Magic Touch

by Jayda Marx

  “I’m sure it was nothing,” Puck shrugged. “Where are you off to today?”

  “I just need a few things from the grocery store. My car’s in the shop again, so I’m just going to walk down to the convenience store at the end of the block.”

  “I don’t mind picking up what you need after work if you’d rather not go out.”

  She smiled and patted his arm. “You’re sweet to worry. I know I don’t get around as well as I used to, but I like getting out of the house once in a while. I will take some help down these stairs, though.”

  “Of course.” Puck offered his elbow and the elderly lady cupped her hand around it. He slowly and carefully led her down the stairs, and I followed behind them with a goofy grin on my face over my beloved’s thoughtfulness. “Have you talked to Mr. Robins about an apartment on the bottom floor?” he asked when they reached the landing on the second story. They took a break so that Mrs. Willoughby could catch her breath, and then they started up again.

  “I spoke with him last night. He said there’s a couple moving out of a first floor apartment in a couple of weeks. He said I could move into it, and he’d list mine for rent.”

  “That’s great news,” he replied with a genuine smile. Puck was obviously a kind man who cared about his neighbor’s wellbeing. I couldn’t be more proud that he was mine.

  Mrs. Willoughby once again gathered her strength when the pair reached the ground floor. “You okay?” Puck asked with a concerned expression.

  “Just fine, dear. You better head to work; I don’t want you to be late on my account.”

  “Yeah, unfortunately I do need to get going.” His words caught my attention; whatever his job was, it sounded like he didn’t enjoy it. I longed to take him away from everything that troubled him. “Have a good day, Mrs. Willoughby.”

  “You too, dear.”

  Puck held the door open for her before exiting, and I slipped out of the building behind him.

  *****

  Puck

  As I strolled down the sidewalk, I couldn’t shake the sensation that someone was watching me. But as I told Mrs. Willoughby, it wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling; rather, it was as if someone was watching over me. Their gaze settled over my skin like a warm caress. But every time I turned around, no one was there. It had to be all in my head, but then why did it feel so real?

  I shrugged it off as I stepped through the back door of ‘Rosie’s Place’, the restaurant where I waited tables. I liked my job for the most part, and I loved that it was close enough to my apartment that I could walk to work. The one thing I could do without was currently staring down his bulbous nose at me.

  “You were almost late,” Stan barked, crossing his hairy, sweaty arms as he glared at me. Stan was the owner and manager of the restaurant; once upon a time, the place was run by a sweet lady named Rose, and the name didn’t switch when it changed hands. I figured nobody wanted to eat at ‘Sweaty Stan’s’.

  “Almost late or two minutes early?” I countered with a cheesy grin, trying to raise his spirits. He was unimpressed, judging by the way he rolled his eyes. I’d yet to find anything that did impress Stan.

  “Just get to the tables, kid.” He jerked his head towards the dining area before stomping off to tell the grill cook Anthony that he was doing his job wrong.

  I grabbed my apron from a hook by the back door, grumbling to myself about the nickname. I hated when Stan called me ‘kid’, but even more so today, since it was my twenty first birthday. Not that Stan cared; not that anyone cared, actually. Mrs. Willoughby was my closest friend, and she was just a nice old lady who lived down the hall whom I spoke to a few times a month.

  I moved around a lot when I was growing up because I was in and out of foster homes. Some of them were nice, others were better off forgotten, but none of them lasted long. I never stayed in one town long enough to make a lasting connection with anyone.

  Warren was the place where I’d lived the longest. I left the most recent family I was staying with shortly after I turned nineteen and graduated from Warren High School. Then I got my job and my apartment and the rest was history. But even though I was finally settled, I couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. I longed for friendship and romance, but neither found me easily.

