I start giggling, seeing the smile on his face and the parting look he gives me that catches my eye. Another weird moment of butterflies that he seems to pull out of me, despite myself. Okay, so he’s cuter than I thought; maybe I would go as far as saying a little bit gorgeous. Still not interested, still staying the hell away from him. I don’t care if he does have a way of calming me down, it means nothing. He just needs to get within four feet, and it’s all undone anyway. He’s male, he’s the enemy and I will never let one get close enough to ever hurt me. “Out, out... it’s girl time and you are not invited.” Sylvana is pushing him, bossy and stubborn and Arrick is going, whether he wants to or not. I’m relieved, yet there is also a little weird feeling of disappointment and I scold myself for the stupidity. “I’m going, besides...I have a challenge to work out.” He throws a wink back at me, typical Jake Casanova Carrero style, as he disappears out the door and I stare out after him, torn between amusement and worry. Unease enveloping me in that moment as his words filter through. I didn’t issue a challenge; I was trying to put him off and I’m not sure I like this at all. I frown after him, head a chaos of thoughts and feelings and I try to squish down the rising anxiety once more. This is why I don’t want friends... they don’t know when to leave me be. They never know when, or what lines to never cross. Sylvana reappears moments after I hear the front door shut and smiles warmly at me, beaming and happy. Utterly oblivious to my state of anxiety and wandering thoughts. “I love my son dearly; he is a good boy really. Just a little bit of a slut, like his brother.... don’t pay any attention to him.” She winks at me fondly and goes back to dealing with the cake tins on the counter. I try and pull my head anywhere that is not on the tall sandy haired, hazel eyed, Romeo. I watch her for a moment and think about Jake instead.... seeing him with Emma these past weeks, warming at the thought of the two of them. I think Jake’s a reformed slut nowadays, even if he won’t admit it, and possibly looking a lot like a guy who wants more from his PA, which is kind of sweet. I wonder if all the Carrero men are the type to fall hook line and skinner and settle down and have to push that dimple faced demon out of my head again. Stomping it down with a frown and try instead to picture Emma getting her happy ever after, warming a little with the thought that maybe for her, happiness lies within a male Carrero. Maybe not all men are all bad after all. I spend the whole day with Sylvana; it’s late and dark when I finally walk across to my own home and yawn as I get into the hallway, letting myself in. I can tell by the silence down here that my parents have already headed to bed, and as all my siblings all moved out before I ever moved in, then the house is pretty silent. I drop my jacket on the rack and go to head upstairs quietly. Glad to have the solitary time and not really interact while I am tired. “Miss. Sophie.” The housekeeper Ivana calls to me from the bottom of the stair and I turn with a smile. It still weirds me out that we have servants, maids or whatever they call them. I mean I am still getting used to this whole grand house and the money factor. It’s a far cry from where I started in life and sometimes, I have to pinch myself that this isn’t a dream. I never knew what it was like to always be warm, safe, and fed, before this home. “Yes Ivana?” I pause as she comes up to meet me and hands me a gift bag with a silver sparkling design and satin ribbon handles. I look at it with question, completely confused as to why she is giving me a present and blink back at her oddly. “Mr Carrero dropped this by and said to tell you, ‘the challenge was too easy, you’ll need to try harder next time.’ She smiles warmly at me as I blink again, at the bag; a lead weight dropping in my stomach and I stare at it. Unsure what to say or even if I should take this at all. This is all new territory for me. “Um...Thanks.” I smile goofily, awkwardly, heart rate elevating and I turn and scale the stairs fast as I can, like my ass is on fire. Almost tipping the bag out onto the bed as soon as I get into my room. Two packages, both wrapped in sparkly paper which matches the outer bag, drop out and I stare at them in complete confusion. Not sure what some strange guy dropping off gifts is meant to mean. I curse myself for encouraging this as it was never my intention. I don’t want anything from him. I don’t want him to think he has a challenge in me or that anything will happen. It won’t! Ever! I really do consider just putting them back and taking them back across to Sylvana and handing them over, but my curiosity is killing me. I want to see what he has given me, and I really am torn. After a second, the child in me wins out and I rip into the larger, flatter of the two, hurriedly, with abandon and a slight growing excitement. It’s a DVD of my favorite movie ‘The last Unicorn’. Exactly what I was getting at when I said that to him and there’s a post it note stuck on the front in really neat masculine writing. The elusive unicorn is in the sea. I giggle at the fact he probably had to watch this to even know that and look to see if the seal on the case has been broken. Tracing my fingers along the edge to the safety tape. It has. I guess he watched it, or skimmed it anyway, to even know the answer to my question and it hits me as completely hilarious to even imagine someone like him sitting looking through a unicorn movie, to answer a girl he only just met. I shouldn’t be impressed but I am, I mean the fact he even sourced this in only hours. It’s a movie from the eighties and not a mainstream popular film that is easy to come by. My heart expands a little and I have to admit, he is growing on me a tiny little bit. I pick up the second one with less trepidation and turn it around in my fingers. It’s small and rounder, a little squishier and I rip it open faster than the first. Unable to contain my glee; unicorns have always been a weakness and before this life, no one gave me gifts. Not even on my birthday. A fluffy plump unicorn sits in the palm of my hand, cute and cuddly, yet small enough to be portable. I can carry this around in my bag, if I felt the inclination I mean, or wanted to even keep this stuff. Which I don’t. Which I shouldn’t because it’s not right. I don’t want to give him the wrong idea and I don’t really think it’s appropriate he gave me these things. I sigh as I move the bag to put them back inside and realize there’s an envelope too. A small one, like a note card size, tucked inside. I open it impulsively and giggle when I see the doodle of the unicorn on one side, badly drawn and so obviously by him. It’s so awful, it’s actually kind of cute, and I shake my head, sighing with the effort he made. I turn it over and see the neat handwritten scrawl, same as from the post it and tense. If not pizza, then maybe a milkshake, anytime you might be bored. No strings attached, no crowds, and no promises to be friends. We can sit at complete opposite tables. Enjoy your unicorns. Sophabelle. x A I swallow hard when I read and reread it. Unsure, nervous, and torn. I mean I know he says no strings, but it puts the fear of god into me that he has even gone this far to impress me. All my alarm bells ringing, and I know I need to put an end to whatever this is. I’m no innocent and naive kid who has no clue what goes on in men’s heads. I’m painfully aware of what men expect for a little effort. It makes me feel sick to my stomach and my skin erupts in goosebumps as fear grips my heart. Life taught me to never be swayed by fast words, empty niceness, and devious men. I won’t let myself get back into a place of fear and darkness by letting one of them think he has a hold on me. I will never let that happen again. I’ll take it all back to his mother in the morning and have her tell him to leave me be. I don’t need someone like him in my life, trying to sweep me off my feet and lower my guard. Men his age, they all want the same thing and girls are just toys to be picked up and discarded. Even if he was a sweet boy with his mind on something more, he has no clue what my story is and how impossible that would be. Whatever his intentions, nothing is going to happen. I won’t let him come to mean anything to me, he never will, so there’s no point in him trying. We will never be anything more than just distant neighbors who pass each other by in life, with no deeper meaning.