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Modern Fairy Tale

Posted on September 25, 2007
Filed Under The Stories |

Stella came from inappropriate stock. She had so much mixed blood in her lineage, someone could have sworn an affidavit that her people had been reproducing with apes long after the rest of mankind had moved on…and nobody would have doubted it. Theirs was a bloodline clotted with ugliness – in appearance as well as manner. There were few Tennants, Troys, Hargroves or Belicnats who hadn’t been punched in the face, tossed into jail, declared rapists or all of the above through the course of history.

So it was about fucking time the law of averages produced a beautiful rose on that creeper of thorns. That rose was Stella and she was stunning enough to stop a weak heart at a hundred paces. Her mother, a woman who looked like she was part troll, was so distraught when she saw her own daughter for the first time she was laid low for the first two months and could not breastfeed. Which was a good thing for the baby. She grew up untainted by the poison that ran through the veins of every one of her maternal ancestors. Not that her father was of particularly fine stock either. Though nobody in the family was particularly beautiful, they were all very rich.

Before she was ten, she had warded off, through a set of seemingly divine interventions, physical attacks by seven cousins and sexual advances by two uncles, an aunt and three neighbours. When she burst through puberty’s door and emerged as a fully-grown, well-endowed woman, it took reinforced steel and the good graces of a few family members to keep her virginal in the face of the onslaughts mounted by most of her own family.

For all the horrors she had narrowly escaped Stella was not a bitter or cold young woman. So when the supremely gifted Lachlan laid eyes on her for the very first time, he was immediately taken by her. Lachlan had a penchant for the movies and sweets. He had a passion for women and a deep, almost sexual longing for the perfect car. He was about as perfect as a son could be without becoming a lover and he was the type of brother a boy could look up to for as long he remained a boy. He was the product of hundreds of years of evolution and there was no telling whether his presence on Earth was thanks to careful breeding by his ancestors in the sixteenth century or careless fornication by his parents in the late eighties. Whatever the reason, he grew up to be as close as is possible for a human being, perfect.

They met in fairly trying circumstances so it is a miracle of sorts that they even noticed each other. They were flying to New York to celebrate spring break and while it seemed like an odd city to celebrate that particular call to debauchery in, several of their friends had decided to take a bite of the Big Apple as their first step towards taking on the world. The weather and their plane had a different idea however so what should have been a smooth landing turned into a nightmare involving failed engines and a nervous pilot.

By the time the plane rolled to a battered stop on the runway Lachlan had passed his optimal heart rate twice over and Stella felt more faint than she did during family week when all of her flatulent cousins descended upon the family home to celebrate their right to be boorish and uncultured. Through all the trauma of a crash landing they still managed to make eye contact on their way off the plane and again before paramedics signed them off as good to go.

It was at college that Stella had found attractive and supportive girlfriends for the very first time so it was with great anticipation that four girls set out into the city, ready to sample its wares. Sample they did when a mugger held them up at knifepoint within moments of turning their very first street corner after checking into a hotel. When Lachlan swooped in to save the day it was like he had appeared out of nowhere.

Actually it really wasn’t out of nowhere because he had stalked the beautiful girl from the plane to figure out where she was staying. When he saw that they were indeed out-of-towners he checked himself into the same hotel even though his family maintained an apartment in Manhattan. He loitered about the lobby for close to half an hour before he saw them leave.

It had been a cinch for him to get the drop on the mugger because the criminal was completely occupied by the four girls under his knife. Lachlan wasn’t above having a spot of fun, even when he was playing hero, so he grabbed an overhead crossbar from the scaffolding they were walking under and swung his legs forward so that he toes of his Nike trainers came together between the muggers legs and stung him in the balls. The villain went down like a deflated doll and howled like a wolf who finally remembered what the moon was for. Lachlan was looking pretty pleased with his handiwork when back-up arrived; for the crook, not the good guy.

The smile left Lachlan’s face when the two bruisers appeared from the shadows. One of them kicked their fallen homie before both of them stepped over him and squared off against Lachlan. The shorter of the two said, “How you gonna kick two niggers in the balls when they facing you hero?”

With a smile Lachlan said, “Like this?” and jumped on the near end of a board that was also bearing the smaller hood’s weight. The crook lost his balance and just before he fell over backwards Lachlan punched him in the groin. The other guy went for Lachlan, wildly swinging and thrusting the blade in his hand. After ducking and dodging a few, the handsome hero scythed his attackers legs from under him and used the goon’s own knife to pin him to the floorboards by his shirt and jacket. He fixed his gaze on Stella and said, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, “Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure. I was wondering what I was going to do in New York for exercise so…this worked out nicely.”

She smiled and he returned the favour. “I’m Lachlan by the way.”

“Stella. I saw you on the plane right?”

“It’s definitely been a day of excitement.”

She nodded and said, “These are my friends Heloise, Salomee and Nikita.”

He said, “Hi,” but he only had eyes for Stella. The girls giggled and she snapped out of the trance she had fallen into since their eyes met, “Erm…we have to go. Thanks again.”

“It was no problem at all.”

That evening when her roommate was in the shower Stella heard a clicking sound and turned in its direction. It was coming from the window so she went to check it out and nearly jumped out of her skin when another pebble hit the pane. She peered out the window and saw Lachlan down below. With a smile he whispered, “You want to hang out?”

