by C M Thorne
“Love you, kid,” Becca kissed his cheek and let go of him once they were outside. “I will talk to you two later,” she called to Dinah, who was trying to hail a cab at the sidewalk. She walked off in the other direction, blonde ponytail swinging back and forth happily.
A cab pulled up along the curb as Caleb walked up and Dinah opened the door for them to crawl into the backseat. “Where ya headed?” The cabbie was a middle aged, overweight man wearing a cap and a flannel shirt. The cab smelled like soup, and not necessarily good soup. Caleb screwed up his nose at his sister and she stifled a laugh.
“Across the bridge to Oldtown,” Dinah answered, telling him where her apartment was.
“That’ll be a double fare to pay for the toll back onto the island,” the cabbie replied, glancing back at the them juicily in his mirror.
“I know,” Dinah answered. “It’s fine.” She flopped back against the seat, ignoring her seatbelt.
He started the meter and pulled back out into the flow of traffic. Caleb debated for a moment about putting his seatbelt on before hesitantly pulling it across his chest and clicking it in quietly. He was sure it wasn’t very sanitary, but he would rather be safe in an accident. The cabbie turned the radio up slightly above a nice ambient level, blaring some top forty station with a sickly sweet, lovey song.
“Why did you come by cab?” Caleb asked, trying not to raise his voice too loudly, even though he was sure the cab driver could hear him anyway.
“Didn’t want to drive,” Di shrugged. “I may have had a little too much to drink last night and wasn’t feeling up to it.” She shot him a look, “Especially after what you put me through.”
“I said I was sorry!” Caleb defended himself.
She laughed, “It’s fine. I’m only messing with you.” She looked out the window as they headed toward the bridge. “So, a vampire, huh?” Dinah turned back to him.
Cal blushed and looked out his window, “It really was nothing. I think I am interested, I guess, since he’s obviously gorgeous and a total gentleman.” He glanced back to her, “But I don’t think I interest him in that way.”
“What do you mean?” Dinah asked.
“It’s difficult to explain,” he replied, fidgeting with his hands in his lap uncomfortably. “It’s more like he is interested in the fact that I am a human. I think he is pretty old and I just provided a glimpse into how people are today.”
“Oh, great,” Dinah rolled her eyes jokingly. “You’re the representative for our generation? He is so not getting an accurate depiction of today’s youth from the sheltered, closeted son of a pastor.”
He playfully swatted at her arm, “Shut up!”
“I’m only kidding,” she responded, clutching her arm with mock pain. She looked over his face for a moment, “That’s not a bad place to start though, if you are actually interested in him.”
He nodded, avoiding eye contact, “I don’t know. I don’t want to let myself be too interested. I don’t want to be let down, I guess.” He stopped himself from biting his lip, “I mean, he didn’t even give me his phone number or anything. There is no invitation to anything else.”
“Oh, Cal,” Dinah’s voice dropped and sounded overly sympathetic.
He shook his head, “It’s whatever. Just don’t want to get my hopes up, you know?”
“Hun, you have so much to offer,” Di spoke softly, leaning in and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You are so adorable and if this Rainer guy knows anything, he will see how great you are.” She rubbed his shoulder assuredly as she spoke.
Caleb glanced at her and replied, “Thanks.”
They sat in silence for the rest of the way, listening to the music as the city rolled by. When the cab came to a stop in front of Di’s apartment complex, she handed his her card as Cal unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of the cab. He held the door open until Di was done and followed her to the door. She punched in her code into the keypad, causing the pad to light up green and beep as the doors clicked open. They hurried inside and caught the elevator. Dinah fished her keys out of her purse as they rode up with an elderly man. He got off the floor before Dinah’s, barely hobbling clear before the doors slid closed.
Dinah cleared her throat, “So, I’m thinking we will give you the dining space as a room. It’s through the kitchen. Totally isolated and it has a window.” She looked to him almost guiltily, “The only problem is that it doesn’t have a door.”
“That sounds really nice,” Cal replied softly. “Thank you, Di.”
