“Are you ashamed of yourselves?”
Roger asked his roommate and the guy his roommate supposedly
despised. He had called this ages ago but had still been hoping that
it wouldn't come to fruition. “Do you repent of your wicked ways?”
“Give me some fucking coffee, Roger,
or you'll be the one repenting,” said Alaster with a groan. His
head hurt. He'd gotten practically no sleep the night before and it
was way past time for coffee. Roger was monopolizing the coffee pot,
using it to try and blackmail them into breaking up or something. Not
that Alaster and Blue were together. But Alaster kind of thought they
probably were now. He thought he should probably ask her about that,
but couldn't imagine how he could ask it without sounding like an
idiot.
Blue most certainly did not look
repentant, her hair in a messy bun, clad in sweatpants and a tank
top. She looked expectantly at her empty coffee cup without
responding until Roger finally gave in and poured her coffee anyway.
“You don't deserve this coffee,”
the blond-haired man told Alaster as he poured coffee for him as
well.
“Oh, he earned it this time,” Blue
said casually as she sipped her own brew.
Roger rolled his eyes and poured
himself a portion in a travel cup. “I've got class, so I'm out of
here. Thank god.”
“Thank god,” Alaster mimicked,
making a face at the man's retreating form. He really hated Blue's
roommate. Roger was so fucking worried that Alaster was going to
screw up Blue's life. Maybe that was a reasonable concern, all things
considered, but it was none of Roger's damn business. Whether or not
he had the opportunity to screw up her life was Blue's decision.
“Does he have a thing for you or
something?” he asked Blue suspiciously.
She snorted in amusement. “Relax.
Roger's gay.”
“You're sure?” Alaster supposed it
was fine that Roger was around all the time, so long as he wasn't
trying to win Blue's affections. “He's... protective of you.”
“He doesn't want me dating a total
ass hat, kind of hard to blame him for that,” said Blue. She was
distracted by a paperback novel, which she'd bent practically in
half. The woman loved books but seemed to have little respect for
them outside of reading them. She treated them kind of like candy
wrappers. Once she'd devoured their contents, she crumpled them up
and tossed them aside.
He wondered how many she read over the
course of a year. It seemed like she was holding one nearly every
time he saw her. That was probably why she knew so much useless
trivia.
“Are you?” he asked, and pretended
he wasn't nervous about her answer. “Dating an ass hat, I mean.”
Blue lowered her book and looked at him
for a long moment. “Is that what you want?”
“Who said anything about that?”
Alaster blushed, turning red all the way to the tips of his ears.
What the hell was he thinking? And why was he so afraid that she was
going to say no? “You're putting words in my mouth now, woman. I'm
starting to think you wanted last night to happen.”
“There's so much wrong with what you
just said that I don't even know where to start,” Blue said,
putting her book down on the table. She looked mildly irritated, but
mostly she looked like she thought his discomfort was funny. “Allow
me to dissect it and address it piece by piece. First things first,
if I hadn't wanted last night to happen, it wouldn't have happened.”
Alaster grimaced. “I didn't mean to
imply...” he began, but she cut him off.
“No, you were implying something else
entirely, which brings us to our second point,” she said. “I
didn't orchestrate yesterday so that we would end up sleeping
together. Just like I didn't kiss you the other day to lure you into
my bed. Although, regardless, it seems to have worked.
And finally, I'm not putting words in
your mouth, I'm just saying out loud the things that you're too
scared to say yourself and we both know it.”
“What the fuck is your problem?”
Alaster snapped at her. She always knew exactly what to say to hit
him where it hurt. Last night, she hadn't done that. Her words had
been as gentle as her touch. For a brief moment, he'd thought they
had something, as cliché as that sounded. “You're the one who
brought up dating anyway, I wasn't going to say anything.”
Blue picked up her book again. “Good,
so we both understand that this was just for fun. No strings
attached. Also, don't tell any of our friends about this. It's bad
enough that Roger knows.”
Even coffee wasn't worth this, Alaster
thought. He was surprised himself at how much Blue's nonchalance was
bothering him. Maybe sleeping with her had been a bad idea. She was
kind of the only real friend he had lately, and hanging around her
was really the only thing that kept him from being sad and alone
holed up in his sister's guest bedroom all of the time.
