Fire & Flesh

by Kerri Carr

  “Hello?” Flinging open the barrier, Sophia eyeballed the man that stood on the other side. She didn’t know him, so that meant he was Jocelyn’s friend. Just considering it made Sophia roll her eyes. It was embarrassing being related to someone that would so easily cheat on their significant other.

  Of course, Paul probably did the same thing, so it really canceled itself out.

  “Hey, I’m looking for Jocelyn Hayes?” Refocusing her attention, Sophia frowned lightly before leaning on the door frame.

  “Who’s askin’?” Before her the man was actually pretty good looking. Sophia liked that he wasn’t a severe bodybuilder or something similarly horrific. Those kinds of men were usually Jocelyn’s type. Scanning his plain, white crewneck t-shirt and faded jeans, she couldn’t imagine he worked out more than necessary. He clearly had muscle her eyes drank up greedily, but it wasn’t overly much for his tall frame.

  “I’m Dylan. Who’re you?” Sophia’s gaze snapped up to Dylan’s face and her frown vanished as she scrunched up her nose in distaste.

  “Dylan, huh? I knew a guy in middle school named Dylan. He was a total snot slinger. Grossest kid I ever met. Anyway, I’m Sophia, Jocelyn’s cousin. What do you want her for?”

  The moment Dylan drew in a breath Sophia knew she wasn’t going to like what she heard.

  “We’re supposed to go on a date tonight, actually. Is she around?” Sophia buried her bark of laughter under a mouthful of spaghetti before gesturing Dylan inside. She’d gotten too used to this scenario, though. Jocelyn would go on ‘dates’ with other guys, just like Paul would do with other women. They’d go to dinner or something, and then come back to have an all-night party for two. It was times like these when Sophia was eternally grateful she was a heavy sleeper.

  “Where you takin’ her? Nowhere greasy, I hope. She’s the craziest health nut I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.”

  Dylan looked around the flat for a second before shrugging, and he shoved his hands into his jean pockets as he looked at her.

  “Not particularly. I got a reservation at Michael’s Bay.” At the mention Sophia perked up and her bowl hit the table a little harder than necessary. Michael’s Bay was the best seafood shack in town and unless someone reserved it, there was always a long wait. She knew it was worth it though. Even remembering her last visit almost a month ago, made her mouth water.

  “Michael’s Bay is so-o-o-o good. I love their crab cakes. And the lobster rolls. And the seafood mac-n-cheese… I’ve had almost everything on the menu at least once before, you know.” At the gush Dylan smiled a little awkwardly and glanced around again. Without his gaze on her, Sophia licked her lips before her own eyes wandered to her bowl of dry spaghetti. There wasn’t even sauce on it. The whole thing was pathetic.

  “So… do you think you can go get Jocelyn? The reservation’s for 5pm...”

  “Oh yeah. Sure. Be right back- don’t eat my noodles.” Sophia flashed a smile at Dylan before making her way across the living room but it soon dropped as soon as he couldn’t see her face. Usually if a new guy came over she didn’t get involved. Being in the middle left a bad taste in her mouth and sometimes he would even blame her for wasting his time. Letting out a soft huff on her way down the short hallway, she shoved her hands through her short blonde waves.

  So close to Jocelyn’s door, Sophia was kind of surprised she didn’t hear anything anymore. Slowly she lifted her hand to knock, but even then hesitated slightly. She’d have to tuck tail and hide in her bedroom once Paul realized why Dylan was here. They both probably knew the other cheated on them, but coming face to face with the truth was different.

  “Hey! Jocelyn- there’s a guy here asking you to dinner!” Speaking loudly through the door, Sophia listened for a moment as the calm before the storm washed over her. Inside she heard the bed creak before pushing herself away from the door to travel back to the living room. Dylan stood where she’d left him looking none the wiser. The mental image of what was about to happen made an overly wide smile split across her face.

  “She’ll be right out,” Sophia chirped and leaned on the edge of the table to cross her arms under her bust. Usually she didn’t revel in the stupidity of others. Most of the time she even went out of her way not to annoy her cousin.

  This, though- this was worth watching and all of the crappy feelings she’d feel when it was over.

