Splunker’s The Cat Productions

Lucas hastily made preparations for his visitor.  He was in the middle of putting clean sheets on his bed when the doorbell rang.  He gathered his composure as he walked to the front door and placed a hand on the doorknob.  He drew a deep breath and opened the door.

Before him stood a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties.  He had short, neatly-trimmed dark red hair, a stark contrast to his own long blond locks.  The redhead had a rumpled look about him, from the day’s worth of stubble growing on his jaw to the wrinkled clothes he wore, which consisted of a stale-smelling dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and an unkempt pair of khakis.  He looked like he’d just gotten off work . . . a day ago.  Lucas met the redhead’s deep green eyes and smiled welcomingly as he offered his hand.  “Hi, Julian.  Nice to meet you.”

Julian shook the offered hand and smiled back wearily.  “Hello, Lucas,” he replied.  Lucas looked different than Julian had expected.  His gray eyes had a slight twinkle to them as he smiled, and he wore a pair of jeans that, judging from the state of them, must have been his favorite.  His black t-shirt had two simple words on it:  “DON’T PANIC.”  In large, friendly letters, Julian mentally added, and his smile brightened a little at the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference.  Lucas gestured for Julian to enter.  “Come on in.”

Julian stepped through the doorway and Lucas closed the door behind him.  He inhaled deeply as he entered, and a wonderful aroma perked him up.  “I smell coffee.”

“In the kitchen.  Have a seat.  I’ll fix you a cup.”

The kitchen was more of a kitchenette, sharing the large room into which the front door opened with the dining and living areas.  Julian took a seat at the small dining table while Lucas poured hot coffee into two plain white ceramic mugs.  “Cream or sugar?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, no.  Black, please.”

Lucas placed one of the mugs of coffee in front of Julian and doctored the other with inordinate amounts of powdered creamer and sugar.  Julian smirked.  “If you hate coffee that much, why drink it?  Stick with cocoa.”

“Great idea!” Lucas exclaimed.  He took a canister of powdered instant cocoa from the overhead cabinet and added a spoonful to his mug.  “Now it’s a mocha latte,” he pronounced as he looked at Julian triumphantly.

Julian rolled his eyes dramatically but couldn’t suppress the grin for long.  The grin soon dissolved into the first genuine laugh he’d indulged in for weeks.  He wiped his eyes and looked at Lucas.  He was suddenly aware of just how attracted he was to him.  He looked down at his coffee, trying to push the thought out of his mind.  Straight until proven otherwise, he thought.  No sense getting all worked up over someone you can’t have.  He took a sip of his coffee and realized he would have to educate Lucas on how to brew it properly.  Though it wasn’t the worst he’d tasted, he couldn’t blame him for dressing it up.

“So, Lucas,” he said.  “You know all about me from that phone call.  Tell me a little about yourself.”

Lucas’s eyes brightened over his own mug.  He gulped down the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken and set the mug down.  “Well, for starters, I’m in a band.  I’m the vocalist for Sunder.”

Julian frowned.  “Never heard of them.”

Lucas’s face fell.  Julian looked embarrassed.  “Don’t take it personally.  I usually listen to talk radio.”

Lucas shrugged.  “It’s ok.  We’re not even on the radio.  Yet.”  He emphasized the word yet.  “We usually play at The Grid whenever we have the opportunity.  Adrian, my former roommate, is the guitarist and his girlfriend is the owner’s daughter, so he lets us practice there during closed hours and perform at least once a month.  It doesn’t pay the bills yet, but it’s a start.  At least it’s exposure.”

“So what does pay the bills?”

“I’m a veterinary assistant.”

Julian nearly spat out his coffee.  “Wow,” he said.  “That does not fit the image of a future rock star.”

Lucas shrugged.  “What can I say?  I like animals.  But I have scars.”  He held up his arms, showing off very faint cat scratch scars on his wrists.  “Does that make me look more badass?”

“Oh, absolutely,” said Julian.  He had to tear his gaze away from Lucas’s pale gray eyes to look, and again he chastised himself.  He took another sip of bad coffee.  “So why’d your friend move out?”

“Hope you can keep a secret,” Lucas said with the grin of someone with fantastic news to share.  Julian nodded.  “He’s planning to propose to his girlfriend, so he’s playing house with her to get ready for that step.”

“Wow.”  Julian saw this as an opportunity to get an answer to the question occupying his thoughts without being too obvious.  “What about you?  I’m surprised you don’t have a girlfriend to move in with yourself.”

Lucas’s face darkened.  “Well, I do have a girlfriend.”

“But?”

Lucas shrugged.  “She’s my first girlfriend, actually.  Her name’s Sara.  We haven’t been together long enough to really consider a move like that.  She kind of attached herself to me after a show, and she stays over often enough.  She’s fun, but I get the feeling she’s more into the idea of dating a guy in a band rather than me as a person.  So I really don’t see it lasting much longer.”  He paused and toyed with his nearly empty mug as he struggled to find a polite way to word his next question, then looked back at Julian.  “So, should I expect any special guests in particular?”

