Vanilla

Forty

[Leroy]

Third night of thanksgiving holidays; I was working on the third and final draft of my book, making minor changes to phrasing or re-positioning text and photos when someone decided to knock on my door.

My first and expected reaction was to ignore it. But then it went on and realistically speaking, having spent the entire afternoon testing and refining recipes in the lodge kitchen without running into someone else, I'd automatically assumed I was alone in Cayenne.

A ghost then, I got up and crossed the room, unlocking the door and swinging it open. Disappointed by an obviously human girl, I was about to close it.

"Hey hey, wait up," she laughed, hand on my door. I stared at it. The other one was in her hair, twirling it. "I'm Chloe. Third-year nutritionist. You're not... busy on a holiday night are you? I mean... someone like you shouldn't be alone." I think she smiled. I honestly can't tell.

I must have missed her point because—where was it again? She wouldn't move, shifting her weight and then doing something that resembled blinking but with only one eye which wasn't a wink because I'm pretty sure winking doesn't look like that. My eyes narrowed.

Chloe clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes with a laugh before dragging a familiar someone into the picture. Raul. He'd been standing in my blind spot, beside the doorbell, not looking very proud to be involved in whatever was about to happen. Either way, I couldn't really catch the look on his face since he had his head lowered and a hand in the way of his forehead, presumably to avoid my gaze.

"So Raul over here says he's your best friend..." She let that settle in.

Yeah. Zero clue what she was on to and I barely recognised her, which meant she was definitely breaking some rule about letting non-residents into lodges over the holidays. Sure, I wasn't the friendliest person with the best memory around but at the very least, I could roughly make out who was and wasn't a part of Cayenne. Sort of.

"So?" The girl a year older than Raul and I finished in a weird, high-pitched voice. I was getting nothing out of her so I turned to Raul with a look. All he did was clear his throat and avert his gaze; code for 'don't ask me.'

I refused. "Thought you were in Milan."

"Yeah, uh... now I'm back," he laughed, sheepish, hand going to the back of his head. Chloe finally had the common sense to actually get to her point.

"So we were thinking. Maybe the three of us could have some fun tonight. Since we're, you know, the only ones here." She was clinging onto Raul's arm like he was some kind of trophy, and in the middle of her sing-song offer, started to reach for my hand. I pulled away before she could.

"I'm not casual."

Chloe blinked. She didn't seem to understand. Glancing between her and Raul, I could tell the latter was trying hard not to sigh. And I was trying hard not to fuck him over too hard.

I had to lay it out word for word; "I don't do hook ups."

"Oh," was all she said, visibly surprised. "Oh I thought... just by how you look..."

I snorted, shaking my head at her sheer stupidity and general lack of common sense. In my head, I was already planning what I'd be saying to Raul the next morning. Either way, the conversation was over so I shut the door and let them walk away.