To Love an Incubus

Chapter 9; The Quiet Quarry

I didn't go out last night, instead; I put a movie in the DVD player and Corrin and I sat on the couch and watched movies until our eyelids were too heavy to even try to change the finished movie. It was probably a bad big brother move seeing as how I had work tomorrow and he had school, but I didn't care. I spent time with my brother on a bad day, which is what I should have done last time, but I didn't.

The next day seemed to drone on slowly. When Benny stopped by to check up on us and the store, I didn't even muster up enough energy to pretend to be alert and awake. Benny didn't make me explain, he just patted me on the back and said I was welcome to swipe an energy drink if I needed it. I couldn't ask for a better boss, but I could ask for a better landlord.

Ron, my landlord, had called me four times while I was at work. Finally, when I got sick of the constant calling, I took my lunch break early to see if I could tell him off. Every time I tried to say something he cut me off.

"No, Auric, I want the rent money today. I let you have a little slack last month, I won't take it this month. Today, Auric." I shoved the phone back into my pocket with a sigh. I knew that if I didn't pay him when he stopped by at five, that I would surely get evicted, the only issue was that I had to use an extra fifty dollars for the doctor's appointments Corrin and I had yesterday, which came out of the rent money.

I thought back to how easy it had been to swipe something small off of someone and how big the pay could be. I think back to Willow and her promise. I hit my head on the outside wall of the store-front of the gas station. I tried to will my brain into thinking of something else, anything else. I couldn't afford the payments of a credit card at the moment, and even if I tried to swing it, I would have to sign up for one, get approved, and receive the card which would take too long and my credit was shit so the payments would be high.

I could ask someone if I could borrow it, but what if another expense came up and I couldn't afford it and then I ruin a relationship over fifty bucks? I must have stood there for the entirety of my lunch break, thinking of different things I could do before five before I got an idea. There was a gold ring in my mother's bedroom. It was the only thing left of my dad, his wedding ring, a symbol of my mother and my father's love, but he didn't need it anymore, neither did my mom.

I remember my mom telling me how they had only been married for a month before he disappeared, leaving her pregnant and alone with his wedding band on the nightstand. There had been police investigations, but it was as if he had never even existed. You can't track a ghost, they had said. A few years later, she had slept with Derek, trying to move on. After finding out my mom was pregnant, he moved in, but they never married. Then a few short years after that, Derek had died in a car accident. He wasn't home very much; he spent a lot of his time at the school, dedicating most of his time to teaching science. I think that's why Corrin had always focussed more on academic work rather than sports, to make his dad proud from the grave. I couldn't be sure though, we never talked about death or the afterlife, if there was one. It was too uncomfortable, since death seemed to follow my family closely.

I decided then, I would leave work early and grab the ring which never left the nightstand where he had left it all those years ago, and give it to the pawnshop. The plan, worked perfectly, in the technical sense. I hadn't expected the guilt of selling the ring. No one thought of it anymore, but it stilled seemed wrong to pawn away the only thing that was left of my father's existence.

I had never really wondered about him until this moment, standing in front of a plump man handing over the gold circle. Of course I wondered about what had happened to him, but I never really pushed the subject. He was probably dead, maybe murdered or kidnapped. If he wasn't, he was probably living a life with a mistress he probably had when he left. I might have little half-siblings out there and we would never know of each other.

The walk home seemed grim and the surrounding air seemed stale, if that was possible. The three-hundred dollars in my pocket had felt less like victory and more like loss. Not even long drags on my nicotine sticks had eased my conflicted mind. I thought about Jackie and fished for my phone. Opening the screen I saw that I had a message from Dorrian already sitting there. It was simple, just asking if I was free to hang out. I thought about my options and typed out a quick 'Sure'.

I left the money for rent on the table with a quick note telling Corrin to give it to Ron that I would be back later. I stood in front of my apartment complex and waited for Dorrian to arrive. I almost didn't recognize him when he showed up since he had been driving a green Jeep Range Rover rather than his black sports car. I hopped in the front seat and he looked over at me with a smile. I smiled back, although mine was a little forced, and asked where we were going. He didn't answer and instead turned on the music.

The ride was silent, and I had been in my head so when we stopped it shocked me to see that we had stopped at a rocky quarry. The water was blue and slightly murky. I got out and watched as Dorrian pulled out a small cooler and a blanket, probably meant to sit on. It could have been called a small hike to reach the spot that Dorrian convinced me was the best. I looked at the small patch of even ground around the rocky slopes. Climbing down to it had been a hassle, and dangerous, might I add, but I knew that Dorrian had watched me closely as I climbed down the edge to meet him on the ledge. It was a long drop if one of us were to fall off.

Dorrian laid down the blanket and sat on it gesturing for me to sit down next to him. When I sat down, he reached into the small black cooler and handed me a beer. I accepted, and he took out his own. It fizzled lightly when I pulled on the top to open the can. I took a few sips before setting it down beside me. We stared out at the water silently for what seemed to be hours, but was likely only a few minutes before he spoke.

"You seem different today, everything okay?" His question took me aback. Had I been acting that differently that a guy I just met had noticed?

"Yeah, just a little stressed, I guess." Dorrian nods in response and I continue to fill the silence.

"Where did you find this place? Didn't you like just move here?" I ask. He looked over at me, his green eyes meeting my blue ones. His hair shifted as a breeze passed through, I could feel mine doing the same.

"Yeah, when we went to buy land-a few acres for the space and hunting grounds-we passed it and I came back a few times to just enjoy the stillness and the quietness out here. No one ever comes here," he says, I nod. I had never hunted, but I knew a few people who were serious about it, I bet Dorrian was, seeing as how he had bought land for it. My mind drifts off to how in the world he had the money for it. He probably had help or saved up.

I felt Dorrian move a little closer, his arm stretching behind him and resting slightly behind me, propping himself up while leaning back. His arm was close enough to where it touched my back gently, a barely-there touch. I didn't move, even though I probably would have if it had happened last month, before my body began to change, before it began to appreciate the simplest of touches.

We stayed like this for hours, this I was sure of. I watched as the sun began to lower itself, making the water glisten as the sun got close to it. I watched as the sky began to change from a bright blue to a warm orange. By that point my legs had fallen asleep and my back ached form staying in the same position.

Every once in a while Dorrian had shared a story of him and his siblings getting into trouble as kids. I listened and could picture them all raiding their mothers pantry for cookies before dinner, then getting caught red-handed. When I made no move to offer up any stories of my own, he would share another one of his. I knew he was trying to coax me into sharing some of my own, but I didn't want to. I just wanted to sit quietly and listen to his as the sun went down.

Once the sky turned dark, Dorrian grabbed my hand to pull me up, and it lingered for a minute longer than needed, neither of us said anything as we walked back to his Jeep.

I felt relaxed after watching the sun fall and the sky change, which was a pleasant change from the guilt that tensed my body earlier. It was slightly odd seeing as I had never felt this calm and comfortable in Dorrian's presence. Usually, he made me jumpy and oddly tense. It could have been his childhood stories putting me at ease, or maybe I was getting used to his unique behavior. Both of them seemed probable.