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“You should totally go for Yuki, since, y’know you’re free to do that now. It’s been, what? Three weeks—?”
“Twelve days,” Taurtis corrected with a flat tone.
Sam had insisted on dragging Taurtis to the shopping district after school, apparently Sookie posted something about this new shop that opened recently and Sam wanted to buy her something from it. The only problem was the time. It was seven pm and Taurtis was running on three hours of sleep, a Toritos packet and half a mountain dew.
At least Sam tried to get them out of the extracurricular activities. Miss Okami was so close to letting them skip until the GYM teacher Rowan showed up.
“—Twelve, right. That’s plenty of time. Plus! Plus, we found out who the killer was. Boom! Clouser,” Sam smiled, happy with his unflawed logic and nudged Taurtis with his elbow.
“Oh, shit dude. Damnit,” he heard Sam slap his hands on his legs in frustration.
The store was closed. So was a third of the shopping complex. Sam hopped from one foot to another angrily before slamming his fist into the plastic display window. Taurtis imagined the shops would be closed, he mentioned that to Sam who didn’t listen. He was slightly more annoyed than before, Sam should have listened to him, now they have to book it to the train station or wait an hour and forty for the next one.
They made it to the station entrance with five minutes to spare. The running water below them was the only sound in the station. It was quite serene for a dingy, stained tile hall. Sam broke the semi-peaceful vibe very quickly, continuing his pestering from earlier.
Taurtis zoned out. He was tired. Very tired. The past week was filled with nightmares about Salex, each one a new twisted way of Taurtis finding his girlfriend's mangled corpse somewhere. For that reason he’d be avoiding sleep.
“So are you gonna go for it?” Sam stood right in front of Taurtis, hunching over slightly to get eye to eye with him.
“For what?” Taurtis snapped back into reality.
“Yuki. Ask her out tomorrow, yeah?”
Sam was holding out two tickets and Taurtis took the left one. He was ready to switch off as soon as they got on the train.
“I uh, I don’t think I’m ready,” Taurtis blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes. He took the chance to turn down the volume on his headphones too.
“Yes. Yes you are, Taurtis,” Sam said firmly, his smile faltered.
“No, really I’m—,”
“No, Taurtis,” Sam snapped back, loudly, “Get over it already, you’ve been moping around for ages and I’m sick of it, it’s pathetic and I want my normal Taurtis back.”
Taurtis would always let Sam’s outbursts slide. It was just another thing he did now and then that never bothered him. Maybe it was blinding fluorescent lights and pounding headache or his body trying to run on whole corn and polypropylene but this time something gave in. The train had pulled in and Sam already gave his ticket to Pete, waiting in the doorway staring at Taurtis.
“I’m not doing this tonight,” Taurtis muttered.
“Taurtis,” Sam scoffed, then smiled, “Come on, get on the train.”
Taurtis took a deep breath before turning on his heel. There was no one else on the platform so Pete went to shut the doors.
“Don’t shut the door, Pete?!” Sam yelled and threw his hands up in an ‘obviously’ kind of gesture, “Taurtis, get on the train dude.”
He disappeared around the corner. Sam scoffed again and shook his head. He considered going after him but decided playing their Gamecrab sounded more appealing.
Taurtis threw himself against the wall, leaning his head back on the cold tiles. Gord, why did he do that? Putting up with Sam would’ve been worth it if it meant his bed to sleep in tonight. He would brave the nightmares this time. Taurtis soon settled on crashing at J’s house and left.
The quiet, dull murmuring of whatever pop song was playing only agitated Taurtis more. Reaching up he turned his headphones off. That was better. He could hear some of the outside noise. The wind picking up, his heavier than usual footsteps, low buzzing of the electricity lines overhead, his breathing— wait, was that a car? Taurtis flung his head around and scanned the road behind him, the surprising bright but scarce lightposts revealed nothing. He sighed heavily and pulled his headphones down and around his neck, only slightly paranoid to have them on in case a car did decide to sneak up and plow into him too.
Taurtis knocked on the front door. The air had grown colder since he left the train station, his thin dress shirt doing nothing to keep the chill off his skin. His ears began to pain as well. Tapping his foot and aggressively running his hands through his hair yanking slightly in an attempt to relieve some agitation, he considered breaking in. He was sure J wouldn’t have minded.
He knocked again. One hand still tangled in his hair scratching at a spot that wasn’t even itchy. All the lights were off and the garage door was closed for once. Taurtis thought either J was out cold or not home. He knocked one last time, counted to ten, then counted to five, then left.
It was 12 degrees according to the WeatherCrab app, but Taurtis would’ve sworn it’s colder. He was tired, cold, sort of hungry and upset. Gord, why did Sam have to be such an annoying asshole all the time? Taurtis would figure that one out later, right now he needed a place to sleep unless he wanted to wait another hour at the station then another twenty minutes waking Sam up to come unlock the door. Who wouldn’t mind an emotionally unstable mess showing up on their doorstep at eight pm on a school night?
Invader? Might be a bit weird, especially since the whole Toritos incident. PD? Nah, they’re not close enough. Hidden? Maybe. No, probably not. Jts? Mmm, too scary. Sookie? No. Soul? No. Yuki? No.
