Hector handed off the bicycle to Evelyn, who stared at it as if she couldn’t understand its function. “Why did I agree to do this again?”
“I have no idea, Evie.”
“Like, I’m not big on bodily coordination. Riding a bike requires balance, if I recall correctly from my younger years.”
“I believe we already established that you can’t be considered old at twenty-four.”
“I’m pretty sure my biological age is way older than my actual age. A health nut like you is probably younger on the inside than .”
Hector scratched his head in mock confusion. “I thought I was destroying my body from all the at I’m eating.”
“Oh, don’t you go expecting consistency from again. I told you that is the most vile form of cheating.” Evelyn swung a leg over the bike Jen had only used a couple tis and glanced over at him. “Speaking of cheating, is your wife hoeing again?”
“I don’t care enough to ask,” Hector said.
“So, like, you’re single. Right?”
Hector eyed the girl. One could argue that they were on a date at the mont. Why he had asked if she wanted to join him, he did not entirely understand. There were all sorts of rationales for what he was doing. When he was willing to be honest with himself, he did want revenge on Jen. He wasn’t proud of that fact, but it was true. She had hurt him and he wanted her to understand what that kind of betrayal felt like. But there was also the sense that the two of them had entered a sacred partnership. They were saving the world. Well, probably not. But they were at least making an attempt.
Then there was the train wreck that his Volithur dreams had been lately. Hector had never had a high body count, but he had never lacked the courage to make a move when he found soone he liked. Maybe he had extended an invitation to Evie because he wanted to prove he wasn’t a skittish romantic like his dream counterpart. He could make the move if he wanted to. He simply had not during his separation from Jen because… well, because on so level he had enjoyed being the wronged party. He had remained true even while she repeatedly cheated. Was that more or less pathetic than Volithur being afraid to look a girl in the eye and tell her that he liked her?
The dreams disturbed him in more ways than one. At tis, he had trouble distinguishing the emotional weight of the dreams from his own opinions. As Volithur’s obsession spiraled, Hector found himself thinking fondly of the animated expressions Khana would make as she spoke to him. He had enough perspective to realize that Khana was damaged goods and wouldn’t make a good partner. Yet the butterflies stirred in his stomach when he thought of their hands brushing together. Well, Volithur’s hand brushing hers.
“Earth to Hector. Are you single? For real single? Like, not going to freak out if… stuff?”
Hector nodded. “I’m single.”
“Then this is a date?”
“I guess it is. Good job at figuring out my dastardly plan.”
“I don’t want to ride this bike.”
Hector grunted. He had intended for the ride to be his workout for the day. He could always do sothing else for cardio, but it was an annoyance to not complete sothing he set out to do. “Well, what would you rather do? Have pay for another al?”
“Co watch my band play tonight. et the girls.”
“Sure. I can do that.” Hector gestured to the bike. “Are you sure you don’t want to get a few miles in? You might like it.”
Evelyn winced. “The last ti I rode a bike it had pink tassels coming out of the handlebars. Older guy helping figure out how to ride… the dad vibes would be too strong.”
“I see,” Hector said. “I was hoping to get so cardio in. What do you think about running?”
“You want a cardio workout? Let’s take these bikes back to your house.”
The implications of her suggestion were not lost on Hector. He loaded the bikes back on the rack strapped to the back of his car and they drove away from the trail head parking lot. “So I’m going to et the girls,” Hector said, to bring down the tension for a bit. “Anything I should know about them?”
“How about: they are aweso.”
“You know, you never even told the na of your band.”
Evelyn laughed. “Yeah, because the na is stupid. Goth Girl tal Extravaganza.”
They pulled up in front of his house and Hector placed the bicycles back in the garage before gesturing towards the door. “Co in for a drink?”
She hesitated. “Your wife’s not ho?”
“At work.” Jen had been working more hours at the vet’s office lately in anticipation of Maggie, her elderly miniature collie, needing dical services.