  I sighed and pushed my melancholy thoughts to the back of my mind as I made my way through the kitchen and into the dining room. My shift started as usual, with breakfast orders, coffee refills and multiple trips to the kitchen. It went smoothly, aside from an occasional complaint of toast being ‘too toasty’ or of eggs that were too runny. I slipped behind the grill and quietly told Anthony about each objection so that he could make a fresh order without having to face the wrath of Stan. The poor guy worked hard and didn’t need our boss breathing down his neck or sweating all over his station.

  By the time breakfast rolled into lunch, my legs ached. I took a three minute (standing) break between orders to slam down a sandwich before returning to work. My ten hour shifts were long and the work was difficult, but the tips the customers left for me kept the lights on at my place.

  I looked up at the sound of the bell on the door jingling, signaling someone’s entrance. You’ve got to be kidding me. Walking in were none other than Lance Jenkins and Nash Pitt, two men who made my last year of high school absolutely miserable. I may not have collected any friends, but I’d managed to find myself a couple of bullies.

  It wasn’t difficult to understand why; in high school, I was an easy target; I was in no way athletically gifted, but was awkward, lonely, and gay. Shit, I’m still all of those things! I looked all around for someone who could wait on them in my place, even though I knew I’d find no one. My coworker Stacy wasn’t due in for another fifteen minutes; I was on my own.

  I took a deep breath. Calm down, Puck; you haven’t seen these guys in almost two years. Maybe they’ve grown up and matured. I watched as they took a seat across from each other at a small table. Lance picked up the two clean coffee mugs from the tabletop and held them up to his chest to look like breasts as Nash made grabby hands at them and flicked his eyebrows. Well, there goes that theory.

  Maybe I can fake a bathroom emergency until Stacy gets here; then she can wait on them. Yes, I would throw poor Stacy to the wolves. I looked around to see if the coast was clear to slip to the restroom and was nearly blinded by the light reflecting off of Stan’s bald head. He was on the other side of the dining area, glaring at me with a ‘get to work’ expression. Dammit.

  Okay, maybe they won’t recognize me. I gulped and sauntered to Lance and Nash’s table, and gave them the best smile I could manage. “Welcome to Rosie’s. What can I get you to drink?”

  “I’ll have…” Lance’s eyes trailed from his menu to me. “Oh. My. God. Is that you, Puke?” I’d forgotten all about that lovely nickname. “Dude, it’s so weird being back and seeing what happened to people we graduated with.” His nose scrunched up as he peered around the restaurant. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, just living the dream,” I shrugged, trying to lighten the mood.

  “More like a nightmare,” Nash butted in. “Shit, I’d run face first into traffic if I had to wait tables.” Sounds like a great idea.

  I took another deep breath to tamp down my frustration. “Eh, it pays the bills. So, about those drinks…” I just wanted to take their order and get the hell away from them.

  “Nash and I are living the real dream,” Lance added. I don’t remember asking, but okay. “We moved out of this shit hole town and are attending Northridge University on a full football scholarship. We’re just here visiting our folks.”

  I. Don’t. Care. These guys teased and ridiculed me for an entire year, and now they wanted me to be their cheerleader? Still, I was at work and needed to be professional. “Wow, good for you.”

  “It is good for us. The ladies love jocks. We’re getting more pussy than we can handle.” Gross. Lance’s lips curled into an evil grin. “But you wouldn’t know
anything about that, would you, Puke?”

  Don’t stoop to their level, I mentally chanted, even though my blood was boiling. I gnashed my teeth together and grunted through them, “No, I don’t suppose I would.”

  “Ooh, so cranky,” Nash taunted, poking out his bottom lip. “What’s wrong; have a dildo stuck up your ass?”

  “That’s it!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air. “I dealt with your shit when I was younger, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you come into my workplace and speak to me like this when I’ve been nothing but professional to you! I-”

  “Hawkins!” boomed behind me, interrupting my rant. I spun around to find Stan glaring at me with fire in his eyes. “What’s wrong with you? We don’t speak to our customers in such a manner.” He turned a pleading expression to Lance and Nash. “I’m so sorry, gentlemen. I want you to know this is not how we conduct ourselves here at Rosie’s.”

