A Little Side of Geek

by Marguerite Labbe

  Jill walked to the line, where waiters deftly added plates to trays and whisked them away. His sister looked calm amidst the staff weaving and eddying around her. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a braid, wisps escaping around her face and frizzing slightly in the humidity. She stroked a hand over her belly, her summer dress starting to show off the little bump of her pregnancy. He’d expected hormones to turn her into a hot mess, but oddly enough, she seemed to be mellowing instead. She deserved a little mellowness after the last year.

  “Theo, you have a tall, dark, and handsome throwing your name around in the dining room,” Jill said, her expressive eyes lit up with curiosity. “Could it be you are finally taking an interest in the male species again?”

  Morris showed up. A slow, quiet buzz of satisfaction went through Theo. “Wearing a kilt? Great legs?”

  “I noticed the kilt, but I didn’t pay any attention to his legs,” Jill replied primly.

  “Liar.” Theo grinned and leaned his elbows on the countertop so he could get a better look into the dining room. But Morris wasn’t visible from this angle. “I won’t tell Craig you were eyeing.”

  Jill ignored his teasing with the air of a long sufferer. “He brought a bunch of people with him, so I put him in the back near the deck.”

  “Be a doll and offer a couple of appetizers to his table for free. I’ll cover it,” Theo added before she could object. It was a rule their parents had instilled when they were teenagers and started having friends hang out at the restaurant. One summer he and Jill had comped so much food their dad lost his temper. And that took quite a bit of doing. Now any offerings of freebies came directly out of their own pocket. The rule stuck when they assumed ownership of the bistro.

  “He’s caught your attention.” Jill tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and smiled. “Where’d you meet him?”

  “Maybe I’m being neighborly.” Theo gave his sister an innocent look. “He rents the apartment downstairs.”

  “Now who’s the liar? If you were just being neighborly, you wouldn’t have mentioned his legs first thing,” Jill retorted as one of the waitresses called out an order and entered it into the system. Theo straightened and glanced toward the screen, where the order appeared in a neat line with the rest. Jill had been right to splurge. No more trying to decipher handwriting, no more lost slips or ones that got mixed up out of order. Theo wished their parents could see what a success it was for them.

  “Scottie, need an order of hush puppies and corn balls, and an order of Old Bay wings.”

  “Order of pups, balls, and wings coming up,” Scottie boomed back in his deep, bass voice.

  Theo inspected a dish of fried oysters as they plated and nodded his approval. “Those look good, Letty,” he said as she filled a small ramekin with their homemade remoulade and another with the cocktail sauce. Theo added a wedge of lemon and set the plate in the window with the rest of the order. “Order’s up.”

  “Are you sure they’re not underdone?” she fretted. It had taken weeks to get her to stop over-frying the food to unappetizing useless lumps, and he was not about to let her backslide now.

  “They look perfect,” Theo assured her. “Stop second-guessing the method so much.”

  He cast his sister an eloquent look, left Letty to handle the fish, and turned back to the grill. He enjoyed cooking at every station and made a point of switching around so his crew could have experience everywhere, but he had to admit, he had a special fondness for firing up a perfect steak. If the orders eased back, he might have a chance to slip out and say hello to Morris and his friends, but he wasn’t holding his breath. It was a Saturday night.

  It was after ten before the kitchen slowed down enough for Theo to take a break. He handed over control to Scottie, grabbed himself a plate of the special, and told himself not to feel guilty. He’d be closing the place down after Scottie left for the night. As he came into the dining room, he spied Jill and Lincoln sitting in a booth near the door rolling silverware. Theo recognized a couple locals at the bar, and the dining room was mostly empty except for a large party at the back nursing drinks and their dessert plates. Theo skimmed over the faces until his gaze landed on Morris. He was talking earnestly to the woman beside him, his expressive hands gesturing as he made his points.

  He lingered over Morris’s strong cheekbones and lush mouth and wondered if he could get away with stealing a kiss. It might make being his neighbor awkward, but then again, if Morris wasn’t interested, they weren’t likely to run into each other much. Not if it took them this long to meet. Morris glanced up, and their eyes caught and held. Morris grinned and waved Theo over. Theo held up his finger as he made his way over to his sister. Business first, then pleasure.

