Flotilla_The Temp

by Erik Schubach

  Lenore added, “Don't try deflecting her ire from you to him. Us Elgin girls don't distract that easily you demented shamrock surfer.”

  I buried my face in my bed with a pillow over my head when McGrath said seductively, “Oh really now," and I heard a wet kiss and Bobby screaming playfully, “My eyes, my eyes!”

  I giggled and turned to look at the ceiling, placing the pillow under my head and letting my fingers drift to my lips. Reid had kissed me. I paused and looked at my door then pulled my pillow out from behind my head and threw it at the door. It struck with a fluffy thud as I called out, “I know you're all still out there you bloody muppets. Move along now.”

  I smiled as I heard them chuckling and moving back down the hall. Then my hand was shooting to pull out my mobile when it buzzed. I looked at the text from Reid, “Night. I'll pick you up to give you a ride to work in the morning.”

  As much as I didn't want to ride on the evil egg beater again, I wanted so badly to be holding hir from behind again. So I shot back a smiley.

  Reid... had kissed me. Well sure, after I made a boneheaded mistake and kissed hir first, but the second time was by choice. I spun around and screamed with glee into my mattress.

  Once the redhead in question had made it safely home, one of our all night texting sessions began. And I realized that I was feeling happier than I can ever remember. It was a tiny step in our relationship, but ze didn't seem adverse to it.

  I typed something up then erased it a half dozen times before squinting an eye, tilting my head back, and hitting send... then instantly wanting to take it back. “Was that really your first kiss?" What the feck? I was acting like a smitten teen.

  I just got a blushing emoji in return, and I let it drop and enjoyed the hell out of the rest of our marathon conversation.

  That wound up 'not' being our last kiss by a longshot. It seems that Reid was clumsily coming to terms that ze seemed to be attracted to me, the connection we had made was something new to hir and ze seemed amazed about the romantic feelings that were growing at a painfully slow rate for me. I had pieced together that Reid truly was demi, and that I was that lucky one in seven billion she had made the connection with.

  I was patient because kissing and cuddling seem to have become the blue eyed imp's favorite pastime hobby when we were alone... and I was good with that... swoon.

  I had to snort when Lenore asked one night when we were both sitting on my bed reading our sappy romance novels together, “What's with all the cats?”

  I looked at the wall, which had a couple dozen small cat canvases adorning it. I had just shrugged and said simply, “I get 'Cat, kiss, door.'-ed a lot.”

  When it was obvious that it was all I was willing to say on the subject, a pillow fight ensued. Lenore won as always. It's because she cheats. I'm not sure how, but I just know she cheats somehow.

  As the weeks went along, Reid and I had become mischief on two wheels as we seemed to go anywhere and everywhere together on that damnable bike. We had found our freedom, and it was brilliant.

  Chapter 8 – Nosy Birds

  JJ was chuckling at me the moment closing time rolled around, and I was off and running to the tube. We closed at four every night, to avoid rush hour, and that gave me an hour to get to the Flotilla to see how Reid's first day had gone.

  I ran from the station to Flotilla Pier and skidded to a stop before rounding the corner of the row of little tenant storage sheds. I didn't want to seem overly anxious. I walked at a relaxed and sedate pace, trying to look aloof, forcing my legs not to take off in a mad dash.

  It was so paramount to me that my unorthodox family take a liking to Reid. I was so anxious that I wanted to wring my hands in nervous apprehension but forced myself to act normal. Reid was such an important part of my life now, an irreplaceable part. I've been so selfish, wanting to keep hir all to myself, but now that I've decided to share hir, I really wanted them to see hir for how spectacularly amazing the Reidster was.

  I tried not to run up the steps two at a time to the pilot house of the Persephone but realized I probably couldn't as my legs had started to shake. Come on Christine, pull it together. I glanced back and hesitated when I saw a familiar clunky old Hillman Imp sedan in the VIP parking space. Tabby was here? Well, the Flotilla was hers after all, but... why was she here this late. When she visited, it was usually the weekends, as Paya always came in 'just to check in,' or around lunch to steal Paya away.