  “I just don’t understand what happened,” Lance lied, rounding his eyes. “We just sat down and this guy walked up and started saying horrible things to us.”

  “What?” I yelled, my jaw dropping to the floor. “Stan, that’s bullshit. I-”

  “That’s enough out of you,” Stan snapped before giving his attention to the men again. “Gentlemen, it would be my pleasure to cover the cost of your meal this evening.”

  “I’m not sure I feel comfortable here,” Nash replied, giving his most pitiful look. I’d never witnessed such fuckery in all of my life.

  “Please, I insist.”

  “Well...okay,” Lance answered with a sigh. He was a piece of work.

  “Their meal is coming out of your paycheck,” Stan snarled at me before stomping away.

  Wait, what? Lance and Nash snickered, and I may have flipped them off. Okay, I did. With both hands. Then I hustled after Stan. “Look, you don’t understand what happened. They-”

  My words were cut short when in my peripheral vision, I noticed Lance leaping from his seat. He stood tall and announced loudly, “I shit my pants at freshman basketball tryouts. I worked it down my pant leg and onto the floor. Then I stepped in it and claimed it was dog shit.”

  “Dude!” Nash yelled with a horrified expression. “What the hell?”

  “I...I don’t know why I said that,” Lance replied as his face went white. I barely had time to register the greatness of the moment before Nash was on his feet as well.

  “I jerked off to a photo I thought was of a swimsuit model. Then I found out it was an old picture of my grandma.” He slapped his hand over his mouth and I laughed out loud. I didn’t know what the hell was happening, but it was the most amazing thing I’d ever witnessed.

  “I have a tiny dick, but I pay women to say otherwise,” Lance added. He too covered his mouth before the both of them ran out of the restaurant at top speed as I laughed so hard, I nearly toppled over.

  “This is the best day of my life,” I wheezed.

  “I don’t know what happened there,” Stan said, looking perplexed. He shook his head and glared at me again. “But you’re not off the hook.” Is he serious? Can I not have two minutes to enjoy my moment of triumph? “I can’t take their meal out of your pay since they left, but you still deserve to be punished for causing a ruckus. You’re done waiting tables for the day. The men’s room needs attention, so go clean it. While you’re in there, remind yourself how you are to treat our customers.”

  I shrugged and collected cleaning supplies out of the storage closet without a fuss after hanging up my apron. Nothing could put a damper on my mood after seeing the two biggest assholes from my past voluntarily humiliating themselves. I had no idea whether they did it out of a guilty conscience or maybe even a weird hazing ritual from their college, but whatever the reason, I was pleased.

  I chuckled to myself all the way down the hall until I opened the door to the men’s room. Then I wasn’t laughing. I wasn’t prepared for the horrors that awaited me in that room. If one thing could be said of the men of Warren, it was that they had terrible aim.

  I groaned and got to work, scrubbing, wiping and gagging. I turned around to throw a pile of paper towels away that I could have sworn I left on the floor, only to find them neatly tucked into the garbage can. I assumed the fumes were getting to me and went on with my work.

  When I went to spray cleaner on the mirror that I knew was disgusting five minutes ago, I found it was spotless and sparkling. Okay, this day is getting weird. But it was weird in a good way, so I didn’t complain. I just whispered a thank you into the empty room to whatever positive energy was helping me out and scrubbed myself at the sink from fingertips to elbows before leaving the room.

  “There’s no way you’re done already,” Stan insisted as he watched me tuck the cleaning supplies away. He marched into the restroom to inspect it and came back into the hall. “I guess that will do.” It’d probably kill the man to give an actual compliment. “You’re done for the day. Clock out and go home.”

  Technically I still had an hour left of my shift, and Stan was screwing me out of pay, but I didn’t argue with him; I wanted to enjoy a little bit of my birthday away from this place. I clocked out and waved goodbye to Anthony before escaping into the fresh air of the evening.

  Chapter Three

  Indigo

  Should I go in or not? I asked myself as I followed Puck down the hall to his apartment. I’d been his shadow all day, traveling with him from his job to the grocery store and now back to his home, but I was unsure whether or not to accompany him inside.