He rose from his seat and set about
righting his clothing, which were quite rumpled since he'd been more
focused on getting caffeine this morning than he had been on
dressing. His sneakers were still in Blue's bedroom, and he silently
cursed his luck before hurrying to fetch them. He tried not to look
at the woman's undergarments, which were still strewn across her
bedroom floor.
“Where are you going?” Blue asked
when Alaster pulled on his jacket. She didn't look bothered, just
curious. “You haven't finished your coffee. I figured I'd drop you
off at Fae's on my way into work later.”
Alaster ran a hand through his hair,
looking at his reflection in the mirror on the wall beside the door.
His hair looked greasy. A shower would have been a good idea, he
thought, but he wasn't about to ask Blue for the use of her bathroom
after the scolding he'd just received.
“I'll catch a bus,” he muttered,
checking his jacket pockets for his cigarettes. He really needed a
smoke. Just the other day, he'd been telling Fae he was going to quit
smoking, but it was hard enough to watch his drinking without giving
up his other vices as well.
Part of him expected her to stop him.
Her attitude this morning was surprisingly cold considering how she'd
seemed to take a personal interest in him before. He didn't actually
want to take the bus, after all, it was just that he couldn't stand
sitting in her kitchen while she treated last night like it meant
nothing.
“You got bus fare?” Blue asked
without looking away from her book.
Alaster paused at the door and stared
at her for a moment.
“Yeah,” he said finally, and opened
the door. “I'll see you around.”
–
When Blue got to the coffee shop to
start her shift, she was greeted by a flat look from Artemis, who
shared it with her. She wasn't late so Blue wasn't sure what the look
was about. She looked back at Artemis in confusion as she pulled on
her apron.
“What?” she asked. “Do I have
something on my face?”
“You got laid last night,” said
Artemis, looking her up and down.
Blue flushed and pulled on her work
hat, scowling at Artemis. “I have no idea how you'd know that, and
you're seventeen, what the hell do you know about getting laid?”
“Are you for real?” Artemis just
looked at her like she was crazy. “Not all of us spend our teenage
years wearing a chastity belt.”
“Okay, I don't want to know.” Blue
held up a hand to indicate that she was done with the conversation.
“Did you flip the sign?”
“Yeah,” said Artemis with a nod.
“Did you screw the short, angry dude or what?”
“That is most definitely none of your
business,” Blue muttered, “and I don't know what you're talking
about.”
She felt kind of bad about how she'd
handled things this morning. Waking up next to Alaster Gwilimen had
never been in her plans, and while she'd certainly enjoyed their
relations the night before, she'd kind of panicked when she regained
her common sense and remembered what a mistake this could turn out to
be. Still, she hadn't been prepared for how hurt he'd looked when
she'd reaffirmed that there was nothing serious between them.
Hadn't she said as much last night
anyway? What else had he expected? Blue was used to feeling morally
superior to Alaster but today she felt like she was the asshole for
letting him leave on bad terms. She should have stopped him but she'd
been afraid that if she stopped him, she wouldn't be able to stop
herself from actually falling for the jerk.
“What was he like?” Artemis asked,
grinning despite the warning glare that Blue sent in her direction.
“Come on, don't be stingy with the details. Was he awkward as hell
or was he great? Guy like him, I could see it going either way. He
strikes me as rather repressed.”
“It was fine, now can we move on with
our lives?” Blue tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear and
tried not to remember the way Alaster's fingers had stroked her hair
last night. He'd been so tender, which had surprised her.
Yeah, so maybe she shouldn't have been
so hard on him this morning. He'd looked ready to cry when he left,
though she'd never seem him actually express an emotion besides anger
or drunken amusement or haughty derision. Which probably made it
worse that she'd actually hurt his feelings bad enough to make him
look like that. Like he'd trusted her and she'd betrayed him somehow.
Damn it, no way was she going to feel
guilty about this. She told him before they did anything that it was
just a one time thing. He knew going in, so if he got emotionally
invested anyway, that was no one's fault but his. Besides, if he'd
stop being such a baby about it, maybe she wouldn't mind a repeat of
last night.
“Did he let you see his feet? Shadow
says he can't stand feet, like, at all. Did he make you keep your
socks on?”
“You know, we weren't really paying
much attention to our feet,” said Blue. She was ready for the lunch
rush to hit. If they were busy serving customers, Artemis wouldn't
have the time to ask her all these awkward questions. She grabbed a
broom and handed it to her coworker. “If you've got time to talk,
you've got time to sweep.”