  “Good night, we were crushed in the kitchen,” Theo said, leaning his hip against the side of the booth.

  Jill glanced up with a smile, though Theo could see the weariness in her eyes. “Yeah, the summer crowd is booming, and your new friends seem intent on racking up a nice tab. The group keeps diminishing, then expanding again.”

  “I think they’re all con people.” Theo winked at Lincoln, who was trying to twist his long body around to see the group. “Morris said a bunch of them like to hang out after a show.”

  “Morris? Is he the guy with the legs?” Jill asked with an amused smile.

  Lincoln glanced at Theo with an expression of dawning horror. “You can’t flirt with our new neighbor.”

  “Why the fuck not?” Theo retorted as a blush stained Lincoln’s cheeks and Jill rolled her eyes.

  “Because it would be weird,” Lincoln muttered.

  “Only for you, bro, so maybe you ought to stay out of it because it’s really not your business.” Theo sighed inwardly as Lincoln’s expression darkened. He was so touchy. Theo remembered being moody as a teenager, but Lincoln took it to extremes. “But if it’ll make you feel better, I won’t flirt in front of you, unless he starts it. Then you gotta suck it up because I’m going to encourage him.”

  “Sounds fair to me,” Jill said as she stacked the neatly rolled cutlery into the bin on the table.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Lincoln replied, his long mouth sulky. “Is it okay if I spend the night at Jill’s?”

  “I don’t see why not. Go home, both of you. I’ll take care of closing,” Theo said, eyeing the circles under Jill’s eyes. She had brought up the idea of hiring someone new for the front of the house, leaving her to handle the books and everything else that went with management. Theo had been resisting. Partially because she also wanted him to hire on more help for himself, and Theo didn’t want anyone else in charge of his kitchen. He also didn’t want anyone other than family managing the front of the house. But they were both running themselves ragged, and Lincoln was getting lost somewhere in the middle.

  Lincoln’s eyes widened. “For real? But what about the last tables?”

  “If you’re all caught up in the kitchen, I’ll take care of running the last of the dishes through.” Theo tugged on the brim of Lincoln’s cap. “Thanks for your help today.”

  Lincoln grinned at him, his sulks forgotten. “Thanks for bringing me to the show.”

  “I’m going to take you up on that,” Jill said, struggling to wiggle her way out of the booth. He held out his hand to help her up, and she took it with a grimace. “It seems like my equilibrium is all off. At least I’m not as tired as I used to be.”

  “She’ll be here by the time school starts,” Theo assured her. “And the moment she can hold a spatula, I’m putting her to work.”

  “She has to be teething first, then I’ll consider it.” Jill rubbed the small of her back, gave Theo a tired smile, and waved Lincoln toward the door. “I’ll bring him by for the lunch shift.”

  Theo glanced at the table and bit back a sigh. Lincoln’s phone remained tucked beside the cutlery bin. He had the habit of taking it out of his pocket when he was sitting and then leaving it behind. Theo scooped it up. “Don’t forget your phone, Linc.�
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  “Don’t worry. I’ve got it.” Lincoln shot him a look of exasperation as he patted his pockets and his expression changed to one of comical confusion.

  Theo held up the phone with a little wave and resisted the urge to toss Lincoln’s words back at him. He handed over the phone without comment, shaking his head as Lincoln slipped it into his pocket without looking at him and made a dash for the door. Theo did not understand how someone could simultaneously live on something and forget it all the time.

  As Theo made his way toward Morris’s table, he made a quick note of who was still on duty. They were down to one bartender and two waitresses, all of them already starting the night cleanup. Once the doors shut all they’d have to do was grab some food for themselves and do the final scrub down and they could head home.

  Morris grinned at him as Theo pulled out a chair, and some of his own tiredness disappeared under the warmth of that smile. “Hey, I was wondering if you’d get a chance to come out. It looked like it was busy. Then I saw you talking with your brother and that lady who hasn’t stopped moving all night. Jill, I think her name was. She offered us an appetizer.”

