chapter seventeen:
As soon as Caelum was able to get back on his feet, he was working again. It wasn’t financially stable for Mr. Goldson to pay him full time, so he was kindly advised through Austin to get another job. Caelum didn’t mind, he found a better paying job not far from the shop.
It was a small, deli/grocery ― which wasn’t hard to come by in the City ― called Delmar Deli-Grocery. It was almost like if Dollar Tree and Subway had an affair, but more friendly and homely. The owner, who everyone called Delmar ― and who the store was named after ― was a older, hispanic gentleman. He was a kind guy, after Caelum got to know him.
When Caelum asked if he was hiring, he immediately looked suspicious. “How old are you, kid?”
“Sixteen,” Caelum lied. He wouldn’t be sixteen until May, but he didn’t need to know that.
“D’you have working papers?” He asked. It was a law in New York that anyone under the age of 18 had to have a working permit, and have papers signed by a parent/guardian.
Luckily, Caelum could forge his father’s signature and was skilled in the art of B.S.-ing his way to get what he wanted.
He handed it to the man along with a pre-written resume he typed up at a local library since he didn’t have a computer at home that he could so easily use privately.
Delmar read over it, raising an eyebrow. “You went to Midtown? The private school?”
“Yes, sir,” Caelum replied. “I recently had to drop out due to home issues. My father. . . left us and my mom will need more hands around our house.”
Delmar raised an eyebrow. “You know that’s a very expensive school,” he noted, frowning. “And a lot of opportunities for kids like you come from there.”
“I am well aware,” Caelum replied, trying to keep an annoyed look off his face from the infernal school. God, he hated that place. “I would continue my enrollment if issues hadn’t presented himself.” He paused for a minute, “My. . . family needs the money, and I can always return or homeschool myself. It is a loss, but not something I am unable to deal with.”
The biggest loss that came from dropping out of Midtown had been Peter. Despite Caelum’s anger and betrayal, he couldn’t keep himself mad for long. He missed Peter, he missed his smile and his laughter and his twinkling brown eyes.
But, he couldn’t return home ― Principal Davis knew where he lived ― and he couldn’t go to school. This, working full-time, was his only other option. “I admire that,” Delmar admitted, nodding to himself. “Shame you had to drop out of such a good school, but I understand why.” He gave a half-hearted smile. “You a family man ― I respect that. A guy who cares about his family is a good man. I’m sorry about your old man.” He glanced down at the papers in his hand, seemingly deciding on what he wanted to do. “You start on Monday, kid.”
Caelum smiled and shook the man’s hand, “Thank you, sir,” He said, trying not to sound relieved.
“First order of business,” Delmar said, taking his hand and rubbing his arm with the other. “No more ‘sir’s. I’m not that old ― call me Delmar.” Caelum did.
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The first couple of weeks were trying, as Caelum tried to adjust to his new schedule. He’d wake up at 5:30 AM, go to the shop at six, leave at twelve. Then, he’d get to the Deli at one, and work until nine in the afternoon. Finally, he’d return to the bar, and start cleaning. He usually didn’t finish that until two AM. Afterwards, he’d get his financials together, make sure he was on track to help pay bills, before going to sleep. Then, he’d repeat.
On the weekends was when he got the least sleep. He wouldn’t be done at the bar until nearly four AM, or nearly five, which would make him get less than a half-hour of sleep, and cause the rest of the day to be sluggish and a blur.
Caelum tried to cope, he was well-versed in the art of all-nighters, and getting little to no sleep in several days. He had done it before in the past, and he could do it again. But, he wasn’t prepared for the type of exhaustion several hours of being on his feet brought. He was tired, in both body and mind. He had to be extra careful because he sometimes couldn’t control himself when he possessed people during this as well.
He could be walking down the street between 12 and 1 PM and accidentally look someone in the eye. Before he knew it, he was possessing them, and everything felt strange and awkward. This mostly happened on the subway as he was getting to where he needed to be, but it didn’t help at all.
