Wise Men

Chapter 7

The car ride home was miserable. God decided I wasn't suffering enough and gave me a migraine when we were halfway from the dorm. Vi had refused to sit next to Revelin, so at least I could lay down on the spacious seats with my head in her lap. Wishing someone would shoot me so I could focus on a much lesser pain, Vi stayed as quiet as a mouse. I felt her fingers run through my hair, but she did it out of habit for her mind was travelling elsewhere, perhaps the gentle forest outside or the bright cityscape. I couldn’t bear to look outside because the streetlight made me want to puke.

With my eyes squeezed shut, I couldn’t see Revelin. He wasn’t anywhere near me or Vi—I knew she would not allow it. Yet, I could almost feel his presence like a smothering pillow over my face. It was hot and stifling. He was a dragon brooding in his lair of champagne and leather seats as his hoard, watching the world with unforgiving eyes.

Vi was reluctant to let me go with Revelin, but she was too petite to help me to my room and it was far out of her way. She looked like she wanted to take off her dress and burn it for all of the bad memories it withheld. You’d have thought there were spiders crawling under the fabric. The beauty and joy she had upon going to the ball had dripped away like the smeared mascara beneath her eyes. Yet, I could not condemn my roommate. The further he pushed her away, the better.

I stumbled my way to the dorm room. If I opened my eyes the sparse light there was burrowed itself way into my eyes. Revelin put my arm over his shoulders and guided me back to the dorm. I collapsed into my bed and soon enough Revelin was forcing some pill down my throat with a glass of water. I was too tired to fight back, too tired to care. He even took my phone out of my pocket, slid my jacket off of my shoulders, untied my tie, and pulled off my shoes. Within moment I was in a black dream; Revelin’s glancing over the pictures I took became only a distant thought.

~*~*~

I woke up at noon and learned that Revelin had not slept a wink that night. He was lounged scrolling through the last of my pictures. On his left his bulky netbook had the nonprofit’s financials plastered on the screen. He looked high and half dead with his bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks. He had traded his suit and tie for a pair or grey sweats and had unbuttoned his white shirt. Upon see him in sweat pants I thought I might have been dreaming and promptly said:

“Pinch me, Revelin.”

He raised a golden eyebrow. “Is that a euphemism for sex?” He sighed, a moan in disguise, and rubbed the corners of his eyes to keep himself awake. “I found it, Christian.”

“You really need to sleep.”

“I’d expect that from the man who slept for more than twelve hours.”

“You’ve been up for twenty-eight hours.”

“It doesn’t matter. I figured it out.” He put my phone on his desk where the charging cable was fixed to it. I guess the battery life didn’t extend through an all-nighter.

“You’re not going to be able to tell me even if you had.”

“Then get me a damn coffee and then we’ll talk.”

His need for caffeine reminded me of mine. I smiled and stumbled out of bed. I shoved my feet into two fuzzy slipper though one of my feet was still asleep. If there were more people on campus, I would have gotten some strange looks as I trudged down the hall in pink slippers, suit pants, a button down shirt, and bed hair that tended to lean to the left because I sleep on the right side of my head. I shoved a paper cup under the vending machine and saw that it was still dispensing free chicken-noodle coffee. Lovely, I had no money on me. Snatching another cupful I returned to the dorm.