  “We were hopping,” Theo agreed, cutting into his fish. “That lady was my sister. She owns the bistro with me. Did you enjoy your crab cakes?”

  “Best I’ve had in a while.” Morris waved his hand at the group, who studied Theo with friendly curiosity. “Everyone, this is Theo. He owns this joint. Theo, this is Felipe, Jackie, Dakota—” Morris pointed around the table to each face, some of whom Theo recognized from the show. “You missed the Karlins. Their rug rat fell asleep almost as soon as he finished eating. Dakota, is your brother coming by?”

  “Nah, he’s still hanging with his gang, planning the takeover of the world,” Dakota replied, giving Theo a once-over with a cool, assessing gaze. “Nice place you’ve got.”

  “Thanks.” As Theo began to eat, the others continued with their conversation, which made little sense to him but seemed to involve tension between cosplayers and vendors. Theo figured they’d be as lost if he plunked them down in the midst of a group of restaurant people. “How’d the rest of the show go?” he asked Morris.

  “Pretty good. I hope the summer season goes as well. You never really know how a show’s going to go until you’re in the middle of it.” Morris looked around the restaurant at the pictures of the Chesapeake Bay and local life, the light wood bar top and well-scrubbed counters. “I can see why you’re never at home.”

  “It’s a busy time of year.” At least with school ending soon, Lincoln could help more. Though Jill and he agreed they weren’t going to pressure him to spend all of his time at the restaurant. Not all of their siblings had the same fire to keep the place going, and they didn’t want Lincoln to come to resent it like the others had. “Though it helps to have family involved.”

  “Every quarter I have to talk my sister into doing my taxes for me. The amount of bribery she demands gets worse every time. This last April she made me do an entire spa day with her. It would’ve been cheaper to go to a local agent.”

  Theo grinned at the sorrowful shake of Morris’s head. “She made you get a mani-pedi, didn’t she?”

  “The full works. She even let my niece pick out the color. Lime-green sparkles.”

  Felipe leaned over with a wicked snicker. “Maybe next time you won’t wait until the day before the deadline.”

  “Shut up, you.” Morris gave him a friendly shove before turning back to Theo. “Good luck with your siblings. Mine are the devil.”

  “Ah, the trials of being the youngest,” Theo said, giving the bartender the nod to go ahead and start closing out.

  Morris grimaced. “Man, they can mother hen a guy to death. They get on my dad too.”

  “Well, being the oldest has its own hang-ups, trust me. So what do you do after a show? Take a break?” Theo asked as he mentally ran over his schedule for the next day, wondering if he could sneak in some time for a quick date, even if it was just a cup of coffee down by the water.

  “The problem with taking a break is that it’s hard to get started again,” Morris replied. “I’ll be back at it tomorrow, working on a couple commissions and plotting out the next issue of the book. I want to make some real progress because I’m tied up the whole next weekend. I have a date with Laila that I wouldn’t dream of backing out of. And she’ll know if I’m distracted.”

  “Date?” Ah man, Morris was bisexual, and he had a girlfriend. Well, there went all thoughts of flirting with his hot new neighbor. Lincoln would be relieved, though Theo was keenly disappointed. Not that he really had time to date, but it had been a nice thought for the day. And Morris had been the first guy to pull his thoughts away from the constant cycle of family and the bistro.

  “Yeah, my niece. I haven’t been up to see her in a bit. That’s what my sister was ragging on me about this morning. I’m taking her to the pool opening before we have a cookout at my parents’.” A soft smile crossed Morris’s face. “I’ve been a neglectful uncle.”

  “Not if you let her paint your toes sparkly green.” That was sweet. Theo didn’t know many men who’d take a day off to spend with their niece. He supposed he had that to look forward to with Jill’s baby girl. “You’ll have to give me some tips. My sister’s having a girl this fall. A boy would’ve been no problem. I’m not quite sure what to do with a girl.”

  “Be prepared for her to have you in her tiny hands,” Morris said with a knowing shrug. “They are masters of the adorable, and they know it.”

