002.
Falling Slowly is copyrighted to (c)cyanidesmirk2008.
Disclaimer: Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. If you, the reader, are offended by mentions of homosexuality (‘teh ghey’ as it it colloquially known among some high-school denizens) or the consistent use of expletives, kindly press the green back arrow on the left hand side of your browser. If not, please proceed. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
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001. Secret Valentine
Caleb
Caleb stumbled out of the bedroom. Thoughts like ‘coffee’ and ‘painkillers’ were making themselves known with the crazy pounding in his head. The traffic outside his apartment was suddenly a thousand decibels louder, the gentle putt of a passing scooter sounded like the roar of a Harley.
He blinked.
There was a splash of orange in his kitchen.
Said splash of orange seemed to be standing at his stove, cooking. The smell of waffles and eggs filled the small kitchen.
“Oh, you’re up already,”
Right, a female splash of orange. Orange clothes. It must be Cass.
“You really shouldn’t use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to drink yourself stupid, you know,” continued the orange blur known as Cass, eggs sizzling in the pan. A green mitt encased one hand. “I know you’ve sworn off women since the incident a few years ago,” At this, he winced. He didn’t like anyone talking or thinking about the Incident. “- but really. I only came because one of the girls saw you keel over at the bar. It isn’t healthy, Caleb,”
“Valentine’s Day is a commercialized holiday. There’s nothing special about it,” he finally croaked out, his voice rough from sleep. He flinched as a car zoomed by, the sound making his ears ring.
“And I’ll drink whenever I feel like it,”
“I don’t care, it’s not pretty,” she bit out. Exasperation tinged her voice. “I know I keep picking you up but I can’t do it forever. I mean, hell – when was the last time you got six full hours of sleep?”
Caleb fingered the gray circles under his eyes. He thought about his sister’s horrified reaction if he were to reply truthfully. “Recently,” he replied vaguely, reaching for the instant coffee.
“Have you considered seeing a doctor for your insomniac tendencies?” Cass spotted the tin of instant coffee in his hand. She looked like she wanted to grab the tin and throw it out the window of Caleb’s fifth floor apartment. That is, if throwing projectiles weren’t illegal. “And your coffee addiction! God, I hadn’t even touched on that. You’re as bad as a smoker,” She piled eggs and waffles on a plate. “Besides, you’re a total ass until you get your caffeine dosage,”
“Yup. It says that on my prescription. Caleb Kilmartin: 3 – 4 cups of coffee a day,” he emptied the packet of coffee into the mug. Pouring hot water in, he idly stirred it with a chopstick. “You don’t need to get me into your hippie revolution lifestyle. It’s my vice – I’ll deal. Besides, I figure God already knows about the coffee,” he quipped.
Grabbing the plate, he sat at the kitchen counter looking at his older sister. The two siblings stared at one another. Gray-green met gray-blue. He stabbed a waffle, completely destroying the moment.
“So, why’re you here Cass?” he said through a mouthful of waffle. “Aside from dragging me up a couple flights of stairs and into the apartment, you’re not usually one to make me breakfast,”
Cass tugged at blonde curls. “Mum and Dad aren’t really happy with you, Caleb. They were really set on you marrying Natalie,” Her eyes darted left to right, as if she didn’t know where to look, avoiding his face at all costs.
“You really do cut the small talk, don’t you, Cass,” Caleb snorted. “As if that would have made me less gay. All it would have resulted in is an unhappy marriage and eventually a divorce,” He ran a hand through unruly blonde hair. “I don’t know, Cass. I’ve been trying to make them happy for aeons and the first time I do something really for myself, this is what happens to me,” He proceeded to swallow an Advil and chased it with coffee. His second cup.
“You dropped a bombshell on them,” she muttered. “I mean – they found out that their only son is gay. And wouldn’t be carrying on the family name, and so on and so forth. They wanted grandchildren,”
“So what, this visit’s a guilt trip?” he gulped down a mouthful of coffee as he glared at her over the rim of the mug. “Do I look like paternal material to you in the first place? Besides, I doubt they’d want to talk to me again. Ever,”
“No, Caleb. Stop being childish. I’m just telling you how they feel,” sighed Cass. Caleb shot her a look that clearly said ‘I-am-not-being-childish’. “Oh come on, you can’t not talk to them forever. What kind of counsellor doesn’t talk to their own parents?”
“They stopped talking to me, so this one, obviously”
She made an irritated sound in her throat and took off the acid green mitt. “I’m going to go now. Ray’s waiting for me,” Snatching her handbag off the counter top, she made to let herself out. She turned halfway through.
“I’m not asking you to live up to their expectations. I just want you to be happy. But you don’t do that while hurting someone else’s feelings,” When Caleb made no noise of acknowledgement; she shook her head and let herself out of the apartment.
He listened for the click of the door shutting before getting up again. Without his sister’s presence, the apartment just seemed so lonely again. Quiet. Sure, maybe he should be happy – but he just didn’t see how he could be happy without fucking up in front of his parents.