“You mean, do I have a boyfriend?” Julian said, amused at Lucas’s awkwardness.  It was obvious he wasn’t entirely used to the idea of a gay roommate yet.  “It’s okay, you can say it.”  So he’s straight, Julian thought, and some of the tension lifted.  “But no, I don’t.  Never have, actually.”

Lucas was surprised.  “Really?  Then how do you know you’re gay?”

The question seemed silly to Julian, but Lucas sincerely couldn’t grasp the concept.  He humored him with an explanation.  “Just because I’ve never dated anyone doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m looking for.  When you started feeling attraction towards other people, it was to girls.  For me, it was guys.  I remember checking out a male model on a poster at the mall once.  My dad caught me at it and told me that’s not how a proper young man should behave.  I got punished, and he became much more vocal about ‘those goddamn queers’ after that.  When I realized what he meant, I knew that’s what I was.  I also knew I could never be open with him.  I didn’t allow myself to explore this part of myself.  And then yesterday it went to hell.”

Lucas took a final sip of cool coffee and set the empty mug down.  “Feel like talking about it?”

Julian shrugged.  “Dad visited one of his restaurants and threw out a gay couple that had the audacity to have their date there.  He started on one of his rants, and I guess I was just sick of his attitude finally.  I said, ‘You know I’m gay, right?’  He told me to leave.  Offered me a quarter of a million dollars to get out of his life forever.  I tore up the check.”

Lucas’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.  “Why the hell did you do that?”

“Pride, I guess.  Maybe it was stupid of me, but I couldn’t accept it.  Then he wanted me to pretend it wasn’t true so I wouldn’t have to leave.  I’d been pretending my whole life, and I was tired of hiding.  My mom didn’t stick up for me, either.  She never goes against him.”  The wound was still fresh, and Lucas could taste the anger in Julian’s voice.  “Your parents are supposed to love you no matter what.  Do you have any idea what it’s like to be shut out by them because you’re not what they want you to be?”

Lucas looked down.  “Kind of.”  He raised his eyes to see Julian looking at him questioningly.  “Alcoholic father.  Abusive.  Not exactly a new, unusual, and exciting story.  Grades were never good enough, room was never clean enough, and everything was an excuse to beat some sense into me.  Finally I really did come to my senses.  I started staying with Adrian a lot.  Eventually I just moved in.  He had the bright idea to start a band when he got a guitar for Christmas one year.  In high school we picked up another guitarist, a drummer, and a bassist.  After graduation we went to the same community college for two years and then moved here.  He met Carrie, his girlfriend, and you know the rest, and did I really just tell my life story to a virtual stranger?”  He said this last part sheepishly.

Julian smiled.  “As did I.”  He stood up to rinse out his empty mug.

“Oh, I’ll take that,” Lucas said, taking Julian’s mug from him and carrying both empty mugs to the sink.  “You should grab a shower.  I’m sure you’ll feel a hell of a lot better once you’re cleaned up.”  He started to run warm water into the sink.  “I’ll start unloading your car if you leave me the keys.  I’ll put your stuff in Adrian’s old room.  I don’t have any sheets or blankets to fit his old bed and I really hate trying to shop on Saturdays in this town, but you can use my room till we get you set up tomorrow.  I’ll take the sofa.”  Lucas gestured to the sofa in the small living area.

Julian looked up, alarmed.  “Oh, I don’t want to put you out.  I can take the couch.  I don’t mind.”

Lucas waved the idea away.  “It’s fine.  I keep weird hours on weekends, so I’d only keep you up if you stayed in here.  Half the time I wind up falling asleep in here anyway, so it’s really no trouble.  I promise.”

Julian nodded understandingly.  He reached into his pocket for his keys and tossed them onto the table.  “Thanks,” he said simply as he headed towards the hallway.

“Bathroom’s on the right.  Your room will be the one next to it.  I’ll put your stuff in there.  You’ll be sleeping across the hall tonight.”

Julian paused at the entrance to the short hallway.  He turned back to Lucas.  “Why are you doing so much for me, anyway?  A ‘virtual stranger,’ as you put it?  I mean, I’m the first person to answer your ad.  You don’t know me.  You should have let it run for a few days, met a few people, and made a choice then.”

Lucas thought for a moment before answering, because he really didn’t know the answer himself.  “I guess I just have a feeling about this.  It seems like the right thing to do.”

Julian smiled gratefully.  “Well, thanks again.  You’re a lifesaver.”

Lucas returned the smile.  “Welcome home.”

For a brief moment they regarded one another.  The warmth of the new friendship filled the room, and with it a strange undercurrent of something neither could quite place.  Julian nodded once, then disappeared into the bathroom.  Lucas heard the shower running a few minutes later and turned his attention to the dirty mugs and his muddled thoughts.  Over and over again he washed the same mug, trying to figure out exactly what had transpired between them just then.