The GEEKs

33. four and a half stars, fingers, and funk

"No, no, I've seen what happens if you don't get your afternoon fix..."

"Ugh, looks so pale and...gelatinous..." I mutter as I peek into the oven. I didn't have enough cream and butter so I improvised, as I do, and added half a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream instead. We'll see how that works out...

"Novak, you're being too hard on yourself, you're not half bad."

"You know I was talking about the cake, right?"

"Now I do."

"Unbelievable... So? What's the review?" I ask when I remember the supposed reason he's calling. He told me that they're allowed to make unlimited transcontinental calls because as an American band, reliable contact is crucial to their business, something about it in their contracts for the tour... So he's calling because he can, I guess?

"Well," he perks up.

"What smells so good!?" Gwen bursts in through the apartment door just then.

"I'm baking our ice cream," I say as I carry the telephone base, dragging the cord behind, towards my room. "I'll tell you when it's done."

"God, yes, I needed that tonight!" Gwen throws me a gleeful look and heads for the bathroom.

"Review, please."

"So impatient. We're staying in a co-ed dorm room," Mark drops his voice, a simmering excitement only barely audible in it.

"Ooh, so first time Lukin's ever slept in the same room with a woman??"

My remark draws a resounding laugh out of Mark. "They also have communal mixed showers," he barely utters out before a yawn erupts from him. I wonder if Mark's okay. I wonder if this is the kind of phone call where I'd call my sister – or the other way around – in the middle of the night so we wouldn't be alone. Or maybe he called because he's away, simple as that. We hang out all the time and this is not that different, and yet... It feels different. He didn't just stroll over from his apartment, feet away, to hang out while I bake. He's calling from a different continent in the middle of the night (or morning)...

"Communal showers?" I sit down on the floor, my back leaned against the edge of my bed, face averted up towards the skylight. "So that'd be the first time Steve's ever been in the same room as a naked woman??"

"You are vicious, Novak," Mark laughs through another yawn.

"Where are you?"

"In the lounge." I can hear some rustling again and when he speaks, his voice sounds just a touch louder, as if he's holding the receiver closer now. "Which brings me to another point – this place has a lounge. There's a pool table and everything. This is very unlike Bobby. He usually books a step above the sewers, if that."

"Wow."

"Yeah. I think I'll have to rate this place four and a half out of five."

"What's the half for?"

"Oh, this morning I woke up to some quarterback type ogre's erect penis fully out of his pants, just staring at me. Not the ogre, he was asleep. It was his penis that was staring..."

"You know," I say once I catch my breath after what can only be described as chortling, "some people would consider that a perk."

"I'm not secure enough in my sexuality for that kind of stuff... Anyway. You tell me something now," he drawls.

"Let's see... When are you coming back?"

"Two weeks-ish."

"So you'll miss this party at Xana and Andy's next Friday. Something about end of hibernation... So very fitting for me, as you will know."