The Runaway Human Queen

Chapter 6

It took us 20 minutes to walk to the bookstore. We talked generally and more easily now.

He told me about Canada and asked me about Australia. We spoke about the difference in cultures and landscapes. He was easy to talk to when he let go of the tough guy exterior. But once again, I love a good chat and can pretty much talk the leg off a donkey if you give me half a chance.

When we got to the book store, the staring had reached a new level. Most were still trying to be discrete by looking out of the corner of their eye, but some just stopped straight out with their mouths gapping open. That was until Max would clear his throat or would give them a slight glare and they pretty much sprinted. I was pretty glad when we got to the bookstore.

There were 3 people inside, the cashier, an elderly woman and a small teenage girl. Happily everyone were engrossed in what they were doing and the cashier just called out from under the counter. “Welcome, let me know if you need any help.”

“Will do. Thank you”. I called back and went browsing the store. Starting at the new releases, then went to the travel section, which had only 11 books. One of them was on Grease though, which is what I wanted.

When in Germany, I met another Aussie woman who was working on a super yacht like Andrea around Italy though. She also said they were always looking for staff if I was interested. It was starting to become very tempting, to say the least. It might be a good idea at the end of my American tour. It was something completely left field and paid extremely well so was starting to look more appealing.

Max just stood to the side near the front door, which made me feel a bit more brave to go back to the new releases and look at the new romance novels. Just because I am now a commitment phob’ doesn’t mean I don’t love a good romantic story with a happy ending. I will always love my rom-coms.

Some people just don’t get a happy ending in that way, but it’s nice to dream though.

I did intend to only get a couple of books but ended up with 4. Would have been 5 but I don’t know how much my car is going to cost tomorrow. When I got to the checkout, the teenager was there trying to negotiate to have a book put on hold until she got the rest of her allowance.

“No need. I would like to pay for yours as well if that's alright?” I asked.

The cashier's face lit up. Now I could see her, she was just a bit older than me with kind light brown eyes hidden behind her fringe and mop of dark brown hair. Her clothes were surprisingly very stylish, with skinny jeans and a tank top you would normally see on a teenager. A teenager like the one in front of her who was dressed more like a middle-aged woman. Her faded dress was definitely a hand me down. Her long light brown hair was pulled into a messy pony tail showing her pale skin and bright green shocked eyes.

“Oh no it's…” I cut her off.

“My pleasure. Please let me. Please?! Also, I saw you looking at another book before that you were struggling to put down. I would also like to get you that one.” Stuff the car, I think this girl needs a smile on her face and some kindness.

“Oh no! No! I…” She looked almost panicked. I wanted to reach out and pull her into a hug all of a sudden.

“Please! I am a very big believer in paying it forward. And if you keep saying no, I will have to wait for you to leave and pay for them anyway, so when you come back they are here waiting. So please.”

The cashier quickly chimed in “Amira darling, just say yes. It will be OK. If there are any issues, I will say they were damaged stock that I was going to throw out anyway.”

Issues? What issues?

She must come from a poor family and they are worried about her spending her money on books. Yes, stop your imagination from running away from you Emily.

The girl’s big doe eyes still looked worried but she finally nodded. The cashier gave me a big smile and mouthed “Thank you” to me. “Now what do you have as well,” She reached forward for my stack so I handed over my books.

“So you’re the big scary foreigner that suddenly appeared a few days ago. You realise everyone hasn’t shut up about it?” she laughed.

“Scary huh? Didn’t realise I was scary, but yes, I am certainly the foreigner that everyone has been keeping an eye on. Country towns always crack me up with their stranger-danger but this town seems to go next level” her laugh got louder to that.

“Yes, we are not very good with strangers around here. Sorry about that. Well, I am Francine and this is Amira. What brought you to our little town?”

“I’m Emily. My car decided to break down just outside of town.”

“Ah, so you didn’t just appear out of a porthole or come in on a broomstick or put Damien under a spell to bring you here and spy on us?” I almost snorted with laughter while Amira finally cracked a little bit of a smile.

“Sorry no spells or unicorns or portholes, and that all honestly sounds like too much work.”

Francine by this time had grabbed the other book Amira was looking at and rung it all up. She opened her mouth to say how much, when a black card being held by a huge hand suddenly appeared in front of her.

“Here. Put it all on this”, Max’s low strong voice rang out from beside me. That man was fast, I had forgotten he was even here, let alone hear him walk up beside me. Poor Amira jumped as well and seemed extremely startled.

