by Rue Volley
“That is $5.50!”
Her manager stepped up next to her and tapped her on the arm.
“Just let her have it Sam… in fact, why don’t you take a break?”
“What?... no.” Sam said as she looked around the busy coffee shop and raised her hand up.
Another group of kids walked up to the counter and started to order.
“Two of those and ah one of these.” The boy said as he pointed to the menu. Sam leaned forward and laughed.
“You are going to have to use your big boy words… I have no idea what you want.”
“My big boy words? You are a bitch and you suck at this job.” He said as he laughed and the girl under his arm laughed and looked at Sam.
“Oh really?” Sam said as she leaned her hands on the counter.
“Well… I think that you are an asshole jock, who has to compensate for his tiny little dick by acting all badass with women… and the truth is you are a pussy.” Sam said.
“Hey!” The girl said under his arm as she leaned forward.
“What? Is he the only dick that you have had? Sad… very, very sad. Good luck with the STD.” Sam said.
“Samantha!” her manager said.
She looked to him and sighed.
“I’m sorry… I don’t know what… I am just in the worst mood today.”
“Samantha… I would ask that you leave… I am sorry, but this isn’t going to work out.”
Sam held up her hands.
“No… no don’t do that please. She looked at the boy and his girlfriend.
“I am sorry… drinks on me.”
“That’s right bitch! Drinks on you and your mouth.”
All of his friends laughed and the girl leaned forward and looked at Sam.
“It is not my fault that you are a loser, working at a coffee shop with a loser boyfriend.” She whispered.
Sam didn’t really think before she leaped over the counter and grabbed the girl’s hair. She quickly slammed the side of her head into the counter and dropped her to the floor. Her manager jumped the counter too and grabbed her before she could do any more damage. Everyone in the coffee shop had become silent as the girl rose up from the floor and touched the side of her head. She pulled her hand away and saw blood. She cried and her boyfriend grabbed her and hugged her as he looked at Sam.
“You are a freak and a bitch! Go home to the freak house and you better hope that I don’t come and find you!”
Sam wanted to say something, but she bit her tongue as she realized that she had taken a bad situation and turned it worse. She turned to her manager and he shook his head.
“I am sorry Sam… I have to fire you.” He whispered.
Sam nodded and took her apron off. She handed it to him and walked out, laughter following her.
Sam stood in front of the library for a while before she finally decided to go in. She did not want to ruin Theo’s first day and feared that she had when news of her ninja outburst at the coffee shop circulated town. It wasn’t like the people here talked to any of them anyway. Her being older than Kai was never looked upon as normal and Theo being gay was also not the easiest thing to be accepted either, although no one said anything to any of them… they just knew. It was that weird silence whenever any of them would enter a room, or looks… the strange kind like they all three stepped out of a freak show.
She sighed as she pulled the large door open and stepped into the library. The smell of old books and leather hit her right away, kind of making her feel better. Although whatever comfort she took in the library would soon be broken when Theo found out about the incident. She walked along and looked up at the mirrored ceiling, seeing her tiny reflection and wished for a moment that she could be the reflection and not who she was. A slight pain hit her across her forehead and she shook it off as nerves… or stress. She stopped at the large oval desk and looked at the girl chewing her gum and reading a book. Sam tapped her fingernails on the counter and the girl looked up at her, without saying a word.
“Theodore Barrington… where is he?” she asked.
The girl let her eyes float towards two large doors and Sam looked over. She then slapped one hand on the counter letting it echo in the large room. The girl jumped a little in her chair.
“Thanks… thanks so much.” Sam said as she left her and walked towards the doors.
“Wait.” The girl said as she stood up behind the desk. “He is in a meeting right now!” she said.
Sam turned back and grinned as she walked backwards.
“He is my brother… I am sure he will be glad to see me.” She said.
Sam turned back around and grabbed the handles to the two large doors and swung them open. She looked in and the first thing she saw was a tree. No life in it at all. In fact it looked to be 100 years old, leaves lying around the bottom of it. It smelled funny too… like perhaps it was dying. Sam closed the doors behind her and stepped towards it, tilting her head and feeling another small nagging pain go across her forehead. She looked up and turned as her eyes followed the spiral walkway that went up the outer wall.
“Theodore?” Sam yelled upward. Theo’s head popped over the side at the top and he waved his hand to her.
“Samantha! Come up.” He said.
Sam started to walk up the spiral walkway, she looked at the books… old and most of them leather bound on the shelves. She looked forward and two people came walking towards her. A boy… not much older than Kai and a girl, shorter and small in stature. They passed her by and she felt another slight ache in her head as she turned to watch them. She heard Theo’s voice and turned, letting them walk out of her view.
“Samantha!”
Sam smiled, although she didn’t feel like it. She stopped as Theo ran up on her and hugged her, almost knocking her off her feet. Theo backed up and grinned big.
“Okay… looks like someone is having a great day.” She said.
Theo nodded and leaned over the banister, he looked down at the beautiful marble floor with the sad tree in the center.
“We have potential buyers.” He whispered like they were sharing a secret in class and could get in trouble.
“Buyers?” Sam yelled.
