His spine straightened. His hands folded in front of him. His eyes stilled. So did his body.
The creases in my forehead softened. Though he was a total stranger, I recognized him. Not wholly, but parts of him. The rigid ones. The reserved ones. The quiet ones. The analytical ones. The observant ones. He was out of his comfort zone.
Teddy.
“You’re lost.”
He nodded. “I am.”
“Where to?” I sighed, loosening the grip on my Glock.
I, too, straightened my spine. His reservation was magnetic, pulling words and thoughts from me that I, too, wanted to reserve.
“The Balgaria.”
My face fluffed with a smile as I nodded.
Of course.
I didn’t pour from my mouth. Instead, I lifted the bottom of my dress for a better range of motion. My strut resumed, ending as I lowered my body into the driver’s seat of the foreign ride.
Tonka.
Cedar.
Vanilla.
Vetiver.
Orange.
I quietly admired the fragrance on his skin and the clothes he wore.
Black on black on black.
His skin was as crispy as his fabric. A hood was pulled down over what I knew were deep waves. As he turned around to face me, dipping his head into the car, he pulled the black shades from his head down onto his eyes.
“You driving, I’d assume?”
He didn’t smile. Not outwardly, at least. His face remained stoic. Unreadable. Unforgetful. It was dazzling.
“You’d be accurate.”
He rounded the car and opened the passenger door. As he settled in, so did his scent. He didn’t fuss. He didn’t put up the slightest fight.
Myrrh.
I finalized my findings. The combination was tantalizing, prompting me with the idea for Teddy’s next gift. It didn’t matter that he hated them; I’d continue giving them to him anyway.
He was deserving. Always had been.
As he adjusted the seat for comfort, I pressed my foot against the pedal. The weight of his body stopped his back from crashing into the seat. The stiffness of mine kept me upright.
“Did that image go to your friend group?”
Half-enthused by his attention to detail, I shrugged.
“It went to me,” I confirmed, hiking the volume on the stereo.
