by Jared Stone
Ring… Ring…
Maybe he won’t even pick up…, thought Lucian with relief.
Ring… Ring…
Phew, I can just leave a message…,
Ring… Ring…
This’ll be so much easier than…,
“Hi, this is Sam,” Sam’s voice suddenly announced from the other end of the call.
Lucian’s throat froze. He couldn’t form words, and he just sat there mute, wide-eyed and dumbfounded. Willow looked at him expectantly, urging him with her face to say something… anything….
“Hello?” Sam said again.
“Uhhhhhh, hi,” Lucian finally stammered. “This…, This is Lucian.”
He wanted to reach up and smack himself in the forehead for all his nervous stumbling, but he was too focused on trying to form sentences to make any other movement at that point.
“Oh, Lucian!” Sam exclaimed. “How are you?”
Sam’s tone clearly portrayed the fact that he was smiling, and, though Lucian couldn’t actually see it, just the thought of Sam’s heart-melting smile put him more at ease.
“Oh, good,” Lucian said back. “How are you?”
“I’m doing well, thanks,” Sam responded smoothly.
Sam had always been so much more articulate than Lucian, and this made Lucian feel that Sam was even further out of his league than before. The older boy clearly had more experience in these sorts of interactions during his few more years on this earth, and Lucian was a bit upset that Sam was naturally starting at such an advantage.
“Good,” Lucian said, nodding. He then grew silent.
“So, to what do I owe this honor?” Sam inquired jokingly after a lengthy pause.
Lucian swallowed hard. “Well, I was just thinking,” Lucian began. “Do you, like, wanna go out to eat sometime or something?”
Lucian’s stomach churned as he said this, and, before the older boy could even give an answer, Lucian added, “If not, that’s totally cool, I was just checking….”
Sam laughed on the other end. “I’d love to,” he said jovially. “When were you thinking?”
Lucian felt a tremendous flood of relief wash over him, followed quickly by another punch of nerves. “I don’t know,” he admitted. He hadn’t actually planned that far ahead in this whole process. “I go home for Thanksgiving tomorrow night and won’t be back again until Saturday. How about Saturday night?”
Sam took a minute to think. “Yeah, I think that’ll work,” he said. “You wanna just stop by the frat house and we’ll take it from there?”
Lucian was still so giddy with excitement, he would have accepted anything at that point. “Sure!” he exclaimed a little too enthusiastically.
“Alright, then,” Sam replied with a much steadier cadence. “Well, let’s say around seven at the OAO house Saturday night.”
“Sounds good! Thanks! I’ll see ya then!” Lucian blurted out in rapid succession to end the call. As he hung up, he couldn’t help but display a giant, dopey smile across his face.
“Well, that seemed to go pretty well,” Willow stated dryly. Her complete lack of emotion contrasted drastically with the boy’s own elation, but he knew that she was probably happy for him too, deep down inside. Down in a cave where she stashed and locked up all her feelings, sealed with forbidden magic and guarded by a fearsome dragon that asks you three riddles, mused Lucian.
“Yeah, we’re going out on Saturday night!” Lucian practically squealed. He was trying his hardest not to bounce up and down on the bed in excitement. He hated himself sometimes for acting like a high school girl… and Sam was usually at fault.
“Sweet,” Willow responded with a nod. “And see? Didn’t even kill you….”
Lucian’s confirmation of her words was cut short by a loud bang as the door to his room burst open. Three figures came stumbling in: Blake, along with one scantily clad girl on each of his arms.
“Blake!?” Lucian said in alarm as the two girls stood there wobbly, giggling uncontrollably.
Blake looked away from the girl on his left and stared at Lucian. The fuzzy, dazed look in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was already drunk, as did the smell of stale alcohol that came floating into Lucian’s nostrils shortly thereafter.
“Yeah?” Blake said, uncaring.
“What are you doing?” Lucian asked.
