The Year of the Salamander - 4. Chapter 4

He woke up at 9:30 in the morning, and his first thought before he even opened his eyes was, “Call Eve!” He smiled in the same sheepish manner as he did last night, opened his eyes, and got out of bed. He found the shirt he wore last night and shoved his fingers into the breast pocket. It was empty, and Sam immediately broke in cold sweat. Did he manage to lose it...? He almost ripped off the pocket, trying to find that paper maybe hiding between the seams. There was nothing there. He cursed desperately, and furiously shook the shirt . Suddenly, a neatly folded piece of paper floated out of the other breast pocket and landed next to his feet.

He stared at it for several seconds, and then snatched it from the carpet as if someone was about to take it away from him.

“Ha!” he said triumphantly, and Specter looked at him thoughtfully, his ears alert.

Sam grabbed the phone that was sitting on the top of his dresser, and carefully punched in the number. He listened to the long monotonous sounds that came from the phone, and was about to give up after almost a full minute, since there was no answer, when the other end of the line had suddenly clicked, and then Eve yawned loudly into the phone:

“Hello...”

“Oh, hey, Eve...” he said carefully. “Did I wake you up?”

“Uh huh,” she yawned again, this time with less gusto.

“Oh, sorry about that...” he muttered.

“No big,” she said in a somewhat normal voice. “Who is this?”

“It’s Sam...” he said and listened to her puzzled silence. He coughed. “Ummm... From the bookstore...?”

“Oh!” Now she sounded almost enlightened. “Hey, Sam! I don’t function well after I just wake up,” she said apologetically. “Sorry...” she added quickly.

“It’s okay,” he said with a somewhat relieved smile. “Hey, you are not in school today...?”

“It’s Saturday,” she said, and he blinked.

“Right... Wait,” he frowned slightly. “It’s mid-August, the school doesn’t start for the next two weeks...”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I decided to take that stupid class during the summer... Figured it would be a lesser evil. I really didn’t want to deal with it during the normal semester, you know? Not with the other classes and stuff... This way, I will be done with it next Friday. That damn essay is the last thing I have to do.”

“Oh, I see,” he nodded. “Good thinking!”

“Thank you,” she said very seriously, and Sam smiled at that.

“Would you like to...” he coughed. “I don’t know... Have coffee, maybe...? Unless you are busy,” he added quickly. “I mean, you probably have to start on that essay of yours...”

“I have enough time for that,” she said carelessly. “Almost a week! Yeah, let’s do coffee, that sounds good! What time?”

Sam glanced at the clock.

“Ten-thirty?” he offered, and Eve made a thoughtful sound.

“How about eleven-thirty?” she said finally. “I am still in bed, wearing my pajamas... I gotta take a shower and stuff... It takes time, you know!” she said defensively when he let out a small laughter.

“Okay,” he agreed mildly. “Eleven-thirty is good. Where would you like to meet?”

“There is that little café...” she said slowly. “Oh, man, I don’t remember what it’s called... It’s on the corner of Goddard and Main, you know?”

“Blue Rain?” Sam remembered the name of that café immediately. He liked that place – they served great coffee and their egg salad sandwiches were unbelievably good.

“Yeah!” she exclaimed. “That one! I am dying for one of those sandwiches they have... The ones with egg salad!”

“I like those too,” Sam nodded with approval. “Okay, see you there at eleven-thirty then...”

“Uh huh,” she said busily, and he knew immediately that she was getting out of bed. “See you there, Sam!”

“Bye,” he said, and the line clicked dead.

It took him maybe twenty minutes at the most to take a quick shower, brush his teeth, and get dressed combined. He ran a hairbrush over his rather long by now hair and critically looked at his reflection in the mirror. “I really should cut it,” he muttered, pulling on one particularly long strand of dirty-blond hair. Finally, he sighed and put the brush away, thinking that he should borrow a hair band from Desmond. He pulled his hair back into a ponytail and liked that a lot better. He firmly nodded to his reflection and went out of the bedroom, with Specter following him closely.

Desmond and Gabriel were both in the kitchen -- Desmond working the coffeemaker, Gabriel fiddling with a frying pan on the stove. Both were wearing nothing but pants, and Sam winced involuntarily once again when he saw all those scars on Desmond’s back.

“Quit staring at my damn scars, kid,” Desmond said without even turning his head. “Get yourself a mug...” He finally glanced at Sam. “And get that damn dog out of the kitchen,” he added.