Francine's face suddenly dropped and she just nodded, taking the card.

“I…” tried to start protesting.

“No choice”, he cut me off.

“Oh so you’re trying to rein in on my good deed for the day, are you?” I shook my head as it was now too late to stop him.

He just nodded, putting the card back in his pocket and stepped back to his spot.

“Well it was nice to meet you both…” I started.

“What’s it like?” Amira nervously asked quickly. She almost looked petrified that she had said something. Man, I just want to give her a hug even more.

“Where I’m from?”

“Yes and just driving around a different country. On your own. You are on your own, aren’t you? Do you get scared?”

I was about to start when Amira’s stomach growled “Well why don’t you come to the café and have some lunch with me, my treat, since I didn’t buy you the books and I will tell you all about it. I can even show you some photos. Warning though, I can talk and love talking about it all so your ears may bleed by the end.”

“That is an amazing idea. Yes Amira would love to. Off you go child, just say yes and enjoy,” Francine quickly interjected as Amira started to shack her head “You can’t say no, it isn’t polite. Off you go. Have a good day. Emily, it was so nice to meet you and I hope to see you again before you leave.”

“No, the pleasure was all mine. And I will definitely try.”

Amira finished putting the books in her bag and we started towards the café. Still with Max on my tail, of course.

“So what do you want to know first? Australia or my travels?”

“Australia if that’s alright” she said quietly.

“Of course” I smiled and told her almost exactly what I told Max not that long ago. There is nothing wrong with a recycled story!

We made it to the café with Max opening the door for us. We stepped inside with Amira trying to almost hide behind me as I moved towards an empty booth in the back. Hopefully it will make her more comfortable.

As we sat down, I noticed that everyone had stopped talking and were bowing at Max. He gave them a quick nod and they went back to what they were doing. Poor Amira looked downright horrified and looked like she was trying to disappear into the seat.

Tracey, the always smiling lovely waitress, practically sprinted over with the menus. She looked confused but tried to hide it with her bright smile.

“Welcome. Could I start by getting you all a drink?” she asked while trying not to stare at Max.

I motioned for Amira to go first. Unfortunately, she was still hoping a hole would magically open up under her and she would disappear. “How about a coke?” I tried and she shook her head frantically. “or a milk shake?” her eyes darted up to meet mine. “What flavour?”

Her mouth opened and took a couple of seconds to work. I now want to protect her and kill everyone who has ever been mean to her. “Ch-chocolate?” she questioned quietly.

I nodded at Tracey, “Chocolate Milkshake for Amira, I will have a coke and…” I looked at Max, who was also looking at Amira with worry in his eyes. He quickly covered it up with the stony look again.

“Coffee.”

“Of course. I will be back in a minute to take the rest of your order.” She chirped and quickly walked away.

I picked up the menu and finally couldn’t hold back my questions for Amira.

I had already got as many answers out of Max without delving into all the strangness. I will be leaving tomorrow and everything is telling me I don’t want to know still.

My natural curiosity had been making me want to ask a billion questions about everything since I drove into this place. The list keeps getting longer and longer. But nope! Those questions and that type of curiosity DID kill the cat!

But I will be out of here tomorrow! And I have a feeling I am going to have to do it in stealth mode. So I may have to wait a day, which I really don’t want to do. I will play it by ear and just see what my gut tells me.

“So Amira, do you go to school or college, as they call it over here?”

She seemed startled for a moment, forgetting that a conversation might come with the meal.

“Ah no. I work in the kitchen”. She looks too young not to be in school. She has to be only 15, but then again I am always crap at guessing people’s ages. Max seems to have the same train of thought though.

“How old are you?” he chimes in, watching her every movement now.

“I turned 18 yesterday”. She told you I was crap. But she is so tiny!

I have to turn this around and make her more at ease. “Congratulations! Well then, even though lunch was already on me, it is definitely on me and you have to have a cake dessert now no arguing!” Of course she went to argue, “nope! No arguing with a stubborn Aussie Country Chick trust me! I am paying! It is my treat. Pllleeeassseeee” she relaxed a little and a small smile finally started to grace her pale small face. She finally nodded. “Good. Now choose anything and I do mean anything and a desert”

I didn’t know why I was even bothering to look at the menu. I would just get the same as the last couple of times.

“So… your traveling?” Amira asked after a moment of examining the menu.

I smiled as I told her about everywhere I had been and where I was thinking of going next. I showed her the book about Grease and loved watching her excitement and how she relaxed slightly.

