My Boyfriend is a Monster (16 page)

“I would’ve died,” she whispered to herself while turning around. “I would’ve splattered on the window of that bus,” she told the stranger hoping they knew who saved her. “I mean
, the morning commuters would have been screaming at the sight of me sprawled out on the windshield. My arms and legs spread wide and my tongue just hanging out,” she babbled on. Then she heard herself say it. “Like the movies.” But she didn’t think of anything to warrant the comment.
What was like the movies?
She asked herself. Smelling the pungent whiff of burning rubber and seeing the smoke drift around her she repeated it. “Like the movies.”

Everything sounded hallow and distant. She felt disconnected. And when she turned her head or moved her arms she felt like she was in a dream.

“Are you alright?” a voice asked calling out from somewhere.

Looking around for the person who might not be alright Lily started to panic when she couldn’t find the person who wasn’t alright. Pulling out her cell phone she wanted to call the police or an ambulance but was aghast she could not remember the number.

“Are you alright?” the voice asked again. But this time she felt a tug on her shoulder. Turning around she saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She was captured by his eyes and drawn to his lips and started to go in for a test drive with them until he politely stopped her.

“Lily, are you okay?” Nathan asked.

“You’re beautiful,” she replied trying to touch his face.

Grabbing her hand gently he looked her over to see if she was hurt.

The bus door opened and an elderly gentleman came running down the little stairs and seemed to look around the front of the bus, maybe for some splatter residue. Turning towards her and Nathan he let his relief make way for his anger. “Goddammit Lily,” he yelled. Throwing his hat from one hand to the other he expanded with a little exaggeration. “Gave me a goddamn heart attack.” Holding his chest the bus driver took a deep breath then started to slowly make his way over.

Realizing the driver obviously knew her Nathan winced when he got to them.

“What were you thinking girl?” the driver asked giving her the once over a couple times to make sure she was okay.

Realizing how beautiful he was she reminded herself that he was very attractive yesterday. And she was already hoping to further their nonexistent relationship in something more existent. But when a man saves your life . . . B
oy do they become hot,
she thought surrendering to her lust.

Turning to Nathan the bus driver asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

He just shrugged. “Shock I suppose,” he said as Lily let him hold her in his arms gazing back at him.

Looking her over the driver snapped his fingers in front of her eyes but they never turned away from Nathan. “
Jesus Christ, did I clip her?” he inquired, frightened that her state might be permanent.

“No . . . I think it’s just shock,” Nathan said. Reading the bus drivers name tag he tried to calm him as well. “I wouldn’t worry too much Hank.”

Giving Nathan a quizzical look he wondered how this stranger knew his name.

“Your name tag Hank, I read your name tag,” he said reassuring Hank the bus driver there was no black magic at work.

“Oh Yeah right,” he replied. “Sorry, guess I’m a little rattled too.”

Filling the air with sounds of approaching sirens the first was Chicago’s finest. Then the ambulance pursued them and shortly followed by the kid popular fire engines. Little pockets of people had started to form around the bus trying to decipher the extent of the current disaster. Looking onward for some it was a relief and to others a bit of a disappointment since there didn’t seem to be any horror or gore to tag and upload.

“Lily,” Nathan yelled directly to no avail. Flattered by her shock induced infatuation he was starting to feel the eyes of amateur sleuth’s piecing together what happened. “Lily,” he called again giving her a bit of a shake.

“I think you have to smack her across the face,” Hank said giving his two cents. “You know, to shock her back,” he added just in case anyone was thinking there wasn’t any science involved in his suggestion.

“I think that’s hysteria, and I’m not slapping her.”

“You just gonna let her stare at you like that?”

“She’ll snap out of it,” he said giving her another shake.

“Well you want a coffee or something while were waiting?” Hank asked with a little more dry audaciousness.

Stopping himself from laughing Nathan decided he liked Hank the Bus Driver. “Lily, hey Lily,” he called again. Being on this earth for over two hundred years and learning almost nothing medical he made a mental note to start. Reading thousands upon thousands of books and recalling a ton with instances where a slap procedure was performed and adding in the amount of movies it seemed to work in, he was leaning towards slapping her, lightly of course. Or should he?

Deciding to help
, Hank yelled at her directly. “LILY.” Turning to Nathan he pressed the slapping suggestion again by way of sarcasm. “You going to wipe the drool from her mouth while the police interrogate this vegetable?”

“You slap her then,” Nathan said holding her out a bit so Hank could get a good enough aim.

Hank looked at her and then at Nathan. “I’m not going to beat on no defenseless women.”

“Come on Lily,” he said giving her a couple of light taps on the cheek.

“Why is he hitting that lady,” a voice from one of the bigger crowds shouted out.

Nathan turned to Hank.
“Really?”

“Somebody should stop him,” another voice cried out.

Nathan just stared at Hank who decided to help and turned to the crowd. “This woman is in shock Goddammit.”

Hearing the crowd just murmur with disapproval he decided to help again. “Fuck you people, and mind your business
.” Leaning back he gave “a job well done” look, for himself.

“Thanks Hank.”

“No problem.”

Turning back to Lily Nathan noticed a more present look in her face. “Hey.”

“I didn’t die?” she asked.

“Nope, you wondered out into the middle of the street, in front of a moving bus but-”

“You pulled me back.”

Nathan
smiled. “I was in the neighborhood.”

Smiling back Lily started to slip back into the same gaze until Hank cleared his throat.

Turning her head she was surprised. “Hank.”

“Lily,” he said almost formally.

