"Cal, you didn't use all the hot water, right?" I called to her.
“Hop in and find out!” she shouted back.
“Bitch!”
That night after chasing Cal around in my towel for using all the hot water and causing me to take an icicle shower, we lay together on the floor of the living room after setting up an impromptu blanket fort. It was something we often did when our dad was gone.
I turned away from the crackling embers. “Do you ever think about mom? Like what she might be doing right now?”
Cal was silent for several moments before she answered.
“…Go to sleep Atty.”
With that, Cal turned her back to me, leaving me to fall into a fitful sleep featuring shadowy faces in dark corners.
So on it went, my first two weeks in the small town of Argos. A simple pattern, wake up at 6am to get ready for school, cursing the person who ever thought holding classes so early in the morning was a good idea as I chugged down a cup and a half of coffee before attending my first classes of the day. Once lunch rolled around, I would awkwardly huddle at a table in the back of the cafeteria observing the other students interact with each other.
There were a few times I saw Hip coming out of the lunch line, often he would spot me in my corner but then would only smile and give a small wave before going off with his friends. He would talk to me in class, making a point to include me with the others. I found out he lived on an apple farm, which was really cool. Once class was over, though, we would head our separate ways. Me not wanting to admit I didn't want to see him go.
Jason, on the other hand, would just disappear any time I saw him, almost as if he was avoiding me like the plague, until he had no choice but to sit near me in class. I’d see him in the hall, we would make eye contact, and then he’d just spin in the other direction and walk off. Then it was an awkward eye dance in class. I would glance at him, but he would be already staring at me, and then quickly look away. If I tried to strike up a conversation, he would talk to me, but it was strained and filled with detachment.
He was probably put off by my attitude with him on that first day. I felt terrible. Yeah, the salt water thing was weird, but I shouldn’t have been a bitch like that to him. It’s not like he had actually done anything wrong.
It was lonely, but nothing I wasn't used to.
My real salvation was once school had ended, I would head to either the community center to work with Thesis or to the library to bug Percy.
“So, she just accepts that he's an alien? Just like that?” Percy asked incredulously, looking up from one of the books I had given him to read.
I shrugged, continuing to scan the pages of my chemistry textbook. “Well, by this point she's already in love with him even if she doesn't realize it. That, combined with the fact that she already suspected something, makes it easier for her to process the truth.”
“What kind of asinine logic is that? Not only has he been lying to her this whole time, but he could end up killing her,” He scoffed.
I looked up at him from my spot in the giant cozy leather chair I had claimed as my own. Percy was at his desk across from me looking somewhat exasperated. I couldn’t help but giggle. He may not want to admit it yet, but he was getting hooked on these books.
“That’s love. Accepting a person for who and what they are.”
“Sounds like a fantasy to me,” came a voice to my left.
My eyes snapped over to Jason, who stood with a cart full of disorganized books that needed to be put back in their place. The lanyard around his neck identified him as an employee at the library. Percy had a similar lanyard, though I’d only ever seen him wear it once.
“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities,” I shot back at him.
He crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow at me. “Did you just quote Dr. Seuss?”
“He was a real visionary,” I smiled and continued to look him dead in the eyes, challenging him.
“I don’t believe you’ve met,” Percy popped into our standoff. “This is my library assistant, Jason. He’s been busy with student council this past week, so he hasn’t been to work.”
“We’ve met,” Jason and I say at the same time. His voice filled with a little more hostility than I was expecting.
“We share a couple of classes together,” I mumble, breaking eye contact with the jerk.
“Ah, I should have guessed. Well, I think I'm done with this piece of tra-” He quickly looked at me before continuing, “-fine literature. I think I’ll go file some paperwork.”
Percy stood from his chair and heaved up his arms in a very lazy stretch, which showed off the muscles in his torso far too well. I could hardly pull my eyes away until I glanced at Jason and caught something I probably shouldn’t have. He was staring at Percy as well, and his expression was definitely not one of a straight man staring at another man.
My eyes strayed downwards, and no sir would a straight man have a hard-on while looking at Percy right now.
So, he was gay?
I felt a small pang of disappointment before shaking it off and standing as well.
“I should see about hitching a ride back to my house, then. If you're not gonna stick around for me to bother.”
“Oh, I’ll take you home if you would like,” Percy offered.
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Weren’t you about to go file some papers or something?”
He waved his hand. “They can wait. I couldn’t in good conscience let a young woman walk home alone in this weather.”
I snorted and crossed my arms. “Such a gentleman. Where did that come from?”
“I’ve never not been a-”
His words were interrupted by a ringing phone on his desk. Quickly, Percy hurried over to pick it up, his tone no longer cordial and polite but taking on the harshness I had come to familiarize myself with. I guess you could say his voice was like felt; it was only smooth if you rubbed it the right way.
“I apologize, Atalanta, but I need to take care of this. Jason, can you take the young woman home?”
Jason stiffened and looked like he wanted to protest but decided against it and shuffled off to get his keys.
When he came back, I waved him off. “I can walk or get Theseus to take me home.”
Theseus had been kind enough to take me home on the days that Cal hadn’t been able to pick me up. Luckily, there were no hard feeling for the way I had acted that day. In fact, he had been extremely kind to me these past couple weeks, with taking me home, showing me the ropes at the community center, and he even brought me doughnuts once before my shift. I was starting to think that Cal had been right in assuming Theseus had some kind of crush on me.
“I’m taking you home,” Jason grunted, walking out the door ahead of me.
I waved a goodbye to Percy and followed after Jason as he trudged his way toward a red sedan. Without a word, he opened up the door for me before jogging to the other side and hopping in. Slightly uncomfortable, I slid into his passenger seat and shut the door as softly as I could.
"I'm sorry about this, I know you didn't want to do this."
"Who said I didn't want to do this?” He asked, definitely looking annoyed.
I shrugged. ”Well, I assumed with the...you know."
He turned his head towards me his brows turned downward. “No, I don't know."
“That, right there!” I pointed to his face. "That frown and the grumbly thing you've got going on."