Straight Up Interfererence

by Rose von Barnsley

  My hair was still damp, so I brushed it as best I could and put it up into a twist. I looked myself over, and I knew I was ready, but I hadn't worked up the nerve to step out the door to meet him. I stood there for nearly ten minutes, before I realized he was already waiting for me.

  He must have heard me moving around in his bedroom, because he called to me and told me to hold on. I waited anxiously, wondering if he had changed his mind and was trying to figure out how to call the date off. I heard him knock on the door, so I opened it to a small bouquet of wildflowers.

  "I couldn't really knock on your door to pick you up, so I knocked on mine." He looked so adorably nervous.

  "Thank you, they're beautiful."

  He had a cup of water sitting on the kitchen table, ready to put the flowers in. "I'm gonna have to buy you a vase. I've never needed one before." His hands were tucked anxiously down into his pockets, as he shuffled to the front door. He held it open for me, with his eyes focused on the floor.

  I might have swished my hips a little more than usual, as I walked past him.

  He rushed to my side of the truck, opening the door. He always opened it for me, but this time it felt different. He climbed in and sat stiffly next to me. He had on a green button-down shirt and a newer pair of jeans. He looked very nice. I could tell he had tried to tame his hair, though he had no idea I loved it in disarray. I had half a mind to reach over and mess it up.

  When we arrived at the diner, he hurried around the truck, and I let him get my door. He usually got it, anyway, but it was definitely different this time.

  He held the diner door open, and I smiled at the blush on his cheeks. I wanted to kiss him all over. Once we were seated, he asked me what I wanted. He had whispered it so quietly, I almost hadn’t heard him.

  "I'll have the cheeseburger. It was good the last time we were here."

  He looked up at me worried, and I wondered if he thought I didn't know this was a date. I had a tiny little clutch that held my lip gloss. I thought if he saw it, he would know I knew tonight was different.

  I set it on the table. "I don't know what to do with this. I usually keep stuff in my pockets, but I wanted to bring my lip gloss with me." I peeked at him under my lashes, wondering if he had caught on.

  "Lip gloss?" he asked.

  "Yes, I don't usually wear makeup, but…" My face was hot, and I knew I was blushing.

  "You look good with or without it."

  "Thank you."

  We were quiet through the whole meal. It was silly, really. We had eaten together several times before. Once at this diner, even! I didn't know what was wrong with me.

  "Would you like to share some ice cream for dessert?" he asked.

  I perked right up. He knew I loved ice cream, and sharing it would be a date thing, albeit a 1950's date thing, but still something that was right up Daniel's alley. "I'd love to."

  He let out a relieved sigh and flagged down the waitress, ordering a bowl of vanilla. We both scooted closer, so we could reach the ice cream in the middle of the table. I swear the jerk from the fire station probably would've hosed us down if he had seen us, because our faces were both a hot, blushing red the whole time we ate. You would have thought the ice cream would've helped, but it didn't, and I would never look at vanilla ice cream the same again.

  Daniel didn't even look at the bill. He must have done the math in his head, because he dropped two twenties on the table and waited for me to get up. I think he was afraid to touch me, which was just silly, because I would have been all for it if he had jumped me.

  "They only have two films showing, one for kids and one adult. I don't know what they are. I should've looked them up," he looked stressed.

  "I'm sure either will be fine. Do we know when it'll start?"

  "Even hours, the movies always start on the even hours. We'll be just in time for the eight o'clock one."

  "Great, let's go see what they've got," I said cheerfully. I wanted him to know I was having a good time. Whatever we did, as long as we were together, it was fun to me.

  Everywhere he walked, his hands were tucked down into his pockets hard, and they only came out to open my door. He did take them out when he bought us popcorn and drinks. We decided on the kid’s movie, because the adult one was Rated R, and Daniel looked a little scared, when he saw the movie poster had a scantily-clad woman on it. I was tempted to push for it and see if he would get turned on enough to try something, but I had a feeling he would've hid his face in the popcorn bucket the whole time. If there was any doubt in my mind that he didn’t look at porn, it was completely gone now.

  He led us to the middle of the theatre into the center rows. He wasn't looking to make out in the back of the room. He put the sodas down and held my seat for me. There weren't a lot of people. I guess the showing was at bedtime, so there were only a few families out with kids.

  The movie was funny, but Daniel didn't do the whole "yawn and stretch to put your arm around the girl" move. I was kind of hoping he would. We did bump hands in the popcorn bucket a few times, and he smiled when they touched. I figured that was a good sign.

  When the movie was over, he threw our trash away and went back to hiding his hands and getting my doors. The drive home was quiet again, and I would swear I was going crazy. "I had a wonderful time."

  He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as he drove. "Yeah?" He didn't sound like he believed me.

  "Yeah." I was going to bite the bullet. "It was the best date ever." I prayed he didn't say it wasn't a date.

  He smiled and blushed. This man was so damn adorable. "It was pretty great," he whispered.

  "It was," I agreed.

  When we got back to the house, we both settled down some. I took my flowers off the kitchen table and moved them to my nightstand. They really did smell beautiful. "They smell so good," I said, when he caught me sniffing them for the third time.