She looked at him with a side smile, “Of course, hun. Anything for my little brother.” She laughed lightly as they came to a stop and she breezed out of the elevator and down the hall to her apartment. She stopped in front of 7E and expertly put the key in, turned it with the knob, and let them in with what seemed like one fell swoop. A product of repetitive habit he was sure.
The apartment opened up into the living space. A hallway was across the room, leading to the bedrooms and a shared hall bathroom. To the right was a galley style kitchen, with a sliding glass door to a small balcony on the wall before the counter started. Through the galley kitchen was the small dining room Dinah had mentioned. Erica was standing in the kitchen cooking something on the stove. She was wearing thin black shorts with an athletic looking tank top on. She was barefoot, standing like a flamingo with one leg up and propped against the other. Her mess of braids was piled on top of her head into a large bun with a few strands hanging free around her face.
She turned toward them as they came in, smiling and saying, “Hey! I was wondering when you’d get here! Are you hungry?”
“We sort of just ate,” Dinah answered, tossing her purse onto a long, well-worn, pale green couch. “But I could eat again,” she added, padding into the kitchen as Caleb shifted over to stand awkwardly by the couch. “What are you cooking? Smells delicious.”
“Just some black bean soup and my mom’s homemade cornbread,” she answered, smiling wide as she looked back to the pot.
“Erica’s a vegetarian, Cal,” Dinah explained after standing up from inhaling the scents wafting out of the pot. “She makes the best food, though. You won’t even miss meat when she makes something, I swear.”
“Awe, thank you,” Erica replied.
“Come look at the space and help me move the table!” Dinah called out to Caleb as she walked through to the dining space.
Caleb flattened himself out against the counter as he moved around Erica. “Excuse me,” he spoke softly, feeling awkward.
“Sure thing,” Erica answered cheerily and loudly, laughing softly as Caleb winced.
The room actually wasn’t much smaller than Cal’s room at their father’s house, which had been built in a time before rooms were made from much more than a full sized bed, nightstand, and dresser at best. The window on the right wall was wide, providing the dining space with great light. An abstract looking painting hung on the opposite wall, done in creams, browns, and varying shades of green, splashed here and there with yellow and blue. They had a small, rough solid oak table in the center of the room with four clunky looking chairs. The table itself was decorated with deep green placemats and a large, round brown and golden bowl filled with colored glass fruit.
“Cute,” Caleb commented, motioning toward the table.
“Oh, yeah,” Dinah smiled. “Those are Erica’s, from her grandma. I like them a lot. Helps class the place up a bit.” She laughed.
“Supreme level of class,” Erica added from the stove, adding to the joke that Caleb felt was some existing inside thing. He smiled, nodding and puffing out a half-hearted laugh.
“Want to help me move everything out?” Dinah asked, starting to gather up the placemats.
He nodded and grabbed a chair, moving back through the kitchen carefully. Erica slipped into the dining room around him and grabbed a chair as well. “Just put them in the living room until we move the table,” Erica directed from behind him. “We were thinking the table could fit in f
ront of the sliding glass doors. Might be a little tight, but I think it’ll look nice.”
Caleb set the chair down and looked at the space. “Yeah,” he confirmed, “I think it’ll fit just fine.” They moved back into the dining room as Di put things down on the coffee table. They moved the last two chairs and Erica checked on her soup.
“How heavy is the table?” Caleb asked his sister.
“Not too bad, honestly,” she answered. “Got that side?”
He nodded as he put his hands under the tabletop, lifting up as his sister got the other side. It was light and backing up into the kitchen was easy, lifting the top of the countertop on either side. Erica moved out of the way as they went through and set the table down in front of the doors. They put the chairs back around the table and Dinah quickly redecorated it. It was undeniably a tighter fit, but there seemed to be enough room to move around into the kitchen without having to squeeze.
“Perfect!” Erica chimed from over the stove top. “I actually like it there!” Caleb was pretty certain she was being so cheery about it so that he wouldn’t feel bad about taking up space in their already cramped apartment, but he appreciated it nonetheless.