  Entering his apartment without his knowledge felt like overstepping a boundary, but at the same time, a man’s home said a lot about him. Home is where a person could be their true self, and show their true intentions. I believed with all of my heart that Puck didn’t have a nefarious bone in his body, but if I could confirm that first hand and pass the information along to my parents, it would go a long way in convincing them that my beloved could be trusted within our borders.

  I chewed my lip as Puck unlocked his door. I made my decision and slipped inside at the last second before he closed it behind him. His apartment was clean and comfortable; it held all of the necessities as well as some creature comforts.

  I watched as Puck placed his shopping bag on his coffee table and sat down on his sofa. He kicked off his shoes and tucked his feet under his thighs, nestling in on the cushion. I remained standing; I didn’t want him to notice the couch moving under my weight, or to accidentally bump into him and alert him of my presence.

  Puck lifted a sandwich and soda from his bag and turned on a television set. I knew of many human devices, even though my people didn’t use them. In our spare time, most of us visited with friends and family, read or meditated. I grew sad as I watched my beloved eat his dinner alone; it was rare for any of my people to dine alone. We had many feasts which the whole coven attended, when we would celebrate life and the bounty nature provided to us. Even when there wasn’t a coven-wide banquet, we liked to share meals with friends and kin as often as possible to strengthen the bond of friendship between us.

  It didn’t seem as though Puck had anyone to share his life with. As his fated mate, I was thrilled he wasn’t involved in a romantic relationship, but I hated that he had no friends or family at his side.

  When he finished his sandwich and drink, Puck pulled one last item from the bag; a cupcake in a clear plastic container. He placed it on the table and shuffled into his kitchen to rummage through a drawer, and returned carrying a single blue striped candle and a lighter. He opened the container and squished the candle into the pastry’s frosting before lighting it.

  He smiled as he watched the flame dance for just a moment before whispering, “Happy birthday, Puck.”

  My heart ached at the scene; kin and loved ones should be at his side to celebrate the day my beloved graced this planet with his birth and to reminisce about his past year of existence. But my poor Puck was alone. What was worse was that no one he came in contact with even
acknowledged what day it was. No one gave him a smile or a special greeting. But my sweet beloved didn’t pout or wallow; he made the best of his situation with a beautiful smile on his face.

  Puck closed his eyes and whispered, “I wish for my true love to find me and whisk me away,” before gazing at his treat again and blowing out the flame.

  “I’m here,” I replied, though he couldn’t hear me. He watched the smoke from the candle billow up to the ceiling before biting into his dessert. He hummed happily at the flavor, and I smiled when he licked a frosting moustache off of his upper lip.

  Puck sighed as he crumpled up the pastry wrapper. “I guess I better get this cleaned up.” He gathered his garbage and when he turned his back to me, I took advantage of the moment and slipped out of the front door. I hated to leave him, but it was already after eight o’clock. I needed to return to my village soon.

  But there was one thing I needed to do first; I wouldn’t leave my beloved without giving him a birthday gift. I smiled as I concentrated hard on an image in my mind. I held my left palm flat and swirled the fingers of my right hand above it as I chanted:

  Magic, love and intent all intertwine

  To bring forth the creation of my mind

  Green light arched between my palms, twisting and taking the shape of the gift I envisioned. I snapped my fingers and the shape in my hand solidified and transformed into a beautiful bouquet of dark blue flowers. A note was tucked between its petals which read:

  My darling Puck,

  Your beauty surpasses even the rarest rose. My heart beats only for you.

  -Indigo

  I wanted to include a ‘Happy Birthday’ message, but seeing as I only knew of the date because I trailed him all day, I thought better of it. Technically leaving a gift at all was against the ‘no contact’ rule, but my sweet Puck deserved to know someone was thinking about him on his special day. I placed the flowers on the floor in front of his apartment and knocked firmly on the door before stepping back.