Chapter 5: Scavenger

Odetta put by some materials at Edward's studio. Her hopes were high and her heart was full. She stuffed the sack and pulled them to the exit. Some materials could be put to good use.

These look damn expensive, she thought hoisting them over her back to leave.

She tugged the sack upside down and the fabrics fluttered down in a pile. Her design was on the sketchbook and she got to work.

Jake stepped inside her window and she grimaced at her sleeve work. His hand covered her eyes and she snorted at his calloused hands.

"For the thirteenth time, Jake, I know it's you,"

He spun around "You always get me,"

Jacob Wyatt, an extreme park ranger and sports enthusiast. He looked the part with his rusty blond hair and sun-kissed skin. He had remarkable green eyes and was buff from working at the reserves.

"You would make a difference if you have those blisters checked," She pointed a calligraphy pen at them.

It caused him to instinctively shove his hands into his pockets. His face turned red and he could not pull the usual it's a man's pride because they were a problem.

If it hadn't been for some wannabe lumberjack, he wouldn't be strolling around blocks trying to find some ointment.

"Well, I tried,"

He gripped a chair and swivelled it to settle down. "What is this mess?" He asked flipping the large piece of paper up.

Odetta stopped stitching and she sighed kneading the knot on her neck.

"It's a contraption, now leave it alone," She mumbled and bypassed a pinprick. Where were the thimbles when she needed them?

She came out of her zone to notice him studying the design and turned red. She had never been infuriated by Jake's silent judgement.

"Mmm-hmm, and this is a contraption why?" He walked about rolling his eyes and pulled a lining from the ceiling fan.

She scoffed. "It's for a party,"

"What? Did Deville come into town?" He roared with laughter and her lips pursed and her eyes lowered.

"It's called fashion and you should probably add some colour to that filth you're wearing," She spun her pen again and dropped it.

She was sore from cleaning up for too long.

Jake's hand ran down his cargo vest and brown sleeves. His green eyes flickered in contentment. "You're probably right. How are you?"

"Bitched, I work part-time now, and maybe soon enough, I'll be getting kicked out," Her elbow rested on the board scanning her old bedroom.

"Does that have anything to do with your wicked stepmom?"

"She's not my stepmom, she's my aunt, and my dad's in Durham," She stated drily and he smiled at the irony.

Now it appeared she was the one with the left brain.

He flicked his hand in an oh-so-dramatic way.

"Can't you take a joke?" He laid back on her bean bag and he forayed into her sketchbook again. Grinning, she wondered what he found entertaining about flipping through over and over.

She perked up "Oh, I can, ahahahahahaha, I even went to stand up once," She couldn't believe she blurted that out and Jake gagged.

"Alright, Odie, are you sure this part-time job is doing you any favours?"

She folded up her half-done work. "Of course it is, it's my dr_" She clamped her lips tightly and rounded the sewing machine. She was so used to the noises that she didn't realize there was a heavy pulsing on her temple.

She gave in to her fatigue and laid down on her bed. "What's up with you?" She clutched her pillow looking over the rim.

Jake looked comfortable on the small cushion and after hours of laying on bare earth to dodge bullets and run down trespassers, this was safe to say least.

His eyes opened chuckling when she swiped her book.

"I'm...not doing so well," Jake tossed.

Her eyes softened. She had never seen her best friend so gloomy. She brushed his hair while he laid back.

He just lost a colleague to a few poachers in a hit and run. In an endeavour to escape.

"That's terrible," Her eyes rounded.

He shrugged "Yeah, the poachers were caught and Freddie didn't survive," He smiled. "I'm gonna miss that guy. Dude owes me money...and your hands aren't so soft either,"

She gasped scanning her cuts and clenched them. "How would you know that?"

His hair was as thick as a fox's hide.

"You, my dear, have never had a chimp groom your hair," He closed one eye shut as it still felt real.

She growled, "Ugh, how dare you!?" Now she would stop thinking about touching his hair now that she knew a monkey had done it first. She mumbled in annoyance.

"It's okay, Odie if I had to pick between a chimp and you_"

"I get it," She shoved his head while he laughed.

Jake wouldn't think twice about walking through the front doors instead but was Dinah scary.

She would stand him up in front of the customers and Odetta wouldn't hear the end of it.

That was why Jake was so careful if not, carefree.

"Now, how exactly is scavenging fabric parcels your dream?" He clasped organza and tittered. "It's shiny," He twisted it. "Must be a big place, Odie, are you stealing?"

"No!?" She blurted in her defence taking it back. "I earned it,"

He eyed her and the old sewing machine.

"Could you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

His eyes were constantly searching for details. It felt like Sherlock dropped a baby in her place. Not exactly a baby.

"I'm not stealing,"

"Sure, I believe you,"

She fidgeted when he started to pick up from his cushion. He was a quick study and he fetched a brand and flipped the W to an M.

"What did you call it? Mood?"

She frowned upon that.

He raised his hands. "You caught me," He hadn't been keying on her chattering till he learned by accident. He knew deeply what Mode was.

"Yes, that was your design out there, it hasn't slipped my mind, Odette," He passed the closet to the window.

"Just be careful," He said throwing a leg out the window and then the other. He bowed out under the glass pane.

She shut the window after he jumped out.

"He just called me Odette,"