Chapter 7 - Theo

Chapter 7- Theo

Dad and I had spent a couple hours fishing before we decided to paddle back in. We were just pulling the boat onto the shore when mom arrived home. We sat on the ground next to the boat, panting from the exertion, with five fish to show for our efforts. While we sat there, breathing heavily, mom walked over to us with a smile on her face.

“Did my boys enjoy fishing today,” she asked as she shielded us from the sunlight so we could look up at her. “Looks like you caught enough for dinner tonight.”

“We sure did,” dad stated as he stood up to give her a kiss before he shook the chain of still wet fish over my face. I did my best to shield myself from the gross freshly gutted fish water. “Theo caught three, while I struggled with two. Didn't ya, son.”

He did some sort of gesture which caused three of the fish to slap me in the face with surprisingly more force than I expected. My nose even went directly into the opening of the ribcage of one and I got a whiff of the worst smell of my life. I practically threw the fish away as I jumped up to my feet. “Ah fuck! That's disgusting! Dad, what the hell?”

“Oops, sorry,” dad said in between chuckles. “I really didn't mean to son, I'm sorry.”

“Didn't mean to splash me with gross fish gut water? Or didn't mean to slap me on the face with them? I'm going to have to shower twice just to get the smell off of me, and hopefully out of my nose.”

“Well then,” mom chimed in, “you better get started if you want to be ready in time for your date.”

I paused, completely stunned by what she said. I gave her a confused look. “You mean, you're okay with me going to dinner with Luke?”

She hesitated, I watched her as she looked down at her feet for a moment, then back up to me. “You can go to dinner with him. I may not like it, but I know how important it is to you.”

“Wow. Thank you, Mom. But why the sudden change of heart?”

“Well,” I watched as she began to pick at her nails nervously. “I went and talked to him. I told him how upset I was about it, but he managed to convince me otherwise.”

“Oh my God, thank you so much mom!” I lunged forward and gave her a tight hug. “And thank you for not killing him.”

“EW! You're welcome,” she said as she struggled to push me away. “Now get off of me. You're getting the fish smell all over me!”

I let go of her, grabbed my fishing pole and practically ran back toward the house. Once I was at the front door I glanced over at my parents who seemed to be having a slightly heated conversation. I noticed dad glance my way for a moment before I rushed inside. I leaned my pole against the wall close to the door, making sure no one would trip on their way in, before I made my way upstairs.

I spent the next several hours taking a shower, scrubbing every inch of my body several times in an attempt to get the fish smell off. Then I picked out what I was going to wear to dinner, followed quickly by another shower, as the fish smell had not fully been washed away. After the second shower I spent a little bit of time watching TV, before I realized that I had to shower for a third time because the stupid rancid smell of fish just would not come off. I eventually got dressed; having decided that semi-casual was the way to go, I pulled on a white button-down shirt, with a dark blue tie, some dark jeans for comfort, my dark converse shoes, and my favorite dark blue suit jacket.

I made my way down stairs and found my mom and dad sitting at the dining table. They were holding hands as they looked my way. They both smiled before dad spoke. “Looking good there, son.”

“Thanks dad, I'm glad I packed this stuff. I didn't know what we were going to be doing here, so I figured I'd pack most of my clothes.”

“I'm glad you did,” mom said, “you look very handsome, sweetie.”

I gave her a smile before I leaned against a nearby chair. “So, what are you two doing?”

“Sweetie,” mom said as she shared a worried look with dad. “We need to tell you something. Will you please sit?”

I did as she asked. I was wary of the entire situation after seeing them arguing earlier, but I knew it had to be important if they both were present. Once I sat I locked my fingers together and waited patiently for them to start.

“I know you're going to think we're crazy,” dad started, staring intently at me. “But we swear to you that it's the truth. We've kept something from you while you were growing up, and eventually just didn't know how to tell you. So we didn't. But we're telling you now.”

“I'm adopted. I knew it.” I threw my hands up, doing my best to act surprised in my poor attempt to lighten the mood. I gave them a chuckle. “Come on, that's old news. What is it?

They shared another look before mom spoke up. “Sweetie, this world is not what you think it is. There is far more to it than you could possibly imagine, so much more than science could explain. It… it’s far more dangerous than you think, it-"

“Not this again,” I groaned, interrupting her. “Mom, we've already had this conversation. Yes, the world is dangerous. Again, we live in Maine next to the ocean of possible tsunamis. Yes, we're currently in Idaho and there could be a wolf or bear attack at any moment. But what are the odds of that?”

Dad eventually jumped in. “What your mother is trying to say, son, is that there are things that would give a grown man nightmares. Hell, some of them even are nightmares.”

“Yes dad, I know there are awful people in the world. Killers, thieves, etcetera. I think you two are a bit late on this talk. I knew this as a kid.”

