4. Chapter 4
DAREN
“It's true! Nova Scotia leads Canada in ‘lost winter’!”
Daren caught Bradley’s voice as he entered Curtis’s shop. The young man had taken to visiting quite a bit, Daren had gathered, as he almost always ran into him there now, and got the impression that these evening interludes weren’t the only times when Bradley popped by.
Good for Curtis, he would usually think, but the two hadn’t become more than just friends made up of one over-eager researcher and one stuttering coward.
“This province has added the most above-freezing days every winter over the last decade compared to others. Don't even get me started on the usual global warming pitfalls because of it, but some of the worst damage is actually to the coastline.”
“Y-you don’t say?” Curtis finally managed a response. Daren doubted he would ever get used to hearing his friend fumble for words.
It was adorable.
Yet another week had gone by, meaning Daren and Lilo had been getting to know each other for close to a month now.
The fact that Daren had been making more progress with a sea creature than Curtis was with a fresh-faced and overly friendly—and a little flirty—human was ridiculous. But also pretty funny.
“Totally!” Bradley boisterously answered Curtis's sad attempt at engagement. “More days with warmer water prevents sea ice from forming in the bays that need it. Without that, some of the heavier waves of the season crash directly into the shoreline, accelerating massive bluff erosion.”
He said it all as if describing to Curtis his favorite action movie, which was really endearing.
Other people were in the shop, a few townies, and Curtis hadn’t noticed Daren yet, so he busied himself behind some taller shelves of local trinkets to remain close enough to overhear without being spotted.
There was no way he was going to let his presence interrupt them actually conversing for once.
“Meaning the news is, um, bad, but, uh… at least you're getting good data?” Curtis managed a little better—and good for him, because that almost sounded normal.
Bradley even laughed, which seemed to bolster Curtis.
He asked in a complete, non-stuttering sentence, “Please tell me you and your colleagues have ways of winding down and having fun amid all those doomsday figures?”
“Oh, we do! Don’t worry about that.” Bradley snickered again. The topic wasn’t all that funny really when their coastal village’s ecosystem was at risk, something that included Lilo. It might even be partially to blame for Lilo’s people migrating elsewhere.
But at least if the next generation was working on learning more, they might come up with a solution someday.
“Mostly, we watch cheesy sci-fi movies to keep our moods up,” Bradley continued. “Last night, we watched this super old but super fun film called Evolution with that guy from the original X-Files show. Do you know it?”
Evolution was not super old, Daren thought with a frown.
Although now that he thought on it, wasn’t that movie from, like, 2001? Twenty-five years ago? Crap. Now he felt old. Of course he might be dating an ancient sea creature from a lost civilization, so time was relative.
Curtis just laughed along with Bradley, finally a little at ease and able to speak to this adorable young guy. He was so clearly enamored with Bradley, absolutely smitten. Daren had never seen anyone look so obviously—
He caught sight of his own reflection in the next display case he passed, and...
huh. Sure, he could argue he was smiling so widely for Curtis's sake. It was nice when someone was infatuated like that. Happy. Hopeful. But a big part of the reason why Daren’s smile was so large was because he'd been reminded of Lilo.
Took one to know one.
“Anyway, the team has been so successful, we’ve been given leave to stay the rest of the season, likely for the whole year to cross-reference things, so I guess I’ll be sticking around for a while. There could be reason for a permanent station here even. Oh hi, Mr. Montgomery!”
Shit. Daren had ventured a little too close around the next grouping of shelves to stay invisible. Curtis met his gaze like he knew he had been eavesdropping and shot him a scowl.
“Hi, Bradley,” Daren greeted as he went over to get in line behind the researcher for the few items he needed today.
“This town really feels like the put-down-roots sort of place. You both did.” Bradley passed each of him his dauntless smile.
“Well, we were both born here,” Daren countered.
“Oh right! And then you went to school at Acadia University, right, Curtis, studying marine biology?” He returned his attention to Curtis.
“That is sick. I have got to pick your brain about it sometime. Sorry to monopolize him like this, Mr. Montgomery. Guess I better get in gear and grab my groceries too, huh?” He smiled as jovially as ever and headed off without any inkling that he was capable of having a bad day.
Daren knew that couldn’t be 100 percent true, but he was on quite the high himself today, and a squirming Curtis only elevated it further.