“Shhhhh... Oh dear.” Theo said as he took her arm and started to walk up with her.
Sam looked at him and raised her eyebrows.
“This is your first day here Theo.” She said.
Theo stopped and looked at her.
“I know, and what an exciting day it has been!” he said.
“Okay… how about we slow down and start at the beginning?” Sam said.
Theo leaned forward. “You look upset… what happened?” he asked her.
Sam sighed and shook her head.
“Crappy day… really crappy day. In fact worst day ever.”
“Oh love… come.” He said as he pulled her up until they reached the top. Two leather chairs sat in the corner with a feather lamp. Sam smiled and walked to the chair and sat down.
“Well… I guess I should tell you first because it sounds like your news is good.”
Theo sat down and picked up his tea. He took a sip and leaned back.
“I got fired.” Sam said.
“You what?”
Sam nodded. “I did, and I slammed a girls head into the counter top.”
Theo covered his mouth and stifled a laugh.
“Theo… it is so not funny.”
“Well then… should I say shame on you Samantha Barrington?” Theo said as he sipped his tea again.
Sam raised her eyebrows and leaned back in the chair.
“This news must be really good… I expected you to be all dramatic.”
“Sorry to disappoint… but I do have fabulous news… news that will just thrill you.” He said.
“Okay?”
“Well it seems that the distinguished McMillhan group from up North would like to purchase our library.” He said as he placed his hands on his knees and contained his excitement.
“As in buy it?” Sam said.
“Yes as in buy it all.” He said as he stood up and looked down the row of books.
“But you love this library… it was your dream to build it.” Sam said.
Theo looked at her and smiled.
“That is true… but the money they offer Samantha… unbelievable.”
“But you have never been about money… just art.” Sam said as she leaned forward.
“Oh Sam… let’s look at the reality of things. This town is not large and quite frankly they have never accepted us… would you just love to be able to travel, or simply move?”
“I didn’t think about moving Theo… Calvary is our home.”
Theo stepped up to her and crouched down, placing his hand on her knee.
“Perhaps today… your outburst at the Coffee shop was a sign, a sign that we should leave and find a place that we feel at home.
“I just got mad Theo… just so mad, I didn’t even think about what I was doing. In fact I jumped the counter like I had done it a thousand times before and then I snatched that girls hair up and slammed her head against the counter… and it felt awesome… it really did.”
Theo stood up and grinned.
“Case in point love… we should leave Calvary, for we do not belong here… perhaps the east coast… or North, or better yet overseas.”
Sam laughed. “Like we have the money for that.”
Theo pulled a check out of his pocket and placed it in Sam’s hands. She opened it and narrowed her eyes as she tried to count the zeros. She looked up at Theo and shook her head.
“Holy shit.” She muttered.
“Holy shit indeed,” Theo said as he smiled.
Chapter 15
Mercury’s In Retrograde
There are few moments in time that you really have to question everything, and unfortunately right now is one of those. I had been led to the kitchen in that unfamiliar house, with these unfamiliar people by an unfamiliar housekeeper. I sat there, doe eyed as I held my sparkling water in my hands like a child holds a glass that is too big. My mind was racing and then it stopped, like the hands on every clock in this house… just frozen and completely out of sync. I could hear talk in the other room, but it was muffled and calm, no shouting or freaking out. This had been a set-up of the worst kind. Johnathan had to know that I would not be cool with it… I mean he did know that, right? I mean what the hell am I supposed to do now? Are we supposed to take on a child, knowing that he was… I mean what the hell is he exactly? The first human/protector? How crazy! Not to even mention the fact that this means that Johnathan and Brooke… ya know, and we had not ya know yet… not that I think about it, but I thought that Johnathan was… ah, like me… You wait for the one, you don’t just go around humping everything, and the fact that Johnathan and I were protectors made it clear that we would end up together… not that I thought about babies or some kind of human bonding thingy like marriage, but we were two of a kind… the only two of our kind, but no… now there is Elijah. WTH?
I looked up when I heard a throat clear and there was my monstrous mate, leaning in the doorway and not grinning. Good thing too, because grinning now would be a big no. The biggest no ever, for any reason… anywhere. I lifted my glass to my mouth and started to take a drink and choked. Of course I would… its water. Johnathan flashed to my side and took the glass from my hand and set it on the marble counter top, and then he lifted both my arms over my head. I sucked in my breath as I looked everywhere but his eyes. He leaned down and looked in my face.
“Better?” he asked.
I shook my head ‘no’ and wanted to kick him in the you knows for a split second. Just a ‘what the hell?’ move to tell him that I am pissy, super super pissy in the most unfixable way.
He tapped me on the back and I slid off the chair and backed away from him, still not willing to speak, and even if I wanted to… the water was still in my throat preventing me from yelling like I so wanted to.
