For Them | 18+

Chapter 18

Nikolas Elscher

Lugging my body through Delilah and her roommate's kitchen with drooping eyes, I make quick work of scanning the open concept space for something to revive myself. No matter how much I sleep, I fail to collect satisfaction from the supposed "healing" rest. Unfortunately, I've been told that with my job I have to display professionalism through punctuality, which means supplementing much needed sleep with a certain drug. That drug is what I'm craving at this very moment.

It's silly for me to be teaching about the effect of sleep, and a lack thereof, on the minds of growing young adults at 8:30 AM when I'm sure a good chunk of them didn't even touch their beds before 2 AM. But alas, the primary goal of administration is often not to improve learning, so I dare not mention it. At least, not if I don't want to make enemies in my workplace.

My lips tug upward in a victorious smile when I locate a coffee machine tucked under the cupboards, but frown when I don't see any coffee pods to put in the machine.

"Delilah?" I call out to her in the living room.

"Yeah?"

"Where's your coffee?"

A pause. Then shuffling.

Her head pops up over the couch she was sitting in front of, "uhm, I think Law keeps them in the island drawer. Second one." Her head turns around before she even finishes her sentence, and my ears pick up the clicking of the keys on her laptop starting back up. I almost feel guilty for disrupting the flow of her thoughts into her word document, but that feeling passes quickly enough as my fingertips touch the coffee pod.

"Thank you," I mutter satisfactorily, beelining for the machine as soon as I push the drawer closed.

I like this. Being with Delilah right after waking up – carrying out such domestic tasks – I learn a lot more about her mannerisms than I would otherwise. So far, I've deduced that she's a school-oholic. She's very similar to Sebastian in that regard. Total nerds.

"Oh! I forgot to mention, Law should be home soon. Didn't wanna catch you off guard." She says, and funnily enough, that's the exact moment that we hear keys jingling haphazardly in the hall.

I look down, letting out a relieved breath when I confirm that I am fully clothed.

The keys jingle and clank against the door for an oddly extended period of time before they actually turn in the key slot. It's unlikely that someone could be so genuinely atrocious at accurately placing a key in a reasonably sized keyhole. It's almost as if she's making sure we hear her coming in.

"Hey, guys! You decent? Can I enter?"

I huff out a laugh.

Delilah rolls her eyes, "Yes, Law. Come in before the neighbours start yelling at you again."

"Sorry, just being cautious.."

We listen, or rather I, listen in anxiousness to Lawson struggling with her boots before she appears in the entrance to the open space, heaving her coat off to hang in the closet.

I'm relieved from an awkward morning-after encounter when I hear the telltale clicking of dog paws hitting the floor. You can always count on pets to interrupt at the right moments.

Kaato is soon within eyesight, having been woken from her nap in Delilah's room, charging around the corner right into Lawson.

She cries out in surprise as the dog reaches up for her on her hind legs without warning. "Have some decorum, dog," she scolds playfully as she ruffles the medium sized dog's floppy ears all the same.