Closing Time

5

So that confirms my suspicion about him being immortal. Or atleast about having a long lifespan. "How long have you been... uh, alive?" Does the term 'alive' even count for him?

"I don't even remember anymore." He picked up a mint and held it up to the light. It twisted in his fingers absentmindedly. "All I know is it's been a while."

"A rough estimate?"

Lou popped the mint into his mouth, cracked audibly through the sugar shell and chewed in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. "Can you really put a time on when humans developed beliefs?"

I frowned. "You're formed from a belief?"

"More or less. It's very complicated and none of your business." He reached out to pour himself another glass. "Technically, you're formed from a belief too..." My frowned deepened as he continued to explain. "You were probably formed from someone's strong belief of wanting a child, or needing to procreate, or just straight up unprotected sex. Humans have formed entire societies on a belief, killed millions on a belief, brainwashed millions into following a belief. Then why should it surprise you that you're also formed from one?"

"It's... It's not surprising as much as it is a revelation." I paused. "An interesting revelation."

"Well, then ask your mom why they had you." Lou met my eyes. "You'll find out."

I chuckled softly. My lower back rested on the stool. "That would be quite a feat. My mom is dead."

For the first time that night, I saw him pause. He read my face in silence for a few moments before replying. "My bad, then. But you don't seem to aggrieved about her death."

"I'm an orphan. I don't see the point of grieving for someone I never even knew."

"Interesting. How did you find out about her then?"

"My mother apparently died during childbirth so I ended up in a long series of foster homes till I was kicked out of the system at 18."

"Don't know your father then?"

I grimaced as he brought up that inevitable question. "He's... there."

"Alive and kicking?"

"Unfortunately." Lou raised an eyebrow. I shrugged sheepishly. "I regret finding out who he is."

"Well, that's not new." Lou leaned back to stretch his arms above his head leisurely. I yawned tiredly as well. He noticed. "Long day?"

"Very." I threw him an annoyed look. "I haven't slept since you left yesterday."

Lou laughed as he somehow found that amusing. "That's a shame. I thought I was finally growing on you."

He kind of was. My heart no longer tried to leave my chest in fear around him. "Shut up and leave already. I want to go home."

"Stellar service at this place." Lou chuckled as he raised the glass to his lips.

The exhaustion was really getting to me after a long day of being wired up. Now that I'd finally relaxed a bit around him, I felt sleepy. It might also be the loss of water from throwing up. He stayed for a bit longer to talk about mundane stuff. And avoided wading onto heavy topics like my father and his existence. He paid his bill in full, with a nice tip when he left. I waved him off like I would with any regular as I emptied the tip jar. It took another five minutes to clean up and close up the place for good before I left.

I passed out the moment my head hit the pillow. My sleep was deep, a dreamless one that didn't break with my alarm but with my ringtone forcing me up. Dottie was calling me. I was late.