  “Paul! Paul wait!” Jocelyn’s voice crackled as her shouting rang throughout the apartment. Sophia felt kind of bad when she glanced at Dylan, though. He seemed to know exactly what was going on. Retraining her gaze as Paul stormed out of the hallway, she kept the frown even though she wanted to gag. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and all that muscle was just plain unattractive.

  “Paul! It’s a misunderstanding! Wait!” Dylan slid to the side a bit to avoid being mowed down, and Paul was clearly too angry to care about what Jocelyn had to say. Truly Sophia wasn’t sure if she should feel anything, so she just pulled a forkful of drying spaghetti into her mouth as the drama unfolded before her. They’d gotten themselves into this mess.

  Sophia turned her gaze to her cousin and frowned passed her food. Jocelyn only had a pair of panties on, and they weren’t even that flattering. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were already puffy and red. No one really knew it but Sophia’s littler cousin wasn’t a pretty crier.

  “P-”

  “No, Jocelyn!” Paul was only a foot from the door when he whirled around and roared in Jocelyn’s face. It even made Sophia unknowingly scoot closer to Dylan. Her cousin’s now ex-boyfriend looked madder than mad. His hands were clenched into fists and even the vein in his forehead bulged as his face glowed an angry red.

  “I fucking told you not to do this shit anymore. I told you the first time I found out, and you promised me you’d stop. I told you the second time that if I caught you again we were done. You just can’t fucking keep your legs closed, can you? Not even for a man you supposedly love. Well go to hell. You’re nothing more than a cum hungry slut and you don’t even have the personality to negate that.” With one last scathing glare Paul threw open the door and closed it behind him with a ‘bang’. Sophia couldn’t hold back her sigh of relief now that the tension was withering away. Turning her gaze to her cousin, she wasn’t sure if she should be surprised or not at the impudent expression on her face.

  Jocelyn didn’t even pay her own bills, though. It was hard to think that she’d be capable of having a relationship.

  As if knowing what she was thinking, Jocelyn turned to cast a glare of her own at Sophia. It was the smallest of signs, but it was enough for the blonde to do one thing she hated most.

  Cardio.

  Sophia dropped her bowl and let it crash on the tiled kitchen floor as Jocelyn tried to get at her. She could’ve used anything nearby to get away; even the kitchen table that was touching her butt. Instead, Sophia scurried her way around Dylan and wrapped her hands around his arm. Even though he wasn’t obligated to protect her, Sophia stilled closed her eyes tightly and held her breath. Against her bust Dylan’s muscles flexed, but all she felt was relief before the sound of a body hitting the floor sounded.

  “If you want to fight, I’ll call the police right fucking now because I’ll kick your fucking ass, Jocelyn. And you- let go of me. Seriously. You’re not seven.” Cracking open her eyes, Sophia slowly let go of Dylan’s arm before he took a few steps back away from both her and her cousin. For a moment he just looked between the two, and it was at this point that Sophia felt guilt begin to bubble up inside her. She should’ve told him the moment she opened the door that this would happen. Not for Paul or even Jocelyn, but simply because Dylan wasn’t a part of their turbulent relationship.

  “I’m out of here.” Making his way to the door, Dylan left Sophia with a bad feeling in her tummy and Jocelyn ready to explode on the floor. Before she even really had a chance to think about it she followed him out the front door.

  “Wait! Dylan, I just want to apologize for
that. I didn’t know Paul was being faithful.” Even to her ears Sophia’s excuse was a crappy one, but as she caught up to Dylan’s long strides it was the only one she had. Why this time was different she didn’t know, but now she was so far up a river without a paddle it didn’t bear thinking about. Jocelyn might even kick her out for exposing her dirty little secret.

  Next to her Dylan simply sighed heavily with a half shrug.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m not sure what she was planning but I thought it was just a date.”

  Walking towards the elevator, Sophia grimaced at Dylan’s revelation before combing her fingers through her bob. Around her plain, dull colors dominated, and even outside the windows things looked bleak. Maybe it was because of how bad she felt.

  “Jocelyn doesn’t do ‘dates’, exactly. But anyway, what are you going to do now that your evening went down the shitter?”

  “Well, I booked this reservation for two and it’s nonrefundable so I guess I just lost forty dollars.”

