Page 23 of Surface Scratch
“Relax,” Marcus crooned, rubbing his thumb over Caleb’s hand. “Stop worrying about everyone else. Be in this moment with me. How about this: tell me what you thought of the movie?”
Caleb smiled. “It was really good, though I was very confused. I haven’t seen any of those movies, but I know they’re what’s popular these days,” he said. He thought back to the tiny shorts on the main villain and felt his cheeks begin to flush. “I think their costume designer, um, yeah they definitely deserve an award for that.”
Marcus let out a loud, belly shaking laugh. “Oh, is that what you think?” he asked, his chin resting on his hand as he seemed to stare right through Caleb’s soul.
“Yeah. I might be willing to watch the other movies in that series if they’re all like that,” Caleb said before taking a bite of the sausage he had impaled on his fork. Oh man, when was the last time he had greasy food like this? It somehow tasted bad and good at the same time.
“My dear Caleb, are you trying to make me jealous?” Marcus feigned a gasp and pressed his hand to his collar like he was clutching imaginary pearls. “Tell me, what was the last movie you saw in theaters?”
Caleb felt his ears grow hot.My dear Caleb.It sounded really nice on Marcus’s lips. “It was something about an old man and a chubby kid and balloons attached to a house? I remember my brother made fun of me for crying during it,” he said. “I was an even bigger wimp back then, so my mom had to actually take me out of the theater to talk about it.”
Marcus nearly choked on his smoothie. “I’m sorry, what? Your brother made fun of you for crying duringthat movie? Was he born without a heart?” He began laughing, shaking his head. “Maybe we should hook him up with Ophelia, I’ve never seen that girl shed a tear over a movie in her life. Kill the parents, the grandparents, the dog, a friend, that one where the little kid dies from a bee sting. Not a single watery eye on her part.”
Caleb shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Ah, that wouldn’t work. I have no idea where he is,” he admitted before taking another bite of sausage. Talking about his brother was always an oddly calm affair compared to discussing his mother.
“What happened?” Marcus asked, his face falling a bit.
“No clue.” Caleb shrugged. “After the accident, we were all pretty badly hurt. Nick shattered his femur and needed a ton of surgeries to fix it, I was in a medically induced coma with third-degree burns, and my mom had to have her skull essentially reconstructed. I didn’t realize it back then, but he was taking his pain medication more than he should have, and way longer than he should have.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said. “What happened?”
Caleb set his fork down, his stomach twisting itself into a knot. “When Mom came home, she was different. Like, very different. Her ability to speak was messed up, and sometimes she’d just stare at the wall for hours. The doctors said it was because of the head injury. She couldn’t walk or feed herself, or do anything really, for a long time. Nick took care of her while I recovered, but that went downhill fast. He was taking a lot of pills, and he was stealing Mom’s pain medicine. Money and all of Mom’s jewelry disappeared. By the time I put two and two together, he was deep into his addiction.
“I had just started school again when I tried to confront him and ask him to get help. He freaked out and left without even saying goodbye to her. He made sure to take anything of value in the house, including our TV and computer, but yeah, since that night, I haven’t seen him once.” Caleb let out a long sigh. He could feel the lump in his throat, but he didn’t feel as if he would cry. He could never seem to manage to cry when it came to Nick. He worried that he hated his brother sometimes, but he knew that wasn’t the case.
Part of him was jealous that Nick got to leave, but he knew he could never have left his mother to waste away in a nursing home. It seemed too cruel.
“He doesn’t know your mom passed away?” Marcus asked, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
Caleb shook his head. “No, and honestly, I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for him.” He poked at his pancakes again and realized he had brought the mood down with his dour memories. First dates weren’t supposed to be sad. He cleared his throat. “You mentioned you’ve been here for a long time, where did you live before?”
Marcus smiled. “I’ve lived a bit of everywhere. I lived in Chicago, Baton Rouge, and San Francisco at various points. I spent some time in Europe too, but I grew up in Japan with my mom,” he pulled his hand away and began stirring his melting smoothie. “I came to the States to find my dad.”
“Did you?” Caleb asked.
Marcus shook his head. “No, he was dead long before I landed here. But I decided to stay. The food here grew on me,” he grinned before taking another sip of his smoothie. “I actually only came to this place on a business trip for another nightclub about ten years ago, and when I saw that big empty building just sitting there, I got the stupid idea to open my own place.”
“It seems to have worked out,” Caleb pointed out.
“Thank goodness, too,” Marcus said. “After ten years, it’s finally paid off.”
“What do you mean?” Caleb watched a crooked smile form on Marcus’s face, those adorable wrinkles showing in the corners of his eyes.
“Owning a nightclub is how I met you, isn’t it? I’d say it’s worth all the money I dumped into it.” Marcus leaned over the table and planted a kiss on his cheek.
He was trying to formulate a response, but the only thing that came out of him was an odd squeak that made him bury his face in his hands. Marcus always seemed to know the exact right thing to say to him and it drove him wild. How had this become his life in just a month?
Marcus pulled at his wrist, trying to wrench Caleb’s arm away from his face, chuckling. “Come on, what did I say? I like seeing your face,” he said.
Caleb batted his hand away playfully. “I’m a tomato, don’t look,” he said.
He heard Marcus’s chair scrape against the dull tile of the restaurant and peeked through his fingers as a single hundred-dollar bill hit the table. “Come on then, tomato, let’s go cool off,” he said.
* * *
The snow was still falling in heavy clumps on their walk away from the restaurant, accumulating on the ground in a thin layer. In the dark, the falling snow only illuminated by streetlamps was one of his favorite sights, so Caleb didn’t mind the biting chill of the air against his cheeks and nose just yet. In a few days he probably would be complaining about the slush and bitter cold, but today he was more than happy to endure it.
Marcus walked at a leisurely pace beside him, their fingers laced together as they held hands. They had both fallen silent, but it wasn’t awkward. To him, it meant Marcus was comfortable enough around him that he didn’t feel the need to fill the space with talking.