Caelum decided to wear sunglasses when he was in public like this. He found out that extremely dark sunglasses stopped him from possessing people when he looked at them. He would still get the tingle on his neck, but he wouldn’t be inhabiting their body. It helped a lot, and caused him to focus a bit more.
It was well into February until Caelum had seen anyone he recognized from the school. He had been at the Deli, working through a lunchtime-rush. He called out orders, making sandwiches and ringing up customers easily. The people coming and going from the store had been mostly a blur of faces as he faked smiles when he asked about their days and delivered orders.
During this time, Delmar’s cat, Murph, who was usually found lounging along the tops of shelves or sitting quietly in the window, would come behind the counter and hide between the fridges. He didn’t like the constant foot-traffic, and the chatter of voices.
Caelum could sometimes feel the cat brush against his leg, and he would absentmindedly rub it fondly. Today, however, Murph jumped up on the counter as Caelum was taking a order.
“Oh!” A woman said, surprised.
“Sorry.” Caelum said automatically.
“Oh, don't be ― I love cats,” she smiled and Caelum's nodded, smiling along. He took her awaiting credit card, swiping it.
The door jingled again as Caelum was bagging her sandwich. “Have a good day,” he said automatically, and she smiled in return, leaving as the next customer approached.
“Hey, Delmar!” The person who had just entered the store greeted. Caelum frowned as the man rattled his order to him, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Hey!? Are you listening to me?” The man snapped, annoyed. Caelum looked back, and gave a easy smile.
“My apologies, could you repeat that?” The man scowled for a minute, but repeated his order, and set his other items on the counter. A bag of chips and a pack of gum. Caelum mindless rung it up, listening closely to the conversation beside him.
“How have you been?” Delmar asked curiously as he worked, expertly wrapping a sandwich in deli paper.
“Good. School’s been fine. The teachers are nice, but the Principal doesn’t seem to like me much,” The new customer said. Caelum couldn’t get a good look at them, a woman was obscuring his view.
Caelum briefly possessed her, and made her turn around. In the middle-aged woman’s eyes, he stared at Peter Parker, leaning against the counter, talking to Delmar. Caelum went back to his body immediately, his mind racing. Why was he here? How did he know Delmar? How in the world could he manage to leave without them noticing?
A man snapped his fingers in his face, “Hey, kid! Get your head out the clouds for a minute, would you?” Caelum turned to the man, and was almost tempted to make him eat his own fingers. Almost.
“Sorry,” he murmured, swiping the card again, but it had been declined. “It’s declined.” The man narrowed his eyes at him.
“Swipe it again.” Not wanting to start a fight, he did. It was declined ― again. “I know that card’s got money on it ― your reader is broken!” Caelum stared at the man, his reader was. . . broken?
“Sir, your card is not working,” Caelum said, keeping his tone even. “Do you have an alternative method of payment?” The man went a bit red, and glared at Caelum. “If not, then you will not be able to purchase these items.” Caelum moved his hand over to grab at them, but the man snatched it away.
Caelum was fast. He looked at him in the eyes and blinked, possessing him. Then, he went through the man’s wallet, procuring a twenty dollar bill ― easily more than enough to pay for the food and leave a generous tip ― before looking back at his eyes and blinked.
“Thank you, sir,” Caelum gave a fake smile, which was dancing on the line bordering a sneer. “Would you like your receipt?”
“What―?” The man looked at his wallet in his hand, then at Caelum, “You stole my money!”
“I did no such thing, sir,” Caelum replied innocently. “You just gave me a twenty dollar bill.”
“No, I―!” The man looked around, trying to find the bag, or his missing bill.
“If you don’t want your receipt, sir, I’m going to have to ask you to move. You’re holding up the line.” This was very true. The woman behind him looked annoyed, ready to pay for her granola bar and sweating water bottle now. The man was red in the face, anger brimming in him like a teapot. “Have a good day,” He looked around the man, “Next in line!”
The woman stepped forward, setting her things on the counter. Caelum moved the man’s chips over and began to serve her. He felt the man’s glare on him the entire time as he grabbed his food. He curled his lips to spit at him, but Caelum caught a glance his way. He possessed him, making him turn and leave the store. Only turning back so Caelum could go back to his body.
“Sorry about that, ma’am,” Caelum said after the awkward pause. The man looked a bit confused as to how he was suddenly on the sidewalk and not in the store. Caelum didn’t dwell on it. He began to ring her up. He was about to swipe her card when a certain nuisance slid in front of her.
“Cael!?” Peter exclaimed, looking straight at him. “Where have you been ― everyone at school thinks you’re dead! Why are you working here? What happened? Why haven’t you―”
“If you would please,” Caelum growled, glaring at the boy. He was embarrassed that he had to see him in a place like this. A small, irrational part of him screamed at him to quit, but he knew that that would be financially insufficient providing this job covered the majority of the rent. “Get in line like everyone else, I would be able to serve you then.”
“But―!”
“Parker, don’t make me repeat myself,” Caelum warned. Peter pouted and Caelum’s heart twisted painfully. God, he missed that pout, the way his brown eyes went round and his nose scrunched, annoyingly.
Caelum shook himself out of the abyss that was Peter, and returned to the woman, again. “I apologize,” he said, swiping her card. She simply smiled, looking back at the boy before turning to him.
She raised her hand as if she were telling him a secret, and then whispered, “Do you like him?” Caelum fumbled with his card at the sudden question, his face going hot, his eyes widening. She laughed as he picked her card off the ground, scratching his face.
“I. . . I don’t. . .” He swallowed hard. Out of all the lies he told, this was the hardest. “I don’t know why you may think that,” He said, his voice pitching a bit higher. He handed her her bag and her card. He glanced at the name before giving it to her. It read, Luna Amaquelin.
Luna pressed a finger to her mouth, “I won’t tell ― promise!” She thanked him, and turned to leave, glancing back at Caelum and Peter as she left the store.
Peter was in the back of the line, so Caelum tried to take his time with the rest of the customers, trying to think of ways he could get the boy to leave. However, when it was finally Peter’s turn, he still had no explanation or plan.
“Where have you been?” Peter demanded, staring right at him. Caelum felt the back of his neck tingle ― he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep lately. He looked away from Peter, trying to mask his discomfort with annoyance.
“My whereabouts aren’t your concern,” Caelum said flatly. “You aren’t my mother.”
“I’m your friend!”
“That is questionable as well,” Caelum said, remembering Peter’s betrayal. “You recorded my confession.” Peter froze, and rubbed the back of his head. “If you’re upset that I am working here and not at Midtown, then you only have yourself to blame. I explained the situation ― I explained why my father could not go to jail!” Caelum was getting mad. He closed his eyes and sighed, calming himself. “Are you getting anything, Parker?”
“No, I. . . I just wanted to ta―”
“Then leave me alone,” He snapped. That woman was wrong, Caelum didn’t like Peter, he would never like Peter. Who did this boy think he was, deciding the fate of a future that wasn’t his? Caelum didn’t like him, he forced himself to swallow the words. He didn’t like Peter Parker, and Peter didn’t like him. He was alone now, because of this boy, and even though he wasn’t much better with his father, he would have chosen getting beaten over living like this any day.
Caelum rolled his eyes at Peter’s stunned silence. “I’ll take the next customer,” Caelum said, looking around the boy. Around, around, around. Peter was a problem and Caelum found a solution around him. Peter was dangerous, and Caelum shut him out. Peter was beautiful and Caelum looked away.
Sometimes, Peter was like a poisonous oasis in a desert, and Caelum needed water. He wanted to drink but knew the second he touched the water, he'd die.
One of these days, Peter would surely be the death of him.
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Just wanted to say, Luna Amaquelin isn't significant to the story. I just wanted her in as a cameo because she was my favourite character when I read the comics lol.
See y'all Sunday!