Felix stared in disbelief at the girl dressed in a sky blue dress and wore a white cloak overtop. His eyes were wide with confusion and surprise.
“It’s not as bad as it seems!” she insisted, “I-I can explain!”
She took a step towards him
“Hell no!” he replied, backing away.
The boat wobbled in protest and then flipped it’s contents into the canal.
Chero stared at the cup of coffee in her hands. She shifted uncomfortably in Felix’s oversized clothes. The pair sat in silence at Felix’s kitchen table as the dryer hummed in the background.
“So...” Felix started, “Are you a witch are something? Because you apparated into my gondola.”
He idly poked his coffee spoon around his mug, avoiding eye contact with the strange girl, whose name he did not even know.
Chero’s eyes snapped up to look at him, her cheeks puffed out, “I am not a witch! I would never associate myself with one of those...things. I’ll have you know...I’m a mage. And I did not apparate. This is not Harry Potter.”
Felix looked up at her, "Then what were you doing in my gondola?"
Chero's cheeks turned a light pink. She pulled at her hair nervously.
"I am...um really bad at teleportation spells,"she muttered.
"Really?!"
She nodded once.
Felix started laughing, making Chero's cheeks turn a darker shade of pink.
"It's not funny! As soon as my clothes are dry I am leaving!" she huffed.
The expression on her face only made Felix laugh more.
“Teleportation spell are hard!” she insisted.
Felix was still laughing. Chero balled her hands up into fists as her face turned into another shade of red.
“If you don’t stop laughing I’m going to turn you into a frog!”
Felix stopped and looked at her with an eyebrow raise, “Are you serious?”
Chero’s lips were pursed together tightly, her eyebrows pushed together in absolute seriousness as she nodded.
“You are serious…”
Felix rubbed the back of his head, his eyes closed as he sighed, “I’m really sorry for laughing at you. It was rude of me.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her and offered his hand, “I’m Felix. Felix Barone, part-time Gondolier...part-time student.”
Chero reluctantly took his hand and shook it firmly, “Chero Aoyama…Full-time mage.”
The buzzer went off for the dryer. Felix stood up and walked over, retrieving Chero’s dry clothing.
“My clothes…”she said, taking the clothing from him.
Chero stood outside of the door to Felix’s apartment, fully dressed in her own clothes. She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as she tried to summon the words to show her gratitude towards Felix. And in her complete awkwardness she blurted out the first way to thank someone that came to her mind.
“A-Arigato gozaimasu!”
Felix stared at her blankly, “Eeeeh?”
Chero blushed brightly and quickly switched back to Italian, “S-sorry!
I...wanted to say thank you for drying my clothes for me…”
Felix smiled gently, “It was no problem. No need to thank me, after all...it was my boat that tipped.”
Chero looked up at him and smiled.
“If you’re ever in the area again and need a good tour guide, hit me up,” Felix grinned.
Chero nodded, “I will!”
She then turned and was gone.
Felix rubbed the back of his head, walking back inside. He was unsure of what just happened. Did he just hallucinate?
He started to clean up the kitchen when he noticed it. Chero’s white cloak hanging off the back of his chair. He reached over and touched it.
“So...it was all real?!”
He picked up the cloak wondering if the strange girl would come back for it or if he should just throw it out. ...He could also give it to Sofia as a sort of Halloween costume...He set the cloak back down, not wanting to make a decision at that moment in time.