“You almost killed me,” she remembered.

“Well. . .”  Hank thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with any evidence or excuse to discredit her accusation. “Ayuh, I guess I did,” he
said and paused, then offered a sympathetic smile. “Sorry about that.”

Smiling back she shook her head. “Sorry I stepped in front of you.”

“Scarred the shit out of me,” Hank admitted.

“Me too,” she laughed.

Pulling up behind the bus Nathan knew the ambulance and fire engine weren’t far behind. He wanted to bump in to Lily this morning but not quite like this. He was thinking of a more
“Hey what are you doing here, let’s get some
coffee”
kind of bump in. Not the
“
Hey look at me I just saved your
life”
kind. Seeing how she was looking at him made him realize that he could not have planned it any better if he tried . . . and he did.

TWO: 15 Minutes Earlier

Walking down the street Nathan saw Ms. Johnson coming up the street with a lonely grocery bag in her arm greeting him with a giant smile.

“Well good morning Nathan,” she said stopping.

Nathan was a little pressed for time but could spare a few minutes for Ms. Johnson. “Good Morning Florida, can I give you a hand?”

“Just some vegetables I needed,” she said holding her hand up to block her mouth and whispered. “Maybe some fud
ge too, but you hush about that,” she laughed. “Where you off too today?”

“Just out for a walk,” he said almost guilty.

“Going to get a tea?”

“Nope,” he said a little too quickly.

“That’s good,” Florida said with a hint of suspicion.

This threw Nathan off a bit. “Why would that be good?”

“She ain’t working today.”

Suddenl
y he felt like a kid again. Sometimes it was hinted that he was guilty, but not coming right out and accusing. Nathan decided to play dumb. “What, do you mean?”

“Lily ain’t working today,” she repeated.

He wasn’t sure how she knew but she did. Thinking it was best to still play dumb he continued the ruse. “That’s good because I wasn’t going for a tea anyways.”

“I know honey.”

“You know what?”

“I know you’re not going for a tea.”

“Good. Because I’m not,” he repeated.

“You’re going for a walk,” she confirmed, if that’s what he wanted to hear.

“Yup,” he said with a little less confidence.

“The old bump in.”

Deciding he was coming off dumber than he wanted too Nathan decided to fess up and find out what power of perception or telepathy this mere mortal had. “How did you know?”

“Oh please, I was in the coffee shop last Tuesday when Martin told you that Lily wasn’t there. I knew you had a little crush on her by how disappointed you looked. Then he told you every Tuesday and Thursday she works half days and goes for her walks. And today is Tuesday.”

“Nice deduction, maybe I really wanted a tea,” he challenged.

“Honey there are lots of things people can live without, love is not one of them.”

“A bit presumptuous,” Nathan said thinking she may be getting a little ahead of the game.

“I was also there Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. I was there Saturday, Sunday and even tho
ugh she had Monday off, you popped in just in case.” She began to laugh. “I saw how you looked at her when she wasn’t looking. That’s a little more than a crush. Besides, this fine women in front of you was the victim of a, bump in.”

“And how did that go?”

“Thirty seven years of wonderful marriage,” Florida admitted.

He smiled then remembered.
“I thought you said you were married for forty five years.”

“I was. Thir
ty seven of them were wonderful,” she chuckled. “Now go on or you’re going to miss her.”

“Have a wonderful day Florida,” Nathan yelled already jogging down the sidewalk.

“Good luck sweetie.”

Waving back at her he crossed the street and out of sight. Ducking down an alley and checking to make sure no one was looking Nathan bent his knees then shot straight up the side of the building. Grabbing onto the railing as he came to them he used the fire escapes to propel himself upward until he was standing on the edge of the roof. Calculating how much time he spent with Ms. Johnson he deducted that Lily was about two minutes ahead of him.

For the last week he had been getting tea regularly and talking with her, if you consider three, sometimes four teas a day regular. No one thought it strange though since he was opening a book store a couple blocks away and they were the closest coffee house around. Every conversation since the first got better and better until he wanted to be with her all the time.

Closing his eyes he could see her behind her table staring back at him. Her smile was so genuinely beautiful it made him want to contribute to its cause. Hearing her voice just out of memory was soothing to his imagination
. He loved how honest her laugh was and the way it made him feel when it burst into the air. She was smart and funny and honest and the more he thought of her the more beautiful she became. She was shy but wasn’t afraid to say how she felt or what she thought and he loved all of it. All he really knew was that he enjoyed being around her and now he started to crave it. Seeing her for a few minutes when he wanted a tea wasn’t enough anymore. 

Leaping across
the buildings he ran along the roof tops until he spotted her walking across the street and heading towards Grant Park. Running out of roof top and buildings to keep his cover he watched as she was getting closer to the park. Noticing the streets below getting busier he would have to
“Bump”
into her soon, but the thought of it started making him nervous.

He could see the park ahead and leapt to a higher building to avoid wondering eyes and day dreamers. Anticipating her route he let her leave his sight so he could take a less obvious avenue than just dropping twenty stories onto a busy sidewalk. Hurdling off the edge and into the air he spread his arms outward before somersaulting repeatedly through his decent. He landed on his feet as if he had just stepped off a curb. He loved doing the gymnastic type jumps thinking if anyone did get a glance they would tell the story and it would add to the coolness.

Knowing Grant Park is almost three hundred and twenty acres and it would be harder to just casually bump into her, he needed to find a common place that made sense. Realizing he was bordering on stalking he decide maybe he should just bump into her already before he’s outside her window waiting to steal strands of her hair while she slept.