Chapter 13

As Alice walked home from walk amid the students, overhearing snippets of their conversations, she tried not to giggle.

A group of three boys talked over each other, all having different conversations. The loudest was trying to tell the others about a thirteen-foot long something or other but was out of earshot before she could find out what.

Another group was talking about sex, but from the sounds of it, none of them had the experience to back up their confident words.

As she turned off the main road and into the jitty, the crowd thinned out. She walked past the mix-matched row of patchwork fences, some laden with graffiti and some freshly painted. Little weeds grew along the verge—the kind that attracted the yellow and black caterpillars. A little girl toddled into her path, pulling her mother who glanced up and apologised.

"Look Mummy, a snake!" the kid cried with wonder.

Alice couldn't help but giggle as she continued her walk home, feeling better about her life in general. 

Dickhead Steve was gone, Freya was spending more time with Jackson and she was starting to make a new friend in Deb, who had invited her out drinking.

Alice had been lonely since University ended and her friends had scattered to the four winds. Her closest friend location wise was a forty-five-mile drive away, and while she still kept in contact online, it wasn't the same as having people around 24/7.

She was about to cross the road, waiting for an opening between cars when something hit her in the face. 

'There's no wind.' She frowned.

Looking down, she saw whatever it was had landed at her feet. She smiled to herself as she picked it up.

"A scratch card," she muttered. "No way."

Sifting through her pockets, she found a twenty pence piece and proceeded to rub off the grey strips that usually revealed nothing but disappointment. 

As she scratched off one panel to reveal £2000 after another, she knew it was Damien. It had to be. Scratch cards didn't fall from the sky. 

She stood on the street's edge, laughing to herself like a madwoman and ignoring the confused looks on the motorist's faces. 

It was one thing to get rid of Steve. That could have been done by conventional means. Even the curing of Mrs. Helen's daughter, though it was harder to think up an explanation that made sense.

But this? There was no reasonable explanation that made any sense. Even if he had flown over in a silent plane, how could he know the value on the scratch card would be the exact amount she needed?

'So that confirms it, Damien is magic,' Alice thought.

It would be great. Amazing even... if he hadn’t told her he was planning mass genocide.

When a lady in a Corsa beeped and waved her over the road, Alice finally got moving. With a thank-you wave, she skipped across and practically ran the rest of the way home.

Grabbing the handle, she was pleasantly surprised to see the door not only closed but locked. She fished out her key, unlocked the door and entered to find a clean, tidy and fresh-smelling flat. 

A note by the breadbin told her Freya was stopping over at Jackson's place. 

"Yes!" Alice fist-pumped the air. Hopefully, this meant the two of them were 'getting it on.'

Having nothing else to do, Alice sat and thought about Damien. He was on her mind so much of the time, she was starting to worry about becoming obsessed. Being trained in psychology, Alice understood her own mind better than most people. She knew her tendency to obsess could lead to compulsive and destructive behaviour, so had to force herself to concentrate on other things.

After sinking into the sofa and trying to concentrate on the television, Alice realised it was hopeless.

"I'll just go talk to him," Alice said to herself. 

'Because there's nothing wrong with a school guidance counsellor randomly turning up at a student’s house,' she thought.

Searching through her files, she found his address. It was on the posh side of town, about a half hour walk from the block of ex-council flats where she was currently renting.

She knocked with the brass lion knocker and was immediately face to face with a woman wearing a hospital lanyard—presumably Damien's mother. The poor woman almost jumped out of her skin. 

"Oh, Jesus!" she cried, her eyes almost popping out of her head. "Sorry, I was just leaving out for work."

"I'm here to see Damien," Alice said.

"Upstairs, second on the left," the woman shouted as she unlocked her car and ran.

"N-nice to meet you," Alice said as the woman sped off.

She entered the house and shut the door behind her, taking her shoes off at the door because the pile of footwear seemed to indicate that was the thing to do.

Creeping up the stairs, she heard music and voices coming from various rooms. 

'Why do I feel like a burglar?' she wondered.

At Damien's room, she stopped and knocked loudly enough for him to hear over the music.

When he yanked the door open with the force of a hurricane, he stared at her for a second before sighing with relief.

"Sorry, I thought you were Morgan again." Damien rolled his eyes. "She's getting on my last nerve."

He gestured for her to enter and told her she could sit on the bed.

"Don't worry," he joked. "Mum just cleaned the sheets."

"Your Mum's a doctor," Alice told him as if he wasn't aware.

"A surgeon," he corrected. "My Dad is too."

"Wow," Alice said. She looked about his room, not surprised to see his walls were black and covered in band posters.

Damien smiled and clapped his hands together. "I take it you didn't come here to tell me about my Mum being a doctor."

"Oh, erm, I came to thank you." Alice pulled the scratch card from her pocket and waved it, flashing a thin smile.

Damien frowned and laughed. "You didn't have to come here and thank me."

"Honestly, I have nothing else to do except sit at home and think about you," Alice told him. "I figured I may as well come here and..."

