“I can see you starting to panic,” Lucah said as he got out some sheets for the bed while I made sure the drawers in the room were empty.
“I’m not panicking. I’m just . . . “ I didn’t know what I was. I’d never lived with another boy before. Lucah had been the first, and obviously it was different than living with Ryder. I barely knew him.
“It’s going to be an adjustment, but I’ll deal.” I gave him what I hoped was a confident smile and went to check the refrigerator to make sure there was actually food in it. It was well-stocked, and I couldn’t remember it being that way when we left. Just as I was about to go back down the hall and thank the refrigerator fairy (otherwise known as Sloane), there was a knock at the door.
I didn’t think it was her at first because she almost never knocked, but it was.
“Wow, this is new. The knocking and everything,” I said as I let her in. She had a box full of . . . stuff.
“What’s this?”
“Just some things for Ryder. I know he doesn’t have a lot of stuff, so I went out and got some shaving cream, and shampoo and I brought him some clothes I had kicking around.” She always had clothes “kicking around” at the most convenient of times.
“You really didn’t have to do this,” I said as she proceeded to take the box into the guest room and surprise Lucah.
“I know, but I wanted to. So there. Take it or leave it.” Lucah didn’t say a word as she started folding shirts and putting them in the drawers.
“Speaking of Ryder’s stuff, are you going to go over and get it from wherever he was crashing? Has he told you where he was?” I asked Lucah as Sloane flitted around the room, putting everything in order.
Lucah and I stood back and watched. It was like one of those home makeover shows, only it was happening in our apartment.
“Um, he just had a duffel full of his stuff and someone dropped it off at the hospital for him, minus his cash of course, and I guess that’s all he had. So he can just bring it when he comes tomorrow.”
Sloane finally emptied the box and turned around, a triumphant smile on her face.
“Tada! Now we just need to get something on the walls and some candles and this place will be livable.” I didn’t know what she was talking about. The sheets were 400 thread count, and the furniture was from Pottery Barn. It was by no means uninhabitable.
“Candles?” Lucah said, one ginger eyebrow raised.
“They make manly candles now.” Sloane seemed offended.
“Well, we’ll see what he wants when he gets here,” I said to be the peacemaker.
“Right.”
“Right.”
Crisis averted. Sloane took the box and said to contact her if we needed anything and then was gone as quickly as she’d blown in.
“What was that all about?” Lucah said, sitting down on the bed, which now had the addition of a few throw pillows Sloane had found somewhere.
“She is being so weird about this Ryder situation,” I said, joining him on the bed.
“I couldn’t believe she suggested he move in with her,” Lucah said, picking up one of the throw pillows and then putting it back.
“Yeah, like that would work out,” I agreed. “It would only end one way and it wouldn’t be pretty. I’d also be prepared for her to be dropping by without announcing herself again. She stocked the fridge while we were gone, and I foresee her cooking a lot, and coming over to borrow things, etc.”
“That should be fun.” Lucah yawned and lay back on the pillows. I snuggled next to him, putting my head on his chest.
“Do you realize this is the longest the two of us have gone since we moved in together without having sex?” I almost rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t lie, I was thinking about it too.
“I think I read somewhere that the average American couple only has sex, like, a few times a week.” His hand moved to my hair.
“But we’re not average. Who wants to be average? I want to be in the ninety-ninth percentile. That’s where all the geniuses are.”
“You mean that’s where the sex addicts are.”
“Okay, maybe that was a bad example. But still.” I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t.
“Does this mean you want to have sex?” I hoped I was reading his signals right.
“Sunshine, I always want to have sex with you. If there were a way to spend each moment of each day f**king you in every way imaginable, then I would happily sign up. But right at this moment, I’m afraid I would fall asleep on you, and that wouldn’t be very sexy.”
“You probably wouldn’t be the only one.” I yawned and I could feel my eyes closing.
“Yup,” he said, and the next thing I knew we were both passed out on Ryder’s new bed.
I took a quick break the next morning and called Lucah to see how things were going. I made sure that my office door was closed and locked beforehand, though.
“He’s still not very happy, but he said he would take this over rehab.”
“I guess that’s an improvement?”
“I guess.” I heard Ryder talking in the background. “Look, I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” He hung up and I wished that I’d gotten to talk to him longer. Or that I could magically transport myself to the apartment. OR, clone myself so I could be in two places at once.
I shook my head at my imaginings. If I could, I was going to sneak away on my lunch break and make sure everything was going okay. I had no doubt that Lucah had everything in hand, but my control freak tendencies would not be suppressed.
There was a knock at my door and I told whomever it was to come in before remembering that the door was locked. I got up to open it and was shocked to find my father standing in front of my office.
“Oh, hi Dad.” I smiled and stepped back so he could come in. “Sorry about the locked door. I was calling to check on Lucah and didn’t want to take the risk that someone would walk in on me.”
He nodded and sat down.
“Understood. That’s actually what I came to talk to you about. He’s been out for three days now. What’s going on?” I’d hoped to put this off until that Sunday when Lucah would come with me to dinner, but it had to be addressed now.
“Okay, so it’s Lucah’s brother, Ryder, that’s actually in trouble. To make a long story short, he overdosed on some pills and ended up in the hospital.” I reiterated that they were prescribed and not illegal and that he hadn’t been trying to kill himself and so on and so forth. Then came the rough part.