Chapter Two #2
Julien nodded. “Mm, yes. Openly gay. Very bold for the time. Very lovely men, we had drinks once,” Julien said softly, as if remembering.
“Oh, wow.” He loved Julien’s stories, loved hearing firsthand accounts of things that had happened before Luis had even been born. Julien had been alive for almost a hundred years, even if he looked not a day over forty. “What’d they drink?”
“Cognac was Cocteau’s favorite, but I believe we had martinis.” He dropped his gaze, long fingers tracing the edge of one of the coasters.
“Martinis with famous actors, wow.”
That got the twitch of a smile to Julien’s lips. “You’re picturing something much more romantic than it was. But meeting him in person did give me a soft spot for his work, he was very skilled.”
“I did enjoy it, it was a good rec,” Luis said.
“I miss that sort of rough filmmaking,” Julien said with a sigh. “It gives me such nostalgia, the early decades of cinema. The closest you can get now is experimental or indie films, but even they have decades of precedent to stand on. I miss seeing something completely new, you know?”
Something clicked in the back of Luis’s head. “Oh! That reminds me, I saw the theater on Waters is showing some foreign indie films in June. There were a couple I thought you might like?”
Julien’s eyes brightened. “Oh?”
“Yeah, ‘Tarnish the Night’ is playing, I remember you mentioning wanting to see that,” Luis said.
Julien smiled, “Yes, it sounded interesting. Shall we go together?”
That–that hadn’t been what Luis had meant. He’d only wanted to tell Julien in case he didn’t know. In case he wanted to take Karim.
“Oh, um. I mean–” Luis stuttered. Their eyes met, and Luis was afraid the way his heart leapt was obvious across his face. Cassie always said he was shit at hiding his feelings.
“It would be nice to see a movie with someone who enjoys film,” Julien said, voice softer. “The last time I took Karim he complained the whole way through, could barely focus on a thing.” Julien laughed, affectionate, and it made Luis’s stomach clench.
“But he’s usually so reserved,” Luis joked.
Julien inclined his head, “Oh yes, so quiet and demure,” he huffed a breath of amusement. “So shall I look at our calendar and text you?”
Luis felt a dangerous rush of pleasure at the offer. “I guess we could go together? If Karim doesn’t mind?”
“He won’t,” Julien said with a smile. “He’d never mind me sharing my time with you. We’ll make a date of it.”
Luis blinked at him. What? Julien did not mean date, date. And that comment about Karim? Luis didn’t know how to take that. Karim minded everything about him.
“Okay,” Luis said, more casually than he felt.
“Anyway,” Julien said with a thoughtful look back toward the curtain, “Karim sometimes enjoys having alone time. He never outright says so, but my being out of the house a little more gives him some alone time.”
The desire to ask swelled, but Luis didn’t let the words get out. “Okay,” he said. “Then we’ll plan something.”
“Wonderful,” Julien said with a smile. He looked like he even meant it. Luis tried not to read anything into it.
When Karim finally returned to the table ten minutes later, he and Julien were deep in discussion about the unique qualities of French film.
Karim sauntered to the table with a grin, fangs on full display.
“Hey,” he said with a slur, sliding into the seat beside Julien and throwing a possessive arm around his neck. Julien allowed Karim a few indiscreet neck kisses before easing him back.
“Welcome back, mon c?ur,” Julien said, taking his hand from wherever it was beneath the table and setting it on the wood top. Karim mumbled something, but didn’t try to pull it away.
Luis, meanwhile, pretended to be very interested in the perspiration of his glass.
He never got used to the way Karim’s prickly exterior crumbled after just one drink.
It always felt illicit, like he was seeing something he wasn’t supposed to.
It made him nervous in a way he couldn’t account for. Nervous and too warm.
Julien returned his attention to Luis, picking up the threads of their conversation as Karim lazed against his side.
Luis was grateful they’d started this pseudo movie club so he had something to talk about week after week.
Something to distract him from the way Karim nuzzled Julien’s ear, whispering just loud enough that Luis could sometimes pick out words like fuck and his own name.
That was also something he worked on not reading anything into. He was pretty sure that Karim was just messing with him.
Ten minutes later, Minnie returned to the table.
“Got someone for you, Jay,” she said to Julien, checking the device in her hand.
“Thank you, Minnie,” Julien said politely. He then carefully pried off Karim’s hands. “Mon c?ur, it’s my turn. I'll be back shortly.” His hands squeezed Karim’s, and then placed them gently on the table.