Her eyes were wide with surprise, “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged and she said, “My roommate’s in the shower.”

“So?”

“I can’t leave.”

“Okay, I’m coming up.”

“What!”

He jumped up to grab the fire escape ladder and dragged it to ground level. Moments later he was at her window and she was surprised at how suddenly out of breath she felt. “What do you want?”

“To see you again.”

She blushed, “How did you know where to find me?”

A smile was his only response.

“What do you want?” She persisted.

He reached out with a hooked finger and ran it down the side of her cheek. She closed her eyes against the thrill that ran up her spine. With a tone of genuine wonderment he asked, “Where have you been all my life?”

She didn’t know what to say so she said nothing at all, simply leaned forward with her palms on the window sill and willed herself to not feel so faint. She even closed her eyes to help steady herself and when she opened them, he was gone and a note pinned to the window sill said, “Spend tomorrow with me.”

The next morning she woke up from a troubled sleep and was a reluctant participant in girlie preparations for a day in the city. In the lobby she looked around but there was no sign of him and so she rode the subway with her mates. At one time, when she least expected, she thought she caught a glimpse of him in the crowd of people but when she looked again, and again, he was nowhere to be seen.

All through the day as they went from shop to push cart man to cinema to restaurant to lingerie store to Times Square to hotdog stand to flirting with strangers in a nightclub to the subway ride back to the hotel, she looked for him. He seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. She thought she saw him reflected in store windows they passed. She hoped he was watching when she tried on risqué lingerie and she wondered if he was jealous when a handsome older man bought her a drink she wasn’t old enough to hold. When she had to wipe the mustard off her face from an ambitious bite of hotdog she thought of him. So when she got back to the hotel that night she was too tired to do anything other than shower and sleep. She went first and was rubbing at her damp hair while wandering the room in a hotel robe when he appeared at her window in a blink-and-you’d-miss-it way that gave her the fright of her life.

“Hey princess, did you have fun today?”

She went to the window and hissed fiercely, “Where the hell were you?”

He sighed, “I was going to steal you away in the subway and then again at that first store but I thought it would be unfair to your friends. They would have worried and spent the day searching for you.” With a smile he continued, “Forgive me?”

“I don’t even know you. Do whatever you want, you don’t owe me anything,” she huffed.

“Tell them you just want to stay in tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“So we can hang out.”

“Why would I want to hang out with you?”

“Because I’m fun.”

“Having a high opinion of yourself doesn’t speak highly of you.”

His eyes flickered off her face and a voice behind her scared her for the second time in five minutes, “Who are you talking to sweetie?”

She whirled around and found a confused-looking Heloise drying her hair while sporting the skimpiest night clothes. She turned to look out the window but he was gone so she bit back her tart rebuke about her friend covering up so that people didn’t see everything through the window.

The following morning, though she didn’t know why she did it, she told her friends that she wanted to stay in and simply explore the neighbourhood because she felt a little under the weather. All three of them offered to stay with her but she insisted they go on without her. They offered to call to check on her periodically and she assured them it was not necessary. Less than ten minutes after they left, he appeared at her window. With a frown she said, “You’re late.”

“I had to make sure they hadn’t forgotten something right?”

She smiled, “It’s a miracle Heloise remembered to take everything.”

She stepped back and he climbed in and ten minutes later a heavy knocking threatened to break down her front door. She went to the door but didn’t open it, “Who is it?”

A male voice said, “Ma’am I’m from the front desk.”

“What is it?”

“We got a phone call that someone was lurking by your window on the fire escape…? Is everything all right?

“Yes.”

“Can we come in?”

“No.”

“Ma’am we just want to make sure you’re okay.”

She suddenly found herself fighting back giggles, and with a hand over her mouth she said, “I’m fine. Thank you.”

When no word was forthcoming from the other side of the door for several minutes she checked the peephole. The corridor was empty. Then she turned to him and said, “Now what?”

She liked that he looked nervous about finally being alone with her. He was surprised that he didn’t know what to do with this girl. So they went out and he made her laugh and they took pictures at Central Park and he bought her cotton candy and she bought him a goofy hat and when exhaustion set in, in the afternoon they went back to the hotel.

She looked beautiful so he reached for a stray lock of hair that had slipped across her face and at exactly that moment, the front door burst open and Heloise popped in, weighed down by shopping bags and announced, “I couldn’t bear it any longer. I had to make sure you were okay.”

She thought it weird that Stella was sitting bolt upright in bed, so she said, “You okay?”

Stella looked around and it occurred to her that she had no idea how he managed to disappear every single time Heloise reappeared in the room. She waved her friend’s concern away, “I’m fine. I was just going to get some water.”

Heloise dropped her bags on the floor and whispered, “I have to pee!” and hurried into the bathroom. And just like that Lachlan reappeared by her side. The fact that they had until Heloise finished peeing seemed to give him the confidence he needed to cup her face in one hand and say, “This was fun princess,” and kiss her soft lips in a kiss that caused fireworks to explode in both their heads. When he broke the kiss and her eyes fluttered open he whispered, “Tomorrow is another day.”

When the flushing toilet drew Stella’s attention, Lachlan made his exit and for the rest of the day, Stella stared wistfully at the window with the fluttering curtains, only half-hearing everything Heloise said, while hoping against hope that he would show up again.

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