Artemis gave her a sullen look as she
took the broom. “Fine, be like that.”
Blue ignored her in favor of wiping
down the already clean counters, just for good measure. Even if she'd
wanted to talk about last night, she wasn't going to talk to a
teenager about it, never mind how worldly Artemis was. It didn't seem
right. If she was going to talk to anyone about it, she probably
would have talked to Fae, but that was right out since it was Fae's
brother that she'd taken home last night.
She was tempted to give her mother a
call, but letting Flower know about her love life was always a
mistake. Flower got too invested too fast in any person Blue slept
with and/or dated, and Blue had learned a long time ago that it was
better if her mother didn't know about the person until Blue felt
suitably invested herself.
Thankfully, the lunch crowd started
pouring in and Blue was too distracted serving coffee and pastries to
spend much time worrying about Alaster Gwilimen and his sad puppy dog
eyes. Those eyes were so blue. She got just a little distracted
thinking about them and accidentally scalded herself with hot water,
which caused her to curse loudly in the middle of the crowded coffee
shop. Several customers looked up at her in surprise and Blue gave a
nervous laugh before proclaiming that she was fine, just startled.
Luckily, she hadn't scalded herself
badly, just left a slightly red patch of skin on her right hand.
Still, it put her in a downright rotten mood for the rest of her
shift. Even Artemis, who was the queen of teenage angst, avoided
pissing Blue off after that and gave her a wide berth.
When she got off her shift, she drove
her old station wagon to the grocery store. She was out of just about
everything, including beer. Grabbing a six-pack to put in her cart,
she mused for a moment that she might have to hide the bottles in the
cheese drawer to keep Alaster out of them. Then she frowned because
after this morning, she wasn't sure Al would have much reason to ever
hang out at her apartment again. As much as he got on her nerves, the
thought was kind of depressing. She'd gotten used to his obnoxious
presence. Maybe having him around wasn't such a bad thing. Hell,
maybe dating him wouldn't be such a bad thing.
She went home determined to put Alaster
out of her mind. Nonetheless, she did stash the beer in the cheese
drawer, just to be on the safe side. Alaster rarely searched the
fridge for anything other than alcohol. He didn't eat enough, Blue
thought, and he was going to make himself sick like that.
Rubbing her temples, she mentally
scolded herself for letting her thoughts wander back to him. No, she
decided, this evening was just for her. So she cleaned up the kitchen
and dressed down to sweatpants and a tank top, her favorite outfit
for relaxing around the house, opened a bottle of beer and sat down
in the living room to watch Netflix.
About an hour later, Roger came in.
After his classes at the local university, he had a job at Best Buy
convincing people to purchase electronics, which he was good at, but
he hated it. As usual, he came in looking exhausted and unhappy. He
threw his jacket across the back of a kitchen chair and kicked off
his shoes before throwing himself on the couch beside Blue with a
groan.
“Working for the man is killing me,
roomy,” he told Blue in a lamenting tone. “That cute guy I sold a
laptop to last week? The laptop's already on the fritz and he came
back in today just to give me the third degree about it. So much for
slipping him my number. Says he's never shopping at Best Buy again.”
“Poor thing,” Blue cooed, petting
Roger's hair. “Want a beer? They're in the cheese drawer?”
“The cheese drawer?” Roger looked
perplexed but wandered back to the kitchen to fetch a drink anyway.
Blue's phone started to ring. She
sighed, noting that the caller ID said it was Fae, and paused her
Netflix show.
“Hello?”
Roger glanced over at her with a
questioning look and she waved him off.
“Hi, Blue!” Fae's cheerful voice
answered. “I'm really sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if
you've seen Alaster? He didn't come home last night but I try not to
worry about that sort of thing, you know, because he's his own person
and I can't exactly give him a curfew, but he hasn't been home all
day and he's not answering his phone so I'm starting to get worried.”
Fuck, thought Blue. Of course the idiot
hadn't gone home like he was supposed to. “Well, he stayed over at
my apartment last night but he left this morning.”
“Oh, he... stayed over?” Fae's
voice held a trace of curiosity. “Well, if you haven't seen him, do
you know where he might be?”
