Page 38 of Light Up
Corey chuckled, squirmed out, brushed himself down and continued with the preparatory work.
When Tal was satisfied the snow had been sufficiently compacted, he divided the mound. The majority for him, a smaller amount for Corey. Tal had almost finished forming the general shape of a reclining bear before he realised Corey had done nothing.
“What’s wrong?”
“I knew you’d be good,” Corey whispered. “More than good. You’re brilliant. That art A-level paid off. I assume you did art, right? I gave up in year 9. I was sent to see the head because my teacher said I’d made a cock and balls in pottery. It was a stinkhorn fungus. No one believed me.”
“Should they have?”
Corey mock-gasped. “Yes.”
“Are you going to make your bear?”
“In a minute. I just wanted to watch a master at work. For someone whose business is mostly lines and angles, you aregreat at curves. I had a friend at school called Josh who was brilliant at art, though he only liked to draw animals. No matter what we were told to work on, Josh made it look like an animal.”
“Was he your best friend?”
“For a few years. He had autism. I sometimes overdid trying to help him but it pissed me off when he was teased.”
Had Corey seen through Tal’s masking? Recognised he was autistic? Should he feel relieved or embarrassed?
School seemed a lifetime ago but the damage done to Tal lingered. He was touched that Corey had tried to support his friend yet aware that he’d have been annoyed as well if Corey had been too quick to always leap to his defence. But Tal wished he’d had a friend like Corey at his school.
“Are you still in touch with Josh?” Tal asked.
“No. They moved to another country and that was that.”
With someone like Corey at his side… But then Corey wasn’t seeing the young him, the one who hid, who tried to blend into the furniture… Instead, he saw a restrained, careful adult who made more effort to fit in, yet sometimes didn’t. Did Corey have lots of friends? Tal assumed he did but…Ask him!
Corey was working on his pile of snow. Tal wasn’t sure he’d ever met someone so distracting and he didn’t think of himself as someone who was easily distracted. He liked the eyeliner Corey was wearing. It made his eyes even more beautiful. And that hat… Tal had been desperate to take it off when they’d arrived last night, but Corey wouldn’t have been. He had a confidence Tal admired. Looking at Corey made Tal wonder, imagine, made him…want in a way he hadn’t for a long time. The sudden surge of lust made the breath catch in his throat.
“Did you know scientists tell polar bears apart by their whisker dot patterns?” Corey asked.
“I didn’t know that.”
“They’re not good fathers. They sometimes kill their own cubs to get the female into heat again.”
“Many animals do the same, though not usually their own offspring.”
“I’ve never seen a polar bear in real life. There are a few in captivity in the UK, but I’d be sad to see them restrained and away from the sea and cold weather. I have mixed feelings about zoos.”
“If sick or injured animals are rescued and can’t be returned to the wild, then zoos serve a scientific and educational purpose, but I know what you mean. One of the partners in the firm I work for designed a penguin enclosure for a zoo in Germany.” Tal had been disappointed not to get the contract.
“Were you jealous?”
Tal shot him a look. “Yes.”
“Did you like his design?”
“Not as much as mine.”
“Do you need a hug?”
“No.”
“I can wait.”
Tal smiled.