Sam hemmed somewhat embarrassedly and opened the sliding glass door. The dog immediately dashed outside, pausing for a few seconds before he hit the grass, to make sure that the door stayed open. Satisfied with the inspection, the white fur-ball dove into the tall grass, enjoying himself immensely.

“Hey, Desmond,” Sam said after getting a mug from the cupboard. “Thanks...” he nodded when Desmond silently filled his mug with coffee. “Hey, do you have a hair band I could use?”

Without saying anything, Desmond shoved his hand into his pocket, dug in there for several seconds, and finally, pulled out a black hair band.

“Cool,” Sam nodded with satisfaction. “Thanks...” He pulled his hair into a ponytail, wrapping that hair band around it.

“Do you want pepper with your eggs, Sam?” Gabriel asked over his shoulder while slightly tossing the eggs on the frying pan.

“No,” Sam shook his head immediately. “I mean, I am not hungry,” he added quickly. “I... Umm... I’m gonna take off in an hour or less...” He glanced at the clock. It was 10:15.

Desmond looked at him and slightly raised one eyebrow.

“Oh?” he said. “Need more books, huh?” His green eyes were laughing. Sam’s ears immediately flamed hot red; he hated that.

“Errr,” he said into his coffee mug. “No,” he sighed finally and lowered the mug. “Fine, fine,” he rolled his eyes at Desmond. “You were right last night; I did meet someone in the bookstore, and I am meeting her at eleven-thirty at Blue Rain, okay?”

“What’s her name?” Desmond asked seriously, his eyes almost back to normal.

“Eve,” Sam muttered, feeling embarrassed for some strange reason. “Evelienne,” he added after a few seconds.

“That’s an original name,” Gabriel said, slightly turning his head.

“Yeah,” Sam set the mug onto the counter and looked outside, searching for Specter in the tall grass with his eyes. “I need to trim that grass...” he muttered. “It’s like a jungle out there by now...”

Desmond’s mouth twitched slightly at the change of subject, but he didn’t say anything; neither did Rayhe.

“Take my car,” the ex-assassin said casually, and Sam blinked at that.

“Why?” He asked with puzzlement. “My car is just fine... It’s not even dirty – I washed it a couple of days ago...”

Gabriel snorted loudly.

“Because he is out of gas again,” he said with laughter. “He wants you to refill the tank...”

“That’s not the main reason,” Desmond retorted with a small frown. “My car looks better...”

“Give me your keys,” Sam sighed in defeat. “I’ll refill your tank.”

“On the table,” Desmond nodded with a small smile. “Thanks, kid!”

“Uh huh,” Sam muttered. “Well, since I need to get gas, I’d better go...”

Desmond looked at the clock.

“It’s ten-thirty,” he frowned. “Blue Rain is fifteen minutes from here, and there is a gas station four blocks away...”

Sam muttered something about a possibility of him getting stuck in traffic, a possible accident somewhere on the road, a detour, and a huge line at the gas station. Desmond rolled his eyes and waved his hand.

“Have fun,” he said and returned to the coffeemaker.

“Call if you gonna be home later than midnight,” Gabriel said very seriously.

“Midnight?” Sam repeated incredulously. “Gabriel, it’s not even eleven in the morning... Do you seriously think that I...”

“You never know,” Rayhe interrupted him. “Just say ‘yes,’ okay?”

“Fine,” Sam rolled his eyes. “I’ll call if something comes up.”

“Have fun,” Gabriel nodded, quoting Desmond.

Sam sighed, whistled for Specter, who bounced towards him immediately, and bent down to pet the dog and to plant a big kiss on his nose, ignoring Desmond’s expression.

“Behave,” he said in a low voice, scratching behind Specter’s ear. “Don’t piss him off,” he added, quickly glancing at Desmond. “Pester Gabriel if you have to...”

The dog licked his face several times, and Desmond just sighed and turned away, after seeing that. Sam laughed softly, scratched the dog’s ear one last time, and straightened up. He grabbed Desmond’s car keys off the table, slid his feet into the pair of sneakers, waved his hand ‘Good-bye’ to both men, and went outside. When he got into Desmond’s car, he just blinked several times after looking at the gas meter. The arrow was dancing on the red point of Empty.

“If I will get stuck in the middle of the road because I run out of gas...” he muttered and threw the car in reverse without finishing his sentence.