Chapter Text
"Holy shit."
Rio looked up, squinting against the sunlight that of course Jen would insist on standing directly in front of.
"Holy shit what?"
"You've got a crush on Agatha!"
"I d-do not. Kids get crushes. I'm... N-no kid."
Alice snickered from over by the sink.
"What?" Rio snapped.
"You? Not a kid?" Alice laughed.
"Who was the one who freaked out about that Señor Scratchy meet and greet last month and just had to go?"
"'Señor Scratchy and Pals' is a th-thoughtful, insightful program about courage and learning and the power of friendship."
"And it's geared at three to six year olds," Alice said.
"Plus it's based on Agatha's books," Jen added.
"Come on," Rio whined, "she's j-just a neighbor. A neighbor who... Created a thing I s-s-sort of enjoy."
"Then why are you sitting here writing out a formal plan to fully re-landscape her property?" Alice asked.
"My job. I do landscaping and related work."
"Yeah, but you charge for it. At least, you charge other people for it, and yet you said at lunch yesterday that you're not charging Agatha."
"Agatha... Just inherited that pl-place. The house isn't in great repair, the gardens... Need a lot of work..."
"So if you're the pro bono landscaper," Jen asked, "why were you up there repairing her porch roof the other day when I drove by?"
"The guy she h-hired cut corners. I was just doing some... Light repair work."
"Oooh, light repair work. That the only kind of helping you've been doing around Agatha's house, Vidal? Done any fixing things up in, say, her bedroom?"
Rio grumbled, hunching further over her work.
"I hate b-both of you and want you out of my house. Don't forget to bring a dish to pass for dinner next Friday."
Rio had really only been vaguely interested when she first saw that someone was moving into the old place up the hill. She knew the old bitch who lived there had died, but she had not really considered what would occur in the aftermath.
The first time she took real notice was about two weeks later, heading back past the place as she returned from her morning run. Whoever had moved in had set a few sad-looking potted plants out on the porch. Rio paused, peering past the fence at them, almost tempted to go and knock at the door and make small talk. It might get her some work, since the property seriously needed work.
Then the front door opened and out stepped...
Well, basically a goddess in Rio's estimation. Long, wavy-curly chestnut hair, a beautifully sculpted face, and from what Rio could guess, probably a pretty sweet body hidden under a long silk robe. This goddess had a mug of maybe coffee, maybe tea, in hand, and she seemed to be surveying her front yard with a hint of a sneer curling her (very kissable looking) mouth.
Then she spotted Rio. The sneer twitched for an instant into a hint of a smile, but then that fell away into something more impassive.
The goddess spoke.
"Can I help you?"
Rio jerked to awareness. She was just standing there staring like some kind of creep.
"W-welcome... To the neighborhood," she choked out.
"Thanks. Sucks to be back."
"Huh?"
Rio's face must have been highly amusing, because the goddess threw back her head and laughed. It was a wild, thrilling sound.
"I grew up here," the goddess said once she had recovered from her laughing fit.
"Oh. Uh, I didn't."
"Of course you didn't. I think I'd remember you."
Something like a sneeze forced itself out of Rio, and the goddess laughed again.
"I... Uh... I gotta..."
"Don't suppose you know anything about plants?" the goddess said, pointing to the sad little things on her porch.
"Oh, sure. I... Uh... I p-plants. Landscaping."
Then the goddess stepped down from the lofty Olympus of her rickety porch and strolled down the walk to lean against the fence, eyes fixed on Rio the entire time.
"Would you ever be free sometime to come and give me a little gardening advice?"
Blinking hard, Rio nodded.
"I... I'm free. Like, today. Right now."
A smile spread, slow and sweet, over the face of the goddess.
"Really? Would you be willing to..."
"I, uh, just... I just was... Lemme run home and sh-shower fast and I can... Then I'll come."
'Back over. I'll come back over,' Rio thought as the goddess snickered.
"All right. Well, I'll be waiting for you then. To come."
"Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm Rio, by the way. Rio Vidal."
She had stuck her hand out, figuring a handshake was appropriate. The hand that met hers was soft, warm, fine-boned.
Just like a goddess should have.
"Well, Rio Vidal, I'm Agatha Harkness. I look forward to getting to know you better."
It had been four months since they met. Rio had recovered from her mild case of starstruck (THE Agatha Harkness, popular author of fiction for children and young adults) but she had never quite recovered from her...
Well, she would not call it a crush. It was... Intrigue? Interest?
Raw, pulsating, wanton lust?
Her godmother, Lilia, insisted it was the third option, and that Rio should maybe make a move.
"Sweetie, you haven't gotten laid in years at this point, and I know you've had offers..."
"H-how... Do you know?" Rio had sputtered the day that little gem popped forth from Lilia after a boozy brunch.
"Sweetie, you know I'm a little bit psychic. I also know everyone and see everything in a 45 mile radius of Westview. Rio, if you're interested in this girl..."
"Woman. She's 32."
"And you're 37. You're both legal, competent adults. Do something! Bring her flowers, maybe some little gift, and then take her to bed."
But Rio knew it went deeper in some way. Yes, looking at Agatha, spending time with Agatha, brought to mind definitely erotic thoughts, but those thoughts were coequal with thoughts of tender romance, of strolling hand-in-hand through the park on a lazy Sunday afternoon, of quiet dinners and happy times spent as a couple.
What Rio really wanted, though she knew she could not have it, was a relationship. The trouble was that she did not know exactly how to go about one. She had never properly had one. She had gone on occasional dates. In her college days and a little after, she had managed to have quite a bit of sex. But she did not know how to make things last.
There was no way she could figure out how to romance someone as gorgeous, as wonderful, as Agatha Harkness.