Vacancy Signs

Chapter 3: More To Say

Liam feels more exhausted than he has in a while. The bed beneath him is soft and comfortable, cradling his travel-weary body perfectly, but sleep is nothing more than a passing fancy. The room is quiet, the only sound is his breathing and the sleepy beat of his heart. There's no fire crackling the night away, no rustle of animals in the brush, or fluttering of wings. Just silence; loud in its emptiness and oppressive. He stares up at the dark ceiling in defeat and waits for the dawning light of the sun to peak through his curtains.

Theo is already in the mess hall, sitting wedged between Lizette and a girl with short platinum hair. The skin beneath his eyes looks dark, as though he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep either, but he's nodding along to the conversation and smiling in that faux charming way he has. Liam's learned to spot the difference. Liam's seen Theo smile for real, and doesn't think anyone can be fooled after witnessing it.

"Ah, Liam, good morning." A voice greets him, a large hand landing on his shoulder. Liam jerks his gaze away from Theo guiltily.

"Morning, uh... Mr. Jericho?"

"Just Jericho is fine," The man grins brightly down at him. "Come, let us get you a plate of food."

He steers Liam towards the line of food and Liam's mouth salivates at the smell of it. There are seasonings and meat that isn't squirrel or rabbit, Liam changes his mind about the bed, this right here is heaven.

There's a long table with a line of servers behind it, doling out food onto glass plates and handing out silverware. Jericho greets them by name, and introduces Liam to each of them, but Liam only has eyes for the large container of scrambled eggs. The server, Liam thinks his name is Ralphie, heaps a pile of the fluffy eggs onto a plate and hands it over to the next server who adds a large chunk of toasted bread and meat next to the eggs.

"It's deer meat," Jericho explains. "And Martha cooks it brilliantly."

"You flatter me, Jer." Martha laughs, blue eyes crinkling delightedly at the compliment.

"I speak only truths, my dear," Jericho replies with a coy smile.

A boy leans in close to Martha, he's maybe a year or two younger than Liam, and loudly whispers, "Stop flirting in front of the guest, you two." He drops half an apple onto Liam's plate, takes it from a red-faced Martha, and hands it to Liam. "Enjoy, dude."

"Thanks," Liam chuckles, hurrying away from the sputtering adults.

"Morning," Lizette yawns, poking at her own plate of eggs when Liam drops into the seat across from her.

"Morning." Liam smiles, picking up his fork and digging into his breakfast. The first bite is amazing, the eggs soft and warm. He scoops some up onto his bread and takes a large indelicate bite. He's pretty sure he can die happy now. "This is delicious."

Theo's nose wrinkles in disgust. "Don't talk with your mouth fool, you animal."

Lizette laughs," I suppose it would seem pretty good after being on the road."

The girl on Theo's other side leans in towards him and asks; "What do you guys normally eat while you're out there?"

Liam pauses, bread halfway raised to his mouth, but Theo answers the question before he has a chance to.

"Usually whatever we find that's nonperishable, and we hunt sometimes so we have rabbit or squirrel." Liam makes a face because he's tired of eating squirrel. Theo ignores him, lips twitching at the corners in a way that puts Liam on guard. "Though, Liam seems to survive primarily on whatever candy he finds."

Liam flips him off, mouth too full of food to make a snappy comeback. Theo's lips twist in that way they do before he smiles for real, but it's gone entirely too fast as his mouth falls back into the comfortable fixture of a half smirk. As though remembering last minute that it's not just the two of them sitting at this table trading barbs.