Johnathan then did the one thing that I didn’t want or need… he hugged me. I felt like screaming or hitting him as hard as I could, but I found myself leaning into his chest, burying my face in his shirt and then it happened. I started to cry. Now… crying was a big deal for me. Mainly because I never did it. Not that I was afraid to show emotion or anything… because I could, no problem. BUT crying was such a show of weakness to me. Kind of like letting the world and myself know that something has affected me. I sniffled and Johnathan stepped back and placed both of his hands on my face, forcing me to look at him. He wiped my tears and that just made me madder… more so than I already was. I mean, we didn’t have any friends and knowing that he is my only means of consoling was just the worst thingy ever. I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me… I didn’t and suddenly I felt the need to switch gears, maybe a defense mechanism… but the only one I have.
I stepped back and wiped my own tears, kinda jerking my arm in protest to even having to do it in the first place.
“You.” I said as I pointed at him.
Johnathan crossed his arms on his chest and remained in relax mode, another annoying trait that he has.
“Me…” he said.
“You have a ah... a SON!” I said, letting the actual word come out to make it sink in and stick in my heart.
“Yes… I do.” Johnathan said. He wasn’t ashamed or even trying to get me to calm down.
“What the hell?” I asked him.
“Well… when a boy and a girl…”
I cut him off, holding up my hands.
“I know the mechanics you ass… why didn’t you tell me?” I said.
Johnathan looked behind him and closed the kitchen door slowly, and then he turned back to me.
“I would ask that you try to be adult about this Rue…Elijah can feel as we can.”
“Oh! Okay, let me just wind up this sickening knot in my stomach and toss it for you then.” I said as I started to pace back and forth in front of him.
Johnathan watched me, and then he sighed, like maybe this was just annoying. The whole me getting all flustered thing. I stopped and looked at him.
“Don’t do that.” I said as I gritted my teeth.
“Do what?” he asked.
“That.” I said as I pointed at him. “I know you… I know how you get all smug.”
Johnathan grinned and looked down at his feet. I leaned forward to see his face.
“This is so not funny.” I said as I crossed my arms on my chest and felt a foot-tapping coming on.
Then he raised his head with no grin on his face. He took one step towards me and I felt it, his energy shifted… to something unfamiliar to me. I stood my ground out of stubbornness, but truthfully I felt like running for a split second. Like the wrath was about to wrap itself around my throat and cut my air off. He stood there, straightening his shoulders and stared at my face.
“You need to set your childish ways aside… Elijah needs a Mother now.” He said.
“What?” I said as I narrowed my eyes.
“You… you need to take Brooke’s place and teach him as do I.” he said.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked him.
“You… you are the only thing wrong at this moment.” He said.
Those words stung me. They really did, not unlike a wasp with no mercy. I felt my throat getting dry and my eyes watered. He was not acting like I should just step into Brooke’s shoes and pretend, was he? Acting like the three of us were suddenly a family… a dysfunctional one at that. Me hating me and him, him acting like a selfish ass and... Elijah. The product of something I didn’t even know he had done. A hurtful thing, a damaging thing to an already weak foundation. I shook my head slowly and looked down at my feet.
“I… I don’t know if I can.” I said.
“Why?... Is it because you hate me?” Johnathan asked.
I looked up at him and bit my lip, it was truth… the words I did not want to say, but true just the same. I think t
hat I do hate him. I hated him for bringing me food; I hated him for reminding me every day of what I was… I hated him even more now because of the piece of him that he gave to her, which is now manifested itself into the form of a child. Something I might one day want… but no. He ruined it, for the both of us.
“I...” I started to say.
The kitchen door cracked open behind him and he turned. He slowly pushed it open and there he was. Elijah, so pretty and small, looked to be about 5 years old, if I had to guess. He looked like Johnathan, sandy blonde hair… but not messy. He looked tailored. His eyes blue as sky, skin pale and lips slightly pink. He almost looked like a girl with his soft features. A small bit of Brooke wrapped up into him… small hands, small stature… dominant cheekbones but not too crazy. A beautiful child, innocent and yet lost. I could feel it, and see it in his eyes. He looked sad, and suddenly something in me moved from anger to wanting to protect him. Where a Mothering instinct would be hiding in me, I do not know. I do not remember ever having those wants and yet as I stared at him I felt it, that Mother thing, as you might call it… like I had done it before.
Johnathan took his small hand and pulled him in. Elijah stared at me, not like a stranger but as a savior of sorts. I opened my mouth and nothing came out, it was like the words had been stolen from me and I was receiving a gift. A child, like I had lost my own and had this just thrown into my lap freely. I knelt down on one knee and he looked up at Johnathan… Johnathan smiled and let his hand go as he moved towards me. Elijah stopped, a foot from me and then he raised his hand and placed it on my face. His skin was soft and warm… unlike mine. I closed my eyes and he hugged me and I let him as I wrapped my arms around him and the tears started to well up in my eyes again. Was I crying for his loss? Or perhaps for my gain. I couldn’t be sure.
Johnathan stepped forward and I stood up with Elijah in my arms. I held onto him like I couldn’t let him go. All the hurt surrounding me kind of washed away and Johnathan touched my face and then Elijah’s head as he grinned slightly. He reached over and Elijah left me and Johnathan held him like he had done it all of his life. Like he was built to be a Father. Elijah laid his head on Johnathan’s shoulder and I took Johnathan’s hand, perhaps for the first time.