“God, I fucked up real bad,” he groaned, collapsing on his very comfortable leather couch. He paid for this couch with his own money. Out of his salary. ‘Yeah, I had to work overtime for two months just to get this gorgeous couch’ he thought, snuggling into the couch.
He shot up at that thought. ‘What kind of man uses the word ‘gorgeous’’ he thought, horrified. “I am so gay; it’s not even funny,” he murmured, looking up at the cracked ceiling.
“Thank God it’s Saturday and I don’t have to work,” With that, his cell phone rang – a shrill polyphonic tune that jarred the ears. He winced and quickly pressed the green button to make it stop. There was only so much one brain could take after all.
“Caleb?” said a harried female voice.
“Yeah?” he replied, raising an eyebrow sceptically.
“Oh good, I was worried I got the wrong number. It’s Haley. Could you come in for a few today? We got a case that the Director would like you to handle,” Caleb groaned inwardly. Whenever the Director wanted you to take on a certain case, it was bound to be a little tougher than usual.
“Please tell me it’s not the one who thinks he can bend spoons telepathically,” That was funny. Actually, no – it was pretty scary. He insisted that he had developed psychic powers and could bend spoons and other things with his mind. Caleb nearly ran out of the room telling Haley to send the guy to the nearest psych ward and fast. It was just too much for one person – or at least, him to handle.
“No, it’s not him,” said Haley, a smile in her voice even if she still sounded tired. He exhaled and began to breathe properly again.
“Oh, thank God. Wait – is it the one who thinks he’s a sex god and that all the women want him, it’s just there are complications arising from it?” That was coming from someone who looked like he hadn’t reached puberty yet. He nearly gagged at that. It was even harder to sit in the room and talk to the guy.
Why did he get all the crazy ones?
“Look, just come down to the centre. Get dressed properly, none of your usual cargo pants and a t-shirt crap,” Haley sounded annoyed. “And get here fast. Be here in like, 20 minutes. You don’t want me to call Dan, and you know what he’s like on Saturday mornings,”
“Yeah, sure thing boss,” He ended the call before sauntering into the bathroom, anticipating a hot shower. Stripping, he turned on the water.
“FUCK, IT’S COLD,” he yelled, jumping back a few steps.
-
After performing all morning ablutions, he glared angrily at the shower head. Caleb nearly ran out of the bathroom to get dressed. “Right, have to dress properly because it’s a Director case. Sheesh. What’s the difference?” he snorted as he grabbed a white sweater. “It’s still the same person, after all,”
“Get dressed properly,” he mimicked Haley’s high pitched voice. “As if I don’t know how to dress properly,” he snorted, bending over to look for a pair of pants. At the age of 24, Caleb was borderline vaguely anorexic looking. All that loss of sleep must have affected him. “Argh, goddamn it. Where are those pants?”
‘Swearing ups your blood pressure, y’know’ said a voice that sounded a little like his conscience. It decided to bother him at the worst of times. He mentally kicked its ass and watched it limp away like a kicked puppy.
He found the elusive pants and pulled them on, only to find that they were a little snug. “Damn. Ah well, that’ll have to do,” he muttered. Glancing at his watch, he found that he was way, way off schedule.
He choked – a hacking, unsightly spluttering noise. He hurriedly pulled on his sweater, grabbing a pair of shoes. “Keys, keys – I need my keys,” he mumbled, grabbing his cell phone and wallet. Snatching them off the counter, he slung a bag over his shoulder before giving himself ten seconds to look around before dashing out, pausing only to lock the door.
He ran down four flights of stairs, yelling hoarsely “TAXI” while waving an arm around like a lunatic. A taxi screeched to a halt, barely two centimetres from his arm. “The hell,” he swore, rubbing his arm as if to confirm that it was still there. “That could’ve taken my arm off,” he muttered as he got into the taxi.
“So, where to?” asked the driver, turning in his seat. He cocked his head, revealing sparkling eyes for the briefest of moments.
“The Centre, if you don’t mind. And could you make this fast? I’m late for work,” said Caleb, nearly pleading.
“Sure thing. You might want to hold on to your seat though,” he replied, a smile evident in his voice.
“You wanted to go fast after all, didn’t you?” Listening to his tone, Caleb not only clung to his seat as if it were going to fly away but strapped on the seat belt. His eyes widened in fear. All rational thought had pretty much been kicked to the curb.
Save me
He squeezed his eyes shut. The taxi jolted and sped down the road at breakneck speed. If this were one of his fantasy books, he would have likened the sensation to G-Force pulling his skin back, making it ripple. But it wasn’t, so he had to contend with a mildly nauseous feeling. But the cab driver did have the most gorgeous eyes…at least, what he saw of them before the spaceship took off.
‘Okay,’ he mentally slapped himself. ‘Stop checking out every attractive guy that comes within a three-foot radius of you. Yeah, sure. You’re gay and your family knows but it doesn’t mean that you should be so fuckin’ blatant about it’
Caleb concentrated on the back of the driver’s head and thought about work.
END CHAPTER ONE.
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