He was out of options. Sighing he started to mentally prepare himself for the long trip home, then he thought, well…
No.
Well…
…Dom was an option.
As far as houses go, Dom didn’t have anything close. He did however have a half decent set up. A two room camping tent he borrowed from Invader, milk crates for chairs with shirts for cushions and a small fire pit taken from Jts’ backyard. Taurtis figured it was better than passing out on a bench at the train station then possibly missing the last train home.
The fire is almost out and Dom’s tent is zipped all the way. Taurtis hesitated for a moment, standing a ruler length away from the door. He felt bad for waking Dom up in twelve degree weather but he was sure Dom had done something just as inconsiderate so it evened out.
“Dom? Psst, Dom,” Taurtis whisper-yelled, pressing his face against the tent.
Dom responded within a second, Taurtis flinched not expecting him to stir so quickly. The sounds of blankets rustling somewhat aggressively came from the tent before the door was zipped open. Dom poked his head out looking half asleep, his hair disheveled. He blinked slowly at Taurtis with heavy eyes before yawning loudly.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Taurtis expected him to sound annoyed or tell him to ‘Beat it, headphones.” He sounded calm though, maybe it was because Dom was still waking up but Taurtis didn’t complain.
“I need a place to sleep tonight,” Taurtis shrugged, avoiding eye contact.
“Eh? Go crash at J’s house. Or you’re own,” Dom went to close the tent flap.
“Please, Dom.”
The two stared at each other, Taurtis with pleading eyes and Dom still struggling to keep his open. He did owe him one, Dom thought. Ever since Dom decided to drop the bully act Taurtis had been a great shoulder to lean on. He listened to him rant about how much he hates his dad and how annoying and inconvenient it was to actually pay for things at the Crabstore. He even gave him a penny once.
“I just… I need to talk to someone,” Taurtis blurted out, he didn’t come with the intention to guilt trip a therapy session out of his friend. Desperate times, he thought.
Dom nodded and climbed out of the tent. Wordlessly, he pulled up a second milk crate and offered it to Taurtis before going to his stash of cardboard boxes stacked next to the tent. He opened one and pulled out a ziplock bag filled with clumps of firestarter, throwing a small handful onto the nearly dead fire. It waited a beat before roaring back to life, Dom throwing a generous amount of sticks into the flame.
Neither spoke at first, they simply stared into the fire seemingly mesmerized by the flickering flames and embracing the warmth. Taurtis was racking his brain with what to say. Should he bail and pass it off as a joke? Should he suggest they both head inside the tent? How long until Dom gets fed up and kicks him out? Taurtis would have taken the second option, he didn’t want to sleep on a bench but Dom had just used a fair amount of his resources at his request for a late night mental health check.
“It must have been hard,” Dom broke the silence.
Taurtis never heard Dom sound so genuine. It took him off guard. It was hard to make out Dom’s expression through the dark shadows but it seemed soft.
“Losing someone close like that,” he took a deep breath, “I’m sorry for your loss, Taurtis.”
That hit him like a truck. He hadn’t gotten a single line of condolences from anyone since the accident. Everyone had just brushed it off like it was nothing. Like Salex was nothing. He didn’t expect anything from Sam but he wasn’t expecting his best friend to go above and beyond by turning half the school into cannibals via his dead girlfriend. He acted like he didn’t care, he just had to keep the happy, easy going persona going and eventually it would get easier and he wouldn’t have to pretend.
“Gord, I just— I hate him so much. He’s such an ass, all he had to do was not turn my girlfriend into a menu item. The bar was so low,” Taurtis began to ramble, the words fell effortlessly out of his mouth.
Dom chuckled at the absurdity of the situation, Taurtis did too.
“You should kill and grill his girlfriend,” Dom used the term girlfriend losely.
“I think he can do that on his own— I mean, he nearly did,” he shook his head, smiling.
“You have shit taste in friends,” Dom said bluntly yet it still felt lighthearted.
“It would have been nice, an ‘I’m sorry,’ or a ‘there, there, it’ll be okay dude.”
“There, there, it’ll be okay dude,” Dom leaned over, patting Taurtis on the back a little too hard.
Taurtis laughed quietly, leaning into the somewhat unpleasant touch but it was touch nonetheless and at this point Taurtis was a little desperate. He never realized just how desperate he was until he found himself practically falling into Dom, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck. Dom returned the gesture and Taurtis sighed in relief.
They stayed by the fire until it died back down again, which didn’t take long thanks to the freezing cold wind. Taurtis started shivering which Dom took as a sign to go inside.
“Invader dropped off a bunch of her old pillows and sheets,” Dom explained, dropping an armful of bedding at Taurtis’ feet.
The bed wasn’t so much a bed as it was a conglomerate of pillows, sofa cushions and stained doonas. Taurtis used his blankets to extend the ‘bed’ before climbing in. Soon after the fire had completely gone out flooding the tent in darkness. Taurtis listened to the sounds that played quietly around them, trying to pick out each one. Then he heard Dom stir and turn over. Now face to face Taurtis stared silently at Dom, waning for a sign that he was still awake. Dom’s eyes fluttered open followed by a low, questioning grunt.
“Thanks, Dom.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he brushed Taurtis off before turning back around.