The Tribuo - 44. Part IV, chapter 16

- XVI -

Sunday

RUSSELL

12:30

One of the best things was the fact that since Brian and I knew each other for longer than ten years, and since we lived together for almost three years, we knew each other’s quirks and habits perfectly by now. So, him constantly leaving the lights on, and me turning the TV up so loud that it could probably be heard on Mars, never bothered either one of us.

It was almost one in the afternoon on Sunday. Brian was making coffee, and I was flipping through TV channels. Good God, there was nothing on except for some gardening shows and golf tournaments. Finally, I sighed, turned the TV off, lay down on the couch, and closed my eyes. I felt like if I didn't get a grip on myself anytime soon, I would end up turning into someone extremely clingy. It was crazy. If I wasn’t touching his hand, then I had to be close enough to be able to smell his skin. I snorted without opening my eyes. Great, soon enough I’ll start texting him every hour. “Where are you?” “What are you doing?” “Are you alone?” Ugh…

“What?” I heard his voice and opened my eyes.

He was standing by the couch, his expression curious.

“Nothing,” I sighed. “I was just thinking that I am turning into some lovestruck teenager…”

He grinned and mounted my hips.

“You are not helping,” I noted when his fingers started running down my chest.

“Oh, but I am,” he muttered, and I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him closer.

“Would your sister kill us if we didn't show up tonight?” I asked, and he sighed and buried his face in my neck.

“Yup,” his voice sounded muffled. “She would.”

“Damn,” I said softly and took his hand.

His fingers smelled like coffee. He shivered when I ran my tongue over his hand and gently bit his forefinger.

“Holy crap…” he muttered finally. “This is… Damn, this is…”

“Like that, do you,” I said, and he just sighed and moaned at the same time.

14:00

Dana called around two in the afternoon and told us to show up earlier tonight.

“Come at five-thirty or so, okay?” She sounded almost frantic on the phone. “And I need you to go and get ice-cream! Tons of ice-cream! I don’t care about the flavor, but I just realized that I am out of ice-cream! And it’s disastrous because…”

“We’ll get ice-cream,” Brian sighed. “I will even get different flavors. Just don’t call again, okay?”

“Huh?” she sounded so puzzled on the speakerphone that I started cracking up. “Brian, what the hell…? Oh… Wait, never mind…” now she was almost giggling, and Brian rolled his eyes. “Okay, I am not going to call… But if you’ll forget ice-cream…”

“We won’t,” he said. “See you in a few hours.”

She was saying something else, but he hung up on her. Then he thought about something for several seconds, and finally, unplugged the phone.

“I know my sister,” he said darkly. “She’ll be calling every half an hour.”

I glanced at the clock.

“We have at least two hours before we have to leave,” I said and he grinned.

“Not enough, but if we don’t waste it…”

“Exactly,” I nodded energetically, and this time I ended up on top.

TARA

16:30

I gloomily looked at the empty wall. Finally, I sighed and walked out of the bathroom.

“I am going to the store,” I announced, and Seth looked up at me.

“Want company?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said and put on my shoes. “I just need to buy a mirror for the bathroom.”

He shrugged.

“I already told you…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I waved my hand. “Just because we won’t be here tomorrow, doesn’t mean that we can go ahead and…”

“I know,” he interrupted me. “Go ahead. Buy the mirror. I don’t care.”

I looked outside and winced.

“You know,” I said. “The weather this week sucks! I mean, today is April twelfth, and look at it!”

“I know,” he yawned. “Check on Emma when you get back.”

“I tried,” I nodded and grabbed my jacket. “She doesn’t answer her phone. I’ll go to her place after I get back from the store.”

“Have you told her about her father?” he looked at me, and I sighed.

“No,” I admitted finally. “How am I supposed to do it now, Seth? I mean…”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. But we are leaving tonight, and since you are the only one who knows about the whole thing…”

I winced.

“Yeah… I’ll figure something out,” I said. “I’ll be back soon, okay? It looks like it’s about to start raining again.”

“Okay,” he said and stretched on the couch.

RUSSELL

17:15

“There is no way in hell we’ll be at her place by five-thirty,” I said while Brian was shoving ridiculous amounts of ice-cream into the cart.

“She’ll survive,” he grinned. “We’ll be there before six, so it’s all good.”

I remembered that I’ve been planning on getting a new toothbrush for three weeks now, and decided to take care of it while he was emptying the ice-cream shelves.

“Be right back,” I said. “I need a toothbrush…”

“Oh, hey,” he looked up. “Get two, will you?”

I nodded and walked away. I walked into the right aisle and headed towards the toothbrushes, when I saw some girl who looked very familiar. She was trying to shove a hefty size bathroom mirror into the cart. The cart wasn't cooperating. It rolled away from her just when she was about to let the mirror go.

“Son of a bitch!” she said loudly and clutched onto the mirror with desperation.