  Tapping the downward facing triangle on the elevator, Sophia frowned lightly before her mouth seemed to open on its own. She wasn’t sure how it came to this when only a minute ago Dylan was calling her a child. Really it didn’t matter, though.

  She’d never pass up a chance to go to Michael’s Bay.

  “I’ll go with you, if you want. I mean, if you don’t mind.” Furrowing her eyebrows, Sophia stared at the glowing button as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. She had a hard time believing those words just came out of her mouth. Dylan was staring down at her five-foot three-inch frame; she knew because she could feel it against the crown of her head. Pursing her lips together, she scrunched up her nose at her own stupidity. Of course he would say no. She’d just ruined his day, his date, and his underlying chance to get laid.

  “Sure.”

  When Sophia whipped her head up at his approval, Dylan felt a slight smirk cross his face. She looked totally shocked; her rounded features turning slightly red. He might not have appreciated what she did, or how she did it, but she’d gotten him out of a serious bind. Jocelyn was interesting, sure, but it was just a date. Sleeping with her wasn’t on the agenda and wasn’t something he did on a first date anyway.

  “Really? Oh yeah! I love Michael’s Bay!” Dylan watched Sophia do a little dance and realized he felt much better about tonight than he had when he got here. In the few minutes he’d known her he could tell she was sort of a free soul. Whenever he went on dates, it almost seemed forced on some level, but she was just so incredibly chilled out. It was hard to be tense around her, and he didn’t know why. Frankly he wasn’t going to question it either.

  “I’m so glad I get to eat something yummy.”

  *****

  Stepping into the elevator, Sophia wiggled her toes and pushed hard on the button that led to the first floor of the apartment building. It wasn’t overly luxurious, but Jocelyn didn’t want to live in a moderately affordable home. Glancing around the nice box, Sophia wondered what her cousin was going to do when Jocelyn’s brother stopped wanting to pay for her. They’d been living together for nearly two years now, but already Sophia had to guilt trip Oliver into the failing investment.

  “Sophia?” Sophia snapped back to the present at the call, Sophia shook her head lightly to get away from the thoughts. Her eyes turned to Dylan and a small, guilty smile overtook her lips.

  “Sorry… I spaced out. What did you say?”

  “I asked what you do for a living.” His words came out a little bland, but she didn’t really react on it. Instead, her mind turned to her equally failing career and her smile turned into a frown.

  “I’m an artist, but not one of the shitty ones that gets discovered for stupid ‘modernism’. I heard on the news once a while ago that this cleaning lady for an art gallery got fined five hundred grand for throwing away trash disguised as art. I’m one of the good ones that hasn’t gotten discovered and fades into obscurity… What about you?”

  Sophia posed her question as the elevator came to a stop, letting out a shrill ‘bing’ to signal they’d arrived at the ground floor. While the doors opened, Dylan was quiet, but as soon as they were walking across the smallish lobby he spoke up. His voice leaked distaste as he described his situation.

  “I’m unemployed right now. I can’t seem to find a job anywhere.” Nodding absently as they neared the lobby door, Sophia frowned lightly as she debated that predicament. Getting a job, even as a bus boy, wasn’t easy now. The economy wasn’t doing very well and it was just a vicious cycle of despair. In that way she supposed she was glad Oliver was basically paying for everything. She was free to save up what little money being a cashier gave her.

  Really what she wanted to do was sell a few artworks for a ridiculous amount of money and never have to work again.

  “That sucks. I work part-time at this store called the Fashionista and it’s absolute hell. One of the conditions of my cousin Oliver paying the rent for Jocelyn’s apartment was that I had a job and was saving up. That’s more than I can say for her, though. Lazy bitch.”

  Once outside the apartment complex, Dylan rubbed his jaw absently in an effort to hide his grimace. He hated freeloaders, but at least Sophia had plans with her life and was actively pursuing them. It was more than he had, at least. No matter where he went he just couldn’t get hired.

  “Well it’d be worse if I wasn’t on medical leave. I got back from Afghanistan about eight months ago and got shoved into the reserves. I don’t think the doctors like me all that much because I’m perfectly fine.” Pausing mid step, Sophia looked up at Dylan with widening eyes. Things seemed to snap into place in that moment.

