Nothing But Bones

41: Elton Steps Out

Elton watches Tiff close the bathroom door to handle whatever she needs to before the big sleep. Now he's alone with two men who he had never met before maybe fifteen minutes ago, and the awkwardness of that is starting to hit him.

It's Melvin who breaks the silence, about thirty or forty-five seconds after Tiff leaves them. "So.. how do you know our favorite demigod?"

The teen fumbles for his words, stuck on the word demigod. It's taking some getting-used-to. "Um... Well, I was her waiter."

Melvin raises an eyebrow at that. He cocks his head slightly. "You were her waiter? That's it?"

"Yeah, basically," Elton laughs. "I saw she was doodling something I thought looked like the local haunted house, told her I could give her some more information, gave her my number, and... now we're here."

Nodding like that makes sense, Melvin grunts in contemplation for a moment until he decides on, "Wow. There are so many different ways she could have taken that. Personally, I would have thought you were hitting on me. Knowing Tiff, though? She probably saw nothing wrong with that. Maybe she thought you were going to try and murder her, but I think that would have interested her more. No, she was probably kind of awkward and called you the next day or later. Something like that. Admittedly, I actually haven't spent much time with Ms. Sheridan, aside from when I brought her from a dangerous place to my house and helped save the world with her. Bonds people, you know?"

"Yep," Elton agrees, mind slightly elsewhere. "I guess it does."

Tail wagging, Dingus rests his head on Elton's lap. Elton smiles down at his Hellhound and strokes his head for a bit, until his phone vibrates, startling them both. Pulling the phone out of his pocket is enough to see that the message is from Ben. Standing, he says, "I'm going to step out for a few minutes."

Melvin just shrugs, moving to sit in one of the two chairs at the small table in the corner of the room. Ellis has been there since the door closed, poring over the book.

Elton pats Dingus on the head and assures him, "Just hang here for a few, bud. I'll be back."

He takes the key from the spot on the desk where Tiff left it, steps out of the room, and hurries down the steps to the lobby. Except for a few lamps near the front desk, most of the lights are off. He knows it's for the sake of letting Jo do her job. Night clerks and security staff need to be able to work at night, after all— not that she ever does much. People hardly come near the town this late at night.

Though, he does suppose there was that one unruly guest his aunt would not shut up about at last Thanksgiving. Second Monday in October, and she spent the entire day talking about it. As she told it, a couple from somewhere out east had quite the argument and the husband got a little out of line. This prompted Jo, a black belt in both jiu-jitsu and judo, to restrain him. Aunt Nancy was positively giddy with glee, as she said she had to "threaten to fire the woman in order to keep her from breaking the man's arm." Other than that, the Beaverdell Hotel doesn't see much excitement.

Attention momentarily torn away from her book, Jo gives Elton a look. "You look like shit. I'm not going to ask, but just know you look like actual shit. Love you."

"Thanks, Jo," he laughs. "Get back to your book. I've got to make a very gay call."

Chuckling slightly, the woman obliges.

Elton plops down on the stiff, kind of uncomfortable loveseat in the lobby to call Ben.

He picks up immediately. Elton hears his voice, somewhere close to sleep, and nearly melts; Ben speaks first. "Hey, you."