“Well…,” Blake began as he seemed to struggle to stand up straight. “I met these girls…, and took ‘em home….”
“Hiiiiiiii! I’m Sabrina!” one of the girls exclaimed excitedly, clumsily waving her hand back and forth through the air in a manner more reminiscent of swatting a fly than greeting. She was a very skinny and pretty young lady with dark skin that gave her an exotic look of South American – or perhaps Mexican – descent. Though clothed in an expensive dress that fit her toned form tightly, her general, drunken state at that moment made her appear sloppy and disheveled.
“Blake, we’re kind of in the middle of something here…,” Lucian said to his roommate, completely disregarding the messes which had accompanied him.
“Heh heh, so am I…,” Blake said with a lecherous snicker, looking at each one of the girls beside him with a grin.
“It’s like… nine o’clock,” Willow said, completely unimpressed with Blake’s juvenile display. “This is clearly amateur hour….”
Blake’s face dropped into a scowl. “Hey!” he yelled out, pointing toward the general direction of where Willow sat. “Get outta my room!”
Lucian pushed himself up off the bed and stood before his roommate. “Blake,” he said gently, “can you go someplace else? I’ve got my final day of classes tomorrow and was planning on going to bed soon.”
This seemed to make Blake even angrier. “No!” he roared in Lucian’s face. “No more of your freaky friends and gay sleepovers! Take that queer stuff outta here!”
Before Lucian could even react, Willow had forced herself between Blake and him. She put her face right in front of the intoxicated boy and growled, “You better watch what you say to him. I will wreck you.”
Lucian stood to the side, unsure of how to respond, and the two girls next to Blake became silent and distressed… or perhaps just confused. It was impossible to tell from their blank expressions. What was certain was the brief surprise on Blake’s face that quickly turned to rage.
“You’re lucky I don’t hit girls…,” he snarled.
“You’re lucky I don’t take out trash…,” Willow shot back, narrowing her eyes.
“GET OUT!” Blake exploded with a swing of his arm back toward the open door.
“Gladly,” said Willow calmly as she grabbed her stuff off the bed and headed out. As she passed by Lucian, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged the dumbstruck boy out with her. After they had left, Blake grabbed hold of the door and slammed it shut behind them, sending tremendous shockwaves of sound echoing down the hall.
There was a heavy silence that lingered in the air as Lucian and Willow wandered away from Lucian’s room. Willow, though externally composed, walked with a little more force to each step than normal. Lucian felt as though he was somewhere between punching something and breaking into tears.
“I could’ve handled that…,” Lucian eventually said, trying to sound masculine and tough.
“Pfft,” Willow responded, glancing over at Lucian. “And what were you gonna do? Blast him?”
Lucian just let out a disgruntled snort in rebuttal. I totally could’ve handled it, he continued to reassure himself as they walked out of the residence hall.
6 - Relations
Thursday, November 27th
“Ugh, it’s been soooo long since we last saw you!!” cried Mrs. Aarden as she once again wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him into a tight hug. Lucian had only been back at home for fewer than ten minutes, and already his mom had given him at least four hugs. She was positively glowing with excitement, which always seemed to be the case now, whenever Lucian made it back home.
�
�Since Halloween, I think,” Mr. Aarden chimed in thoughtfully. He was standing off to the side of the mother and boy in the living room, still holding Lucian’s bag he had brought in with him from the car. He had been the one to drive out to get Lucian while Mrs. Aarden stayed home and prepared the food for Thanksgiving dinner that evening.
“Yes! Too long!” Mrs. Aarden exclaimed again. “I hope we won’t only get to see you on the holidays!”
“Haha. Sorry, mom,” Lucian said sincerely. “Things got a lot crazier than I expected over the last month or so.”
Mrs. Aarden finally released her grip on her son and stepped back to look at his face. “Oh, I know,” she said sympathetically. “We just miss you so much around here now! But school always comes first, of course! I’m sure you’ve had your hands full with homework and tests and friends….”