  Had she met Reid then? Of course she had, Reid had texted me about lunch.

  I was obsessing, hoping she, like the others, saw my imp as the shining star ze was.

  I stepped inside, right in the middle of an argument between Paya and Tabitha. It had way too many smiles and an overuse of the word bint interspersed in the back and forth between the two best mates.

  I brought two fingers to my lips and whistled shrilly to get their attention before they started throwing popcorn at each other from the bowl between them on the small conference table. Because normally Lenore would be the one to clean up the destruction of one of their food fights, and with her off doing things I don't want to imagine with the illustrious Hunter McGrath, it would probably fall to me or even Reid to clean up.

  Speaking of. Where was Reid? Probably off on a run.

  It amazed me how, just since I came to London, the sheer volume of deliveries Lenny has had to make in a day had increased almost exponentially with each new property the Flotilla acquired to help the less fortunate people in the city.

  But Len had this knack for making every delivery each day and never falling behind. A byproduct of her driving, which terrorizes all of London when she is on the streets, and earned her the name Speedy. I had to grin. That was the one thing I was better than my older sister at... driving without giving heart attacks to the people around me or on the road.

  One may think we just tease Lenore about her driving, but trust me, we are serious. We believe the examiner gave her a pass on the driving test just so that they didn't ever have to ride with her again as we don't think Len has ever had the patience to drive normal for the duration of a test.

  How she has never had a single point taken off of her license, nor ever even been pulled over, is one of the great British mysteries.

  Now that I had the arguing women's attention I grinned at them and gave a little wave. “Hi, Tabs. What are you two on about now?”

  Tabitha shot me her winning smile, her copper eyes flashing humor. She opened her mouth, then seemed to change directions before she spoke after a sly glance at her best mate, and said with all the mischief in the world in her tone, “Reid is such a hard working bloke.”

  I nodded enthusiastically, this meant they like hir work. I shared, “The temp agencies all rave.”

  Tabby got a smug look on her face and crossed her arms in satisfaction across her chest. I could hear her unspoken “neener neener" toward Paya.

  I began to twig to the topic of their argument even before Paya added, “And she's such a sweet girl.”

  I grinned and nodded as I said, “I agree." I blushed at my own following sigh.

  The two were so in tune with each other after growing up together, and they both exhaled in exasperation simultaneously, Paya complaining, “Listen smitten kitten, not you too, stop teasing. This is killing us, Tina, you have to tell. Is your blue eyed dynamo male or female?”

  Smitten? Why yes I was, thank you very much.

  I looked at them and considered. I was just as curious at first, trying to key in on any clues as to Reid's biological sex. I thought the training bra ze wore sometimes was a clue, as was some men's boxer shorts I saw peeking out when ze bent over to tie hir shoe once. Not that I was staring at hir cute arse at the time. But there was never anything definitive.

  Then that curiosity wafted away once I got to know hir better and I don't even know why it had been so important to me before. It was just silly.

  I just see hir as Reid. As unique as a platypus ze had invoked before, just wi
th wings, and it really doesn't matter to me. Sure, there might always be a little part of me that will always be curious as to hir biological sex, but it just wasn't important as it wouldn't change the way I feel when Reid is around me.

  I said in all seriousness, looking at first her then Tabby, “Would it change anything if it were one way or another? Would you treat Reid any differently?”

  They both furrowed their brows and seemed to deflate a moment as they considered the questions. Then slowly, first Paya, then Tabs, started shaking their heads. Paya chirping out, “No. I suppose not.”

  I smiled fondly at the two, I could see a million thoughts going through their eyes as they processed what I was truly asking.

  Then the little devil inside me smirked in mischief as I said innocently, “And the answer is neither.”

  They both narrowed their eyes in that, “I wonder if Christine would float if we pushed her into the Thames," kind of way.

  Tabby pointed at me as she looked at Paya. “She's a little rat.”

  Paya agreed. “A true stinker." Then she cocked an eyebrow at me.

