“Don’t come out here spreading your germs around, young lady. It’s just irresponsible and will mean the rest of us get sick. Keep it to yourself.” He was a gruff fellow, but he wasn’t evil. I nodded and left to go home.
As soon as I got there, Keith saw my flushed cheeks and put me straight to bed. He brought me chicken noodle soup, but I’d fallen asleep. He woke me up to eat it and then, I fell asleep again. I dreamed crazy fever dreams, and then a load of sex dreams that had me hot, which made me even more miserable with the fever, but I didn’t wake up. I was too ill and weak.
Keith brought me in some medicine for the fever, sneezing, and coughing. I took it and promptly fell right back to sleep, though. I heard voices at one point but thought it was just a part of the fever.
“She’s hovering at a very high fever point. We should think about calling an ambulance.” A Snoopy version of Keith said. But then there was another version of Keith, this time a Pluto version, that wrung his hands and spoke to the other Keiths.
“It’s only a cold. I have it too. I don’t think she’ll appreciate being taken to a hospital. Let the medicine have time to work and we’ll keep an eye on her.” His Pluto face looked down at me and I tried to speak, but I felt like my jaw had been stuck in mud. I closed my eyes, confused and too tired to say anything.
Why were there three Keith’s though, I wondered as I fell into blackness. And why was the other one Scooby Doo?
Chapter Thirty
Celia
I had that miserable cold for a week before it finally started to go away. I missed a couple of days of classes and work, which worried me, but there was nothing I could do about being sick. Keith took very good care of me, and once I thought I’d made him sick too because I heard a faint sneeze but he was fine when I saw him.
Now, the sneezy, snotty, achy everywhere sensations were gone and my head was clear again. I got out of bed and got ready to go to class. By the time I made it to work, I’d started to feel tired but I knew I was a whole lot better than I had been. I’d even lost my voice at one point, but now everything was much better.
I met Keith at lunchtime, and he surprised me with news that we were going to a Halloween party that evening. He’d bought a costume for me and he had everything planned. I would be a Viking Valkyrie and he would be a pirate. It was just like my fantasy, only it sounded so much better.
I got home that evening and took a shower quickly. I did my hair and makeup and made sure everything was perfect. I stood in front of the dressing mirror in my bedroom and checked myself over.
The outfit came with a short, fur cape, a metal bodice that had cloth inside to protect my skin, and suited my shape perfectly, with a knee-length brown leather skirt. There were leather boots that laced up just to below my knees, and a helmet with wings that spread to each side of my head. The classic Valkyrie look suited me. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at myself.
I didn’t look overweight now, I looked powerful. Sure, I’d lost a good bit of weight since the day I’d arrived at NYU, but I was still a little soft around the edges. The costume dimmed those soft edges though and highlighted my strengths. Mainly, how my waist narrowed in the middle and how awesome my cleavage was.
Keith was going to love it. I left the bedroom and went down the stairs to find him waiting for me. I was stunned at just how awesome he looked. The pirate costume suited him and I loved the leather pants especially. And the black wig, which just made his gray eyes so much more prominent.
“You’re gorgeous,” I said as I walked up to him with a swagger that my own costume seemed to have inspired in me. “Made for a Valkyrie, even.”
“Hmm, I think you may be right. Especially since I want to make you my queen, Celia. I need a warrior queen in my life, don’t you think? As I sail the seas, in search of my fortune?” He pulled me close to nuzzle at my neck until I giggled and pulled away.
“Stop it. We have to go, or we’ll miss the whole thing,” I gasped as I rearranged my costume.
“There’s no reason to worry. These things usually last until the sun comes up. You ready then?” He turned around to open the door and I kind of fidgeted. It seemed silly to take my handbag with me and ruin the look of the costume, but I needed my wallet and my phone.
Keith turned around and saw my predicament. “You don’t need your wallet and you can put your phone down the top. I might be tempted to retrieve it, but it should be safe in there, otherwise.”
“I bet,” I said with a mock glare and we left the house.
Keith drove us to a part of the campus I wasn’t familiar with and pulled up in front of a large, Victorian-era house. It was decked out for Halloween, and the gingerbread work and classic style lent a bit of spookiness to the place now that it was dark. I really liked it.
“It’s so strange, you know. I’d have never dreamed of doing this when I was back in Iowa. I knew people went to parties and things like that, but I never thought I’d get to go to one.”
