Page 9 of Solo Stan
Elias
Elias stood behind the counter, tasting his latest failed coffee creation, his attention remaining fixed on Dakarai, who continued sketching.
Dakarai struck Elias as delicate and overly sensitive—Elias had, after all, caught him struggling to tie his shoelaces and crying within half an hour of meeting him—yet he proved far more formidable than Elias had anticipated. There was more to him than met the eye.
Whatever he’s ignoring me for better be good, Elias thought.
Dakarai tilted his head, surveyed his work, and then kept going. Elias tried to get a better look, but Dakarai caught him every time he tried.
With the excess energy Elias had from drinking so much caffeine, he felt like he could run a marathon and then deroot a tree with his bare hands.
He had to burn off the restless energy or he’d probably start bench-pressing customers soon.
He directed his attention to the dessert case, which had nearly snapped off his finger earlier when he tried to set out a new batch of Wookiee cookies.
He found a tool kit in the staff room and got to work fixing the misaligned track.
The sun was just leaving its highest point in the sky, bathing the street in gold. Layers of oranges and yellows intensified behind the shops, casting long shadows on the storefront window and, consequently, Dakarai.
Elias occasionally glanced over at Dakarai, their eyes meeting for brief moments before the two went back to pretending they hadn’t been looking.
Elias couldn’t look at Dakarai without him immediately turning toward Elias, waiting for him to speak.
Elias tried again just for good measure. Same thing.
Elias finally decided he didn’t care if Dakarai saw him looking; he smoothly slid the dessert case closed, put the tools away, and marched right up to Dakarai. “How are you doing that?” he asked with an accusatory tone.
“What do you mean?” Dakarai replied in his low drawl.
“How do you always know when I’m looking at you?”
“Because I can feel it. But I think the better question is why do you keep looking at me? Do you need help with something?”
“No, I’m just curious what you’re doing.” His eyes traveled down Dakarai’s form and settled on his still-untied sneaker. “And because your shoe being untied for this long is wild,” he added. He crouched down, a playful gleam in his eyes as he reached for Dakarai’s shoelaces.
Dakarai stood up and made an exaggerated sidestep to dodge the advance. “What are you doing?”
“You’re a liability in my uncle’s shop, and I’m just being the change I want to see in the world,” he replied.
Dakarai took another big step to the right and said, “You’re making fun of me.”
“Why would I…?” Elias began, then stopped as it dawned on him that Dakarai did not, in fact, know how to tie his shoes.
He’d noticed Dakarai struggling with it when he first walked in that morning but hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
“I’m not making fun of you,” Elias continued, gentler this time.
“Just let me do it. It’s been driving me crazy all day. ”
“If you do it for me, then how am I supposed to learn?”
Elias knelt down and deftly untied his own shoelace in one pull. “Do mine, then. I’ll teach you.”
Dakarai glanced between Elias and his shoe several times, as if trying to figure out if this was a con or not. He finally shrugged, seemingly deciding Elias was being genuine, and stooped low, taking a lace in each hand. “Now what?” he asked.
Elias couldn’t help but grin. “This is nice. I was tired of you towering over me all day.”
Disapproval showed on Dakarai’s face as he clicked his teeth. “You were making fun of me.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll show you,” Elias said, a flirtatious grin on his lips, “but can you look up at me while you do it?”
Dakarai sprang up and took a step toward Elias, looming over him. A challenging glint flashed through his eyes, and Elias couldn’t help but laugh. Dakarai definitely had a hidden edge, and Elias found himself unable to stop trying to get to it.
“You’re calling me short in every single language right now,” Elias said, amused.
Dakarai started twisting his earring again.
His earlobe was bright red—from irritation or embarrassment, Elias didn’t know, but it seemed he did that a lot when he was nervous.
“Can I at least see what you’ve been working on all day?
” Elias leaned over, trying to get a peek at Dakarai’s sketchbook, but Dakarai pulled it to his chest and crossed his arms over it.
“Come on, what’s the big deal? You’re not drawing me, are you?
” Elias joked. Yet, Dakarai’s eyebrows shot up, and the look on his face was pure terror.
An excited smile spread across Elias’s face. “You are drawing me. Let me see.”
“Stop,” Dakarai protested, hugging his sketch tighter as Elias made a grab for it.
Undeterred, Elias lunged again, but Dakarai held it over his head as high as he could. Elias laughed to himself. Basketball was his sport of choice, and he had dunked on nets much higher than that. He made another attempt on the book, this time successful.
“It can’t be that bad. Just let me take a quick little look,” Elias bargained. His arms became steel barricades every time Dakarai reached around his body to grab the book.
Dakarai suddenly stopped trying, closing his eyes for a moment, and released a long breath. He extended his palm and said calmly, “Could you please give it back? I’ve already embarrassed myself in front of you enough times as it is.”
“Why is it embarrassing? Is it because you were only pretending to be disinterested in me all day?”
“I wasn’t— You’re so irritating,” Dakarai said, letting out a defeated laugh.
Elias made a run for it, cutting through the staff room to the back storage room before looping around through the comic aisles to the front of the store.
He flipped through the book, trying to find the page, but Dakarai followed after him, and, in the ensuing struggle, they found themselves breathless, face-to-face, only inches apart.
A thousand emotions passed over Dakarai’s face as Elias’s teasing smile faded.
He stared into Dakarai’s eyes until he couldn’t help but drop his gaze to Dakarai’s lips.
The bell rang over the door. It didn’t immediately register to either of them what that meant.
It wasn’t until someone cleared their throat that the two leapt away from each other, Dakarai pretending to be particularly fascinated by a random shelf in the classic horror section, leaving Elias alone to face Moodie, who had walked in holding a stack of his famous peanut butter pies.