Page 16 of Silas

Seems fate will not be swayed so easily. Maybe I can make time for her and get closer to her. If Storm had anything to do with it, he would already know everything about her.

Chapter 10

Nova

It is almost the end of the Christmas Festival, thank goodness, because while I am enjoying annoying him with all my sunshine, my feet are killing me. I am pretty sure this is the longest I have been on my feet in a long time. Granted, when I was at the University we had a ton of walking to do between classes, but still I mostly was sitting in classes. Pouring myselfanother cup of hot cocoa from the newest batch, I take that first warming sip, close my eyes, and allow the warmth to seep into my soul. “Uh, I wanted to ask you something,” Silas says from beside me.

Snapping my eyes open, I cut a glare at him. “What? Want to know if I will move away now that you have spent the entire day seeing how big of an asshole you can be?”

He drops his eyes to the ground and a visible gush of air rushes out of him. “No, that wasn’t what I was going to say. I was going to ask if I can take you out to dinner tomorrow night.”

My mouth drops open as I stand there just staring at him. I am waiting for the ‘ha you thought I was serious’. He has to be joking, right?

I shake my head from side to side. I have to be having a fever dream. “You have to be joking, right? This is your new tactic? Couldn’t get me to leave by being an asshole, so let’s embarrass me by not showing up for the date?”

He is still staring at me, not even smiling. Almost as though he is waiting for something. I don’t know what it is, but I won’t be the butt of this joke. “No, I am not trying some new tactic or plan to embarrass you. I’m afraid I made some snap judgments. I want to have a chance to actually get to know you.”

I pop my hip out and place my hand on it. I am pretty sure I am close to catching a fly in my mouth with how long I have had it open. I am flabbergasted. What is his angle here? You don’t go from being a dick all day to let’s have dinner. “You have some…”

“Hey kids. How was the hot cocoa stand today? It looked like you guys had a steady line the whole day.” Gail comes up to stand in front of our stand. She looks between the two of us withan expectant look on her face. Clasping her hands in front of her, with the light pink showing across her cheeks and nose, she looks exactly like you would imagine Mrs. Clause would look. Especially with her authentic looking Santa hat, red coat lined with white fur, and is that elf shoes on her feet? Noticing where my eyes are, she taps her toes together so the little bell rings out. Giggling, I look back to see her eyes are crinkled in humor as well.

“Good evening, Gail. We had a phenomenal day with the guests. I don’t think I have ever sold so much in one day. There isn’t an exact total since that is Silas’s department, but I can say there were tons of people who came back for second cups and some even third cups. I would say it was a great day,” smiling I answered her.

I look over at the man who hasn’t said a single word, not even sure he is still standing here. Unfortunately, he is still standing exactly where I left him when he asked me to dinner. Is he even breathing? Blinking? What is wrong with him?

Looking back over to Gail, I am about to ask her what is wrong with him when Gail beats me to it. “Silas…How well did we do with the sales?”

Shaking his head quickly, he turns towards Gail, and a megawatt smile spreads across his face. “I don’t have the final numbers, but I would garner close to $500. How did the other stands fare?”

She beams with pride as she says, “Silas, this was a tremendous hit. I have had so many people come to me to ask if we can make this an annual celebration. I even had some ask if we could do a Fall Festival next year.”

Silas claps his hands together, “That’s fantastic to hear Gail. I don’t see why we couldn’t make this an annual celebration and we can discuss the logistics of the Fall Festival at the next meeting.”

She nods her head at him before turning back to me, “I hope you will be here next year for the next festival.” She has this twinkle in her eyes, like she is up to something. “How did you get on?” She glances back and forth between us, acknowledging the distance between us and the daggers I am glaring at him.

“Well, I can say I met far more pleasant men in the big city and that’s saying something, since they are known for being tools.” If looks could kill, he would already be dead.

Chuckling softly to herself, “Silas, what did you do? Surely, you can’t have been so bad that she would prefer one of those obnoxious city boys to you? That doesn’t sound like you at all.” She has dropped her sweet Mrs. Claus look and now she looks like an angry grandmother about to scold a child for stealing a cookie. Ope, he fucked up.

He even looks like a scolded child when he responds. “I might have mistreated her and I might have misjudged her.”

She looks over at me, examining my body language. It feels like she can see into my soul. I shiver under her gaze. “I don’t think that is true at all. Women don’t tend to dislike someone so strongly for mights or slights.” She gives him that knowing look.

“Fine, I was an asshole to her, and I snapped at her for being fake with the customers. But I want to make it up to her by taking her to dinner.” He is looking at me with that unblinking look again.

“Ah I see, so you think that after being an, as she said, asshole all day that you could ask her to dinner at the end of the day and she would, what? Say yes?” Now she has both hands on her hips and she is glaring at him. I almost feel sorry for him because she is intense and I don’t know that I would want to be the recipient of that glare.

Shifting his weight from side to side, he looks up at me with a softer look on his face. “I hoped that I could have a chance for her to know the real me. It’s my mistake and I own that. I’ve been acting like an asshole because of my own problems. She deserves far more and I can only hope that she will let me have the chance.” He is looking at me like a puppy who wants a piece of the cake you are eating.

Gail looked at me while rolling her arms like she wants me to follow that up with my declaration. Yeah, no. I look at Silas as I cross my arms across my chest. “You know, honestly, I couldn't care less what your reasons are. The fact that you just assume I will forgive you and move on just shows even more how you don’t know me at all. I don’t know why I would subject myself to an entire dinner with your undivided, aggressive attention.”

Gail puffs out a breath as if she was holding it in anticipation of my response. Clearly, that wasn’t the one she expected. “Nova, I think…”

“It’s fine Gail. I deserve it. I haven’t even given her one reason to believe that I am anything but an asshole. What if I give you a guarantee that I won’t be an asshole and that this dinner is truly about getting to know you and you, me?”

“I’m listening.”

He looks around at the people milling about as they break down their stands and pack away their wares. Smiling at acouple as they walk by waving to him. Shaking his body, he looks towards the sky, blowing out a breath. “Alright, if I don’t hold up my end of the deal, not being an asshole during the dinner, I will allow you to choose one revenge activity to be used whenever you choose.”

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