Unable to breathe so close to his winter wonderland smell, I shrug him off with a hum of affirmation and start ordering a cab. “It’ll be here in about ten minutes.”
“Perfect. You can spend that time telling me what you and Isla spoke about.” He says it as if he doesn’t already know exactly what was said.
“Well, I gave you a job,” I mutter.
“A very fitting one, I heard. I do bare a resemblance to a few of the subjects in your studio decor.” He lets his eyes flash white for emphasis. As if I needed the reminder that he only looks like a human.
Rolling my eyes, I mutter, “Always with the dramatics, Caspian,” but even I can tell my jab holds no venom. “It just made the most sense. I narrate romance novels and you pose for them. I don’t go out often enough that I could have met someone anywherebutwork.”
He doesn’t say anything, just watches me with humor in his eyes.
“It doesn’t hurt that you areveryhot and sorta dumb.” His rebuttal is stopped when I laugh, “You don’t have any knowledge of this world, Caspian, so youaredumb. Plus, looking likethatguarantees you a job in front of a camera.”
“Fine,” he admits, “But I’ll have you know, I am doing everything in my power to learn of this time. I read an article entitled37 Most Influential Moments of 2020.”
“Oof, that was a rough year,” I say, mostly to myself.
“What is reality television?” he asks, and I don’t even know where to begin.
“Ummm, it’s T.V. shows that are supposed to be real and unscripted. More often than not though, what is shown to viewers is taken out of context. Or the people behind the camera are like telling the stars what to do and say.” That’s gonna have to be good enough for now. I’ll make him binge-watchThe Bachelorwith me later.
“I see.” I am nearly begging him not to bring up the reason for that question because I do not have the energy for that shit show.
Before he can ask a follow-up question, a car stops in front of us, and the driver leans toward his open passenger-side window, calling for me. The journey home is peppered with questions about the pandemic, RGB, and how it is that we had so many fires in one year. I wish I had more information for him, but honestly, we all got fucked sans-lube in 2020.
I tell him such, and for the first time, he lets out booming laughter. A laugh that loud and obnoxious has no place on a man so refined and pretty, but I love it. It’s so perfectly surprising that I find myself laughing with him. That’s probably not great since the source material causing that laughter is incredibly macabre, but dark humor has always been my bread and butter.
When we arrive home, Caspian informs me that he wants to finish off the remnants in the freezer before our trip tomorrow so he can be at full strength. I hand him all the cleaning supplies he’ll need to scrub the guts off the freezer walls, then sprint my happy ass away to finish packing. I don’t really have any Vegas-worthy clothes, but we’re going on a reconnaissance mission, not a vacation.
I pack up my cutest swimsuit just in case. I think the hotel has an indoor pool, and I fully plan to take advantage of the hot tub once we find what we’re looking for. I booked us two nights, hoping that’ll be enough time to do what needs to be done. I hauled ass through both of my current books, and if I pull a few 12-hour days when we-when I-get home, I’ll be back on schedule.
I have to stop letting myself think of us as a package deal. Caspian has been around for only a few days, and while obviously we are attracted to each other, it’s only being compounded because we are essentially stuck together. If he had all the freedom he desired he wouldn’t still be wasting his time with me. And that’s- that’s fine. It’s good. Once this shit is done, I can get back to my real life.
After giving my luggage another once over, I climb into bed and try to clear my head of thoughts about how quiet this apartment will be once he’s gone.
* * *
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have gone about it like this.
But he said he wanted to read during the drive.
He can’t read and watch the world around him at the same time.
Thirty minutes into our drive to Vegas, I look over to see Caspian staring out the window, seeing the world pass him by. It must be so weird to suddenly be hundreds of years in the future with no knowledge of the time you missed. He’s seeing all these things for the first time that I take for granted every day.
Things like the tall glass buildings sparkling in the rising sun or how you can listen to any song in the history of the modern world from inside the car. Or being able to find information on just about anything you want to know with just a few taps. I’d love to see everything with fresh eyes without fully knowing the insidious truths woven into every touch of beauty.
He breaks me from my train of thought by moving one side of the headphones from his ear and asking, “How long did you say this drive would take?”
“Roughly five hours, just depending on traffic.” I explain, “We should make it there around lunch time but we can’t check into the hotel until a few hours later.”
“Alright. And then what?”
“We will get dressed up like two normal Vegas tourists and… I don’t know, go exploring I guess. Until you have some kind of idea where to go.” I really hope it’s easy once we get there. If demons are drawn to places full of sin, Vegas is probably the way to go. Or maybe a Catholic Church. But I can’t imagine demons being masochistic enough to subject themselves to that.
He hums noncommittally and puts the headphone back on. I wasn’t brave enough to let him listen to any of my work for this journey. There’s absolutely no way I could stomach knowing he’s listening to me. But he’s listening to one of my favorites. And it’s really heavy on the MMC’s POV, so hopefully, he’s picking up a bit more about how we talk.
I love his uptight way of speaking, but it’s no secret that it draws way too much attention. Three sentences had Isla looking at me like I had grown a third tit. Fascinated, curious, and only a little bit worried. He certainly looks the part now, and holy fuck, does he look good. But adjusting to this time will take a lot of work.
