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Neil was late. This was a fact that barely registered. A fly that bounced against his head. He has papers to go over and didn’t need him to distract him form his work with questions and stares. Stares that went deeper than Andrew cared to interpret. Still hours after he should have gotten back Neil hadn’t returned. The almost feverish attempts that infected Andrews body to find him stopped any attempts made in reading. Neils efforts at antagonizing their teammates made him late sometimes but timeliness was drilled into him through his father’s ideas of respect.
Around eleven, three hours after Neil should have gotten home, Andrew twitched and grabbed the car keys. Kevin called just as he opened the door to the car.
“Neil needs you to come get him. I’ll text you the address.”
Silence stretched on. If Kevin knew where Neil was then there was no Moriyamas to correct. At last Andrew asked “Why?” He did not drag out the syllable but punctuated it. For small bullet wounds made points that guillotines could not, though both were effective.
“I’ll let him explain.” And then Kevin hung up. Likely to avoid upsetting him. Andrew found this idea amusing. Not enough to act on though.
A moment later his phone pinged. Flip phones had stopped being a viable option with the advancement of humanity. Andrew found all of the iPhones invasive and unnecessary. What was need could be found in flip phones. Society's unneeded improvement had stopping being useful with the first iPhone. Both Andrew and Neil found the idea of apps that tracked your interests and location unnerving. Although Neil, who out of the two had more issues with tracking, allowed Andrew and only Andrew to track his location. The encounter in Baltimore still crept into Neils mind and his dreams.
Andrew looked down at the message Kevin sent without actually excepting the information before switching to the FindMy app to locate Neil.
The drive was close to 30 minutes away. Parking, he discovered that Neil was at a repair shop. Standing sheepishly next to an annoyed Kevin. Neil leaned against the counter trying to figure something out with the desk lady.
“But ma’am I need this car by tomorrow. I wont be able to make my commute otherwise.” He was trying very hard not to loose his cool although his posture was relaxed. It was obvious this wasn’t the first time they went over this.
“Call an Uber, stay at a hotel, I don’t care. We can’t fix it by then. At the rate this is taking it might be even longer.”
Andrew reached Neil just as he turned around and grabbed Neils jaw. He looked at his face and saw no injuries. Andrew settled for looking directly into his eyes. The blueness of them always caught him off guard. Deep in them he saw the needless martyr that Neil pretended not to be but more importantly the absence of any recent pain.
Andrew finally backed up and they moved to sit on the couches in the waiting area. Kevin nodded at Andrew and left. There was no need for him to be here and he knew it.
“So we don’t have the other car. Something about the rotary belt breaking and them not having it in stock.” Neil shifted his hand to his face and watched Andrew as he said, “ I was able to magic some pieces together until I got the car here and ended up making things worse. Not surprising since all my car skills involved not having a car for long.”
The desk lady called Neils name and Neil moved to get up but Andrew walked past and shoved him into his seat. The desk lady seemed indifferent to this change of character. A little relieved perhaps not to be dealing with the red-headed devil.
“The earliest the belt can come is two days. It was take a couple days longer than that to get it on because of how booked we are. Come back in a week and it should be done.” She pointed to Neil while handing Andrew the clipboard , “Have him sign a couple papers and then y’all can be off.”
The clipboard smelled of her tacky body spray so Andrew held it with his finger tips away from his body before dropping it in Neils lap.
Neil gave her all the papers off before heading to the car Andrew brought. They climbed in and drove to their house in silence with the windows down and radio music playing in the background.
Inside their house King and Sir were at their feet crying. They ran back and froth through the house attempting to lead Andrew or Neil to their food bowl without avail.
“Why didn’t you feed them?”
Andrew started back not ready to admit how single minded he had gotten.
“Could I leave early with you from practice?”
Andrew nodded his head and turned to the bedroom for his papers.
“One more question.”
Andrew turned around and Neil leaned closer to his face.
“How much do you hate me?”
“400%”
“I’ve been at 399% for ages.”
Silence stood in between them as they considered each other.
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
In the end King and Sir did not get fed. They were deprived of food as their owners disappeared and left them to commiserate in the living room.