  I sighed and said, “Not that it is any of your business, because it really isn't, but Reid is non-binary.”

  They digested this then Paya blanched as she realized... “And we've been throwing around bloke and girl all day. Why didn't Reid say anything? Correct us...”

  I shrugged and said, “Because this is a binary world, and everyone wants to throw binary rules on it when there is a whole gender spectrum out there. It is easier just to go with the flow than to make waves. Not to mention Reid doesn't mind specific gender pronouns if ze is sending out that particular vibe. But ze prefers gender neutral pronouns like ze and hir.”

  Tabitha nodded slowly and said, “That's really no different than sexuality.”

  I nodded back.

  Paya cocked her head cutely. “I feel like a right tosser now. I had never thought of this before.”

  I shrugged. “Most of us haven't. I still mess up at times. It is hard to unlearn a lifetime of expectations.”

  They again exhaled in unison. I almost snorted, wondering if the two knew how much they influenced each other. They were two peas in a pod, and it was easy to see why they were best mates.

  Then Paya asked, “But... YOU know umm... hir? Biological sex?" Then she squeaked out in a rush, “No! Don't answer that! Sorry!”

  I was blushing so much at that point I swore I was either going to spontaneously combust or pop out of existence. But I said softly, “No. I don't." Then with a smirk, I said, “Nosy birds.”

  They both started giggling at my uncomfortableness. I wanted to die right there realizing I had basically just told them I hadn't slept with Reid... yet. I pointed a finger, waggling it between them and assured them, “What you were saying about each other when you were arguing when I came in? You're both right. You're a couple of manky bints.”

  This got their giggling to double and my smile to bloom at their antics.

  But then I got serious and asked the simple question which coincidentally was also the simple immutable truth of it all, “Does it really matter?”

  This got them to settle down long enough to think about it. Then again, they started slowly shaking their heads. Paya said in an almost loving tone, “Lesson received." It was a hard lesson, I was still learning it, and I hated that I needed the lesson when I had always believed I was more enlightened than that.

  Then she cocked her head at me like she was just seeing me for the first time all over again. She smiled, almost sadly, as she asked wistfully, “When did you grow up without us noticing? Yesterday you were our kid sister, but now you've become this awesome adult.”

  I blushed and felt tears welling in my eyes for reasons I still can't fathom. Paya opened her arms, and I stepped over, and she pulled Tabby and me into a three-way hug. Just then we heard the door open and Reid's voice asking, “Hello? What's this?”

  I glanced over at the redhead who held my heart and held out one arm. “Group hug." Hir eyes brightened as much as hir smile, and ze almost skipped up to us to join in. I pulled hir against me and basked in hir warmth and the love from my mates.

  When our hugfest was done, and we all stepped away, Reid took my hand as ze looked around. Then said like an extremely pleased chipmunk, “That was fun. I should come up to the pilot house more often. Is this something we do at the end of each day?”

  Tabby giggled and just said to the sky, “Adorable.”

  Paya said, “No, but we should make it a custom. Your girl here was just teaching us a lesson.”

  My crush nodded sagely. “Nasty habit of hers.”

  I slapped hir arm lightly before laying my head on hir shoulder. “Hey, don't be a bint.”

  Ze laid hir head on top of mine, then Tabby started clawing at her tongue. “Ack! Cuteness sugar overload!"

  I reached over and snagged some popcorn from the bowl and threw it at her, to her giggles.

  We all stopped when Robert stepped into the cabin.

  Since Lenore and McGrath had gone on their honeymoon, we had been staying with Bea and Melinda on the Duchess of Gloucester so he would hang around at the Flotilla, helping out after school until Bea drove us to the station. I still grin every time I think about Highgate Station and knowing now that Bea truly was the steampunk princess spirit that haunted Parkland Walk.

  The look on Bobbie's face was almost haunted, and he was pale as a sheet.

  This had all my protective instincts screaming at me as I stepped away from my imp to grab his hands. “You ok Bobbie? What is it?”

  He held up his mobile. “Mum rang me up... she wants to talk with us.”