Evelyn’s reluctance faded and she preceded him into the house. “I’ll have two Negronis, mister bartender.”
“Your options are wine or beer.”
She looked through the small collection of dust-covered wine bottles before deciding on a Riesling. “You do not drink often enough, my man.”
“I’ve been drinking way too much lately as an excuse to sit in public for extended periods.”
Evelyn took the glass she had been offered and sipped at it. “Not bad.”
Hector schooled his face to stillness when the sweetness hit his palate. Anymore, everything tasted too sweet to him. He had co to the sa conclusion as his foreign-born employees had frequently shared with him: Aricans put too much sugar in everything.
He studied Evelyn for a few monts. “It’s fine if you’re uncomfortable with this. We can grab lunch instead.”
“No, Hector Thoreaux, I’m not backing out. I’m just awkward as hell when I’m not being outrageously inappropriate. One of my many flaws….”
Hector laughed. “You think you’re awkward? Oh, Evie, you have no idea what awkward is.” He began to expound upon the romantic travails of Volithur while they put back several glasses of wine each, eliciting comnts from Evelyn such as ‘that boy is never losing his v-card’, ‘is he afraid of lady parts?’, and ‘I bla this on dieval society’s lack of quality porn’.
Then she shared so stories with him. Sage Levinia had been a player who used her ability to glimpse into the future to sleep with so of the most attractive and famous n of her world. Evelyn laughed as she told so of the anecdotes. Apparently, the attractiveness scale for Arahant could be quite arbitrary, given their ability to cast illusions. Very often, ‘different’ superseded ‘classically good-looking’ among their kind. And so you would up with people presenting unnatural skin coloration and unusual hair styles.
“This guy had a blue bee hive like Marge Simpson,” she finished. “Big ole pot belly, Marge Simpson hair, and super girly eyelashes. On top of that, he was terrible in bed.”
Hector split the last of the wine in the bottle between their two glasses. “Let ask you a question. Do you ever find yourself getting too emotionally invested in the people from your dreams?”
“I think that’s a universal problem,” Evelyn said. “I edit a blog that has contributing authors talking about their ‘fantasy lovers’. It’s like a cross between a support group for disenchanted moms and steamy sex stories. We’re all caught up in the stories we live out at night.”
“That makes feel less like an idiot, at least.”
“Because you’re in love with Volithur’s Khana?”
“Yeah. I’ve never t her, I know she is a train wreck waiting to happen, but….”
“Don’t feel bad about it. I caught feelings for a guy I have nothing in common with.” The way she blushed and looked down into her wine glass made it clear who she was talking about.
Hector touched her elbow. “For all the jokes about the ‘save the world’ campaign… this is the most aningful thing I have ever been a part of. We don’t have a plan, we’re probably going to lose our lives, but we took on a mission that matters more than anything. We’re in this together.”
Evelyn put her glass down. “I’ve been dying to know one thing since we first t.”
Hector tilted his head. “What’s that?”
“Do you have abs? Because it looks like you have abs.”
“I do have abs,” Hector said.
“Bust them out.”
Laughing, Hector lifted his shirt. He did a bit of a stomach vacuum and flexed to make the musculature pop. Evelyn reached out to caress the contours, then pulled his shirt off entirely so she could run her hands over his chest, shoulders, biceps, obliques, and co back to his abs. “Damn, Hector. You should stick with that exercising shit. I think it might be working for you.”
He pulled her closer to him and seized her shirt. “Do you mind if I throw your shirt on the ground? I think it would look great next to mine.”
“I never understood modern art, but you do you, big man.”
Hector pulled the shirt up slowly, revealing pale flesh and the outline of ribs along her long, thin torso. He stopped removing the shirt when it was over her face, adjusting it to expose her lips, which he pressed his own to as he ran a hand down her ribs.
Evelyn took her shirt off the rest of the way and pulled his face back to her own with both hands. As they stumbled towards the bedroom, they paused at frequent intervals to remove further items of clothing. They wore nothing by the ti they hit the sheets.
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