Dinah grabbed something from the coat closet and walked back through the kitchen. “Yeah, right?” she replied to Erica. “It isn’t bad there.” She set the things down and put a tension rod through a brown curtain before sticking up in the entryway to the dining space.
“Alright,” Erica stirred the pot of her soup with a satisfied look. “I know it’s a weird time of day, but the soup is ready if you guys want some? I was thinking of having a little now and heating some back up for dinner later.” Erica turned the stove off and grabbed her pan of cornbread from the oven. She grabbed some bowls down from one of their cupboards, cute hand tossed looking blue painted bowls with a swirling design around the outside.
“Oh good!” Dinah exclaimed and dashed for the table, putting herself in the corner.
“Oh, thank you Erica,” Caleb said as he waited for her to dish out some soup before taking to of them to the table. He gave one to his sister and sat down next to her. “Thank you for sharing.”
Erica laughed as she came to the table and handed them each a spoon, “I grew up in a big family so I really only know how to cook for an army.”
“Well,” Caled responded as she stepped back into the kitchen to cut some bread and piled into onto a small, matching ceramic plate, “thank you again regardless.”
“Only thank me if you like it,” she laughed in response, putting the cornbread down and plopping herself down opposite from him.
“Oh, you will, Cal,” Dinah insisted.
Erica look a bite of soup and then hopped up urgently. “Oh!” She exclaimed.
“What?!” Dinah raised herself slightly out of her seat. “Too hot?”
Erica shook her head as she opened the fridge and brought out a bowl of cut up orange and lemon slices, which she came back to the table and swapped for the bowl of glass fruit. “My mom always serves oranges and lemons with this. I like to squeeze some lemon into the soup, but that’s a total preference. Do what you guys want.” She grabbed a jar of honey from the counter and sat back down, dipping a spoon into the honey and then drizzling it over a piece of cornbread.
Caleb gave it a skeptical look, as the pastor had never once kept honey in the house. Erica laughed, “Try it! Trust me, it is delicious with honey!”
Dinah nodded with a mouth full of soup. Caleb smirked, grabbing a slice of lemon and squeezing it over his soup before accepting the honey from Erica. He drizzled one piece lightly with honey and took a bite. It was good. She was right. The complexity of the sweet honey paired with the homey warmth of the cornbread was delicious. The girls giggled as he took another large bite enthusiastically, practically demolishing the piece.
He looked up and asked with a mouth full of bread, “What? It’s really good!”
“I know,” Dinah laughed. “Have some soup before it goes cold though!”
He dipped his spoon in and took a big bite. He had never had black bean soup, but had always assumed it wouldn’t taste very great. The citrus was a nice addition to the hearty, warm soup. “It’s really good,” he muttered before spooning up another bite.
They giggled at him again as Caleb continued to devour the food, finding himself strangely hungry. He barely stopped to grab some oranges to eat as the girls chatted about work and people they both seemed to know. Caleb didn’t want to appear rude, but his hunger took over, taking him away from following their chatter. He polished off his bowl of soup before the girls and picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth. “Excuse me,” he said softly. “Do you mind if I take care of the dishes?” Caleb asked as he stood up.
“Do we mind?” Erica laughed. “Be my guest!”
Caleb nodded and moved into the small kitchen. He washed off his dishes in the sink to the right before putting them into the old, small dishwasher. He looked through their cabinets, finding some glass bowls with lids, that he put the leftover soup into. He was excited at the thought of getting to eat more later, hoping it tasted just as good reheated.
Dinah came up to the sink with her and Erica’s dishes as he closed the fridge. She set to cleaning them and handing them off to Cal without a word, falling into the routine of doing the dishes the way they had for years at the pastor’s. She washed the pot after that as he wiped down the counters with a damp sponge.
Erica leaned in the doorway, munching on a lemon as if the sourness didn’t affect her. “Look at this, already a perfect houseguest,” she said bemused.