  “Thanks for the warning, though I doubt it’ll do much good.” Theo reluctantly pushed back his plate. He could give it another few minutes, but then he had to get back to the kitchen.

  Felipe broke off from his banter with the others and turned toward Morris and Theo with an edge of irritation in his gaze. He scrutinized Theo. There was something about the slant of his mouth and the narrow spacing of his eyes that seemed familiar, but Theo couldn’t place him. He must’ve seen him at the con earlier, but he would’ve remembered the thick raven-dark hair and smooth, warm complexion that made him almost pretty.

  “You went to the show today, didn’t you?” Felipe asked, cocking his head. “I’m sure I saw you wandering through the booths.”

  Now the sense of trying to place him really began to dig at Theo, but it continued to elude him. “Yeah, first time I’ve been to a show. It was actually better than I thought it would be.” Theo shot Morris an apologetic look. “I’ve never been much of a geek.”

  “I guess, then, this neighbor thing isn’t going to work out,” Morris said with a pretend show of sorrow. “I couldn’t possibly live in the same house with a man who openly disavows geek life.”

  “He can cook,” Felipe pointed out as he glanced at the time on his phone. “And he’s making no issue of us hanging out instead of shooing us out the door when they’re about to close.”

  “Those are valid points, and your brother is one of us, so you have potential.” A slight smile played on Morris’s lips as he glanced at Theo through thick black lashes.

  That was a definite sign of flirting if Theo ever saw one, enough that he was perfectly comfortable telling his brother Morris started it. “Sweetheart, I have loads of potential.”

  “I wouldn’t kick him out of bed,” Felipe murmured with a sideways glance at Dakota, who rolled his eyes.

  “You kick me out of bed all the time,” Dakota teased. Theo recognized him as the broad-shouldered, scowling man who’d been arguing with his foster brother at the show. He had a stubborn jaw and a hard slash of a nose that looked equally uncompromising.

  “Enough, you two.” Jackie leveled a glare at the couple. “Before I have to knock your heads together.”

  “It’s okay.” Felipe patted Jackie’s hand. “Trust me, this is our version of foreplay.”

  One thick black eyebrow rose, and Morris’s smile widened. “Potential, huh? Okay, quick test, then.”

  “Bring it,” Theo challenged. �
��Only I get to test you in return.”

  “Sounds kinky.” Dakota crossed his arms on the table. “But not appropriate for a family establishment.”

  “Seems fair enough to me.” Morris ignored the byplay and leveled a finger at Theo. “Old-school or new-school Doctor Who?”

  Theo’s confidence took a hit. Morris wasn’t playing softball, or Theo must’ve heard him wrong. Doctor Who? “What was his name again?” There was something vaguely familiar about it. Something Theo overheard at the show, maybe.

  Morris shook his head sadly as his three friends exchanged amused glances. Theo should’ve brought Scottie along to back up his team. “Next question.”

  “Wait,” Theo cut in. “It’s my turn to even the playing field, to test these compatibility waters. How do you like your steak cooked?”

  Morris grimaced and side-eyed him. “Well done.”

  “Ouch, wow.” Theo bumped his fist against his chest. “I think that actually hurt.”

  “You two are hilarious,” Felipe said with a laugh and elbowed Jackie. “Are you checking this out?”

  Morris held up a second finger. “Marvel or DC?”

  That one was easier. Theo had heard of both of them. Only problem was he wasn’t sure which characters belonged to which company. “The one Spider-Man is from. He’s cool. But I’m not sure why every time they make a new movie with a new actor they have to go through his origin story again. How many times do I have to watch Uncle Ben die?”

  “That’s not really answering the question,” Dakota said, propping his chin on his fist. “I’m not sure if that qualifies for points or not.”

  “Hey, he offered a valid criticism,” Jackie replied. “I think it counts.”

  “I have to agree. I don’t want to see Uncle Ben die again either. If a nongeek knows it’s time to move on to another story, it’s definitely overplayed. It’s not like Spidey doesn’t have plenty of material to pull from.” Morris turned back to Theo. “Your turn.”