Alice leaned over and hid her head in her hands as she heard what she was saying.

"I am so so sorry, Damien. This is the most unprofessional and downright weird thing I've ever done. If you want to report me, I completely understand."

Taking a deep breath and remembering her financial obligations, she reconsidered. "Actually, please don't do that."

"I'm not going to report you," Damien scoffed. "It's understandable that you're curious about me. Do you want a drink?"

"Coffee?" Alice smiled up at him hopefully.

"I'll be right back," he said, rushing down the stairs with a thunderous chorus of footsteps.

Alice resisted the urge to be nosy as she waited, but her urges got the better of her when she saw a pile of CDs. She squealed a little when she saw her favourite Propagandhi album.

"I didn't think you'd be into this," she said, holding up the turquoise case as he entered.

"Oh, Chris Hannah is my favourite person out of everyone, including my family," Damien declared.

"Me too!" Alice cried. "He even convinced me to go vegan."

Damien smiled so widely he looked like his face might break in two. At that moment, as she smiled back, Alice forgot all about his magical powers and the fact he was a student. The pair of them discussed political issues, song meanings and swapped vegan recipe ideas until Alice pushed the blind aside and realised it was dark outside. 

"Damn, how long have I been here?" she muttered. 

"Like... three hours," Damien said, shoving his computer mouse to check the little digital clock in the corner of his monitor.

"Woah, I should go," Alice said. As she spoke the words, she realised she didn't want to go.

"Why?" Damien asked. 

"Well, erm." Alice swallowed loudly. "You have school tomorrow and I have... well... school too, I guess."

"I'm not going to bed for a few hours," Damien said. "That coffee wasn't decaf."

"Good point," Alice said. "I am not going to sleep tonight."

"Hang out a bit more," Damien said. "You have to. It's an order."

"Oh, what? I have to do as you say, now?" Alice asked, brows raised. The idea amused her more than it worried her. She didn't honestly believe he would force her into a situation that made her uncomfortable, but the fact that he could excited her more than it should have done.

"Yes, you do." Damien leaned back on the bed and poked her in the ribs with his toes. "Now give me a foot rub."

"Really?" Alice asked.

"Yes, really," he demanded, planting his foot in her lap.

With a shrug, Alice obliged. She had been told in the past her foot rubs were the best, but her ex-boyfriend might have been somewhat biased.

‘Is it weird to give a massage to a non-partner?’ Alice wondered.

'It's not that weird,' she told herself at last. 'It's not like I'm rubbing his...'

When he let out a moan of pleasure, she realised it was a little weird, then a memory surfaced, and she burst into hysterical laugher. 

"What?" he asked.

"You just reminded me of that Parks and Recreations episode where Andy is shining Ron's shoe," Alice explained to a confused looking Damien.

"I've never seen it," he told her.

"Ugh," Alice groaned. "I forgot you kids these days don't watch anything longer than three minutes unless it has full-frontal nudity."

"I'll take partial nudity." Damien grinned. He got and switched his computer on, turning the monitor to face the bed.

"What's it called?" he asked, signing into Netflix. "Parks and Recreations?"

Alice nodded. "But I really should go. I mean..."

"No." Damien shook his head and sat back on the bed. "You should watch this with me and finish my foot rub. It's rude to only do one foot."

"I was not aware of the social etiquette surrounding foot rubs," Alice admitted with a sly grin. "Is it also rude to not reciprocate?"

"Yes," Damien said. Like a flash, he grabbed her foot and was pulling her sock off.

"No, no, no, I was just kidding," Alice cried. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he was surprisingly strong. "I have super tickly feet."

"You do?" he asked, grinning like a maniac.

Without giving her a chance to protest further, Damien flipped her onto her front, positioned himself on her back and bend pulled her foot back.

As he began to run his fingers over the arch of her foot, she tried desperately to buck him off, laughing so hard it brought tears to her eyes.

"Please, please, please, stop," she squealed between fits of uncontrollable laughter.

By the time he let her up, Alice had mascara lines running down her cheeks. 

"You're so mean," she cried.

"Am I?" he asked, eyes flashing as he went to grab her other foot.

"No!" she cried, throwing up her arms in surrender. "You're kind! You're really kind."

"Yes, I am," Damien said, looking smug as he leaned back on the bed.

Alice resumed the foot rub, ignoring his occasional moans of pleasure.

"Oh, so this character Ron, he's everything we hate but I sort of love him, it's so weird," Alice explained. She laughed hysterically at the same points that had made her laugh the first time around and was pleased when Damien joined in, finding the same bits as funny as she did. They got so engrossed in the show that another couple of hours passed.

When Alice finally glanced down at her phone she winced. 

"Erm, it's midnight," she revealed.

"Damn, I best get to sleep," Damien said.

"And I should go home and write my letter of resignation," Alice said with a dry smile.

"If you resign, I'll make sure your next job in on an oil rig in the middle of the Pacific," Damien warned.

"Right." Alice nodded and chuckled to herself. "I'll see you tomorrow."