Page 19

NINETEEN

Liam

“You weren’t kidding when you said you had everything handled. I asked you to wait so I could help,” Gabriel says as he looks around the house where I have tables set up and the meal prep done.

“He lied to me,” Matthew whines from where he’s lying on the couch. “He said it started at nine.”

“What kind of fool would even think that Thanksgiving lunch would start at nine?” I ask.

Matthew is clearly not done complaining. “He’s made me do so much. I’m so tired.”

“Don’t listen to him, he enjoyed it,” I assure Gabriel, who raises an eyebrow.

Gabriel examines it all before giving me an approving smile that I eat up. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me. Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier… although you did tell me you wouldn’t start things until ten when I could be back here.”

“I didn’t want you to do anything when Matthew could do it all.”

Though Gabriel stayed here last night, he ran out this morning to help his mom who was insistent on making desserts, but since she still has no water at her house, she relocated to his house to finish up and take a shower.

“Your movers really did do fast work. We could have done it, but it sure wouldn’t have been done this quickly,” he says.

“Nah, why waste time?” I ask as he stops and looks at a picture hanging on the wall. He cocks his head this way… and then that way.

“That’s so weird. I have this exact same picture in my house.”

“Not anymore,” I say.

Gabriel looks over at me. “Excuse me?” Then he pauses and hurries over to pick up a lamp. “Isn’t this my lamp? And this is my favorite couch pillow!”

“Liam admitted that he’s been taking one thing from your house a day for weeks and you didn’t notice,” Matthew says. “It’s creepy, so why do I also feel like it’s kind of romantic?”

“It’s extremely romantic,” I declare.

“What the hell else of mine did you take?” Gabriel asks.

“Shhh. Don’t listen to Matthew. I just wanted you to feel comfortable while surrounded by things that make you happy.”

He looks at a godawful painting of Lucy Fur as an aristocrat that I’d hung up as the centerpiece in the living room. I was shocked to my core when he told me he’d paid someone to paint that and had asked if he meant that someone paid him to take it off their hands. It’s enough to make me cringe, but Gabriel does seem to love it.

“You’re ridiculous,” he decides on, but grins as he follows me toward the kitchen. Before we reach it, there’s a knock on the door.

“Ooh, I bet that’s Jesse,” Gabriel says, sounding far too happy for the words that just came out of his mouth.

“Why would you invite Jesse?” I ask. “His body is so little, I can’t fathom he’ll be of much use moving shit like Matthew was.”

“Because his family has Thanksgiving this weekend and he had nothing to do,” Gabriel says as he hurries over and opens the door.

Jesse greets us with, “I brought beer because I thought the only way to get through a meal with Liam would be with alcohol included.”

“Go put him in the catio,” I grumble.

Jesse’s looking this way and that with obvious interest. “Daaaaamn, Liam. I didn’t know your house was so fancy.”

“You want to hear something embarrassing?” Matthew asks.

“Matthew, if you don’t shut up, I’m throwing you out,” I warn as I press my weapon of choice against his throat. I’m displeased it’s a spatula which seems weirdly ineffective for threatening him.

“He bought this house for Gabriel and Gabriel didn’t want it,” Matthew says with a chuckle.

Jesse’s face scrunches up. “Gabriel, sweetheart… what the fuck is wrong with you? I’d date Liam for a month for this house. Ooh, that should be like a reality TV show. Whoever can date Liam for a month gets a house this damn nice… you’re right… no one would make it.”

“Fuck you and double fuck you,” I say as I glower at both of them and wave the spatula some more at Matthew.

“I brought Nefertiti!” Jesse announces as he holds up a little travel cage with his tarantula in it like we’re all just going to rush over to meet his monster. “She can’t stay long. My cousin’s boyfriend is thinking of getting a tarantula and wanted to meet her, so I swung by there this morning. On my way home to drop her off, I thought you guys would love to meet her.”

“You thought wrong,” I inform him.

Matthew visibly shudders and Gabriel leans in to me to whisper, “I was hoping we could set these two up, but now I’m questioning things.”

“Who wants to hold her? Matthew, do you want to hold her?” Jesse asks as he pops open the cage. The tarantula crawls onto his hand with very minimal prompting.

I’ve never seen Matthew move so fast as he does a smooth flip over the back of my couch before scurrying away. “See, Matthew, if you moved that fast while setting up chairs and tables, you’d have been done hours ago.”

“You don’t like spiders?” Jesse asks, looking a bit heartbroken.

Gabriel, who clearly also isn’t interested in any part of this, slowly gets closer, and Jesse seems thrilled. “She’s… cute. With her little hairy legs… and eyes… so many eyes.”

“Isn’t she?” Jesse asks. “Want to hold her?”

“Ohhhhh. You know…” Gabriel looks like he’d rather hold literally anything else.

