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un-intimidating a general aura he could muster and issued a bright, cheerful, “Hi, Jo.”
“That was creepy,” Jo said. This was a good sign, suggesting that she felt she could be honest with how creeped out she was instead of smiling, nodding, backing away and calling the authorities.
“I know. I’m sorry,” he managed, keeping up his facade of non-psychosis. “I saw you and didn’t know whether to say hi, or just run away before you saw me, and...I just froze. And then you saw me, and I thought, ‘well, this must look creepy.’ And then I was stuck."
“You should have just said ‘Hi, Jo.’"
“Yes, I realize that now. Hi, Jo.”
She softened even more, a slight roll of her eyes that showed all residual feelings of fear were gone, replaced with pity and annoyance, a sure sign that they were back to their familiar baseline. It comforted Darren, sad as that is.
“I was in the neighborhood. Taking a drive. And a walk. And...”
“Did you want something?”
At that moment, a kernel of honesty propelled itself from his deepest self and made its way to his consciousness, formed itself into language and escaped from his mouth.
“Can I see Jim?”
Anything else they said or felt at that point is kind of pointless to describe because the end result is that she led him to the apartment no matter her hesitations about the whole situation. Darren noted that she forgot to check the mail.
Funny how you never notice that a place has its own smell until you’ve been away for a while. Darren was washed in it the moment Jo led him through the door and he instantly made a Mental Note to always try to remember it, as much as you’re able to capture a smell. He quickly surveyed the living room and observed all of the many things that were