Cal blushed and Dinah chuckled, “We had a routine for years back at home.” She glanced at him over his shoulder, “Plus, he’s a pretty good guy. The perk of having a gay brother.”
“Di!” He hissed through his teeth, blushing hard as he took the pit from her and dried it with a nearby hand towel.
“Oh, whatever!” She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the counter. “Erica is a lesbian, silly. Chill out!”
Erica laughed, “Give him a break. He needs to find himself.” Caleb met her eyes and she nodded with a warm, knowing smile.
“Oh,” Dinah interjected, ruining the moment. “We need to pick a time to go to the pastor’s to get your things. I was thinking about tomorrow, maybe. What do you think?”
Caleb bit his lower lip nervously. “Dad leaves at seventy thirty and shouldn’t be home until four.” He wring his hands, “Unless he decides to come home for lunch. I mean, I don’t have class so that works for me.” He trailed off, biting back at his lip.
“Since when has he started doing that?” Dinah asked, absently fiddling with a hand towel.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Caleb stared down at the floor. “Seven months maybe.
Dinah turned and wiped the sink down with the towel and hummed to herself in deep thought. “Okay,” she said after a moment, turning back around, “we go early and move quick. I don’t want another confrontation with him, but you need your things.”
“Alright,” Caleb leaned against the counter near the stove. “I just need some clothes, bathroom stuff, and my school stuff. Maybe a bag or two.”
Dinah nodded, putting the towel back on it’s rack over the bottom cabinet below the sink. “Okay. We will go after he leaves and be fast.”
Caleb pulled aside the curtain Dinah had hung to his pseudo room as she came up behind him with a folded air mattress. “We only have this, but it’s pretty comfortable surprisingly,” she explained, setting it on the floor.
He grabbed part of it and helped her lay it out. “It’s perfect. I just appreciate you guys letting me crash with you for awhile,” Caleb spoke truthfully, looking over at his sister.
“Like I said,” she shrugged, plugging in the built-in pump into the wall, “it isn’t a big deal.”
“Still,” he replied, “I appreciate it.”
“Of course,” she smiled as she turned the pump in and it whirled to life, filling the mattress with air
slowly. Dinah picked up the stack she had dropped in the room earlier and spread the fitted sheet over the mattress as it finished filling up. She shut the pump off and handed over one end of a sheet to Cal wordlessly. They fell so easily back into old habits, spreading the sheet over the mattress before putting down a medium weight blanket down as well. Dinah tossed him a pillow as she put the other one on her side. “Need anything else for tonight?”
“Uh, no,” Cal shook his head. “Thank you. This will be perfect and I’ll have all my stuff tomorrow evening, hopefully.” He smiled looked around the room, “This is great.”
“Good,” she came around the mattress as she spoke. “Let me know if you need anything else.” She side hugged him tightly before adding, “I’m going to go nap and hopefully sleep off what if left of last night’s drinks.”
“I will let you know,” he answered, hugging her back. “Sleep well,” he laughed, “I’ll lay down for a bit too. I am pretty wiped.”
“Yeah,” Dinah called over her shoulder as she slipped out of the room, “a night of rolling around in the sheets will do that to you!”
“Did not!” Cal called out after her, shaking his head as the light in the kitchen flipped off. She did not reply and he laid down on the bed with a sigh. His mind instantly turned back to Rainer, thinking of how he wanted to go back to the club to see him again. He really should have gotten his number or some way to contact him. Not that Rainer probably wanted a way to communicate now that he had more or less smoothed things over following the attack in the bathroom. Maybe Caleb was just being foolish.
Or, perhaps Becca and Dinah were right. Maybe Rainer was interested in Cal. He did know what floor of the Oleander building the vampire lived on after all. He could stop by and see if Rainer wanted to see him again. That would help him decide what to do about the whole situation. If he wanted to see him, then maybe something was there. If not, well, then Caleb would have his answer. One way or another, he would see this through. His nerves usually got the better of him, but he felt resolved, wanting to see Rainer again regardless. Before he could obsess further, Caleb drifted off into a light sleep.