I decide that I’ll swoop in to save Gabriel. “I’ll hold her,” I say as I hold my hand out.

Once Jesse has me sitting on the couch, he presses his hand to mine and she walks onto my hand while scrutinizing me. I realize that maybe Jesse isn’t half bad if his pet is this useful at keeping Matthew away from me.

“Gabriel, why don’t you have one of these instead?” I ask as I eye his cat who is busy scowling at my cat. The tarantula is busy crawling from one hand to the next. “Would you like to watch me crack open some crab legs, Nefertiti? You look like you’d enjoy that.”

“You’re not putting that on the counter,” Gabriel hisses.

“Why’s it cute when your cat does it, then?” I ask.

Jesse seems delighted that I have an interest in his creepy pet. And then there’s Matthew hovering by the door, wanting to get laid but realizing there’s a tarantula-sized object cockblocking him.

“If I knew it was this easy to keep Matthew away, I’d have gotten one of my own before now,” I say. “I’d wear it like a pocket square.” I pass the spider back to Jesse since I can’t leave my food for too long. They all follow me into the kitchen, although Matthew stays a healthy distance away.

Gabriel looks around at everything going on. “Liam… I thought you were making a turkey… why are there steaks and lobster and crab?”

“So your mother will love me,” I say. “She said she loved lobster and steak, so that is what she’ll get. There’s a turkey too.”

Gabriel stares at me. “Hon, this is a lot.”

“The moment you called him ‘hon,’ he was in so much euphoria that he stopped listening,” Jesse says as he smiles at Nefertiti.

Matthew is still horrified but also clearly wants Jesse’s attention, so he hovers near him.

“Well, I’m going to drop my sweets off, but I’ll be back. Anyone else want to hold her before I leave?”

“Matthew does,” I say.

“Matthew does not,” Matthew hisses.

“Matthew told me the other day that he’s never wanted anything more in his life than to hold your creepy spider.”

“Matthew said no such thing,” Matthew insists.

“And Jesse said that he would immediately fall in love with a big strong man who’d hold his spider,” I say.

“I guess you’re the only one I can fall in love with, then,” Jesse says to me with a laugh. He puts his horror pet back in her little cage before heading out.

“What can I help with?” Gabriel asks.

“The only thing you need to do is look handsome, and you’re already accomplishing it. It helps me recover from having to look at Matthew.”

“I’ll fuck you up so fucking hard,” Matthew grumbles.

“So when are you going to buy a house for Jesse?” I ask.

“W-What? Oh, he doesn’t… he doesn’t like me in that way,” Matthew says. “I’m very much not Jesse’s type. Jesse’s type generally has… you know…” He mimes breasts.

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. “There is absolutely no way he’s not interested in you. Just because he’s dated women doesn’t mean he’s not interested in dating you.”

Matthew sighs. “I’m not going to be able to woo him.”

“Not with that attitude, you’re not. With that attitude, I’d be surprised if you ever find comfort in anything but your right hand,” I say.

He inflicts his glower upon me. “Yet with your attitude you got the nicest man in the whole damn department…”

I sure did. “I could teach you my ways if you call me sensei.”

“I will most definitely not be calling you that.”

“Your loss.” I continue cooking as Gabriel hovers around, eager to help, but there’s very little for him to do. Not too much later, Jesse returns spiderless.

“You dating anyone, Jesse?” I ask. It’s not that I want to help Matthew in any way. I just feel like if Matthew had something to focus on, he’d stop trying to become my friend. And then Gabriel would be all, “Oh wow, look how kind and selfless you were setting those two up,” and I could pretend that I didn’t do it for myself.

“Nope. You looking for a third?” Jesse teases. “I’ve been wanting a new house. And my car is like three years old; I could get a new one of those.”

I look over at Matthew and raise an eyebrow. My look very much conveys that he has a chance. He only has to buy him a house, which is the most romantic gift one could purchase for a loved one.

“Gabriel, your cat is just so cute,” Jesse says as he kneels in front of Lucy Fur. He holds a hand out for her to sniff, and she holds a paw out which she uses to beat the shit out of his hand.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Gabriel apologizes as he rushes over to drive off Lucy Fur while Jesse bleeds on my floor. Doesn’t he know how hard I try to keep blood off any of my belongings?

Jesse just laughs as he looks at his battle wound. “It’s fine, I just got suckered in by the cuteness. You even told me she strikes at random, but that face… I got suckered by that face.”

“Matthew, there’s a first aid container in the closet in my bathroom. Go play doctor and tell me how it goes,” I say. “I love hearing about the failures of others.”

Matthew flips me off but hurries Jesse over to the bathroom.

“Your cat is the ultimate wingman,” I say as I hold a fist out to Lucy Fur. She simply yowls at it, telling me that I’ve made some progress with the cat. Not that I want to. Dear god, no. I just want to rub it in Jesse’s face when he comes out.