  No wonder he wasn’t a huge bodybuilder, he had to be efficient and not just ogle-worthy.

  “Holy crap- really? You’re in the Army?”

  “Navy. Spent five tours out until I broke my leg in three places and had to get a few metal rods inserted.”

  Reaching up to rub his jaw again, Dylan took the sharp turn onto the sidewalk with a slight frown on his face. He didn’t particularly mind disclosing such information about himself. Actually, he was very proud of his service. It was the fact that he was out for good now, it seemed, that made him angry.

  “That’s so cool. That means you’re not entirely organic. You’re, like, some early form of cyborg.”

  Wandering down the sidewalk, Sophia’s mouth just ran off on her. What she’d said made her stop dead as a wash of mortification crashed into her. Before her Dylan also paused, and her eyes widened almost comically wide as he slowly turned around. She really wanted to snap her eyelids shut, but they wouldn’t obey. How she could be so disrespectful was beyond her; the observation just slipped out before she could tell her brain not to.

  “Oh my God! T- that’s not what I meant! I mean- I just… Y-” Sophia’s face turned a bright red the color of a healthy tomato before Dylan couldn’t keep a straight face anymore. His laughter burst out of him and cut her off as she fumbled over her apology. It was a hearty laugh; a laugh he hadn’t had in a long time. Everyone he knew always showed sympathy when he disclosed his injury, but she’d basically called him a science experiment. The description was apt, too, since she wasn’t exactly wrong.

  Reaching up to rub his neck, Dylan forced his amusement down enough until he could offer a response.

  “No one has ever said that to me before. I guess you’re not wrong, either… Oh man… That was great.”

  The smile that split Sophia’s face was crooked, and her shoulders slumped dramatically in relief. When she lurched forward there was a small sashay in her step. Even Dylan’s smile didn’t fall as they continued walking.

  “I offend a lot of people so I say ‘sorry’ a lot.”

  The journey to Dylan’s truck wasn’t long, and Sophia admired the shiny, black paint job for a moment. She liked trucks well enough but was too scared to drive one herself. For now, she was content with her beat up two-door. Dylan didn’t offer a verbal response
even as he pulled out his keys and remotely unlocked his vehicle. For a second she wondered what would happen if her and Jocelyn’s roles were reversed. Her cousin didn’t like even being a passenger in a truck even though this one was fairly small.

  “So you said you’re an artist, right Sophia? What else do you do in your spare time?” It wasn’t until Dylan was driving that he posed his question. Keeping his eyes on the road, he had absolutely no clue what Sophia would say. That sense of misdirection was actually pretty nice considering he felt he could read people well.

  “Uh-h… I like going to my friend Tanya’s house and getting mobbed by her horde of dogs. But most of the time I just go to work, wander around the city or stay in my room and do my best to avoid Jocelyn. She cramps my style so bad, and I’ve been in a real slump lately. I mean, it could just be because I’m smoking a different type of weed but I re-”

  “You smoke weed?” Driving steadily down one of the many roads that led to the boardwalks, Dylan furrowed his eyebrows and tried not to frown. Now it made sense why Sophia was so laid back. He’d never met a stoner before in his entire life, so he just couldn’t identify it. When she didn’t reply he glanced over and it was written all over her face that she hadn’t meant to let that tidbit of information slip.

  “Yeah… I just do it for recreation, but I’m not a pothead, I swear.” Speaking a bit hesitantly, Sophia frowned as she kept her eyes firmly glued to the dash. Most people didn’t really care about the issue unless it was pressed onto them, and she hoped that was Dylan’s stand. Others couldn’t find a better thing to do than talk and downgrade someone that smoked weed without a medical condition. For her the silence that weighed on the cabin of the truck was heavy and uncomfortable. It seemed to stretch on a lot longer than a single half block.

  “It’s not a big deal, I guess- but that stuff’s still illegal and I’m not going to get a ticket if you’ve got any on you.” Adjusting his grip on the steering wheel, Dylan really wasn’t sure what he thought about Sophia’s habit. Drugs were never something he really learned about. All he knew was that he had to stay away, and that was what he did.