“I have a few ideas,” Blue said
with a sigh. She didn't want to tell Fae yet that she and Alaster had
slept together, so she avoided that topic entirely. “Let me try to
call him and if I can't get him, I'll drive around to a couple of the
bars he likes and see if I can't find him.”
“I really appreciate that, Blue. Are
you sure you don't want me to go with you?”
“Probably better if I'm the one that
does it,” said Blue. If Alaster had gone and gotten sloshed
somewhere, he likely wouldn't want Fae finding him like that. Blue
didn't know why she cared so much about what the guy wanted but she
did, so she supposed the only thing she could do about it was roll
with it.
She didn't bother to put on different
clothes, just pulled on her boots and blue coat over her sweatpants
and tank. “Roger, man, I've gotta go look for Alaster. Fae says he
hasn't been home all day.”
Her roommate rolled his eyes and closed
the fridge door. “I can't believe you're going out looking for him.
It's almost dark. He's a grown man, he hardly needs adult
supervision.”
Roger was just looking out for her,
Blue knew, but she couldn't help feeling defensive about it. After
all, it wasn't true. Alaster did need someone looking out for him. In
fact, he needed at least Blue and Fae, and half the time Shadow got
dragged into it as well. She doubted Roger was ever going to
understand that.
“I know you think he's an asshole,”
she said, grabbing her car keys and her purse, “and you're right,
he is an asshole, but he's not a bad guy.”
“I don't think he's a villain or
anything,” Roger corrected her. “He's just the kind of guy who
can't help but take advantage of other people. Do you really want to
spend all of your time chasing him down when he decides to go out and
get trashed for no reason?”
A wry smile crossed Blue's face. “You
know, I don't think I mind it all that much. I'll see you later,
Roger.”
–
Calling Alaster's phone five times had
no effect, except that on the fifth call it went straight to
voicemail and Blue figured the battery had died. No matter, Alaster
was a creature of habit and Blue had a pretty good idea of where he
might be. His favorite bar wasn't all that far from Blue's apartment
so she went there first.
When she walked in, the bartender
recognized her right off the bat and pointed her to a corner booth
before she could even ask the question. Blue rolled her eyes when she
recognized Alaster surrounded by several women, one of whom was all
snuggled up to him and at least a head taller than he was. Blue set
her mouth in a thin line and told herself she was not jealous of the
buxom blonde currently running her fingers through Alaster's hair.
“You poor thing,” she heard one of
the woman gush as she neared the table. “How could she be so
heartless?”
Blue paused before she reached the
table. It seemed like Alaster hadn't noticed her yet so she took a
moment to listen to the conversation.
“She hates me,” Alaster drunkenly
stated, picking up his beer to take a long drink from it. Blue
wondered how much he'd had to drink. He was slurring his words a bit.
“And it's my fault! I know it is. Everything's always my fault.
Fucking disappointment, just like dear old dad used to say.”
And at that, Blue had heard enough. She
stepped up to the table, hands on her hips.
“Scram, girls, I need to talk to my
friend here.” She glared at the women packed into the booth until
they all reluctantly started to get up.
“Hey!” Alaster objected as the
woman who'd been wrapped around him let go and stood up. He glared at
Blue, though it wasn't a very menacing glare, considering that his
eyes were glassy and his cheeks were bright red from too much drink.
“The hell're you doing here, woman? I was talking with these nice
ladies!”
When the women had cleared out, Blue
sat down in the booth on the opposite side of the table from Alaster.
She hailed a server and asked for a glass of water, despite Alaster
waving a hand and insisting that he didn't need it.
“Drowning your sorrows, Al?” she
asked him. He wouldn't look her in the eye, and she wasn't sure if
that was because he was feeling vulnerable or if he was just too
drunk to manage it. “You told Fae you weren't going to do this
anymore.”
Alaster put his head down on the table,
pressing his forehead against the smooth wood. “I know I said that,
but it's too hard, okay? I was just going to have one drink but
everything is just too hard so I got drunk and now I feel better,
okay?”
“Do you? Feel better?” Blue asked,
because he didn't look like he felt better.
“Yes, sure, of course I do!”
Alaster groaned and shook his head, even as he insisted this. “It's
better than thinking about you all bloody day, at any rate!”
It had occurred to Blue that this
drinking binge had been triggered by their conversation that morning.