And slaying demons…, thought Lucian to himself. He considered it best not to clarify that point out loud, however.
“I missed you too, mom,” Lucian said back to her instead with a nod.
“You just have final exams when you get back to school, right?” his dad asked.
“Yeah,” Lucian responded sullenly. He really was not looking forward to the hours and hours of studying that would be necessary over the next couple of weeks, and he knew that he should have already started studying over this break period…, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had mastered the fine art of self-justified procrastination over his relatively few years on this earth, and he reasoned that holiday breaks were never intended to be ruined by the dark, sinister shadow of review and memorization.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do just fine!” his mother interjected, patting him on his arm. “You’ve always been so good at taking tests!”
Lucian smiled. “Yeah, I’m not too worried,” he said reassuringly. In truth, whether or not he had learned enough over the past semester to pass the tests without studying more, Lucian always felt nervous and apprehensive before an examination period. In the end, he consistently ended up performing very well, but this didn’t help to decrease the anxiety he experienced leading up to it. Regardless, he also didn’t want his mother worrying unnecessarily if she didn’t have to.
“Oh! And how are things with you and Gus?” his mom chimed in playfully.
Lucian had a momentary heart palpitation as she said this, wondering how yet another person knew of his recently deceased friend, until he remembered that she had actually met Gus when he came to pick up Lucian on Halloween night.
“Oh…, Gus,” began Lucian with some hesitation. “Gus isn’t around anymore.”
“Oh, why not?” his mom asked with great sadness apparent in her face.
“He… transferred someplace else,” Lucian replied somberly. The boy hoped it wasn’t too apparent to his mom and dad that he was altering the facts. He hated lying to them outright, but he obviously could not tell them the full truth either. Odds were they’d send him to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation! It was an unfortunate but necessary predicament in which he found himself.
“Well, that is a pity,” his mom said, laying her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “He seemed like a very nice guy. You two looked so good together.”
Lucian’s eyes grew wide. He finally understood why his parents had behaved so peculiarly when they had first met Gus. He blushed, embarrassed by the apparent mix up.
“Oh, no! Gus and I weren’t…,” Lucian stammered, overcome by the unexpected perception his parents had had. “Gus and I were just good friends!”
His mom broke into a knowing smile. “Of course, honey…,” she practically whispered, clearly not believing a word the boy was saying.
“Well, shall we get you up to your room to get ready for dinner?” his father cut in abruptly. The change in subject was greatly welcomed by Lucian, who didn’t want to dwell on the specifics of his relationship with Gus any longer.
“Absolutely,” Lucian stated thankfully.
Mr. Aarden walked past the boy and his mother toward the stairs to the second level of the house. Lucian followed after him. As he passed by one particular little table in the hallway, he paused and looked down.
“Mom, is this new?” inquired the boy.
The object which he had spotted upon the table was the carving of an angel. His mother had always had a small obsession with angels, buying everything from statues to paintings to books about them. He didn’t understand why, but, ever since she was a little girl, her inexplicable love of angels had been very pronounced. As such, Lucian had grown up in a home filled with angels, so this particular statuette normally would have been nothing out of the ordinary. However, though the sculptor had chosen to carve out the robes and wings in intricate detail, the face of the angel was blank. No features adorned the smooth, rounded surface underneath the angel’s golden wire halo, and this gave the statuette a creepy, disfigured appearance that Lucian felt was very off-putting.
“Yes, isn’t it lovely?” his mother asked gently, coming up to his side. “I found it at a local craft fair last weekend. The artist makes each of them by hand. I just thought it looked so nice.”
Lucian furrowed his brow. “It’s… uuuhhhhhh…,” Lucian stammered, trying to find the right words. “It’s kind of creepy….”
“That’s what I said,” his father chimed in bluntly.