Julien turned his gaze to Luis. “If you need me,” he said simply as he did every time.
Luis sat up straighter. He always felt the need to when Julien left him in charge of Karim.
Vampires could very well defend themselves, but part of his job was being an extra set of eyes when they were drinking.
Blood intoxication was a very real point of weakness for vampires, and Luis took that seriously.
Nothing was likely to happen in a nice place like this with plenty of heavyweight security on premises, but there were always risks.
There were plenty of humans out there that hated vampires, that would take a weakness and exploit it.
Vampires were hard to kill in a lot of ways, but also terrifyingly easy with the right materials and timing.
Sometimes, if Luis thought too much about it, he felt guilty that he’d ended up with this job and not someone with more defense skills.
Julien had asked him, way back in the initial interview, if he’d any fighting experience.
Luis had expected to be disqualified from the running by his answer.
He hadn’t known when he’d replied to the ad initially that he’d need such a thing.
Back then he hadn’t known a lot about vampires, and hadn't considered them to be vulnerable.
He knew better now.
There were probably dozens of more qualified people to do what he did. People who could actually protect these two if anything were to happen. But Julien had picked him for some unknowable reason, and Luis couldn’t make himself quit.
Julien disappeared behind the black curtains with Minnie, and Karim’s phone reappeared on the tabletop. Karim gazed at him, eyes sharper than they’d been a minute ago.
“Ready for a lightning round?” Karim asked, taunting.
Luis huffed and pulled out his phone. “If you’re ready to lose.”
Karim scoffed. “I’ve won the last two rounds.”
“Cuck is not a dictionary word, and you know it,” Luis said with feeling.
“The app said it was.”
“Just because–” Luis started, but was cut off.
“Are you going to sit there and whine all night, or actually play me?” Karim had one brow raised, a half-smile on his lips. He looked more alive than he had earlier, some of his spirit returning.
Luis would never, ever tell him what that smirk did to his insides.
“Fine,” Luis said and opened the Words with Friends app.
The notification in the car and earlier had been Karim putting down HEEL on the board, collecting 16 points, and then sending him a reminder buzz just for the hell of it.
Asshole.
Luis began to move his letters into a space. He played HAZEL intersecting with Karim’s H for 36 points, scoring double on the Z.
“Take that,” he grinned.
“Oh look, he knows a five-letter word, wow.” Karim muttered with heavy sarcasm before he put his head down. His next word, NOOK, pushed him once again into the lead. “But you’ll need more than that to beat me.”
“I’ve beat you plenty of times,” Luis reminded him.
“Hmm,” Karim mused, “should we check the official record?”
“Shut up,” Luis said as he poked around at his tiles, trying to find the next best word.
Karim laughed in obvious glee, and Luis didn’t allow it to pull his attention. Julien had the sort of pretty you couldn’t help but stare at, but Karim’s smile was electrically magnetic. Luis had already been caught too many times in its trap.
The pressure of the time ticking by grew as Luis tried words on the board. Eventually Karim started to drum his fingers on the table in an irritatingly irregular fashion. Luis finally dropped RIMS, and scored 30 points for three created words.
Karim quickly countered with CAD for 28 points.
“Two more wins and we’ll be even,” Luis said, in reference to their official record. He had letters now for SAVAGE, and fit it off of Karim’s CAD. With the double-letter points, Luis soared into the lead.
Karim hunched over his phone, scowling now, and Luis soaked it in. The board was getting full, so it would be harder for him to fit something viable in.
“Not so cocky now, huh?” Luis gloated.
“I’m plenty cocky,” Karim said, eyes flickering up briefly.
Luis rolled his eyes so he wouldn’t have a more telling reaction. Karim chuckled and then sank his attention into the screen. He was competitive and a sore loser, and that was most of the fun of beating him.
Luis reached for his drink while he waited, but found it empty. He turned to wave down the bar, but before he could, a man slid into the seat beside Luis.
He had what looked like another dragon fruit spritz in hand, and offered it to Luis.
“I asked the bartender what you were drinking.” The man said with an easy smile. “Looked like you could use another.”
Luis blinked in surprise. The man now beside him was handsome, human, and older than Luis by maybe a decade. He had shaggy blonde hair and a beard. The glasses he was wearing gave him a strong hipster or teacher vibe.
“Oh, uh, thanks,” Luis said awkwardly. This had never happened to him before.
The man held his hand out. “Eric.”