The First Touch (13 page)

Autumn looked at hi
m wide-
eyed, “What
?
H
ow do you know that?”

He lied, “I dreamt it
,”
as he ushered her into the taxi cab.

“But what if you are wrong?” He looked at her with a confidence that seemed free of worry
but somehow she knew it wasn’t.

“My
dreams are never wrong.” He
lied, as he slid in next to her.

H
e
swiftly
dialed a number on a phon
e that he pulled from his pocket
,
while
Autumn
told the driver the address to h
er apartment. Ivan spoke
quickly
in a foreign language to a female while
she
listened anxiously wondering what he was saying about her
.
Once he finished he gave her a reassuring squeeze on her knee, and then glanced out the window, at a passing vehi
cle his protective need in over
drive.

If she was right
he would have Grayton preoccupied with another female, so that he would not need to
feel guilty about his
need
for
Autumn
.
He watched as she stared out the window anxiously and wondered what she was worried about.

Her thoughts were about his safety as well. T
his was a
bad id
ea
. Her stomach hurt terribly.
She did not want Ivan...what... she wanted him...
not dead
.
Why was he so focused on
Sophia
?
Shouldn’t he be worr
ied about meeting that girl, the one who
was supposed to keep him from burning up in the sun
light
?
Nervously she asked,
“S
o you think that I am right about her
?
Maybe she’s the kiss girl for you?
”

Ivan looked at her and said gently
, “
I
t is simple enough to check
.”

“She has full lips.
”

He looked over at her for a
moment and he replied, “One of our
kind
only need
s
to touch her skin once to know.”

She smiled brightly,
understanding at once,
“So I will get to meet Grayton then?”

“He will be here in the mornin
g.”

Sh
e frowned, “Oh that long? Where is he now?”

Ivan replied seriously, “France.”

“Figures….”
She muttered as she thought,
What
am I
going to say to Sophia? What time was it?
She looked dow
n at her watch and saw that
it was almost ten o’clock. She looked over at him, “It will seem strange if I knock on her door at this hour.”

Ivan replied
, “
W
e will wait until morning when Grayton arrives. What is your relationship with her?”

She shook her head gravely as she replied, “Honestly I don’t know her very well. I get her mail from time to time by accident
,
so I return it to her when I see her. She is always very warm to me though.”

He asked the obvious question then, “Do you have any of her mail now?”

She shook her head
no, his brow furrowed
, “We will
just
have to get some then.”

***

Th
ey arrived a little after ten
o’clock at her apartment building. Ivan threw the driver a large sum of money and joined her on the front walk
,
seconds later. His eyes were clear and he seemed suddenly very happy. The doorman Frank opened the door for them and eyed Ivan up cautiously as he placed his arm around
Autumn
protectively. Frank greeted
Autumn
as usual, making no attempt to hide his surprise at her guest. Autumn shrugged Ivan’s arm off as she returned the greeting shyly and introduced Ivan to Frank, “This is my friend Ivan.”

They exchanged polite if not strained greetings and
Autumn
gave Ivan a tug. Frank replied after them slightly bemused, “You know I was beginn
ing to worry about you Mrs. Benson
. It’s goo
d to see that you finally have
....company.” She smiled back politely slid her hand into Ivan’s and tugged him along.

She waved
,
embarrassed,
“Goodnight Frank.” T
he doorman’s
curious gaze followed them as they
headed
off
for the bay of elevators at
the end of the hall.
She leaned forward to press the button but stopped herself in midair. She snapped her fingers remembering the plan and pointed to a small door that was labeled Mail. He nodded and the two headed for the door. Inside of the small room lined with mailboxes she found hers quickly and opened it. As she searched through the small pile she found what she was looking
for,
“Got it.”

Once back on her floor, s
he pointed at Sophi
a’s door across the hall
, “Sophia lives there.” He nodded, and
Autumn
opened her
own
door slowly being careful not to let her cat out. He was waiting for her when she opened the door meowing loudl
y. She turned on the four light
switches at once il
luminating the apartment. T
hey
slipped inside
and closed the door behind them.

Home

Autumn placed her keys on the long narrow
stand, next to a coat rack. As she
leaned down and petted the
large
black cat while Ivan stood watching
tensely
. She apologized to the cat for making hi
m wait for his nighttime snack while
Ivan followed behind her
, as did her cat.

The cat ignored Ivan completely and continued to meow at
Autumn
as she
headed into the kitchen.
The cat jumped up on to the center island in the kitchen and watched as she prepared the snack. Ivan stood in the door way and watched patiently as she worked quickly
finishing
her task by washing her hands at the sink.

