Page 111 of Something Like Hail

“Can’t say that I blameher.”

“I know, but neither of ourrooms are big enough for two beds. If we bought smaller ones thenmaybe, but we can’t afford that, so I suggested we sleep in shifts.Turns out she was fine having to share a bed with me. We did thatenough when we were growing up, but, um…”

Noah looked away from rows of produce to seethat two red apples had replaced Felix’s cheeks. “Oh.”

“Yeah. I’d have to wash thesheets anytime you and I did it.Ifyou and I did it! Theoretically speaking.Um.”

Noah laughed. “So basically, this is all myfault. I woke up your mom, and your sister doesn’t want to get mycooties.”

“It’s not your fault!”Felix said, but then he laughed himself. “I guess it’s silly. Youknow what? I’ll sell enough of my collection to buy us two twinbeds. Or bunk beds! Problem solved.”

Except that Noah couldn’t imagine squeezinginto such a small bed with Felix, especially when his sister was inthe same room, but that was all right. Such things could take placeat his own apartment. Perhaps even tonight.

“What else?” Noah asked,wanting to be done with shopping. How much more could they reallyneed?

A lot, as it turned out. When first movinginto the apartment, Noah had optimistically bought pots, pans, anddishes. He rarely used them, and when he did, it was never enoughto justify running the dishwasher. Instead he did it all by hand.He was eager to finally make good use of the kitchen tonight. Felixwas his first official guest! Not counting clients.

“Is your hair blue?” askedthe cashier as they were checking out. “That’s so cool!”

“Told you so,” Noahwhispered after they paid and were rolling the cart toward thetruck. “This is Austin. You’ll fit right in. They might even makeyou mayor!”

Felix tittered happily and Noah sighedcontentedly. Whatever they got up to tonight, he was certain theywere in for a good time.

* * * * *

Felix wasn’t kidding whenhe said that he couldn’t cook. Noah didn’t know how either, but hemeant it in the way most people did: He wasn’t very skilled. Hecould still chop an onion and knew to spread oil at the bottom of apan before heating it. He could boil pasta and possessed a fewtricks, like adding salt to the rolling water to enhance thepasta’s flavor. Felix was a complete novice. He wasn’t a bad cookbecause he had never cooked at all. Still, teaching him thebasicswaskind offun. Felix kept looking at him in wonder, like he was workingmagic. Soon he was making his own because Felix wasn’t just abystander. He wanted to learn and did so in leaps andbounds.

“Maybe we should slice thezucchini thicker,” he said at one point before taking over. “I likeit better when it still has bite. It gets too oily and limp whenthin.”

“Admit it,” Noah said,taking a step back to supervise. “You’ve done this before. You’veprobably been on MasterChef and won.”

Felix gasped in faux surprise. “There’s a TVshow you’ve actually heard of?”

“I like cooking shows,”Noah countered. Mostly because it gave him something nicer toimagine while gnawing on raw carrots at night.

He wasn’t watching his calories thisevening! The pasta turned out great, considering their combinedlack of skill. In fact, it was better than anything he had evermade on his own. Felix was a natural, and during dinner Noah keptencouraging him to explore this newfound talent further. By the endof the meal, food became an unappealing subject, so their focusshifted.

“I love your apartment!”Felix said, despite the minimal surroundings. The rooms werespacious enough, but a decorative touch was still missing. “Youpromised me a tour.”

When first arriving, Noah had been toohungry for such a thing. “There isn’t much to see.” He rose andtried to find interesting details to comment on anyway. “You’veseen enough of the kitchen. That’s the living room over there, incase you hadn’t noticed.”

“You don’t have a Blu-rayor DVD player?” Felix asked, inspecting the setup, which consistedof a television and decoder box. “You should at least get an AppleTV or a Roku. I love mine, although I guess this TV is new enoughto be smart. Does it have built-in Wi-Fi?”

“I have cable,” Noah saidlamely. “That’s already a big step up for me. When I was a kid, theonly channels we got were through the antenna.”

“Antenna?” Felix repeated.“Like those things on cars? I’m going to need to see your ID,because I’m starting to think you’re way older thantwenty-three!”

“I will be soon,” Noah saidwithout thinking.

“You have a birthday comingup?” Felix said, already excited. “When?”

“Anyway,” Noah said,walking away from the room and the conversation, “over here iswhere I do my laundry. Yes, that is a washeranda dryer, which is great, becausewhen I was a kid we had to go down to the river and bang ourclothes against the rocks.” Felix didn’t ask if he was serious,thankfully. “Here’s the bathroom. One of them. I think it’sridiculous that this place has two. That’s not something I need.Feel free to take photos, by the way. I know you must find thisfascinating.”

Felix pulled out his phone and took one.With a straight face. He wasn’t really going to keep that, washe?

“And over here is mybedroom.”

Felix made a choking noise. Then he coughed.“Sorry. Swallowed wrong. Oh, is that your bed?”