The Edifice

37. Inexplicable Tongue Fetish (and Waffles!)

OLIVIA

Otis and I meander about the house in pyjamas all morning, doing anything to distract from the void that Lee's sarcastic, crotchety presence normally fills. I try my luck with the enormous bookshelf in the living room downstairs, bursting with everything from deceptively normal textbooks to great tomes bound in worn leather. Each is filled with writing and diagrams on strange rituals and spell-work that I can only half-decipher.

"You like coffee, don't you?" Otis asks, poking his head right through Lee's pantry door.

The sudden craving at the very word makes me clench my fists in restraint. In a weak voice I reply, "Yes. I... like it."

"I can try and synthesise some. Lee has so many spices, but not much to cook with." Otis trundles out with a handful of herbs and spices and sets up by the stove with a pot of water. "I flunked out of school, but alchemy is pretty natural to me."

I put down the books and wander over to watch him, jumping up to sit on the counter beside him. "Like, the turning lead to gold kind?"

"It's just about changing energy," Otis replies, looking up at me. At this height on the bench, I'm two inches taller than him and he has to crane his body to reach around me and turn on the stove. "I have plenty of that to spare."

He plunges his hand into the water and with a sharp crackle of energy down his arm it begins to boil around his fingers. He starts dumping in the other ingredients with a look of intense concentration. Face down-turned, a focused tongue pressed against his shimmering top lip, Otis is quite the pretty sight to behold.

"Can I ask you something awkward, Olivia?" Otis asks, glancing sideways at me as he stirs his noxious concoction. "Taking into account that I've been practising being human for little over two days now."

"Yes?"

"Are you people monogamous? What's the deal with breeding? Do you have courting practices? Is it mating for life? I know Le- I know some people are promiscuous, is that a common thing?" 

My cheeks flush hot. "We're all different, I guess. Most people end up with a one true love at some point. Some people are lonely, others are never left alone enough. Why do you ask?"

"I mean, you like Lee, don't you?" Otis turns to face me, leaning against the bench with his long fingered hands to either side of my thighs. I can't escape his penetrating gaze as he has me cornered on the bench top before him. "He said he wants to kiss you."

"I-" I pause. Otis cocks his head to one side and I  have a sinking feeling that he's listening to my heartbeat, which has jumped into a tremulous flutter by now. "I like Lee. A lot."

What else can I say, when the only thing I'm wearing is one of Levi's old shirts as a nightgown. Actually, now I notice it, so is Otis-

"And your thoughts on sharing?"

The only thing I can manage is a nervous giggle. "Me, or him?"

Otis doesn't respond, cursing softly as something in the pot pops beneath his hands. He withdraws his hand, some golden, Taffy-like substance clinging to his fingertip. He frowns as the substance and touches it to the tip of his long, pointed tongue. Brows furrowed in indecision, he offers it to me. "Coffee flavour?"

"Smells like you burnt sugar and water in a pot, Otis," I reply, like that's not exactly what I've done. But he's standing so close and he's so beautiful...

All the times I let Levi slip through my fingers come rushing back guiltily. Was I going to spend the rest of my life lamenting over missed kisses with someone who didn't want me? I'd already had my first kiss with Otis, after all. That head-spinning, toe-curling kiss...