was a good actor. Well, she was not so easily fooled as that girl. Chivalry acts would not work on her.

She was also almost angry that he had just agreed to let her follow him. She had thought that he would at least try to shake her off. But so far he had not. She was only half confident that she could keep up with him if he did try to get away from her. He looked like the sort who was used to walking the streets, and maybe even running from people.

Of course, this would probably not be obvious to everyone. To the world he presented a very innocent air. The fact that he looked like an autumn angel didn't help at all. But she was, after all, watching him very carefully, and she noticed how he noticed every single unusual sound. She also noticed that whenever he went by a police car, he somehow contrived to have his face covered. Once, he sneezed, and then wiped his nose on a handkerchief. Once, he scratched his head, so that his hand completely blocked his face. Once, he blew into his hands, as if they were cold, and once he just turned away, pretending to see something interesting in the shop window next to him.

Of course, this could have been mere coincidence. After all, it was chilly, and maybe he did have an itch, and the shop window they were passing was actually kind of fascinating. But she thought it was probably not a coincidence. But then he confused her again, by actually approaching a police officer, and asking for directions to somewhere or other. It wasn't an officer Livia knew, thank goodness, or he might have greeted her, and that probably would have spooked him, and he might have tried to get away.

The sun was getting a lot lower now, and Livia wondered if she would have to give up. But as the sun went down, he actually turned to her, and said, “I think I should probably warn you, tonight I am going to the red light district. It's not necessarily the safest place for a girl as pretty as you to be. I will be going to several lowlife bars, and a strip club. Also a karaoke place. If you get harassed, I will not protect you. If you get dragged off, I will. However, up to the point where you are physically assaulted, I'm not going to help, so come at your own risk. That said, may I take you to dinner?”

Livia was so surprised that he had actually addressed her, that the meaning of his words didn't quite sink in for a moment. When they did, she smiled frostily, and said, “Yes, thank you.”

They went to a little hole in the wall Italian place that he knew about, which turned out to be quite good, and not at all expensive. Livia insisted upon paying for her own meal, although he tried his level best to pay for her. She could be stubborn though, and finally he gave in. She paid for her mushroom ravioli and coke, and he paid for his lasagna and pepsi. And that was really all there was to it.

Throughout the meal, she was reviewing what she knew of self defense. If she was going to the red light district, (and she was. No way was she giving up now), she would do best to be prepared for anything. It would be unbelievably humiliating to have to be rescued, like some damsel in distress, by this knight in really murky armour. Although, she allowed herself to admit, it would be comforting to know that if she got carried off, he would do his best to help. She wondered why. Well, he did think she was pretty, he had admitted it himself. So maybe he was just hoping to get in her pants. She almost snorted. Fat chance he had of that! He was good looking enough, she supposed, but he was also possibly a drug dealer.