A few days later, I was back at my parent's place. Mum had talked to this man she wanted me to meet, and he was coming over in a few minutes. Her master plan was to have us meet while she was around so she could ensure that nothing went wrong. If she made sure to keep my temper under control, then maybe this guy would give me a chance. The chances of this working were low, but whatever.
While I waited, I played with Elizabeth. Once again, she was trying to race Fluffy up and down the hallways. Most of the time, he didn’t give her a chance, but occasionally, he would pretend to be slow and let her win just so she didn’t get upset about constantly losing.
“Big sis!” She grabbed onto my arm. “I bet you can beat him!”
“Oh, but you’re doing a good job at it.” I laughed.
“No! He’s winning!” Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Oh! We can beat him together!”
“Hm?”
“Together! We can race him together!”
“Oh, I don’t run-”
“Come on!”
There was no winning. Fluffy gave me the sneakiest of smirks as he watched my little sister pull me over to the starting line. Seeing that smug little face made me feel extra competitive. As IF a snake would beat me!
“Alright!” Elizabeth said eagerly. “Three! Two! One! GO!”
Despite saying I don’t run, I hitched up my skirt and gave it my best shot. Fluffy sped ahead, enjoying the fact he was winning without much issue. He kept giving me smug looks every time he got too far ahead and then purposely slowing down to make me think I had a chance. Elizabeth was just a little ahead of me, trying her absolute hardest to win. Unfortunately, we both lost. Somehow, Fluffy out sped us all, and he looked very proud of his accomplishments.
“Slimy bastard,” I mumbled, glaring at him while trying to catch my breath. There was a reason I didn’t run and it was called asthma. “Oi, Elizabeth. What do you say to tackling the winner?”
An evil grin showed up on her face, and we both turned to look at Fluffy. If snakes could sweat, he would’ve immediately started sweating.
“Get him!!” Elizabeth cheered. Together, we chased him down the hallway. Tired out from his prior victory, we managed to catch up and tackle him. Of course, we were careful as he was just a snake, and the last thing I wanted to do was squish him with all 170lbs of me.
“Gotcha, you sneaky-”
“Beatrice Hawthorne!” I heard Mum scold me from down the hall. Slowly, I looked up to see she was standing with some guy. A pretty good-looking guy at that. Very well kept, and decent fashion sense. Despite that, something in my gut was telling me there was something off about him. Something unsafe.
“Ack- sorry!” I said, quickly getting up. I helped Elizabeth up and picked Fluffy up from off the floor before turning to face them. “I got a little carried away.”
“Clearly.” Mum groaned. “This is Brendon. Brendon, this is my daughter, Beatrice.”
“Hello.” He waved with a kind smile. So far, this guy was 9/10 for attractiveness. A very rare find. It was just the gut feeling that bothered me, but I promised I’d try and I didn’t want Mum to get upset with me.
“Hi.” I waved back. “Excuse me for my, uh behavior.”
“We were trying to race Fluffy!” Elizabeth smiled broadly.
“Fluffy?” Brendon gave me a look.
I held out my arm and showed off Fluffy. He even posed to add to things. “This is Fluffy. He’s my best friend.”
“And mine!” Elizabeth added, making me chuckle a bit.
“Yes, and Elizabeth’s best friend too.”
“Which is perfect because you’ll be leaving Fluffy with Elizabeth, right?” Mum gave me a look. “Fluffy can spend time with Elizabeth while you and Brendon get to know each other!”
“Fluffy stays with me-”
“Beatrice.” Mum gave me a desperate look, practically pleading for me to give this a chance. I sighed and let Fluffy go to my sister. I really didn’t want to because Fluffy kept me safe, and I really felt I needed that in that moment.
“Alright. But just know that Fluffy and I are a package deal. You can like me all you want, but nothing is working out unless you like Fluffy too.”
“He seems gentle enough.” Brendon smiled. “I’m sure I could adjust. It’s just unusual seeing such a big snake around here.”
“Oh, we know.” Mum laughed. “Come on, Beatrice. How about we all go sit out on the porch and enjoy some tea?”
I nodded and joined the group while my sister happily enjoyed her time with Fluffy. I was pretty uncomfortable not having him by my side. We hardly ever separated.
Chatting with Brendon wasn’t too bad, actually. He listened to every word I said and even adjusted to the few mood switches that I had while we talked. Just doing that made me feel I could trust him and ignore the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Mum trusted it was all going well enough that she let us talk alone. And surprisingly, it went quite well! For the first time in a very long time, I was able to bond with another person.
“How about you show me around your parent's place?” Brendon asked with a kind smile. “My legs are getting a little restless.”
“Yeah, for sure.” I nodded. “It’s a pretty big place though.”
“It’s alright. That just means more time to spend with someone as lovely as yourself.”
My cheeks turned red and I smiled like a goof. Where was this guy years ago when I first started looking for men?!
“I would also love to get to know your snake.” He smiled as we got up and started walking down the hallways of the massive place my parents owned. “How long have you had him for?”
“I’ve known him for about 6 years now,” I explained. “He’s been my best friend since I watched him hatch from his little egg.”
“Oh, you watched him hatch?”
“Mhm! It was adorable. You should’ve seen it when he poked his cute little nose out of the egg!”
It was funny how well Brendon listened to my rant about Fluffy. To him it probably felt like I talked for hours about him, listing all the things I loved about him, his quirks, tendencies, diet, and anything else I could. I even bragged about his deadliness. Despite Mum’s disapproval, Fluffy joined us to proudly show off himself. He wasn’t about to not be there when I was discussing how great he was,
“A snake with some bite,” he admired, scratching Fluffy under the chin. Just how he liked to be pampered. “Guess that makes the two of you.”
“You forget yourself,” I blushed, turning away. This guy had a way with words. It made my heart skip a beat. I really thought he might be the one. I really did.
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