  "I'm glad you like them." I wanted to kiss him so bad, but he made no move to come closer to me. "I'll let you get ready for bed first. I have some stuff I need to take care of." He pulled out his phone, and I wondered who he would call.

  When I came out ready for bed, he gave me a big grin. "Goodnight, Gabby."

  He started for the door, but I wasn't having it. I grabbed his arm, but I knew I needed to start out slow, so I pulled him to me and kissed his cheek. "Happy birthday, Daniel, goodnight."

  Once his door shut, I heard him cheer and shuffle around like he was dancing. It was nice to know that my little kiss on his cheek affected him just as much as his little kiss on my cheek had me. We were both a pair of goofs.

  The next morning, I woke to his fingers in my hair. "Good morning, breakfast is ready."

  My huge grin matched his. "Thank you."

  He went to set the table, and I stopped to smell my flowers and brought them to the table with me, sniffing them one more time, before I set them down. I blushed when he caught me. He wore a big grin, though, so it was totally worth it.

  Chapter 24 – Calm Before the Storm

  Things between us after our date were good, normal, the only difference being we both wore big goofy grins all the time. He still worked, and I still read books and cleaned. The only new addition was daydreaming. More than once, Daniel had caught me zoning out, focused on him. He had some really, really nice shoulders, and the boy could type like nobody's business. I would swear it sounded like rainfall the way he went at that keyboard. I would bet he had some very strong, nimble fingers. That was usually where my brain zoned out.

  He hadn't asked me out on another date yet. I was tempted to ask him, but I started to mentally freak out, thinking he hadn't asked me on another one, because he didn't like the first one. It had been pretty tame as first dates went, and I regretted not making more conversation with him.

  I felt like I was running out of time. Summer would soon be giving way to fall. We were already deep into July. The summer weather had been wonderful. The most rain we'd had were light rain show
ers that did nothing but good, as they watered the vegetation and cooled the air. Daniel had mentioned in passing that he would have to find his weather radio before the Monsoon. I had heard of the Monsoon, but I hadn't ever really experienced one before.

  What I woke to in the middle of the night was no light rain shower. The whole house shook. I thought a tornado had come through, and it never left. It was just the wind, and it was howling madly. I had never understood before what they meant when people mentioned a howling wind, but this was it. The thunder clapping and shaking the house like it would fall on my head startled me awake. The lightning and wind had kept me that way.

  I sat up in the dark, looking around for any sign of Daniel. It seemed as if he should have been battening down the hatches or something to keep his little house from blowing away.

  I climbed out of bed and called for him, but another loud clap of thunder made it mute. I didn't see him in the living areas, so I opened his bedroom door. I was shocked to find him sound asleep, leg uncovered and half off the bed. He was sprawled across it in such a way that made me wonder how he had ever slept on the couch and managed to stay on it.

  Another clap of thunder rocked the cabin, and the walls shook around us. Daniel didn't even flinch. His house could have been falling down around him, and yet he was sound asleep.

  "Daniel," I called to him and pushed his foot with my toe.

  He smiled in his sleep and rolled over mumbling, "Buttons."

  The loud crackle of lightning rocked the house again, taking me by surprise. I jumped on Daniel, gripping his PJ shirt. "Daniel!" I squealed, as I yanked his shirt. He had to wake up. We were going to die, and I didn't want to die alone.

  I was suddenly pinned under him. It happened so fast that I thought the roof had fallen on us for a moment.

  "Gabby?" He looked down at my hands fisting his shirt, confused as he pulled away from me. The crackle of lightning rocked the house again, causing me to squeal and yank him back down on me. I felt his arms worm under my back, and he pulled me into his lap. "You're scared of the storm?" I could tell he was trying to be sensitive, but there was a distinct smirk in his voice.

  "The house is going to blow down. The wolf himself couldn't blow any harder!"

  "It's just a Monsoon storm. I told you they'd be coming," he said, rubbing my back. "This cabin isn't going anywhere." We looked out the window and saw a patio cushion blow by. "I can't guarantee the stuff outside, though. That's going to be a mess to clean up."

  I didn't get anywhere near dozing off, even in Daniel's arms during that storm. When it was over, he walked me back to my bed and tucked me in like a father would a silly little girl. I felt like this was a distinct step back in our relationship, and it was pissing me off.

  I woke up around lunchtime, when Daniel called me to the kitchen. He was making sandwiches and looked stressed. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

  "Do you want me to do that? Is there some work or something you need to do?" I asked, glancing at his computer.

  He let out a sigh and shook his head no. I noticed he hadn't shaved, and I hoped it was just because he hadn't had a chance to shower. When we sat at the table to eat lunch, I couldn't take my eyes off him, willing him to tell me he had just been too tired to shower.

  "What?" he finally snapped.

  His grumpy demeanor was working in my favor. "You didn't shave." His frown deepened, as he rubbed his face thoughtfully, but he didn't say anything. "Are you mad at me?" He glanced at the back door and then frowned down at his plate. "Daniel, please." I was really starting to freak out.

  He looked up at my face with a pained expression. "No, I just have a lot on my mind."