“Is she? I feel so bad,” Gabriel says as he eyes the bathroom. “Should I go help?”

“Go help Matthew play doctor? I think he’d prefer you didn’t,” I respond. “I think I’d prefer you didn’t. Like what would my role be? The janitor?”

“You’re acting like there’s a full-on porno going on in your bathroom right now.”

“There might be. I learned from a young age to never underestimate humans.”

“And what planet did you come from?” he teases.

“I crash-landed here just for you. It was the overwhelming pull between us that drew me to Earth in the first place.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

Gabriel cleans the blood off the floor a moment before the doorbell rings. “That has to be my mother. She’s early for everything.”

He hurries over to the front door that I can see from my position in the open concept kitchen/living room. The realtor assured me that it was one of the selling points, but now that I see how easy it’ll make it for others to interact with me, I’m starting to second-guess it.

Gabriel’s parents walk in after greeting him. “Oh my, such a lovely house,” Mabel says with a smile.

“Very nice,” Clark agrees, even though I’m pretty sure he’s just mimicking his wife and doesn’t really care.

I smile back. “Very safe area too. High-end security. Everything a single grown man who lives alone with the dangers of the world beyond these walls could ever need. There’s a safe room too, in case there’s a tornado or a hurricane.”

Gabriel gives me an amused look. “How would a hurricane possibly reach us? There’s not an ocean near us.”

“If the tornado picked it up, obviously.”

“Oh wow!” Mabel says, not at all caring about the small details while Gabriel stares at me from the doorway with a raised eyebrow. “I just hate Gabriel living all alone. I wish he had all of these safety features.”

“He has a place here with me as soon as he’s ready,” I inform her.

“Mom, don’t fall for his tricks,” Gabriel says, which is quite evil if I do say so myself. I’m not going to lie… it’s pretty sexy.

“What can I help… with…” Mabel falls quiet as she eyes what I have going on. Have I not wowed her enough? Should I have gone with something more? I knew the lobster and steaks weren’t enough. “Honey, you went to too much work.”

“I only had to wake up at two in order to get it all done,” I lie. I like the way she looks horrified, like she actually thinks I’m so unskilled that I couldn’t do everything this morning.

“Mom, he’s teasing,” Gabriel assures her. “I also told him he was only supposed to make the turkey you brought over. And I did tell him you were more than happy to make it and bring it over, but he insisted.”

“I don’t mind cooking,” I say.

What I do mind is all the people. After his parents show up, some others come in who I don’t know. He introduces them as his aunt and uncle, but I absorb very little about them. When his grandparents come in, I notice that I’m scrutinized before his grandma gives me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, which feels worse than if she’d spit in my face. I really want to hide in the kitchen, but whose idea was it to buy an open concept house? I want walls between us.

As I cruise on by, I see Matthew and Jesse sitting at a table and question if I can use them as a barrier, but Jesse seems quite deep into something as I hear him go, “So she’s a Tliltocatl albopilosus, but in case you don’t want to remember that, you can call her a curly hair tarantula. Did you know she’s a terrestrial species? She’s got this big horizontal tank but I’m going to be real honest, she’s pretty lazy and really doesn’t traverse through most of it?—”

Matthew is just smiling and nodding along as Jesse carries on and on about his tarantula, and I realize that maybe I want no part of that conversation. I hurry back into the kitchen as Mabel comes rushing over.

“What do you need, dear?”

For you to leave. Wait… no… no, this is the woman who grew the greatest man alive inside of her. I smile at her before saying, “Nothing, thank you.”

“Don’t be shy. I’m more than happy to help.”

“Really, I’m just watching pots right now. Nothing to do. Everything will be ready right at noon.”

She opens her mouth to protest but her mother calls her over, saving me from more conversation. I absentmindedly stir a pot that really doesn’t need to be stirred just so it looks like I’m busy. More people file in and I notice Lucy Fur has taken to glowering at them from inside her hide, and I suddenly feel like she’s gotten the right idea. Margarine isn’t too far away, tucked behind the kitchen island so that I’m forced to walk around him every time I move to check something else. I kneel down to face him.

“This would be a really good time for you to vomit all over the house and make sure it smells bad enough they’re forced to leave.”

He yawns, clearly not thrilled by my idea.

“I’ll give you some lobster if you do.”

Margarine gives his foot one lick before tucking it back under himself, transforming into the perfect loaf.

I realize that maybe I’ll just stay here where no one can see me and pretend like I’m playing with my cat. There’s really only one thing that can calm my wandering brain right now, so I pull out my phone and start looking at all the information I’ve gathered on Caleb Hill, the man who killed the teenager’s parents. Thoughts of him put me at ease.

During my free time, I’ve found out where he lives, where he works, and even managed to put a tracker on his car. Right now, he’s at his family’s house enjoying his very last Thanksgiving. I hope he makes the most of it.