“You never tell the tourists any real things about you,” Daren accused—gently, but it was still meant as an accusation—as he selected a few things he needed from the counter displays.
“Not gonna let up, are ya?” Curtis grumbled.
“Nope. I’d be a terrible friend if I did.”
“And what makes you such an expert all of a sudden? I thought you were content with dinner for one.”
“Maybe I’ve changed my mind lately.”
Since no one else was near the register, Curtis leaned over the counter and hissed, “You sneak. You’re seeing someone, aren’t you? You have been way too smiley lately, and you are not the smiley type.”
Ouch. Fair, but ouch.
“Didn’t realize Glooscap was such a successful suitor.” Curtis started ringing Daren up, but Daren was too blindsided to respond properly. “I’m kidding! I thought you said the gifts stopped anyway.”
“They did,” Daren replied hastily. Maybe too hastily, given Curtis’s scrutinizing stare, so he shrugged and added, “I’m still bringing in a good catch. Maybe if you tried a little harder, you could too.”
Curtis’s eyes darted off to find Bradley, but he was still somewhere shopping. With a scowl and run of Daren’s credit card so harshly that he might have damaged its magnetic stripe, Curtis hissed even lower, “I would be seriously jealous if you were fucking a demigod.”
“Of course not! That’s insane!” Although the reality might be weirder.
“But you are fucking someone?”
“Seeing someone! There’s none of… that going on yet.”
“Yet?” Curtis questioned. “Also you are so not censoring fucking around me.”
Daren snorted. “Fine, but only if you can say it just as loudly in front of Bradley!” He finished with a loud burst of the name, immediately catching the young man’s attention who appeared from a few aisles away.
“Huh? Did you need me for something?”
“Oh, sorry, I said sadly,” Daren lied. “See, Curtis was giving me a hard time for not getting laid in forever, and sadly, while that is true, I am taking it slow with someone new right now. That’s just my preference.
It can be nice to go slow. Get to know someone, where they came from, what their hopes and dreams are, their…
college life.” He batted his eyes at Curtis.
Curtis’s stare could have withered a cactus, but it was for his own good!
If Bradley was picking up on the double speak, he remained outwardly oblivious.
“That’s the best way, in my opinion!” Bradley said as he joined them again with the day’s spoils in a basket.
“You know, just learning the little things and wondering for a while.” He batted his eyes at Curtis too.
With different intentions than Daren hopefully, but he definitely batted them.
“You’re more the jump right into the sack type, huh? ”
“No.”
A passing townie gave a telling snort, and Daren resisted the urge to burst out laughing.
Curtis didn’t directly comment but professed, “Not if I really like the person.”
Atta boy.
Bradley inched closer as Daren finished gathering his things to go. “Good to know. All on the research tab today, please, Curtis.”
“Bye, Bradley,” Daren said, certain to make eye contact with Curtis before turning to leave. “Bye, Curtis.”
“See you next time, Mr. Montgomery!”
“Wait, Daren! Who are you seeing?” Curtis called after him. “Daren! Seriously, who?”
But Daren pretended not to hear him.
Daren liked getting to know Lilo, whose English improved every day, rapidly fast. He seemed to simply be a sweet, lonely creature who liked helping Daren fish, having someone to talk to, and sharing kisses apparently, which continued, always deeper now, whether by one of them leading or the other.
No request was needed anymore. Daren would willingly, gladly, eagerly go to the ledge of the boat each meeting to seal his lips to Lilo’s, carefully exploring the contours of the creature’s mouth and tongue, and never once pricking himself on those razor teeth, nor fearing that he might.
He trusted Lilo, enough that deeper kisses also became longer ones.
Longer sessions even with more kisses shared and breaths needing to be caught in between.
Daren would get warm enough under the collar to need to loosen his scarf.
Once, when he had to take it off completely for a while, he’d draped it around Lilo’s neck, who’d nuzzled it and lit up so gleefully to have it offered that Daren might have let him keep it if he hadn’t known it would get ruined underwater.
Lilo hadn’t attempted anything beyond kissing. What would that even be like for them? All Daren had ever seen of Lilo’s lower half were his tentacles. Unless one of those was also his…
He wasn’t ready to think about that yet. They were taking things slow, and Daren was content with that.
“Go fish,” he said, after finalizing his latest batch of pairs.