Whore.

Chapter 15: Haute

Couture clothes, expensive perfumes, a freaking Lanvin blazer? There had to be a line drawn somewhere.

"Swash, why did you buy all this?"
"You don't like it?"

I did. But that was not the point. I looked at him sternly.

"I guess I could always take it back."
"You're not answering my question."

He looked away nervously. I wasn't sure what was going through his mind. Swash was the most unpredictable person I had ever met. He was impulsive and it was beginning to scare me. After a while, I exhaled deeply and turned to look at the stuff basically littering the room. My eyes were like a check-out counter. I did a mental calculation of all the stuff in the room. He had spent at least four thousand dollars on this stuff.

"How do you expect me to pay you back for all this?"
"You don't."
"You know I-"
"Don't take hand outs. I know. Think of it as birthday presents from every year you've lived since you were born."
"There are more than twenty things here."
"I'm also your uncle and aunty?" He grinned at the mental picture. I didn't. This was a lot of stuff to take at one time. Current amount owed: Over $5000. He walked into the room and stood in front of me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Stop it."
"Stop what."
"The mental calculation. You know I can tell when you're thinking about these things."
"Swash, I can't just take this stuff."
"Sure you can. Consider this my part to play in your lie."
"How?"
"According to your friends, you've been whisked away by a guy who paid about twenty three thousand dollars for your company. Shouldn't you have something to show for it?"

He was right, of course. I thought about Nathan. He genuinely thought I was rolling in money. Showing up in a Lanvin jacket and smelling like Acqua di Gio would give some substance to the claims. I sighed and closed my eyes. I heard Swash chuckle. I opened my eyes and he smiled.

"You're welcome."

He walked away. I was left, staring at all the stuff. I looked through the piles of clothes and grabbed some underwear, then changed into a t-shirt and lounge pants. Everything was my size. I really wondered how he guessed that. I left the room and went into the living room. Swash was already wolfing down his box of chow mein. He offered the other box to me and I took it. He passed the chopsticks that came with it and I looked at him in astonishment.

"You don't expect me to use that, do you?"
"Come on, it's easy". He raised his other hand to me and clicked his chopsticks together. He seemed so at ease with it and I wondered how he learned to use them so well.
"I'll just use a fork."
"Come on. A dumb jock like me could do it, I'm sure it'll be nothing for you. Besides, wouldn't you like to learn something new?"

I considered it and took the chopsticks from his hands. After a few lessons and some failures, one of which involved flicking a large piece of carrot into my face to the sound of his laughter, I got a hang of it. I started picking stuff in my plate at random, just so I could get a feel of it. I had to admit, it was a little fun when I finally knew how to do it. Swash was smiling and observing me. I stared back at him and smiled. He looked stunning, with his wet hair forming little clumps of waves. His moss coloured eyes seemed an even brighter shade, almost grass green.  His was clean shaven and looked a lot younger; reminding me of the dreamboat he had been in high school. I stuffed noodles in my gaping mouth so as not to look awkward.

He got up and walked over to the couch and turned on his large TV. He flicked through channels and finally arrived at a soap opera. I watched from the kitchen, switching my concentration between the screen and my meal. I was still a novice at using the chopsticks so I had to be careful. When the adverts came on, he leaned forward as if he was studying the screen. I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't see anything special about the adverts. He maintained this position throughout the commercial block and once the show resumed, he reclined back into the couch. I tossed my empty food pack into the bin, walked into the living room and sat beside him. The show had gone on for a few minutes before I asked.