“Oh my gods,” mom said as she put her head in her hands, before looking me in the eyes. “How do I explain this?. . . Sweetie, do you remember those old fantasy books you used to read, about mythical creatures, magic spells, and hideous monsters?”

I gave her a concerned look and nodded. I wanted to say more, but I let her continue.

“Well, it's all true. All of it. Well, most of it is at least. Magic is real. Incantations, mystical runes, people with extraordinary abilities, people that can turn into animals or monstrous hybrids, creatures that wait in the shadows to drink the blood of their victims. All of it, it's all real. Most books exaggerate the information, in order to make a more interesting read. But, it's all true, and you're a part of this mystical world of the supernatural.”

“How am I a part of it?” I couldn't tell if they were actually being serious or not.

Dad decided to answer my question. “Well, son, your mother and I, we’re what you would call Sorcerers, as were your birth parents, and. . . So are you.”

I gave them both a look of surprise. I could see on their faces that they meant business, and they were hoping I'd believe them. But I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Magic, the supernatural, it was all real? Where was this idea coming from? But then I remembered something. My parents loved to play pranks on me before I moved out of the house so many years ago. They had, on several occasions, dressed dad up in black and had him chase me up from the basement when I was younger. Mom had even chased me down the dark halls, after dad had sworn to me that she was at work. But now, I knew better, and this had to be their attempt at a new prank.

“Haha! You two almost got me!” I said as I stood with a laugh. “You two tried so hard, and you almost got me. But damn, that was a good one. Sorcerers and Magic? How did you think I would fall for that? That naive kid grew up, I know better now. Oh man, I'm totally gonna get you back now.”

“Sweetie, we're not joking. This isn't a prank.” Mom said as she took hold of my hand.

“Yeah, and I'm Santa Claus,” I said through chuckles.

I thought I heard dad say something under his breath like “Actually, he lives in Florida during the summer", but it just made me laugh even harder.

That was when I noticed vehicle headlights making their way up the driveway, and I pulled away from mom and headed for the door. “Luke's here. I'll see you two after dinner. I love you guys.” I gave mom a kiss on the cheek, while she continued to stammer a response, before shaking my head as I left with a chuckle. “You're a sorcerer, son. I definitely like that one.”

I closed the door before my parents could say anything more, and watched the truck pull up in front of me. I was still laughing as Luke hopped out of his truck and quickly walked around to meet me as I walked down the steps. The moment he saw me he smiled from ear to ear. “What are you laughing at?”

I shook my head, “nothing, just a prank my parents tried to play on me just now.”

“Oh, is that all? You’ll have to tell me about it at dinner or on the drive.” He gave me a quick once over, and his smile widened even further. He ran a finger gently along my jacket collar as he gave a flick of his brow. “Wow, you look absolutely stunning.”

He was wearing a light purple dress shirt with the sleeves rolled again up to the center of his forearms, the top button of the shirt was undone, allowing me to catch a glimpse of his dark chest hair peeking out. He wore no tie, which allowed me to notice that the shirt was just a size too small as the buttons on his middle were a bit tighter than they should've been, due to his slightly curved middle. The shirt was tucked into a pair of gray slacks, and the outfit was complete with a pair of dark dress shoes. His hair was brushed neatly to the side, and his beard looked to have been trimmed so as to not look too messy. I couldn't help but lose myself as I watched his beautiful golden amber eyes glisten in the porch light as he looked me over again and again.

“Thank you,” I said as I gave a smile of my own. My heart was racing. Normally I was the type of guy that insisted on waiting a few days before sleeping with a guy. But seeing him like this made me want nothing more than to take him to bed, rip his clothes off while having the face battle of my life with his lips, and roll around in the sheets with him for hours on end. But, I held myself back and just continued to smile as he opened the passenger side door for me. “You're not too bad yourself.”

I gave him a wink before jumping into the truck. He raced around, climbed in next to me, and we were off. I loved the way his middle bulged a bit more, causing his shirt to grow slightly tighter. Why did I love the big burly men with extra meat on their bones so much? He must have caught me staring a few times, because he ran a hand over the small curve of his gut and gave it a pat.

“So, you like a guy with a belly, huh?” He chuckled.

“What? Oh, I-I'm sorry,” I stammered and looked away quickly.

He chuckled again. “Don't be sorry. Everyone likes what they like, and I want you to feel comfortable with me. So, I say stare away. You can even give it a rub if you want, and to be honest, I kind of like my belly too.” He gave me a smirk and I couldn't hide my smile. God this man was too good to be true. He looked handsome as ever, but I could practically feel his discomfort with what he was wearing. I figured he was a jeans and plaid kind of guy, rather than all dressy and formal.

I looked him over again before I leaned toward him. “I appreciate you wanting me to be comfortable with you. But, that goes both ways. I want you to be comfortable around me too. But, I can feel how uncomfortable you are in your outfit. Is it too tight? Do you have something else you can wear? I won't be upset.”