Now she really did feel guilty for being too hard on him. But she
couldn't let him think that this was what defined their relationship,
that she would make an exception for him just to keep him from
hurting himself if he didn't like what she had to say.
“You should have stayed,” she said.
“You should have talked to me.”
“Oh, because you seemed so bloody
interested in talking,” Alaster replied with a snort. And Blue had
to admit that he had a point. She'd been a bit cold in her attempt to
avoid entering a serious relationship with him.
“I mean,” he continued, “I only
bared my fucking heart to you and you just stomped on it like it was
nothing but sure, I should have stayed and talked. Should have let
you drive me home because apparently I
can't be trusted to get there on my own.”
“Apparently,”
Blue deadpanned.
After all, she'd
let him go and this was the result. He was a grown man and he needed
to make his own decisions. She and Fae couldn't baby him for the rest
of his life. They couldn't monitor his every move, terrified that he
was going to get himself in too deep again. All they could do was try
to guide him in the right direction.
You can lead a
horse to water, she thought, but you can't make him drink.
The server came
back by with the glass of water, speak of the devil. Alaster ignored
it, still refusing to lift his head up from the table. He was silent
for a long moment and Blue started to wonder if he'd passed out.
“You know,”
Alaster said suddenly, straightening up from the table and catching
Blue a little by surprise, “I was just fine before you came along.”
“What, back in
England?” Blue asked. They'd known each other since high school,
after all.
Alaster
waved a hand at her. “No, no, after that, after I met you, but you
know, before you.”
“Are you speaking
in code?” Blue furrowed her brow as she tried to puzzle out what he
was trying to say. “Al, that doesn't make any sense.”
“Look,” said
Alaster, and he casually reached for his beer. Blue grabbed said beer
and replaced it with the glass of water, which didn't seem to bother
Alaster, since he just took the glass of water instead and took a
long drink from it.
He sat the glass
down and then stared at her, squinting his eyes as though he couldn't
see her well. Blue stared back at him, waiting for him to finish
whatever it was he'd been about to say.
After entirely too
long, Alaster said, “What?”
“You said 'look'
and then you didn't say anything else,” Blue prompted.
“Oh! Right!” He
took another drink of water. “It's just that things used to be
easier and then you, just, were there being a waitress and everything
and now it's all to hell, woman. It's all to hell. I have a serious
problem.”
“Yes,” Blue
agreed. “It's called alcoholism.”
“No, not that!
It's a different problem!”
“You lack social
skills? You smoke too much? You're a total asshole?”
“You're the
problem, woman!” He shook a finger at her drunkenly. “I can't
stop thinking about you. I can't – can't make it stop and I want it
to stop, okay? I don't need this.”
He burped loudly,
something he would have been horribly embarrassed by if he'd been
sober.
Blue waved the
server back over and asked for the check, crossing her fingers that
it wasn't outrageous. Alaster was pretty trashed.
“Well, say
something,” Alaster persisted, staring at her with such solemnity
that anyone seeing him for the first time might have mistakenly
thought him an okay guy.
“What do you want
me to say?” Blue asked, arching an eyebrow. “You think about me
all the time, okay, that's sweet. What do you want me to do about
it?”
“Just... Do you
do it too?”
“Do what, Al?”
Blue was getting worn out with this. Listening to Alaster babble
while under the influence wasn't as much fun when she wasn't under
the influence herself.
“Think about it!
Think about last night,” he clarified. His expression became
wistful. “I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened.
It's driving me mad, woman. I can't even sleep.”
“It ain't even
been 24 hours yet, genius. When exactly did it keep you from
sleeping?”
Alaster looked
thoughtful for a moment. “I think I tried to take a nap on a park
bench before I came here.”
Of course, Blue
thought, rolling her eyes. Hopefully, he still had his wallet. And
this was supposedly before he'd gotten drunk off his ass. She was
really starting to think that the man should never be trusted on his
own.
“Well, we're
going home,” said Blue. The server brought over the bill and Blue's
eyes widened when she saw how much it was. With a sigh, she handed
the server her bank card. “Fuck, Al, you've had a lot to drink. You
know this isn't okay, right?”
“I'm nursing a
broken heart,” said Alaster, cradling his water glass as if he
still hadn't figured out that it wasn't a beer bottle.
Blue was
considering giving him a broken nose to nurse. It seemed like he only
ever thought about himself, how much he was hurting, and he never
stopped to consider what Fae was going to think about his actions.
