Page 48 of Aleko
Lia let out her own exhalation of dislike. “I don’t! But I can’t think of this as…” She stopped in frustration. “I don’t really date a lot.”
“Neither does he,” said Pellos.
Lia was about to reply when Alekos entered the kitchen. Lia sighed involuntarily. She loved the little wave in his black hair and the way his shirt looked crisply white against his skin.
“Hey,” said Alekos, smiling at her. “You’ve emerged from the lair.”
“It’s not much of a lair,” said Lia, trying to straighten up and pretend she hadn’t been mooning over him. “It doesn’t even have a stuffed alligator or cat to pet in a threatening manner.”
“Cats don’t seem to like it much around here,” said Alekos. “Can’t imagine why.”
“Oh. I guess I’ll just have to pet you in a threatening manner then,” said Lia, and Pellos let out what could only be described as a giggle of surprise.
From Alekos’s expression, she couldn’t tell if he found her joke funny or not.
“OK, so you’re planning on going full villain? Glad I found this out now. Although, I feel sure that you need to wear more capes if you’re going to do that.”
“No,” said Lia, shaking her head. “I’m a villainess. That carries amuchhigher eyeliner requirement, but capes are optional.”
Alekos finally laughed. “Good to know. Pellos, how much time do we have before dinner.”
“About fifteen minutes,” said Pellos. “Lia, can you grab the plates from that cupboard?”
“Sure,” said Lia, going to pull down the dishware. Alex flipped his wrist over and looked at his watch. It was a beat-up-looking antique, and Lia couldn’t even see the numbers through the foggy glass.
“Shoot,” said Alekos, tapping the glass. “I forgot to wind my watch.”
“Or you could try using a watch that doesn’t require winding,” said Pellos. “Like the one I got you last Christmas.”
“That one is too fancy,” said Alekos. “And this one works just fine.”
“No, it doesn’t,” said Lia, as she put the stack of plates on the counter and then froze as she realized both men were staring at her. She cleared her throat. “I mean, it’s not telling time currently, is it?” Alekos looked from her back to his watch.
“I could go get Pellos’s watch,” he said as if it was a new thought.
“You don’t have to,” said Pellos.
“It might be nice,” said Lia, thinking that he should have put it on the moment he unwrapped it.
“I will go do that,” Alekos said, then he walked out.
Pellos slapped a palm over his face and shook his head. “That watch is a piece of shit, but he keeps using it becauseit works just fine.He just gets stuck on stuff sometimes.”
“He really is old, isn’t he?” asked Lia, realizing how odd her situation was.
“See, but that’s just it. He isn’t old. Not how we mean old. So many things we associate with being old—hearing loss, mental decline, slowing down—are all physical problems. But he’s none of those things. And the way that old people get afraid to try new things or get grumpy about technology changing… OK, well, he does have that one. But he doesn’t have that fascist attitude old people get sometimes. He’s more like a very peculiar time traveler. He collects odd bits and moves on to the next decade. Which, on one hand, is nice for me because it means I’ll never have to watch my father decline and die. I imagine he doesn’t like it quite so well in reverse, though.”
Lia stood staring at Pellos, the full enormity of their dynamic suddenly registering.
“He is your father and I’m nearly young enough to be your daughter.”
“Yeah,” said Pellos. “It got weird there, didn’t it?”
Lia gaped at him.
“For Supernaturals, your age gap isn’t that weird,” he offered.
“But it’s weird for me,” said Lia. “I just… He makes me… I…” She couldn’t say he made her crazy because he definitely wasn’t to blame for that. She honestly didn’t understand how Alekos could make her feel like she was safe and out of control at the same time.