She asked him politely if she could get him anything and he shook his head no. She smiled sweetly and said, “Would you like a tour?”

He smiled
, “Yes.” It was the first time since the cab that he had spoken to her. She felt suddenly painfully aware o
f his beauty again. He
felt more real inside her home and her excitement of having him there began to build. His face was after all
perfect
, for the lack of a better word.

She found herself blushing and
remembering her bold behaviors in the park announcing, “W
ell this is my kitchen and my cat, Jack.
”

He
offered, “Most animals shy away from me.”

“Jack is a special cat. He doesn’t usually even notice other people besides me. I think he might have kitty autism or something.” As
Autumn
spoke she knelt down and
petted his head. Jack made strange sounds of pleasure with each brush.

Ivan
smiled eyeing the cat in amusement
,
“I see,” wondering if that was how he sounded when she stroked his skin.

Autumn sto
od and walked out of the
kitch
en, continuing down the main hall
that opened out to an even larger main space. Autumn gestured to the rest of the apartment and said, “My dinning ro
om, living room and office
.” The dark dining table was set up to their right, and the living room with an oversized television screen was dead center.
While t
o her left was a large fireplace and floor to ceiling book shelves.

The dark shelves covered every inch of the available wall space to the left of the living room, even above the two other doors to their left. There was a small step up to a desk that faced out towards the living area. Next to it sat an over stuffed couch and chair similar in color to the one in the living room that had been placed in front of a large stone fire place.

She walked to the farther of the two doors and opened it saying, “Bathroom.” Then she breezed past him and headed to the second doo
r, announcing,
“
My room.”

He pushed past her
for the first time, and inspected the room
.
While she stood awkwardly hoping that he did not realize what a shut in she was, suddenly very self conscious about her living spaces.
It was a typical
bedroom, expect, there were shelves in here,
wrapping around both sides of the bed. He noticed that these walls were the only ones colored in the entire apartment, a grayish blue. Every item in her ho
me was simple and dark, textured in
tones set against fresh clean white wal
ls.
He liked it instantly, this fit into his vision of her quite nicely, dark but rich in detail.

He loo
ked at her again sending her shrinking
from the room,
back
out
to
the
living room. There she sat on the couch turning on the television
, nervously
. He did not
join her
right away
instead;
he shot around the room
inspecting
it
more thoroughly. It had two doors;
behind the first was a closet, t
he o
ther door connected to the bath room
that he had seen earlier.

Back inside her room
,
he saw a small box on the night stands w
h
ere note pads and piles of scribbled pieces of paper were hidden. His quick reading skills proved that she was thorough with her dream journals and visions. He was about to leave when he realized that there were drawers hidden under the bed. He opened them and discovered files from the last two years, where she had been keeping track of her ability. He was surprised at the thoroughness of it all, names, dates, and times.

Then he heard her giggle in the living room and went out to investigate. Jack the cat was playing with
Autumn
on the couch attempting to bat at a stray chunk of hair that had managed to dangle free from the rest of the bun. She smiled and swayed her head from side to side
,
as the cat attempted to capture the chunk. Ivan sat next to
Autumn
, and she
seemed a l
ittle embarrassed by being caught playing
and he smiled at her wider.

She yawned admitting, “It’s been a long night and I would like to get a shower in.” He nodded and she handed him the channel changer and heading for the bedroom. Jack the cat jumped up as well and followed her dutifully. Ivan did not change the channel he simply muted the volume. Then he listened as she undressed and showered and put on her pajamas and a robe.

Then for the next twenty minutes or so he listened as she turned on a blow-dryer, brush
ed
her teeth and
put
lotion on her skin
. He smiled at her reflection in the television screen and watched as she slowly crept back into the living room. He turned to look at her and she jumped suddenly
,
placing her hand on her chest, “Oh, I thought you were asleep.”

“I don’t sleep much.”

She sat down next to him, and asked, “How much do you sleep?”

He replied, “A
few hours a day.”

Autumn asked curiously then, “So no sun light then?”

He smiled, “I have no problem with sunlight.”

Autumn frowned and replied, “So what can hurt you then?”

He looked
at her seriously and thought,
you
, though he replied, “We have to be beheaded and burned.”

She looked worried, “So the fire thing is a real possibility then?”

He replied flatly, “Yes.”

She looked upset for a moment and asked, “You said Grayton was old, how old are you?”