Page 14 of Dream Girl

My savior comes when a tiny figure slips to my side. I’m perfectly used to the presence that the red flags in me didn’t raise as Amelia’s full head of blonde hair pops up in my vision.

I have many questions, but my main concern is that she’s not supposed to be where she is.

“What are you doing here?” I make sure she hears the disapproving tone in my voice.

She’s used to me having this attitude out in public, so she brushes me off while standing on her toes to kiss my neck. Amelia is too short to make it to my lips, and she settles on a place that isn’t exactly appropriate for the third pair of eyes.

I hook an arm around her waist, dragging her close to me while scanning the area. Other men and women are staring at Amelia as if she is a creature unknown to mankind. The curiosity is there, clear as day and even more pronounced on Eddie’s face.

“You were taking forever,” she complains, whining in a low voice.

“You are impatient,” I counter back. I haven’t been gone for more than three hours, and this girl here just wanders around the city without telling me. She’s been living here since she was born, but I don’t feel safe letting her go on her own when I see threats in every corner.

She turns to Eddie, brown eyes wide and curious. Eddie returns her inquisitive stare with his own blue eyes, and his smile is a perfect match to the one on Amelia’s face.

I have no idea where this is going, but I might not like it if one of them breaks the trance of wonder.

“Are you Milo’s friend?” Amelia asks, lips curving in a bigger smile.

Eddie’s eyes flash at the name and he nods. His blond hair flops around on his head, falling to his eyes as he crackles with energetic sparkle.

“I am!”

“He’s not.”

They ignore me, and I should have expected it. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming. Amelia is a friendly girl, and this Eddie kid is also a very social ball of energy. He’s not capable of seeing the cues on my face to leave me alone, so it’s bound to happen that they meet and I honestly wish they haven’t.

“Me too!” Amelia gives him her hand, and he takes it before I can pull her back.

They shake with relatively spirited shakes, and they don’t let go; they’re too engrossed in their bizarre happiness for reasons that I can’t fathom. They just met; there is absolutely nothing for them to be happy over.

“We’re leaving,” I say, leaving no room for her to object when the hand around her waist tighten.

She notices. She always notices these signs about me, and she doesn’t push those boundaries. Amelia links out hand together and turns her attention to Eddie again.

“We have to buy Christmas lights!” Amelia tells him when she doesn’t have to inform him of anything. “See you later?”

“Yeah!” Eddie slings his hands behind his head again as his signature posture of unequivocal causal relaxation. “Swing by here often, there are stories about him that you have to hear!”

I make a note to myself as a reminder to keep her away from this man. He has too much liveliness, and Amelia doesn’t need more energy than she already has.

“I can’t wait!” Amelia agrees.

“The stores can’t either.” I bring up the reason why she’s not at home, safe and warm right now.

She gasps, hands flying up to her lips dramatically. “You’re right! We should go before they close because of the storm!”

“We should head home then.” Christmas lights aren’t a big enough reason to walk home with a ginormous storm raging on our asses.

“You don’t understand, Milo! I need the brightest, so bright that they repel the nun,” she whispers the name as if it’s a cursed omen.

Amelia is a coward when it comes to horror movies and anything remotely supernatural, but she doesn’t learn from her previous mistakes. She just feels like she needs to watch horror movies as if it’s a compulsion that she has, and she would force me to sit with her on the floor with her.

I’m the shield against supernatural elements. What a load of nonsense. I have an abundant amount of knowledge on movie plots, more than I care for in my head because Amelia likes to watch them in her free time and I don’t mind it as long as we get to spend time together.

“Light is not a weakness of Valak.” I make sure to emphasize the name to scare her, and it works wonders when she clings to my arm and away from Eddie.

I don’t see him as a threat to our relationship. One wrong move on his part and this city is going to lose a future paramedic.

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