“Oh, this plant is going to provide me with many jokes during your stay. Now, put your blooming clit on my balcony.”
“Would you stop it? And you don’t have a balcony. You have a little place outside with barely enough room to put a plant and maybe a coke while you lean your head outside to catch some sun.” I carried my flowery vagina to his balcony which was barely three feet wide and long.
According to Zo, his tiny balcony was one of the biggest ones on this side of the district.
Insanity.
“You’re just so jealous that I live here,” he laughed.
“I actually am, even though the living space sucks in this city. I thought New York was horrible until I came here.”
Zo turned on all the lights. “Back to the gifts. You’ll have to give Kenji something of equal value.”
“So, a book about tigers that knee men and a plant that looks like a penis.”
“You better not! You’re now in his good grace, which means no one will die.” Zo clapped. “We can look in my closet for something. I have a case of good whiskey that I smuggled over. I’ll give you a bottle and maybe. . .we can give him a nice tie. I already saw that he has exquisite taste.”
I opened the glass door and set my plant on the ground.
Moonlight gleamed on the petals.
A chilly breeze wisped by but the flower seemed fine.
Cars passed below and even a few people traveled the sidewalks.
Then suddenly this creeping sensation came over my body as if someone had their gaze pinned on me. It crawled up the back of my neck, making the hairs stand straight.
My body responded before my mind could. Shoulders tensed. Breath hitched. My hand hovered protectively near my thigh.
Is someone out there looking at me?
I leaned over the edge of the balcony and scanned the street below. The wind ghosted across my legs like a warning, and still, my gaze combed the shadows.
Nothing crazy.
Just another car rolling by.
A man lighting a cigarette as he walked his dog.
No one looking up or standing still.
Still, the unease lingered.
Very odd.
I stepped back, slid the balcony door shut, and locked it.
Zo watched me head back, “everything okay? You look freaked out.”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Zo tilted his head. “What else did he want? The person said something about signing something.”
“It was a message talking about a date at eight tomorrow.”