Page 21 of Surface Scratch
Caleb laughed at the image in his head of a somehow smaller Ophelia grumpily spritzing an underwear drawer with overly sweet body spray.
“She can be… intense,” Caleb said, trying to hide his amusement.
“Yes, it’s one of her finest qualities,” Marcus said, beaming with pride.
There was something about Marcus’s total acceptance of Ophelia that made his heart melt. Most people would be put off by their child acting the way she did, whether because of her chronic apathy or quickness to anger, but Marcus looked genuinely proud.
“By the way, you should probably get back down there before she decides to break into your apartment with something far worse-smelling than sugar cookie spray,” Marcus said as he sat up. He pulled out his phone and opened the calendar on it. “I have to leave town tonight for Chicago, and I need to leave in the next hour if I want to beat the sun, so what do you say to the date? I’m free on Tuesday night.”
“I literally do nothing on my days off, so yeah, I’m free.” Caleb realized he was trying to sound nonchalant, but his palms suddenly felt drenched. Had they been this sweaty the entire time?
Marcus kissed his forehead again. “Then it’s a date.” He stood up, running his hand along Caleb’s chest as he pulled away. “Eight o’clock, if that’s okay with you. I’ve been here for decades but I’m still not big on this midwestern ‘dinner by five’ thing.”
Caleb nodded. “That’s fine, I’m okay with eight,” he said. He realized a big dumb smile had plastered itself onto his face and stretched his jaw, trying to loosen the muscles that wanted to keep it there. “What’s up in Chicago?”
“Supplier issues.” Marcus rolled his eyes. “I was supposed to go up a few weeks ago, but they were having some sort of drama that I didn’t feel like stepping in, so now I have to take the weekend to sort this out. I’d much rather spend it with you.”
Marcus leaned down and kissed him again with another soft yet somehow rough kiss, an urgency behind it that grew the longer it went on. In that moment, Caleb didn’t care how little experience he had with relationships or sex or even kissing, he wanted more. His brain barely registered the sound of the office door opening.
“Hey, boss, you wanted me to remind you to get going—oh.” Tariq’s voice came from the doorway.
Caleb planted his hands on Marcus’s shoulders to push him away, but Marcus clamped onto the back of his head, pulling him deeper into the kiss. Caleb let out a contented sigh as Marcus’s tongue explored his, that same metallic taste setting his skin ablaze.
He felt his face heating up as Marcus pulled away. Tariq still stood in the open doorway with a goofy grin on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well, aren’t you two adorable,” Tariq said.
Marcus rolled his eyes and whispered, “Tuesday at eight. It’s a date?” He smoothed his clothes and turned to face Tariq. “Now, what did I tell you about coming into the office without knocking?”
“Not to do it unless it’s an emergency,” Tariq said.
“And what’s the emergency?” Marcus asked, moving back across the room to his desk. He grabbed a bottle of water off his desk and tossed it to Caleb.
“Oh, I wanted to see if you guys were fucking,” he replied as if it were the most mundane thing in the world.
Caleb coughed against the water bottle pressed to his lips, water dripping down his face into his lap. God, was everyone who worked here insanely blunt?
“Come on, kid, back to the floor with you. Ophelia will hurt people if she has to bus things on the regular floor,” Tariq said.
Caleb stood up and ran a hand through his hair, his gaze lowered so he wouldn’t have to see whatever cocky and amused look was occupying Tariq’s face. As he tried to duck past the DJ, Tariq wrapped him in another one of his signature bear hugs, lifting Caleb clear off his feet.
“I’m walking your happy ass home tonight. I have so many questions,” Tariq muttered in his ear before setting his feet back on the ground.
Caleb felt his entire face glowing red as he stepped out of the office. It was going to be a long, awkward walk home.
* * *
“Get under the umbrella, you dumbass, I don’t bite without permission,” Tariq said, wrapping an arm around Caleb’s shoulders and tucking him against his side.
Caleb pulled the strings of his hoodie to tighten the hood’s opening around his face, the cold wind cutting through the rain drops biting at his neck and ears and almost bringing him to a teeth-chattering tremble. He hadn’t expected the temperature to drop so drastically, but it seemed like winter was finally setting in. There had even been a brief snow flurry the day before, but it hadn’t stuck to the ground, so he hoped there would be a few extra days of warmth left in the year. The furnace at his house wasn’t very good, so the cold setting in was just a sign he needed to bust out the space heaters and blankets soon.
Tariq spun his large umbrella in one hand, sending the rain spinning down around them in a spiral while he whistled some indistinguishable tune. The DJ had followed through on walking him home, though their first few minutes of walking had been quiet and reserved, which Caleb was thankful for. He wondered what Tariq and Marcus had talked about after he left the office. Tariq had been up there for a while after he went back down to the dance floor, but that wasn’t unusual. Tariq was like Marcus’s right-hand man, and it made sense why—he could see pretty much everything from the DJ booth and, according to Ophelia, had worked there the longest.
“Just so you know, this is a strictly platonic ‘keep you warm and dry’ position,” Tariq said, squeezing the shoulder his hand rested on.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Caleb said. “I appreciate it, I guess?”
A few more minutes of silence passed between them. Caleb could feel the rain seeping into his old dress shoes, soaking his socks and making his toes impossibly cold. He couldn’t wait to get inside, rip them off, and curl up on his couch.