“I’m sure there are parties like this at the universities in Iowa, you probably just didn’t hear about them. It’s always the big city schools that people hear about. Not places like that.”
“Maybe. It’s more that I never thought I’d ever go to one of these than anything. Even if I had gone to school in Iowa, Keith. I’m just a country girl, you know?”
“You’re so much more than that, Celia. Believe me. Come on, let’s get in there.” We walked in, hand in hand and the first thing I noticed was the blare of music. People talked over the music which just made it all very noisy, but I liked it. You could get lost in that noise and stay close to each other to be heard.
Keith went to find us some drinks and came back with two bottles of beer. I took the one he offered me. It wasn’t cheap beer and I liked the taste of it. I leaned against a wall and watched as some of the partygoers played a game. Outside, there were more games and every one of them involved drinking.
I was too nervous to join in and clung to Keith like a frightened child. Maybe it was the noise and the wildness of those around me freed from their usual personas by their costumes, but I felt a little intimidated and definitely out of my element. He kept a hold on my hand and led me through to the games in the back yard.
Instead of bobbing for apples, girls were bobbing for hotdogs on strings that had been laced over a trellis. The boys pulled at the strings every time the girls went for them and it was funny, but a little sexist, I thought. The winner was whichever girl got the hotdog first, and her prize was a shot of tequila or vodka. Trouble from the word go if you asked me, but nobody asked, so I just stayed by Keith’s side and sipped at my beer.
I’m not a prude, but Rachel had made me hyper-aware of my surroundings. I’d tried not to let her change who I am or how I thought, but I must admit that she had. I didn’t feel safe without Keith near me anymore and it showed in how I looked at things. Before, I’d have laughed at the kind of games being played, but now I just saw trouble where there didn’t have to be any.
I turned into him and wanted to ask him to take me somewhere else, to a place where I felt safer but I knew the only place I felt safe now was at his home.
“Let’s dance, Celia,” he said and led me out to a small dance-floor that had been set up at the side of the house. A speaker played the music that blasted from inside the house, but out here it was quieter and not so loud.
The song that came on next was slow, so he took me in his arms and led me around the dance floor in a perfect waltz. I’d learned the dance in music class when I was a young girl and barely remembered the steps now. Keith was such a good partner, though, that he helped me to keep up. I relaxed into his arms and we danced for two songs before a techno song came on and I pulled away.
“I’m not drunk enough to dance to that,” I laughed as I left his arms and we walked off the floor. “But I loved dancing with you.”
“It was nice. We’ll have to do that again. I need to go to the bathroom, though, so why don’t you
stay out here and I’ll be back in five minutes. Just stay under this tree and I’ll find you again, okay?”
“I will,” I agreed and pulled the fake fur cape more tightly around my naked shoulders. It was the end of October in New York, and it was cold enough that it felt like it might snow.
I went to the tree and found a bench there, so I sat down. The house was set slightly apart from the others in the area but it was far enough away that the noise here shouldn’t be a problem. I remembered my fantasy as I settled back onto the bench a little more.
That fantasy of sitting on a park bench as I kissed my boyfriend under the moon. Maybe my fantasy would finally come true. I wanted it to and when Keith came out a few minutes later, I waited, my breath held.
He sat down on the bench beside me, pulled my face to his and kissed me so sweetly it nearly brought tears to my eyes. “I’m back, darling.”
“I’m so glad you are.” I leaned into him, to kiss him more deeply and sighed with happiness as my fantasy finally came true.
His lips were warm against the cold air and tasted of beer and him. I moaned softly, an encouragement to take it further out here in the dark where we wouldn’t be seen. Keith pulled away though, and his thumb glided over my jaw.
“You are a beautiful woman, Celia, and I want you to know no matter what, I care very much about you. I have come to know you over the last few weeks and although it’s a short time to know someone, it’s been long enough. I know I want to take care of you for the rest of our lives and be the man you need me to be.”
“Keith? Why are you saying that?” I was shocked. His words sounded like a proposal.
“Nothing, darling, it’s just that I have another surprise for you later this evening, and I want you to know that I don’t think you’re a toy and that you mean the world to me.”
“Good, you mean the world to me too.” I settled into his arms, and we sat there listening to the music until his phone buzzed.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, I need to go inside and talk to somebody for a minute. I’ll be right back, okay?”