I grabbed the other side of the mirror and pushed the cart towards her with my foot.

“Here,” I said and helped her to get the mirror down unharmed.

“Thanks,” she said and blew the dark strand of hair off her forehead.

I squinted my eyes at her, trying to figure out why she looked so familiar -- if I didn't figure it out soon enough, it would drive me nuts. She frowned when she saw my stare.

“What?” she asked, and then I remembered.

“I know you,” I said and she blinked. “You are my Juliet!”

“Huh?” she frowned even deeper.

I realized how it sounded, and silently congratulated myself. Way to go, Russ! Managed to make an idiot out of yourself yet again.

“Sorry,” I sighed. “That didn’t sound right… You live in Emma’s building, right?”

Her frown smoothed out.

“Oh…” she said. “No. But I stayed in her apartment for a couple of days. You know Emma?”

“Yeah… The thing with Juliet… I know it’s stupid, but it was the first thing that came to my mind. I… Ummm…” I shook my head. Man, I am brilliant, aren’t I? “I saw you on the balcony one day… You were smoking… And it made me realize that… Well, you know the whole balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet? When he realizes that he is in love with her?”

She blinked again.

“Ugh… I know, it doesn’t make any sense… But when I saw you on that balcony…” I shrugged helplessly. “I realized that I was in love with… Well, someone… So I kinda thought of you… Oh, man, this doesn’t make any sense, does it?”

She hemmed.

“It’s really scary,” she said seriously. “But it actually does. And was it the balcony scene when he actually realized that?”

“I am not sure,” I admitted. “I don’t know Shakespeare that well…”

“Me neither,” she sighed and stretched out her hand. “I am Tara.”

I shook her palm.

“I am Russell.”

“Huh,” she said thoughtfully.

“What?” I frowned at her reaction.

“Nothing,” she shook her head and let go of my fingers. “It’s nothing. Just thought of Emma.”

I did too; and thinking about Emma, immediately made me uncomfortable. I was about to say something, when I heard Brian’s amused voice.

“Are you designing your own toothbrushes or something? Let’s go!”

Ah crap, that’s right! Toothbrushes! I grabbed the first two that I saw off the shelf, and threw them into the cart on top of ice-cream. Brian looked at Tara with curiosity.

“This is Tara,” I said. “Tara, this is Brian.”

They briefly shook hands and said, “Nice to meet you,” at the same time.

“Okay,” Brian said. “We are going to shove all this ice-cream into the trunk and…” he froze for a second and closed his eyes. “Crap…”

“What?” I frowned.

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Dana’s present,” he said in defeat. “I left it at home…”

I sighed.

“Let’s go get it then.”

Brian looked at the ice-cream.

“If we don’t take it to her in the next half an hour or so, it’ll melt,” he said. “And then we’ll have to eat it out of the trunk of my car.”

Well, damn… He was right. I was thinking about our options, when Tara suddenly said:

“Well, since you helped me with the mirror and all… I could give you a ride, I suppose…”

I thoughtfully looked at her. She nodded.

“I know,” she said. “I know. Giving a ride to a stranger and all… But if you need it…”

“That would be great,” I nodded. “Thanks!”

“Okay,” Brian said quickly. “Let’s go ring this up, and meet you at Dana’s?”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

…It was almost 5:45 by the time we were done paying for all the ice-cream, and when we walked outside, it was raining. Tara said that she’d wait for me by her car that was parked only a few feet from Brian’s, and I nodded.

We shoved ice-cream into the trunk as fast as we could, and Brian slammed the trunk shut.

“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll be there in less than half an hour.”

“Okay,” he agreed.

I was about to leave when suddenly, he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. He looked so serious that at first, I thought that he was about to pull a joke of some sort. Instead, he sighed and pressed his forehead against mine.

“I love you,” he muttered, and I blinked at the intonation of his voice.

I put my hand on the back of his neck and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. For some reason, I felt a pang of sadness so sharp that my throat tightened.

“I love you too,” I said finally. “Come on… Ice-cream is melting.”

“Right…” he muttered and pulled away without letting go of my hand.

I knew that there were people around, and that some were gawking by now, and I couldn't care less. I kissed his mouth, and when he finally pulled away, both of us were breathless. Brian looked in my eyes and grinned.

“See you in half an hour,” he said.

“Yeah,” I breathed and let go of his hand. “The present is still on the counter, right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he nodded and ran his fingers through my hair. “Hurry up!”

I almost said, screw the present, we’ll give it to her tomorrow, we should just go there together; but he pulled his hand away and opened the door of the car. He grinned at me before getting in, and I smiled back. I watched him drive away, and finally, sighed and walked to Tara’s car.

“You okay?” I frowned at her expression.

She looked at Brian’s disappearing car, and she was biting her lip.

“Yeah,” she said finally. “I thought I saw…” she shook her head. “Never mind. The weather is playing tricks on me. Let’s go!”