Fae had probably been worrying herself all day about her brother, and
he'd been here all along, drinking himself into a stupor.
“You don't have a
broken heart,” she told him with practiced patience.
He looked at her
with wide eyes, which were as bright blue as ever. He resembled a
kicked puppy.
“I'm telling you
I have feelings for you and you don't even care,” he said morosely.
“You ain't got
feelings for me,” Blue objected. “You just think you do, alright?
You're gonna sober up and by tomorrow you're gonna hate yourself for
this whole conversation.”
“But
you'll be there,” Alaster said. “When I hate myself, you're
always there, even when you're not. My head is full of bullshit most
of the time but lately, you're always in it. And last night, when we
made love, it felt right. Nothing feels
right, but you do, don't you get it?”
Shaking her head,
Blue avoided looking at him. He just looked so pitiful. And she'd
been waiting for him to realize everything he'd just said, but the
only time he ever said stuff like this was when he was drunk or high.
She wanted to hear it from him when he was sober, but when he was
sober, he was emotionally constipated. Logically speaking, she should
be running as far away from this guy as she could get and the only
reason she wasn't was that she was drawn to him in a way she couldn't
explain.
The server brought
back her card. Blue thanked him and stood up from the booth.
“Al, come with
me,” she said, trying to pull the man up. He reluctantly obeyed and
let her lead him, stumbling, to the exit. “I'll take you back to my
apartment and you can sleep this off on the couch. If you still wanna
talk about it tomorrow, when you can actually think straight, I'll
listen.”
He leaned heavily
against her and she put an arm around his waist to keep him upright.
“Tomorrow,” he
repeated with a sharp nod. “Okay, tomorrow. Listen, I'm actually
feeling a bit ill. I think I might vomit.”
“Hold it in,
buddy.”
Blue picked up the
pace and got them out of the bar as quickly as she could. Once
outside, she guided Alaster over to the alley, where he proceeded to
throw up basically all of the alcohol he'd consumed. She rubbed his
back soothingly and did her best to avoid the pool of sick on the
pavement.
“Why do you do
this to yourself?” she asked with genuine confusion. “I know that
you had to drink a lot to make yourself this sick.”
Alaster shuddered
and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “Just trying to have a good
time.”
“Well, you're
shit at having a good time.”
She walked him over
to where she'd parked her car and helped him into the passenger's
side seat. He looked exhausted, the street lights giving his already
pale skin an unhealthy sheen. After making sure Alaster's seat belt
was buckled, she took out her cellphone and dialed Fae's number.
“Did you find
him?” Fae asked when she answered.
“Yeah,” said
Blue. She sat down in the driver's seat and spared a glance at
Alaster. The man was staring out his window, looking like he might
fall asleep at any moment. “He went to a bar, got trashed, you know
the drill. He's fine otherwise, didn't get himself into any trouble.
I told him he could sleep it off at my place.”
“Thank you,”
Fae said. She sounded relieved, but disappointed. “I thought he was
doing better, I really did.”
Fae was always
hoping for the best from people, and so she was often disappointed.
Alaster probably disappointed her more than just about anybody else.
Sometimes, Blue wondered if the pressure to live up to Fae's
expectations didn't make things harder for Alaster, but she didn't
dare suggest it to either of them.
“He's trying,”
she replied. She really did believe that. A lot of people didn't
notice because he was such an asshole, but Blue had seen how hard
Alaster tried to do the right thing. What came naturally to Fae
seemed far more difficult for her twin brother. But when it came
right down to it, Blue thought Alaster had that same spark of genuine
kindness in him, he just didn't know what to do with it. Maybe he
needed someone who understood that.
“I know he is.
Thank you for taking care of him, Blue. It means a lot to me. I hate
to ask this but can you drive him home tomorrow?”
“Yeah, of course.
I'll talk to you tomorrow, Fae. Say hi to Shadow for me.”
“I will.
Goodnight, Blue.”
“Goodnight, Fae.”
Blue ended the call
and started her car. She could hear the soft sound of snoring and she
realized that Alaster had fallen asleep. She reached over and ruffled
his hair, careful not to wake him.
“You're an idiot,
Al,” she informed her sleeping companion. Her only answer was more
snoring, but she cracked a smile.
At the very least,
Alaster kept things interesting.
FIN
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