Page 38 of Demon Dating Service
“And how can Luke not be Matteo’s type? Our Luke is perfect!” Bath’tuk shouted.
“Agreed,” Ogos chimed in.
“Luke is smart and funny.”
“He laughs at horror movies!”
“He’s thoughtful!”
“Maybe this Matteo isn’t good enough for our Luke!”
Luke propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. The tips of Luke’s ears were growing bright red, and the coloring was spilling down across his cheeks. However, Azroth was more inclined to believe the humble man was embarrassed rather than angry at the demons’ enthusiastic words.
Azroth waved a hand and conjured a cold bottle of water from the refrigerator. He stretched out and held it within Luke’s line of sight. The young man jerked upright and stared at the bottle for a moment before looking at Azroth.
“Sorry. We’re a bit overeager. We’re not trying to harm you or Matteo. This idea of romance and the dating process is very new to us,” Azroth stated in a calm, even tone.
“Thanks.” He accepted the water and cracked the seal as he twisted off the cap. “I think maybe we should approach this first encounter as a sort of fact-finding mission. My job is to discover whether he’s interested in me romantically, or if he only wants to be friends. If it’s the latter, we have to come up with a new contest for you. You’re not allowed to punish Matteoif he’s not romantically interested in me. I would be sad, but it’s understandable. Yet, if it’s the former, we can come up with ideas to win him over.”
“I really hope it’s the first one,” Mullmag murmured.
They all did. Of course, there was the argument that if Matteo was simply looking for a friend, they could still “help” him fall in love with Luke, but he doubted Luke would support that kind of coercion.
“This is a good plan,” Azroth announced. “Tell us what day you will bring Matteo to the house. We will all be in our human forms for his visit, or we won’t be visible at all.” Azroth peered around the chair to gaze at Annod, since the demon struggled so much with his human form. The skeletal demon cringed and waved his hand at Azroth. He got the hint.
The plastic bottle crackled in Luke’s hands, and he sighed. “That’s the other hard part. I have little free time between the two jobs and classes. It’ll have to be a day where I have one class and one job. Or maybe one job and no classes.” He made a growling noise and ran a hand through his hair. “Of course, Matteo also has his classes and studying to think about. I don’t know if he’s also got a job.”
“I thought we discussed that you don’t need to pay rent any longer. Why do you still have so many jobs?” Azroth grumbled. Discussed was a bit of a misnomer, he admitted to himself. There had been scant discussion. He’d stated that Luke no longer needed to pay rent, and the young man had nearly fallen down the stairs. But humans were clumsy like that.
“Uh…yes. We did. But I still have other expenses. My grants and scholarships don’t cover all my school costs, plus there are other things like food and clothes.”
The other demons whispered and mumbled behind him, and Azroth waved a hand in the air to silence their nonsense. He got it. If Luke was spending all his spare time working, how in theworld was he supposed to win Matteo? And if he wasn’t actively courting Matteo, they couldn’t compete in their contest.
No. No. Luke working all these jobs wouldn’t do at all. They needed to fix this.
“Okay. Tomorrow, you will notify both of your jobs that you are quitting. We will match what they are paying you, plus…” Azroth paused, scratching his chin as he thought of what Luke might believe to be an enticing number without being over the top. “An extra twenty-five percent! Your task will be to help keep the house tidy. As long as you keep the house clean and live here, we will pay you this sum of money every month in addition to not needing to pay rent. Is this fair?” It went without saying that he would order the house to keep itself tidy, so Luke didn’t have to do anything at all to earn his wage.
Luke stared at him with his mouth hanging open. It was as if his brain had stopped working.
“I think you broke him.” Ogos snickered.
“Is he broken? You weren’t supposed to break him,” Mullmag whispered, his voice growing more and more panicked.
“Azroth, fix him!” Annod whined.
“What? No! I’m not broken!” Luke shouted, his poor, exhausted brain cells seeming to work again. “Just…stunned. I’m sure it would take me far less time to keep up with the house, and I can use that extra time to catch up on sleep and study more.”
“Plus, spend time with Matteo,” Azroth pressed.
A bright blush reddened Luke’s cheeks, and he nodded. “Yes. That too. I’d have the money to take him out to dinner at a nice restaurant.”
“Excellent. We have a plan. You will quit your jobs and set a date for Matteo to visit the house.”
Yes, this would work out nicely. Once they had Matteo in the house, they could all watch the young man and discover histrue intentions toward their Luke. Feeding the crows was a good touch, but Azroth wasn’t entirely certain Matteo was worthy of Luke.
Chapter 16
You Live There?!?