Excerpt: Bounty Everafter

“Shoot!” I muttered to myself as I looked the large coffee stain on my pants. Everyone in the meeting stared at me as I sheepishly stood, a goofy apologetic grin on my face. At least, I hope it looked apologetic. In truth, I was glad for an excuse to get out of there, if only for a few minutes.
“I trust, Mr. Oberon, that you won’t be long,” Mr. Gray intoned, looking at me semi-threateningly over his grey glasses, his grey eyes trying to be piercing.
“Sure thing, Mr. G,” I said amiably, raising my empty cup in farewell as I scurried out of the room, the lukewarm wetness on my pants feeling increasingly uncomfortable near the crotch area. As I neared the bathroom, I was definitely waddling awkwardly more than I was walking.
Once inside the stall, I slipped out of my slacks, shaking them uselessly, like it would help dry them faster or something. The feeling of relief for escaping another boring meeting turned into bummerness as the situation of having to sit in wet pants settled on me like…well, kind of like a wet blanket.
Draping my pants on the side of the stall, I decided to pee while I waited for them to dry out a bit. Turning to the toilet, I nearly jumped out of my skin, yelping in a strangled manner, falling back onto the stall door, my fingers uselessly gripping the door’s cold metal.
A fairy hovered above the toilet seat, his feet lightly touching the top part of the flusher mechanism. He smiled broadly at my discomfort.
“Surprised to see me?” he asked somewhat smugly, I thought.
“Oh, gods!” I gasped, my chest heaving. “Who…who are you?”
The fairy scoffed. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me, Westward. I know that it’s been twenty years, but I would think that knowing me for three hundred of them would count for something.”
I gawked at the blonde-headed fairy in front of me, barely able to stammer the name out. “W…Willow?” I eyed him closely, surprised at how little I could remember of him. His sharply angled face, that funny mole on his cheek, the black insect-like wings sprouting from his back…it was like something from a dream I hadn’t thought of in a while. Rubbing a hand over my forehead, I could feel the familiar beginnings of a headache forming.
He glanced down. “Nice boxers.”
I blinked, the complexity and oddness of the situation hitting me in full force. I looked down at my blue boxers, then back up at him, then around me. I was the bathroom. At work. The coffee. The meeting. Human life.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, grabbing my pants. “You do realize that anyone could walk in here at any moment?”
Willow shrugged. “You’re in here, aren’t you? I thought it would be best. Protected from prying eyes, as it were.”
I hopped into pant leg, nearly falling head first into the toilet bowl. “You don’t get it, do you?” I whispered, panic starting to rise in me. “Someone could find out! They could still hear us, you fool!” I listened carefully for a moment, horrified at the thought that someone could have walked in without me noticing, hearing my conversation with another person in the stall.
“I just need to talk to you for a minute,” Willow said, not phased by my growing fright.
“I don’t have a minute!” I hissed, looking at my watch. It had been nearly six minutes since I left the meeting. Gray would be getting antsy. “I need to go, now!”
Willow looked a little perplexed as I buckled my belt, my hands beginning to shake. This was all too much.
“I thought that you would be…well, be at least a little excited about seeing me, West,” he said, his eyebrows knotted. “I mean, you haven’t had any contact with Faerie since-“
“Sshh!” I put a finger over my mouth, fighting my freak out instinct that was kicking in. “If someone heard you, I’d be busted!” I stared at him pleadingly, willing for him to understand. All these years of building an identity, my hiding, could all be lost in a few moments if he didn’t shut up.
Eyebrows still knotted in place, his voice was quiet when he spoke. “You’re a lot more human than I expected.”
For some reason I couldn’t truly comprehend, that single sentence hit me hard. I let out a short sigh, fighting back the odd sting of tears that tickled my eyeballs.
“Listen,” I said quickly, ignoring the feeling, leaning towards him. “Meet me at five thirty. My car, in the parking lot. Mine is the blue Mini Cooper.”
Willow smiled again, looking down at my pants. “You have an accident or something?”