  I blinked dumbly at him trying to comprehend the words. Our mum... the woman who let dad raised his fists to us... the woman who looked the other way and pretended not to see?

  Heaven forgive me, but I still loved the woman. She was our mum. But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't forgive her for... I know it was irrational, as she was just as much a victim as us, but... we were her children.

  We hadn't seen her more than a handful of times since McGrath had spirited us away. I was happy that she finally sought professional help, and that she stood tall during dad's sentencing after she finally spoke out about the abuse. It had taken losing her three children before she had. We hadn't seen her for almost a year now.

  I heard my voice asking tightly, “Why didn't she ring me?" I already knew the answer, because she was afraid of Lenore and me. Robert was the weak link in the chain, her baby, the one we girls had all protected to the best of our ability. He'd be the one to ask as he hadn't seen most of what dad did, hadn't been through for as many years as us as he was too young at the time.

  I closed my eyes tightly as he started to speak, already knowing what he was going to say, “I... I said yes. She wants to meet tonight, she's in London.”

  I looked up into his eyes and sighed, then reached up to tussle his hair. He wasn't my little brother anymore. He was taller than me two years back, and now with all the physical labor he did for the Flotilla with McGrath and Bea, he had filled out and muscled up. I could see the man he would be one day. I simply told him as he watched me with worry in his eyes, “Ok.”

  As the worry faded from his expression, I added mostly to myself, “I wish Lenore were here." Then I realized that this was the most likely reason for the timing of the visit. She knew Lenny wouldn't be here; even though she didn't attend the wedding, McGrath had insisted that mum get an invitation; and she could talk to her youngest children first.

  Paya was instantly in her protective mode, where all her kindness and sweet disposition were tucked behind a fierce armor that was almost shocking to see from the woman who's default setting was smiley. “You can use my place." The cold tone sent shivers through me since it was coming from her.

  Before I could say anything, being the eldest Elgin present, Robert spoke up sheepishly, shaking his mobile in his hand and admitting, “Bea already texted me that it wa
s ok to use the Duchess of Gloucester. So that she and Melinda could be present since I'm still underage and they are my temporary guardians until Hunter and Lenny get back.”

  I gave my brother a sad smile. Of course, he had already texted all of this to Bea. He had a planet sized crush on the tall, muscular blonde, which was almost as huge as his hero worship of McGrath. It didn't matter to his schoolboy crush that Bea was now married to our friend Melinda.

  Texting was Beatrice's preferred method of communicating. She was virtually silent otherwise, communicating only with body language and her expressive face. The woman was otherwise a mechanical genius, and we suspect that she has high functioning Aspergers but have never asked because just like Reid, it just really didn't matter.

  The women stepped closer, and Tabby said, “Want us to be there? Should Angie know?”

  I blurted, “Dear god no. Ange can barely deal with the abuse that Steph had endured, she'd go crazy over our mum who let that sort of abuse spill over on children." It was odd speaking so freely about what we had endured, but I felt safe there.

  Then Reid's hand was in mine again, and I felt hir strength as ze said in a matter of fact tone. “I'm coming." Warmth spread through me, and I felt myself nodding even though I didn't want hir exposed to my family's dirty laundry. That is when I realized that I considered Reid part of my family now.

  Then Bobby said in a dreamy tone, “Well hello there. And just who might you be?”

  Feck me sideways, not again Bobby. I sighed in resignation as I looked over at his goofy look. Sure enough, I saw another crush building. He was one hundred percent teen aged boy... I shoved his shoulder to get him from staring at my girlfriend... boyfriend? Just what was the gender-neutral term for how I viewed Reid? Love interest? I smiled at that thought as I teased, “Hey now, eyes off you, this one is taken. Stop crushing.”

  I was rewarded by a squeeze of my hand from my amused looking sprite.

  Before I could make introductions, Paya exploded into Paya-ness and blurted out excitedly, “Bobby, this is Reid, the mysterious someone your sis has been hiding from us all. He... ummm ze is the temp we hired to do Speedy's work while she is off doing god knows what with McGrath.”