Sara sighed, she had been checking her phone all day.  

No missed calls.

No new texts.

There was even one time in class where it had buzzed her in the middle of a lecture and she had sped up her teaching just to fish it out of her pocket, only to find that it was simply a text from her service provider telling her that she needed to buy more phone time in the next few days.

The question now was why didn't he call? Had he not seen the note? Was he busy? Or did he not want to call?

There was a good possibility that it was the last one, seeing as he had opted to write an email instead of telling her that he was dropping out.

With another sigh she sat in an overstuffed recliner in the teachers lounge and fished out her phone one more time.  

She wanted to cry.

Honestly speaking this was the first time she had ever done anything like this before, she had been so focused on getting her degree and getting through college that she had never had a boyfriend.

She was 25, and she was still a virgin.

She didn't know wether to laugh or cry at that fact.

“So, how did your date go?”  asked a voice of the one person she never wanted to talk to on the campus.  

Mr. Richardson was leaning over the back of her chair looking down on her with a smile on his face.  He looked strangely pleased with himself.  She was now faced with a dilemma, she wasn't the best of liers, she knew this, but she really wanted to get rid of this man.

So she lied: “It went really well!”  she said with a smile, nodding her head.  She tried her best to give a convincing smile.

“Oh? Is that so?”  his smile widened. “I'm, glad to hear that...”  he said, stretching out the sentence to a strange length. “I’m really glad to hear that.”  he laughed, but it sounded like the laugh was more for himself than for anyone else.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He stopped leaning over the chair and walked around to the front of her.  Today he was wearing black dress pants with a black shirt and a striped blue tie.  His handsome face held a smile that was particularly charming, so much so it seemed like there was something off about it.

“So, when do I get to meet this boyfriend of yours?” he asked, “What about next friday? He can come out with us and have some drinks with the rest of us teachers.”  the snake smiled.

“I don’t know, I'll ask him...” she mumbled, the issue with lies was unless you set them straight early on they just kept growing until they boxed you in.

“Well you do that,”  he smiled. “I'll see you later.” and with a small chuckle that seemed out of place he got up and left the lounge.  Sara shuddered as she watched him leave, before sinking back into the chair and looking at her phone again.

What was she going to do?

“In other news a local shop has become a victim in an act of vandalism. police are investigating after windows were broken and merchandise was damaged late thursday evening.

Police say around 6:40 p.m., a number of people called 911 about the vandalism.

The targeted business was a small antique shop called The Shoppe of Oddities, located on East Merchant Street between Northwoods drive and Jeanne-d'Arc avenues.

By the time officers arrived at the scene, the suspects had left, said police spokesman Const. Benjamin Boirselle.

Boirselle said police aren't yet sure of the motive, but he says the hypothesis that someone with a personal grudge is behind the damage is a likely possibility. If you have any information contact the police at the crimestoppers hotline.”

What? She focused in on the tv.  Had they just said Dan’s shop was the victim.  Looking at the screen she saw that it was indeed his shop.  From the footage taken it looked like nothing was left.  Glass was everywhere, and all the items in the store were busted beyond repair.

Who would do something like this?

No wonder he hadn't called, she had been so worried about something so trivial and he was going through all of this.  She sighed as she leaned back in her chair.

She would have to go see him, it had to be hard, maybe she could cheer him up, somehow…

[Dan’s apartment]

It was already past twelve, and neither Dan or Amani felt the need to get out of bed, or even to get dressed.  Amani was currently snuggled up on his chest and he was running his fingers through her long dark hair.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

Dan looked down at her with her head on his chest. “I don't know, you're a genie right? Can’t you I don't know poof and bam we have a fixed store?”

“I can’t”

“Oh, mind me asking why not?”

“Djinn are creatures of magic, made almost entirely of it, spirits of nature’s force, as such if we were to use to much, we would simply fade away. And I used a big part of my magic with your wish, it's why i was only able to grant one.”

“Die?” he asked, she noted the slight bit of worry in his voice and smiled to herself.

“In a way, we would eventually be back, as nature never dies, but we would be, different, no memories of anything in the past.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder pulling her tighter into his hug. “Well I definitely don't want that, I don't want you to go anywhere.”

She tucked her head into her chest, looking away from him, she didn't want him to see the deep blush on her cheeks.  She felt like she belonged here with him, and she had only ever felt like that one other place.

Home.

The feeling of warmth and comfort, this was her home.

At his side was her home.