Chapter 7 - Cimmerio 3

I stared at the large picture frame in my hands. It held a photo of Sylvia and four other people. They all stood in front of a restaurant called Sea Shack. I concluded that the picture was old due to the fact that Sylvia was short and had big, bulky braces. She had her arms wrapped around a younger girl and around her a young man’s arms. The two other people, a man and a woman, stood hand-in-hand behind them. Sylvia’s family, I guessed.
She looked just like her father. The hair color, the eye color, they even had the same dimples in their cheeks. Even in her younger days, Sylvia was still...attractive and very innocent looking. I liked that about her. Her large grey eyes were so full of concern that night on the lighthouse. She really didn’t want me to jump. I’m glad that I did, though. I’d probably had never met her if I hadn’t.
Behind me I heard soft footsteps. I shot my head around and saw Sylvia. She was standing in the doorway of her bedroom wearing a bathrobe that was the exact same shade of pink as everything else in her house. She had her long hair pinned back out of her face. She walked beside me and peered at the picture. “Hmm,” she laughed softly. “I was thirteen. We had just renovated the restaurant and my dad wanted to get a picture.”
She pointed at the man with a kind smile on his aging face. “That’s daddy. That’s my momma.” She slid her finger down to the young man. “That’s my older brother Sebastian. He was twenty-two; and that’s my baby sister Francia. She was nine.” I smiled at the silly face that Francia was making at the camera. She took the picture frame from my hands and held it.
“I love this picture.” She said aloud. She carefully put the frame on her nightstand. “We were actually all together.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Did one of them pass away?” I asked her. She shook her head. “No. It’s just that we don’t spend so much time together like we used to.” She replied. I knew how that felt; to be away from your family a lot. It wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world.
I cautiously laid a comforting hand on her terrycloth-covered shoulder. “Do you have any family left? I mean are there any family members like you?” she looked at me.
“I’m the only one left of my family. I only had my parents. They were killed when I was sixteen.” I answered. Her eyes sparkled with more concern and empathy as she grabbed my hand in hers. The feel of her soft, clean skin was enough to make my nerves jump. “I’m so sorry.” She squeezed my hand. “I am too.” I hung my head a bit. Before I knew what was happening, Sylvia had wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me.
I hugged her back. It was like nothing else mattered. It was just Sylvia and I standing in an embrace. She pulled back some and gave me a weak smile. “I haven’t been hugged in years.” I told her. “Really?” her eyebrows crinkled as a bigger smile played her with her lips. I nodded. “I like they way you hug. You make me feel...happy.” My attention suddenly turned to a large bruise on her forehead.
“What happened?” I gently touched it. “Um, my neighbor, Andrew, hit me with a Frisbee yesterday.” She laughed. “Are you alright? Does it hurt?” It was my nature to be the doctor in situations like that. “Yes and no. I can’t really feel anything up there anymore.” She traced along the swollen edges. I heard the doorbell all the way upstairs. “Can you get that? I don’t normally answer the door half naked.” She walked towards her closet.
“Sure.” I bounded down the stairs and opened the front door. “Good Morning Sylvia! I-,” the young man stopped in midsentence. He had curly blonde hair and small green eyes. “You’re not Sylvia.” He said. He had a look of disappointment on his face. “No. I’m Cimmerio James. I just moved in today.” I offered him my hand. He hesitantly shook it. “Are you her boyfriend?” he cocked his head to the side.
“I’m not. I’m just a friend.” I replied. “Oh, well, any friend of Sylvia’s is a friend of mine. I’m Andrew her neighbor.” All I needed to hear were the words “Andrew” and “neighbor”. I grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off the ground. “So you’re Andrew, the guy who hit Sylvia with a Frisbee.” He was already turning red. He was jerking and gasping out words. “It was an accident!” he cried.
“Sure it was. So is this!” I shook him around. “Cimmerio, what are you doing?” Sylvia rushed down the stairs dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. “This is the guy who hit you. I’m just returning the favor.” I said over my shoulder. “Oh, Cimmerio, he didn’t mean to. It was an accident. Drop him.” she demanded. Although she didn’t really mean for me to “drop him”, I just wanted to see him suffer. He fell to the ground.
“Andrew, are you okay? I’m sorry.” She said helping him to his feet. “I’m fine. Hey man what’s your problem?” he pointed at me. “You hurt Sylvia.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “I told you it was an accident.” He rubbed his neck. “And I said sure.” I didn’t like him; not one measly bit. “Andrew, this is Cimmerio, he’s my new roommate.” She stood up and took my arm. “Cimmerio...” she gave me a terrifying look.
I sighed and crossed my arms again. “Sorry Andrew.” I muttered out rolling my eyes. “It’s fine. Anyway, Sylvia, do you have to work today? A few friends and I are going to the beach later and I was wondering if you wanted to come along.” Andrew asked her. He had that gleam in his eyes like a thirteen year old boy did when he had his first crush. It was so easy to decipher the fact that he was trying to ask her out.
I couldn’t let that happen. “Actually, she’s got previous engagements with me.” I said stepping in front of him. “She was going to show me around a bit, then we were going out for lunch, and then we’ll go wherever the wind blows us.” Sylvia cleared her throat and said, “Yeah. He’s new so I just wanted to help him get used to living here.”
“Oh.” Andrew sucked in his lips. “We’ll do something some other time, then.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. I’ll see you around.” She smiled at him. “Alright, see you.” he walked down her porch steps and looked over his shoulder at me. I gave him a quick smirk before Sylvia dragged me into the house.
“You had better be glad Mrs. Ingram didn’t see that. She would flip the crap out.” She said walking back upstairs. “Who’s Mrs. Ingram?” I asked following her. “My other neighbor. Native American, mid-forties, has a Chihuahua that will bite you when it feels like it. She’s nice to me and she likes to make sure that I’m alright. But when you go around strangling people you’re already giving her permission to shoot you in the butt with her shotgun.”
I sat down on her bed as she brushed her hair. “Note to self: Keep Mrs. Ingram happy at all times.” I said aloud. “You’re lucky that tourists don’t come down here. The cops would be here any minute.” She looked at me in the mirror. I stood up and leaned against the wall beside the mirror. “Why didn’t you tell Andrew that you didn’t have any plans?” I asked her. She raised her eyebrows a bit a replied, “Because I did have plans. Remember? I was going to show you around town, treat you to lunch, and then we were going to go wherever the wind took us.”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment