OLIVIA
Otis and I meander about the house in pyjamas all morning, doing anything to distract from the void that Lee's sarcastic, crotchety presence normally fills. I try my luck with the enormous bookshelf in the living room downstairs, bursting with everything from deceptively normal textbooks to great tomes bound in worn leather. Each is filled with writing and diagrams on strange rituals and spell-work that I can only half-decipher.
"You like coffee, don't you?" Otis asks, poking his head right through Lee's pantry door.
The sudden craving at the very word makes me clench my fists in restraint. In a weak voice I reply, "Yes. I... like it."
"I can try and synthesise some. Lee has so many spices, but not much to cook with." Otis trundles out with a handful of herbs and spices and sets up by the stove with a pot of water. "I flunked out of school, but alchemy is pretty natural to me."
I put down the books and wander over to watch him, jumping up to sit on the counter beside him. "Like, the turning lead to gold kind?"
"It's just about changing energy," Otis replies, looking up at me. At this height on the bench, I'm two inches taller than him and he has to crane his body to reach around me and turn on the stove. "I have plenty of that to spare."
He plunges his hand into the water and with a sharp crackle of energy down his arm it begins to boil around his fingers. He starts dumping in the other ingredients with a look of intense concentration. Face down-turned, a focused tongue pressed against his shimmering top lip, Otis is quite the pretty sight to behold.
"Can I ask you something awkward, Olivia?" Otis asks, glancing sideways at me as he stirs his noxious concoction. "Taking into account that I've been practising being human for little over two days now."
"Yes?"
"Are you people monogamous? What's the deal with breeding? Do you have courting practices? Is it mating for life? I know Le- I know some people are promiscuous, is that a common thing?"
My cheeks flush hot. "We're all different, I guess. Most people end up with a one true love at some point. Some people are lonely, others are never left alone enough. Why do you ask?"
"I mean, you like Lee, don't you?" Otis turns to face me, leaning against the bench with his long fingered hands to either side of my thighs. I can't escape his penetrating gaze as he has me cornered on the bench top before him. "He said he wants to kiss you."
"I-" I pause. Otis cocks his head to one side and I have a sinking feeling that he's listening to my heartbeat, which has jumped into a tremulous flutter by now. "I like Lee. A lot."
What else can I say, when the only thing I'm wearing is one of Levi's old shirts as a nightgown. Actually, now I notice it, so is Otis-
"And your thoughts on sharing?"
The only thing I can manage is a nervous giggle. "Me, or him?"
Otis doesn't respond, cursing softly as something in the pot pops beneath his hands. He withdraws his hand, some golden, Taffy-like substance clinging to his fingertip. He frowns as the substance and touches it to the tip of his long, pointed tongue. Brows furrowed in indecision, he offers it to me. "Coffee flavour?"
"Smells like you burnt sugar and water in a pot, Otis," I reply, like that's not exactly what I've done. But he's standing so close and he's so beautiful...
All the times I let Levi slip through my fingers come rushing back guiltily. Was I going to spend the rest of my life lamenting over missed kisses with someone who didn't want me? I'd already had my first kiss with Otis, after all. That head-spinning, toe-curling kiss...
I lean forward tentatively and put my lips to his outstretched finger, parting them just enough to taste the sweetness across my tongue. Eyes closed, I savour the taste. It's quite literally caramel that he's made, despite all his power and incantations. Beneath that, however... A bitter, nutty flavour. "Huh. Coffee."
Otis looks less excited at his achievement than he does fixated on me, gaze stuck to my lips. A second later, I feel the caramel still stuck there, sticking to my bottom lip. A sly smile extends up one half of Otis's face, revealing one of his pearly fangs. "You've got, uh..."
He brushes the sauce away with a gentle thumb, touch lingering. Kissing him had been less intimate than this. I could almost break under the tenderness of Otis's touch as he caresses down to the corner of my lips. It's a bone deep ache that has me bending forwards to meet his touch.
His left hand moves to cup my cheek, pulling me closer still as I open my lips for him, suck the last of the sweetness from his thumb. He tilts my head down towards him, my tongue trapped beneath his fingertips. Were he not already standing between my trembling knees, I think I'd crawl to him, do anything to close the distance between us once more and-
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
I barely hear the keys jingle in the front door as Lee enters the room, struggling with a mass of brown paper bags in his arms and a coat sliding off the crook of his elbow. Otis flinches away from me, hastily wiping his hand on a dish towel. I slide down from the bench top in embarrassment.
"Where have you been?" Otis demands. There's a stiffness in the way they watch each other, despite the uncharacteristic cheer on Lee's face.
"There's condoms upstairs, kids. "Sex is cleaner with a packaged weiner"," Lee quotes, ignoring the question. His self-satisfied smirk slowly fades as he catches a closer look at us. "For real? You're both wearing my clothes now? That shirt's from the 2010 Green Day tour, Otis, not that you could appreciate that. That's quality vintage. I know you're all desperate for a top around here but I swear to Christ I can't keep being a provider like this."
"Where have you been?" Otis repeats, the halo of light around him blazing like the raised hackles of a dog.
"Getting breakfast for you both. You know that little inner city confectioner who does the fancy waffles? Olivia- I have a coffee for you," Lee huffs as I help him unload the mass of packaged, divine-smelling food from his hands and onto the table. "Consider it my apology for last night. Otis, you strike me as a pink-drink kind of guy. Here."
Otis sniffs the proffered drink cautiously and takes a hesitant sip before gulping it down. "Oh. Yum."
"You look... chipper," I mention as Lee digs around amidst the bags.
"What can I say? I had a productive morning. Something else here for you, Liv." Lee upends one of the bags and our tumbles a sleek silver box. He removes the lid to reveal an expensive looking cell phone. "I set it up on the drive home. Took the liberty of putting my number in there, should you feel the need to run off into danger again."
"Lee, I-" Something clenches uncomfortably in my stomach. First I take his inheritance, followed by all the clothes and food I've cost him this week. Now this. "This is a lot of money. Really, you don't have to spend like this on me."
"Money isn't going to be an issue for me, Liv," Lee replies, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder tightly. His touch lingers there, thumb rubbing up to the crook of my neck. "Besides, I'd much rather we stay in contact from now on."
It's not just in the emphasis on his words, but the way he holds my gaze to tell me there's some deeper meaning that I'm not understanding. Is he finally acknowledging my attempt to hit on him that one time? Is it some weird, macho reaction to the position he'd found me in with Otis ?
"These are good, Levi. Thank you," Otis says softly, already opening into the box of food marked as vegan. He sucks ponderously on a large candied cherry, pulling back his pouted lips to reveal it pierced by one of his fangs.
"It's 'Lee', not 'Levi'," Lee corrects, "and can you not make eye contact while doing that?"
"Oh? I'm so sorry, Lee," the godling purrs, swallowing the cherry with an exaggerated gulp. "I was under the impression that you like it when-"
"Not the time, Otis."
Otis's grin only widens. I pretend to be preoccupied with my phone as I feel his gaze swing my way.
"My mistake."
"Jesus fucking Christ..." Lee mutters. He pushes more food towards me and takes a seat at the bench himself. "Nevertheless- and this might sound weird. I'd like to take you to dinner tonight. Both of you."
"Is there an occasion?" I ask suspiciously.
"Does there have to be?"
"Normally, yes."
"Well I like you both, I'm tired of cooking and considering you and Otis still have three days to sort yourselves out, it's probably best if things... calm down enough for us to be normal about the situation. So, dinner?" Lee asks again.