“That’s enough out of both of you!” Mrs. Aarden scolded, playfully smacking Lucian on the shoulder. “I think that it’s just beautiful! Now, go put your things away and get ready for dinner. It’ll be ready shortly!”
With a chuckle, Lucian continued up the stairs after his father to settle into the familiar comfort of his childhood room.
* * *
Saturday, November 29th
Thanksgiving Break with his parents had been just the sort of rejuvenating, restful respite that Lucian had needed. The night’s dinner was delicious, and Lucian had forgotten how much he missed eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. He spent the rest of the weekend lounging about at home, watching movies with his parents, going out to lunch with some high school friends, and playing some of his old video games. And the best aspect of all was the fact that nothing tried to kill him. For the whole week! And Lucian was very grateful for that.
But Saturday afternoon came quicker than Lucian had anticipated, and his father drove him back to campus so he would be able to begin the hectic exam review week with one additional free day to settle back into living at the dorm. Although Lucian was upset at having to leave the comforts of his parents’ home yet again, he was also giddily excited to go out to eat with Sam that night. This would technically be his first date ever, and, whether or not Sam felt the same way about their evening, Lucian experienced the crushing pressure.
As such, it took Lucian over two hours to decide what clothes he should wear, how to do his hair, and whether or not his face looked perfect… which he dejectedly decided did not. But there was only so much he could do, and he walked out the door of the dorm feeling both acceptably presentable and woefully inadequate to meet up with the most attractive boy he had ever known. Completely unaccustomed to dating, he had considered bringing flowers, or perhaps even chocolates, with him to give to Sam when he arrived, like he had seen before in movies and TV shows; but he was afraid that that was too serious a first step for this outing which he was not even convinced was an actual date. In the end, he decided that showing up empty-handed was a better form of embarrassment than misplaced hope and assumptions.
Lucian made his way across the campus, his heart beating fast and his palms sweating uncontrollably. The row of frat houses was a good distance away from his dorm, and Lucian thought it very cruel of the universe to make him walk such a ways in his heightened state of trepidation. When he finally arrived at his destination, he took a moment to collect himself in front of the black frat house door. The brick building before him was not very large – about the size of a three-bedroom, single family home – and the exterior was particularly well-kept
for the residence of a bunch of college guys. Lucian reasoned that the university staff was probably in charge of outside maintenance, and he prepared himself for the interior to be far less immaculate.
Reaching up, Lucian took a deep breath in and knocked twice against the door. Following this, he took a step back and waited, trembling, with his arms behind his back. His heart leapt when he heard the deadbolt being unfastened and the doorknob twist. He was at a loss for words when the door opened and what stood behind it was not Sam but rather two very large, surly young men. They stood there in silence glaring at Lucian.
“Ummmm, hi,” Lucian stammered. The last thing he needed on his already frazzled nerves was this unwanted interaction with rough looking strangers. “I’m…, I’m here to see Sam.”
“What for?” barked the guy on the right. He was shorter than Lucian, just under six feet in height, but about twice as wide with solid muscle. His dark blonde hair was just long enough to be tussled and messy on his head, and the color of it matched that of his goatee. His steely blue eyes cut into Lucian with an unwelcoming harshness that seemed both suspicious and territorial.
“Dinner…,” responded Lucian hesitantly.
“And who are you?” inquired the deep, booming voice of the guy on the left. This one was a bit taller than his comrade, with black hair buzzed short, almost blending entirely into his dark brown skin. He stood imposingly, with broad shoulders and huge chest, and seemed to serve as a wall, blocking intruders from entry.
“I’m Lucian,” Lucian practically whispered. He stood there, feeling as if he was shrinking where he stood. The two frat boys continued to glare at him, and Lucian prepared to take a step back and leave this inexplicably hostile environment.
“Chaz! Dan!” Sam’s voice forced its way through the spaces between the door frame and their bulgy, meaty forms. “Let him in; I invited him.”
