SHE

SHE
A knock on the door rouses me from my thoughts, I wasn’t expecting anyone, has Abed found me so quickly? Why did I find that half appealing, and half annoying? I wanted some time to myself, yet I missed him so dearly.
 “Room service.” A shrill voice calls out.
I slump with relief and disappointment, I did order room service, whatever strong alcohol they could find, being alone was one one thing, but I was alone, and lonely with my thoughts, that was the major nightmare.
 Without thought, I open the door, expecting the cart to roll into the room, followed by a person of uniform, instead I am met with the grinning face of Richard Kersher. My eyes widen and I take a couple of steps backward, my eyes falling on his hands, there are no blood stains surprisingly.
 “What did you do?” I ask poking my head into the hallway, I find nothing, nothing that indicating he had just snatched the cart from an unsuspecting worker. 
He pulls me back inside, shutting the door behind him, leaving the two of us... scratch that, an unrepentant killer and I, whose knowledge on self defence is literally just the basics.
 “You know it’s still just me, right? Fairy godmother?” he plops on the single sofa in the room, fetching a bottle of wine from the wine bucket on the cart, his eyes skims the label and nods to himself, muttering something like ‘good stuff’, under his breath.
 “It has been a wild evening Richard, you know we can’t just go back to being chummy.”
He finds two glasses from the mini fridge, and fills them both, handing one to me, defiantly I stare at his face, the one that was always laughing, the one that crumpled with sadness when he heard my story, the one that went out of his way to make sure I was getting a good deal, that was the same face that tried to kill Abed, and it was difficult for me to see this new side.
 “I haven’t had anyone use the word chummy in so long.” he chuckles, and then blinks, as if righting himself.
“For a second, can we just pretend that you have no idea about it?”
I eye him, his voice had the right amount of sincerity in them, but he also studied theater with me, he could be acting for all I knew.
 “For the longest time, I had not been myself, I had forgotten how to, as a matter of fact, I was certain that me didn’t exist anymore, or never existed in the first place, until I saw you, you reminded me of him, the one person that brought out the real me. That was why, no matter how far I traveled for... work, I always came back to you, just so I could be myself for a while, so I didn’t disappear entirely.” he doesn’t look at me once as he says this, on his face is the saddest smile I had ever seen, it tugs on my heart strings, and the part of me that always wanted to return the favor by helping him, pulls him into a hug.
 He chuckles, sniffing my hair, like he always did, to make sure I washed it, washing it would mean I had a good place to sleep the night before.
“I washed it! I have been washing for the past few years.”
He chuckles, hugging me back, nostalgia makes me blink back tears, my throat was full of them.
 “Why didn’t you reach out anymore? You changed your number and I didn’t have an address for you.”
“That’s because I wanted to watch you shine from afar, and I didn’t want to taint your reputation, which you ended up doing anyway, a waste of hard work.”
 I don’t see it, but I know him well enough to know that he rolled his eyes, my cheeks burned from his casual mention of my imploded career, something that seemed so far away.
 He pulls out of the hug and hands me my glass, and this time I take it, he was just Rich Richie, the fairy godmother to me right now. We clink glasses as we stand side by side, his hands around my waist, my head on his shoulder as we stare out the window and down into the city that lit up like the night sky.
 “Is he okay?” I ask tentatively, avoiding his gaze.
He chuckles slightly,
“I am right here, and he is the one occupying your mind?”
I clear my throat nosily, we were suppose to pretend he was just godmother, and godmother didn’t know Abed.
 He let out a sigh,
“He is fine, and also an idiot, he is out there looking for you, I followed him actually, got off right in front of the hotel, and watched him drive away.”
 My eyes bulge,
“He is out there? At this time of the night?”
He rolls his eyes, “No, he should have met with his lawyer friend by now, they would be poring over maps and shit.” he shook his head.
 I take a sip of the wine, feel the sourness burn down my throat before asking,
“How did you know I was here?”
“You obviously didn’t want to be too far from him, but far enough to think about it, and this place was a set for one of our classes, the one you did so well you got on the department’s hall of fame.” he says simply.
 I laugh, I was too predictable. To Richard at least.
“Thank you for not telling him, I don’t think I am ready yet.”
He waved me off,
 “I liked watching him squirm, and I wanted to spend a lot time with you.”
He looks straight at me when he says this, knocking the wind out of my chest, I blink fast, and look away, taking more sips of the wine.
 He took a sharp breath, 
“You said something at dinner, something I haven’t been able to wrap my head around.”
I am still fighting with the weight of his absurd comment, and he was carrying on like he didn’t just say anything.
“I said a lot of things, your father does that to me.” I bite, before realizing he idolized his father. 
“Should not have said that.”
He chuckles, “It was nice to hear you speak your mind, and it was even better watching you fight for him, I wondered if you would do the same for me, and if I should have done that for him our entire lives.”
 Again, he was throwing those kind of words around.
“What are you talking about?”
He turns to face me, a small smirk on his face,
“You said you loved him, were you being sincere?”
My throat dries, forcing me to swallow, I kick back the rest on the wine I had, wetting my throat and my lips, this was not how I planned to confess, but the men of the Kersher household have to pull the words out of my mouth.
 “Yes, I am in love with your brother, I love him with everything in me, I haven’t felt this way for anyone ever.” My heart slams inside my chest.
His smile falters,
 “Does he know this? Have you told Abed?”
I shake my head no, his entire face lights up again,
“Good, it means I still have a chance.”
“What?”
He struck out his hand for a handshake, a confident smile on his face,
“It seems we are fated, you are now my competition, you see, I am also, in love with Abed.”