6. Day Six
Day Six
I didn’t have to wait long to learn about the contents of the mysterious hidden compartment.
The second I showed up at his door Leo dragged me inside and shouted, “He gave me his number! It was his number and a gold star. The audacity!”
“What’s got you in a twist? The number or the star?” I asked, my eyes crinkling in a smile.
“Both! What am I, a kindergartener to get a gold star?”
“So, you didn’t like getting a gold star?”
“I didn’t say that…” he grumbled.
The puzzle with the gold star atop of was placed on a nearby shelf, exposed in a place of honor.
I shook my head. What a silly man.
This was the best entertainment I had in years.
And it was only going to get better.
“Mr. Carrer, a delivery for you,” I said in my best snotty voice and bowed with the next package in my outstretched hands.
“Why, thank you, my good servant,” Leo responded in an equally over-the-top aristocratic voice before we both cracked up and started laughing.
The packaging paper was as beautiful as every gift so far but Leo was too excited to treat it with respect shown to the previous packaging materials and tore it open, the pieces flying around us in a papery carnage as the black box inside revealed its contents.
“My favorite band!” Leo rejoiced. “Look, there’s the album, and a mug, and a poster, and a t-shirt… Wait, is it signed? It is! By the whole band, no less! The guitarist’s autograph is incredibly hard to get. How did that man… Well, he probably just paid someone to get it.” Leo’s smile turned into a frown.
“Even if so, it’s still a thoughtful gift,” I pointed out. “But you are making an assumption again. Why don’t you ask him how he got the autographs?”
Leo took his phone out and bit his lip, staring at the screen.
“Are you worried about what to say in your first message?” I asked gently.
“It won’t be my first message.” Leo surprised me. “I may have… uuh… gloated a little after I finally completed the puzzle.”
“Of course you did. Then writing another text isn’t such an ordeal, is it?”
“Fine,” Leo grumbled, but his fingers flew over the letters on the touchscreen.
Leo:
How did u get the autographs???
Ice Queen:
Good evening to you Leonard.
Ice Queen:
I went to the band’s concert when I was in Japan and paid for the platinum meet&greet.
Reading the messages over Leo’s shoulder, I had a prime spot to see how his jaw dropped.
“No way. No fucking way,” the blond whispered and sent the text with the same message.
“What’s so surprising? You yourself said he probably paid for it? Is the platinum meet&greet super rare or something?” I asked.
“No, not that. They do the platinum thing often enough.” Leo waved a dismissive hand, but his eyes stayed wild. “But he is saying he went to their concert. No way under the sun mister prim-and-proper went to a black metal concert and survived.”
The phone pinged with a new message.
It was a photo.
Ice Queen:
The vocalist insisted on taking this photo with me.
There, in front of our eyes, in full digital technicolor was a picture of a man in a bespoke black suit, crisp white shirt and black tie included, his spine ramrod straight, while a man in full metalhead gear and makeup threw a spike-covered arm over his shoulders. The wide smile, which showed the too long canines of the vocalist, told a story of a man who just encountered the funniest thing in his life.
“They… they don’t do photo ops. The platinum package does not include that,” Leo said weakly. “And Peter didn’t ask for it…. He was asked to pose for the photo. That’s insane.”
“It is,” I agreed. “Do you think he is a fan of the band now?”
“No,” Leo responded quickly. “I asked him once, and he told me he does not enjoy such wild and loud music.”
“Let me guess. You took that personally.” I lifted a brow, sensing where it was going.
“Of course! I thought he was casting aspersions on my character! Calling me loud and wild in a roundabout way! And now he went to a black metal concert for me? Can you imagine it? What if someone had shoved him into the mosh pit? Baby metalheads are escorted to concerts like that for a reason!”
“Breathe.” I hesitated only for a moment before reaching for Leo’s hand. He was spiraling into a legit panic and I needed to ground him. “He is alright. I saw him just this morning, remember? He doesn’t look worse for wear… unlike you. How long did you stay up to get such impressive eye bags?”
The change of topic helped. Leo blinked at me and made a long exhale.
“I finished the puzzle only a few hours ago and powered through, knowing you were going to come by,” Leo admitted.
I felt a twinge in my heart when my brain interpreted it for a moment as Leo waiting for me and not the gifts I would bring. What a silly idea.
“Then you should go to sleep.”
His shoulders slumped at my suggestion, the manic energy dimming into exhaustion.
“I have a meeting tomorrow. I can’t show up half-dead. Right, let me just scribble the haiku out and I will go to bed.”
“Good boy,” I said on reflex.
Leo stiffened for a second before he tailed it out of the room.
Shit, did I make it weird?
He didn’t look at me when he returned and gave me the note.
“You made quite an impact with that one,” I told Peter when we sat around his table.
Somehow those little debriefings have progressed and now I was not only invited inside, but there was a plate of cookies waiting for me. I took one out of politeness.
“Leo is still wondering how you survived,” I joked.
“I had a protection squad,” Peter responded seriously.
“Like bodyguards?”
“No. Some of the concertgoers approached me joking about some fashion style called ‘dark academia’? But when they realized I had no idea what that was, I was declared ‘a baby to be protected at all costs’ and they kept an eye on me through the festivities.”
“Only you.” I shook my head. “So, you enjoyed yourself?”
“Not really,” Peter said with a blank face. “I told Leonard before that metal is not my favorite kind of music. But getting the autographs for him was worth the headache.”
“You would do anything for him, wouldn’t you?” I asked softly.
“Yes. He is singularly enchanting. It may very well be that his scorn only bewitched me further.”
His devotion may not have been mirrored in the expression on his face, but his eyes… they were like coals freshly lit by the fire of the fervor he had for his beau.
The green-eyed monster of envy perched on my shoulder, making me want to experience such zeal of love. From both sides.
I wasn’t sure who I was envious of more: Peter or Leo?
The smile on my face cracked a little, so I hid it by searching for Leo’s note in my bag.
“I know everything
About the man that you are
And I know nothing.”
I read quietly to Peter.
“I think he wants to know you better.”
And so do I , I thought.
Oh no.