ARCHER

2.

-HER-

"Carla, check the oven. I think the muffins are done." I say while beating the eggs which will be used to make the birthday cake due tomorrow. Carla leaves the fondant she has been working on and rushes towards the oven and turns it off before it could burn the muffins. Her black hair is coated with flour while her apron is smeared with fondant color.

I look somewhat the same but my hands smell like eggs and vanilla. Not a pleasant combination. We're always on our toes while working here. This bakery is quite big to be run by only two people. Carla and I bake and clean and do whatnot. Mrs. Bertha, the owner of the bakery is a penny pincher. She never agrees to hire one more worker to help us. It's a lot of work for us to do. Besides working in the bakery, I have to go to the medical school to as I am studying dentistry. It's plain hell keeping up with both things. It's a wonder how I have managed all these years.

"That was close." Carla sighs heavily while wiping her forehead and spearing it with yellow fondant color.

"You better take care next time or she's gonna whip your ass like she whips her cream," I say chuckling and she shakes her head at me. Suddenly, the chiming of bells pulls us out of our trace signaling that a customer has arrived.

"I am going," I say wiping my hands on my apron and adjusting my glasses before leaving the kitchen. As soon as I leave the kitchen and enter the shop, my heart starts to race. The air seems dense and there's this force that's dragging my feet to the shop. Butterflies erupt in my stomach and I forget how to breathe.

As I turn the corner and step behind the counter, my eyes find him.

He's standing there looking at me heatedly. His green eyes are focused on my face and the moment I look into them, my heart stops beating before it starts to race like a maniac. My lips part letting the air in which refuses to enter my lungs. As his eyes travel down to my lips, I feel my heart stop for the second time.

Who is he?

I haven't seen him here before. He must be someone new or an outsider. He's taller than most of the people of this town and his blond hair is messed up as if he's been running his hands through them. He looks exotic. He looks tempting but at the same time, dangerous.

There's this air of power and dominance to him which surges over me like a high tide.

"Uh... Hello." I mutter feeling self-conscious under his gaze. He scans me from head to toe making me feel naked even though I am wearing decent clothes.

"Good evening, Corey." He says and I melt as soon as I hear his deep voice. I almost get a cardiac arrest when I hear him call my name. But wait! How does he know my name? Instantly I remember that I am wearing a name tag on my shirt.

His accent tells me that he's not from here. He's an outsider. I've been living in this town ever since and if there were a new resident then I would have known because any news spreads like wildfire in this town.

"uh... good evening." I greet him back feeling dumbstruck. His gaze is fixed on my face and the longer he stared, the harder it got for me to resist the blush that threatened to creep up my cheeks. He's breathtaking, a living Greek god. How could someone be so beautiful?

"Welcome to Bertha's Bakery sir-"

"Call me Archer, Corey." He says and for the second time, I forget to breathe.

"Um, Archer what would you like to have?" I manage to ask hesitantly. I don't understand half the things that I am speaking. My heart is fluttering in my chest and I feel so nervous under his gaze. His eyes are piercing and the way he's looking at me with them is just having a tremendous amount of effect on me.

The corner of his lips curl up slightly into a smirk and I find myself struggling to not to stare at him stupidly. I could see wheels spinning in his eyes. There's this sly glint to them. He's looking at me as if knows something about me that I don't.

He's mysterious.

"I'll have whatever you like." He says and my mouth hangs open. What kind of customer is he? Is he kidding me or messing with or just having fun?

"I... uh, what?" I manage to ask. I know that I sound like a stupid but I can't help it. My logical and rational parts seem to have seized to exist as soon as he walked in the bakery. He's having a tremendous amount of effect on me. I swear none of my crushes ever managed to make me feel like this.

"I'll have what you like, Corey." He repeats and his voice rattles up my inside. I couldn't help but shiver whenever he says my name. I have never heard my name being called like that. And his accent adds another twist to my name, making it sound different and exotic. I have to check twice if he's really talking to me and not to someone standing behind me.

I lick my lips wet and look at all the cakes and muffins set on display and back at him and almost gasp. His eyes are pitch black and they're fixed on my lips. There's this guttural edge to his expression that reminds me of a predator stalking its prey. My breath hitches.

How did he change his eye color? As long as I remember they were green.

"Archer, would you like some croissant?" I manage to ask. I sound as if I am out of breath after running a long mile. His eyes flicker back to mine. They're so black and the intensity they have, I swear he could look through my skin and stare right at my soul.

"Do you like croissants?" He asks. His voice seems to have deepened. I shiver just my hearing it. The butterflies in my stomach are angrily flapping their wings against the wall of my stomach. They want to be set free.

I nod.

"I'll have croissants then. What else do you like?" He asks and I see his eyes turn back to green. What the hell is happening? How did he do that?

"I...uh. Muffins are great too..."I trail off looking at the muffins to make sure if we have enough of them.

"What else?"

"Cream rolls, pies, buns..." I trail off looking back at him. He nods.

"I'll have all of those."

"Uh, okay," I utter while getting a box to pack them all. While I pack all the stuff, I feel his burning gaze on me. Generally, I am graceful and not clumsy but under his gaze, I have tripped over plane floor thrice, almost dropped the pie, and was at the verge of knocking a whole self of cakes down.

By now, as I hand him the box, I've made a quite a good joke of myself. He looks smudge and amused. The corners of his lips are slightly curled up into a smirk and his eyes are streaming hot with a sea of emotions that I am unfamiliar with.

As he takes the box from my hands stretched over the counter, his fingers briefly brush my hand and I gasp. Strong sparks sting my skin wherever he touches. My heart beats quicken further if that was even possible. My eyes snap back to him to find his eyes has turned coal black again.

That eerie expression is stretched over his face. It's haunting and dangerous but I find myself strangely attracted to him.

Come to me, his eyes seem to be saying to me. As soon as he takes the box from my hand, I pull mine back. The sensation of his touch lingers on my skin. He smiles at me and place a thousand buck on the counter. My jaw drops to the floor.

That's too much. I open my mouth to say but he beats me to it.

"Keep the change." He says nodding at me, his eyes always trained on me as if I am the most interesting thing he has ever seen in this world.

"Uh, thank you." I manage to utter. He flashes me a breathtaking smile before leaving the shop. Moments pass by as I stand there and stare at the thousand buck. That's too much. He purchased goods worth a hundred bucks. I don't know what to do with the remaining nine hundred bucks.

I look back at the door, expecting him to be standing there but he's gone and this saddens a part of me. He must be a tourist staying in this town for a day or two. He'll be gone soon and never remember me but I'll remember him. No one can forget someone like him. He left stains of burning desire and unquenchable thirst on me that I doubt will ever be removed by anyone else.

It might be the first and last time I got to see a creature like him.

I wish if I could see him again.