  He took a couple more bites of his sandwich, before he dropped his plate in the sink and went out the back door.

  I wanted to follow him, but I felt like I should give him some room. He was obviously upset about something, and I didn't want to push him. I needed him to work through whatever it was, so he would shave and be my Daniel again.

  When I finally made it into the backyard, I saw that most of the outdoor furniture had been thrown and bent in some way. Daniel had driven deep weighted anchors into the ground to secure the gazebo when he had put it up. I had thought it was overkill, but now I saw that it wasn't. It was still standing, and half of its cover was flipped off of it, but it didn't look torn. Daniel looked back at me and then moved the ladder he had out over to the corner of the gazebo and got to work pinning it all back down. The umbrella that had been on the table was long gone, and the table itself was tipped over. I stood it up, pleased that it wasn't messed up. Out of all the chairs, only two were in working order. The only pieces of the other furniture still usable were the chaise lounge and the couch. The cushions for the couch were missing, and the lounge cushion was stuck up in a tree. I looked over at the ladder and made a mental note that it would be reachable.

  Daniel moved around the yard quietly. It wasn't unusual for him to be quiet, but this was a tense and uncomfortable quiet. We usually felt content in our silence. This was completely different, and it was really starting to worry me.

  Several of the birdfeeders were broken or lost. Of the ten, we could only salvage three, but Daniel didn't seem bothered by it. He dug around in that shed of his and pulled out a box that held six brand new feeders.

  "Spares?" I asked.

  "There was a clearance sale. It's what spurred the bird feeding in the first place. They were only a dollar each. I took the whole lot of them. It was two pallets worth."

  I looked a little deeper into his shed and could see the left side of it was lined with boxes stacked to the roof. "That's a lot, but that doesn't look like two pallets."

  "I've been out here almost three years now. I bought these the first week I moved in. I've gone through several. I had problems with other animals stealing them, but I found if I put out food for them, they'd leave the birdfeeders alone. I learned to put the feeders up higher as well. Even then, I lost a couple when I dropped them as I changed them out. You know how hard it is to switch them."

  "Yeah, you've done well, but now you've completely ruined my theory that you're the male version of Snow White."

  He gave me a sideways glance like I was insane.

  "What, she was good with animals! Your house is party central for animals. You should have a cover charge. I'd bet you'd have enough random twine and nesting material to build a freaking mansion."

  He cracked a small smile and snorted a laugh, that was it. I knew I had my work cut out for me.

  We went about cleaning up the yard quietly. When it came time to move the pile of broken and disfigured furniture, he looked it over frowning, and then he went into the house. I had a feeling the lost furniture was what was causing him a lot of distress. He had thought it was too much, and now that I knew exactly how badly he hated having people over, I knew we shouldn't replace it. There would be enough left to have his parents or Ann Marie come and visit, but no more than that.

  He was making dinner, when I came in the back door. He was banging pots louder than he needed to, but he still didn't say a word to me. He gave me a tight smile, as I set the table. When we finally sat down together, he focused solely on his food, not looking at me at all, and I was getting frustrated.

  "That furniture won't burn," I said, finally getting his attention.

  He took a deep breath and answered, "No, it won't."

  "Do you have a dump or something, since it can't go into the pit?" I asked, and he shrugged one shoulder. I flopped back in my chair, frustrated. "Well, you'll have to look one up, so we can get rid of it. We'll just have to make do with what's left over. We could probably move the table over by the couch and chaise. That's really all we need anyways, right?" I smiled at him, and he peeked at me, so I went on. "You know, enough for each of us to flop down on or something after I've worked you to death."

  He seemed to let out a relieved breath, but he still wasn't talking.

  "Did the grill survi
ve? I saw you looking it over." He nodded yes, and I was getting even more frustrated with him. "We're playing chess after dinner," I demanded firmly.

  His brow scrunched, like he might protest, but I wasn't letting him. I pointed my fork at him. "You will not give me crap about this, Daniel. Something is up, and I don't deserve to be treated this way."

  When I said the last bit, his whole face crumbled. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

  I nodded at him. "Chess after dinner."

  He set up the board, while I washed our dishes. I glanced over at him and saw him waiting for me, while I finished up my chores. He had his head in his hands, and he looked even more distressed than before. I dried my hands and sat across from him, making my first move, and then I spoke. "You need to tell me what has you upset. I don't like to see you so stressed out, Daniel. I can't help you if you don't tell me what you need."

  "It's more like what you need."

  "What do I need? So far, I feel pretty content, so I think you're wrong to assume I need anything."

  He shifted in his seat and made his move. "You need people."

  "People?" I moved my piece.

  "I don't talk to people. I don't socialize. I don't have company, and it was only because of Jerry's longstanding friendship and loyalty that he knew how to contact me."

  "We've already established that you're not a people person, but I can see why you’d give Jerry your address. The guy's a freak, but I guess a freak for a friend is better than no friends at all."

  "Maybe, but you have no other way to contact anyone, and you can’t. I shouldn't have left my phone unattended. You could've caused so much trouble if you'd called a friend instead of Ann Marie."

  "I'd have to have a friend."