SMILE FOR ME,
MY ONLY
LOVE

He tugged on the brim of his brown, soft-leather hat so it was low over his eyes. The London air was damp and heavy like a used towel left in a pile on the bathroom floor. A cigarette dangled from his thin lips as he brought both hands up and tugged his black coat collar up around his neck, protecting the tanned skin from the nipping chill of the wind. His soft blue eyes stared into the dimly-lit shop across the street, watching the shadows of the people inside play across the window. Though it was a very small business (a quick-stop grocery store, really) The Velvet Shoppe was very popular in this poorer district of the city, and thus didn’t close till pretty late. But Felix Klade was patient- especially for the one he was waiting for.

By the time the light shut off, the ground under his feet was littered with half a dozen cigarette butts, each extinguished by the damp cobblestone. His blue eyes watched a thin woman step outside the door, then shut it and hunch over the knob so she could lock it. He smiled and stepped forward, silently crossing the street and coming up behind her as she straightened and tested to make sure the heavy oak door was locked.

“Boo,” he grinned as she turned around, making her jump and yelp loudly in surprise.

“Felix!” she gasped, then reeled her arm back and smacked his shoulder. “You scared the life out of me!”

“Ah, no,” he grinned as he took the cigarette from his mouth. “Not your life, little Jane.”

She gave him a look that somehow managed to say “fuck you” and “that’s so sweet” at the same time. Only Jane could do that. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s after eleven?”

“Is it? Oh see, my watch is wrong. I thought it was a little after nine. Had I known it was going to be so late, I wouldn’t have waited for ya.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his humor, as well as the accent of Irish threaded through it. “I’m just worried for you.”

“No need; nobody’s going to harass a strange-looking fellow like myself. Especially not in this jacket,” he tugged on the lapels of his deep green corduroy jacket, which complimented the rust red of his shaggy hair. “People will wager I’m the suspicious one.”

“Maybe you’re the one I should be afraid of then?” she smirked, running her fingers along the edge of his long jacket, admiring the soft feel of the corduroy.

“But I’m the one making sure you don’t get hurt. What’s it- a bodyguard! That’s what I am to ya Miss Jane.”

“‘Miss’ now is it?” she smiled, but it was adoring, proofed by the kiss she leaned up to give him. The scruff dusting his jaw and upper lip tickled her cheek as she kissed the soft spot in the middle of his. The dim yellow glow of the shop managed to illuminate the faint red smudge her lipstick left on his tanned cheek. “What happened to ‘little Jane’?”

“I thought you didn’t like me to call you that,” he remarked softly, as her face was still very close to his.
“It’s familiar, though.”

And here’s something to know: When Jane smiled, it was like she poured all of her soul into it. Each of her teeth shone, her green eyes lit up, and her face positively radiated happiness. It was like she would fade away if she didn’t smile with every ounce of her being.

Felix couldn’t resist smiling back at her any more than he could stop his heart from beating- he’d rather die first. “Little Jane it is, then.”

“I hate it when you call me that.”

The redhead just smiled.