Page 19 of Puck with Karma
By the time we make it back to the room where all my stuff is waiting. The relief is cutting me at the knees when we are released for the day.
“Miss Bennett,” Laura calls to me just as I am about to slip out quietly. “I will need you to fill out an incident report.”
“What? Why?” I look around to make sure no one is within earshot.
“For the phone I just gave you. We need to have documentation on file.”
My eyes go to the box containing the brand new phone she gave me when I got here in the morning. There were hardly any questions then. Now, it’s as if I need to be interrogated.
“This phone?” I lift the box up to show it to her.
I hate the smug smile she gives me in return along with a nod of her head. It’s obvious that she is up to no good with whatever she’s got hatching in her head, and I want no part of it.
“Here you go,” I hand her the phone back, enjoying the shock on her face when I do so. “I can afford a new one on my own. And I don’t have to fill out an incident report that way.”
When she doesn’t take it, I place it softly on the table in front of her.
“Have a wonderful rest of the day, Laura,” I smile at her sweetly. “I’ll be here tomorrow at seven a.m., sharp.”
“T-thank you,” she stutters, but doesn’t say anything else.
My heart feels like it is about to explode in my chest from the adrenaline rush I just got from the weird exchange. I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not, but it felt like the right thing to do.
When I step out of the building, I get an instant brain freeze. I only have to walk for two minutes straight, but the warm coat I brought with me this morning seems like a great idea. Instead, I just carry it on my arm and proudly cross the busy street with my arms full of stuff.
My eyes are teary and I’m not sure I can blink by the time I finally make it to the apartment building where my new home is located.
“Miss,” Burt, the doorman, gasps in shock when he sees me walking through the door. “It’s too cold for you to be out there with no coat on!”
“I can’t feel my hands,” I whisper. “Or my face.”
My teeth are chattering so hard, I’m not sure how I can even form words.
“I’ll walk you to your floor, miss,” Burt’s sympathetic voice travels to me through the frozen brain cells that I still have functioning.
I am moving so much slower now, scared that I am going to drop my stuff. There’s a good chance I’d go down too if that were to happen.
“What’s going on here?”
A gruffy voice makes me jump in distress, and my orientation binder falls to the ground.
I am stiff when I turn around, only to come face to face with the man who is fast becoming the bane of my existence. Xander Hamilton.
“Can you just mind your own business?”
I’m not sure that’s what came out because of my jaw locking when I force my teeth not to chatter.
Xander shakes his head in confusion, then looks at Burt.
“What’d she say?”
But he looks confused too. “Uh…” He then rushes to pick up my binder. I take it from him, but it slips right back out of my hand. He gets it again, hands it over, same thing.
“I’m c-c-cold,” I finally manage to say.
Xander, who is all bundled up to his eyeballs, assesses me funny.
“I know you probably want to show off your ass in those pants, but this is not the type of weather to do that in. Wait until next week at least. It’s supposed to go up to ten over. That’s almost bikini weather around here.”