She was still on edge, especially every time the door opened, but Max would glare at anyone that looked our way and they would quickly turn away.

I even brought out my laptop and showed her photo after photo of the places and told her the stories of each place.

I asked her if she had ever gone anywhere. I wasn't surprised that she was born at Blue Moon but was very surprised that she hasn't even gone to the next town over let alone on a vacation. Then again if she comes from a poor family, maybe the price of petrol to drive there might stretch their already tight budget.

Amira's eyes lit up as she spoke about how she had always dreamed of travelling and seeing the world. That was one of the things she loved about books, she could be transported to different lands and loved to imagine it was her traveling there.

I was starting to think more and more about asking her if she wanted to come with me.

Amira tried to argue when I got her 3 different desserts as take away as we asked for the bill. Max snatched the bill out of Tracey’s hand and gave her his card again before I could even blink. That man was quick. I tried to argue, funnily like Amira, but he put his hand up to wave off any arguments.

“You’re ruining all my good deeds for today, you do know that, don’t you!” I rolled my eyes at him in a mock frustrated way.

Max’s grin was big this time. He seeming to relax more thanks to the food. Well, they do always say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. He gave a shrug and got out of the booth.

“Thank you so much!” Amira beamed, looking at her take away containers while walking to the door.

“No problems at all, especially since I didn’t end up paying anyway”. I laughed and was so happy to see her laugh with me.

“I had better run as I have to start in the kitchen in half an hour.”

“All good. Are you free for a catch up tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, with the royal cooks taking over the kitchen my hours are all over the place.” No, I didn’t hear royal cooks, probably the name of a catering company anyway. None of my business!

“That’s ok. Do you have a phone? I will give you my number and you can call me when you’re free”. She stops in her tracks looking nervous again. s**t! With her old clothes and having to save up for the book, of course she didn't have the money for a mobile. Stupid me, I shouldn't have asked her that.

I official, I want to adopt her. I don't care that she's 18. I need to adopt her and spoil her rotten!

“Don’t stress. Here I will write my number down for you.” I quickly grabbed out my small diary. I like to write down locations and ideas, so I always keep it with me. I ripped out a bit of the back page and wrote my name and number on it. “Here you go. Call me anytime OK.” She gave me her shy smile again before saving and sprint walking away.

“Are you as worried about her as I am?” I couldn’t help but ask Max.

He grunts watching her.

We walked back to the house in silence. I’m sure we were both thinking of Amira.

When we got back, I checked the time to see how long until my dinner, not a date, but a dinner with the Adonis of a man with magnetic eyes. A bit over 3 hours, heaps of time to overthink my clothes, makeup and the meaning of life!

Because I'm not ready to date yet. Commitment phob remember…? So it is just a dinner.

I said bye to Max before heading up to my room to start the process of frustration and indecisiveness.

I don’t have that many clothes with me, so I was extra frustrated that I didn’t go to the clothing store while we were down the street. Then again, we could quickly go down now… there is still time?

No, I have my black 60’s style fit and flare dress that I love. I will just iron it. It is simple but will fit any style dinner from fancy to semi-casual. Well, I think so anyway and it is only dinner.

I quickly headed down the stairs to ask Mary for the ironing board and was shocked that Max was sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a basketball game on.

Mary comes out of the kitchen giving Max a drink when she sees me. She quickly grabs the dress from me and tells me she will do it while I have a shower. I try to protest but like always with her, it’s no use.

I quickly shower, shave and moisturise every part of my body. Then comes my hair…. What to do? I decide to leave it down and give it a light curl as it may look too formal up and I don’t know what we are doing.

I do my make-up with a natural look and try not to overdo it. I really don’t like the whole plastered look anyway.

Mary came in not that long after I was done with my dress.

I was so excited I didn’t even realise the time. I quickly checked before putting the dress on and realised I still had another hour. I dont' want to seem desperate since it is only a casual dinner, so I just put the dress on the bed and flipped through the channels on the TV.

LONGEST HOUR OF MY LIFE!

I put my dress on with 10 minutes to spare in case he was early. I checked everything was still in place and I'm not looking like mutton dressed up like lamb. Yeah, I look alight but he is still out of my league and then some!

Finally, the doorbell rang and my heart went into overdrive.

It is just a dinner, just a casual dinner!

Calm down, just a dinner with an extremely stunning, gorgeous God-like man who would not normally give someone like me a second glance!

I take a deep breath and head down the stairs.