“It’s not that,” he said as he shifted in his seat a little. “I don't normally dress up like this. But I wanted to do it for you. I. . . I'll admit I wanted to impress you. Did it work?”

I giggled. “You definitely look impressive. But, you don't have to dress up to impress me, you look just as amazing in your plaid shirt and jeans. But here, maybe this will help.” I reached over, my hand began to tingle as I ruffled my fingers through his hair a bit, making sure that it wasn't so neat. I didn’t know why, but it felt amazing just to even touch him. I then undid the second button down, allowing a bit more chest hair to show through, which was thicker than I had originally thought, and it was amazing. I then followed it by scratching my fingers through his beard, he gave a groan of pleasure and leaned into my hand a bit as I did so. I could've sworn I heard something thumping rapidly on the floor as well, but couldn't see what it was as the cab of the truck was too dark. Being this close to him, however, allowed me to inhale the most amazing fragrance I had ever come across. He smelled of some sort of bourbon whiskey and pine tree, and it was intoxicating. Just the smell alone made me feel so relaxed and at peace. I took another breath. Without even thinking, the words just seemed to fall from my mouth, “my god, you smell amazing.”

“Thank you, as do you,” he said with another smirk and I pulled away, feeling a bit embarrassed. When I removed my hand from his face, his beard and hair were closer to the handsome messy look he had adorned when we first met. He gave himself a look in the rear view mirror and pondered the look. “Are you sure? It's not too grungy looking? I don't look like some sort of caveman?”

“Not at all, I like it. I think it makes you look more natural.” I said this as I tried my best to hide my bright red face.

“Well, then I'll wear it with pride.” He said as he straightened his shoulders a bit. “By the way, I hope you like steak. My brother owns the steakhouse in town. It's small, but it does well.”

“A steak sounds amazing. I don't remember the last time I had a steak that my dad didn’t burn on the grill.” We both giggled at my comment. My dad loved using the grill, but he wasn't particularly skilled at it, which was an understatement. My dad was horrible at grilling. Every time he attempted to make a meal using the thing it always ended with the food being so burnt that we couldn't cut through it with a knife. One time, I actually broke a knife trying to cut through a burnt steak. I turned back to Luke with an eager grin on my face. “I can't wait to try the place out. That's cool that your brother owns it.”

“Yeah, it's a great place.” He grinned back, pride beamed on his face. “My brother has done really well with it. We were skeptical at first, being in the middle of nowhere in such a small town,  but he's really made it thrive. It's gotta be the best restaurant in town. Speaking of, here we are.”

We pulled into a parking spot out front of a dark stained wooden building with a large black metal bison standing out front. There were bear and wolf paw prints burned into the door frame. The name across the front of the building was carved in big bold letters on a slab of wood reading ‘Cedar Grill’. I gave Luke another smile as he held open the door and we both entered.

The inside looked old and worn, which made it feel more like a lodge. It had several wooden bear carvings standing around, one was even covered in fur and was designed to be a seat with its arms reaching around to hug whoever sat in its lap. Or was it mauling the occupant? In the center of the room stood a large circular bar, and at its center sat a massive grill so customers could see their food being grilled. A large black shaft hung over it and extended up through the ceiling to allow the smoke to escape without filling the room. The main kitchen was through a set of doors that lead to the back, but every now and then a server would come walking out and hand a fresh slab of meat to the man working the grill, who in turn would hand back a freshly made steak. Several dark brown wooden booths with red cushions lining the walls, with other wooden tables filling in the rest of the room.

A young hostess stood at a nearby counter, with dark brown hair and eyes. She greeted us as we entered. Her voice was a bit too perky for my liking. “Good evening you two. Welcome to Cedar Grill. My name is Malena, how many people are in your party tonight?”

“Hi, Malena. We have a reservation for two,” Luke stated as he held up two fingers. “Under the name Luke Mitchell.”

This seemed to startle the girl slightly. She gave a slight bow of her head as she spoke. I found it a bit odd to see her lower her head to Luke, almost as if he were royalty or something. “Oh, Mr. Mitchell, I must apologize. I didn't recognize you. I guess I'm just used to seeing you in plaid, ahah.” Her high pitched giggle at the end irritated the hell out of me. I knew plenty of girls like her back in high school and they always made me wish I had ear plugs. She glanced at a sheet of paper she had next to her, she then grabbed two pairs of stainless steel silverware wrapped in napkins, along with two menus before she walked around the counter. “This way, please.”

She turned a corner to our right and began leading the way up a flight of steps that were hidden from the view of the entrance. We followed her up to an opened door that led out onto the top floor and a second dining area. I know I'm a guy, but the set up definitely took my breath away. The room had the usual four walls, made of the same dark tanned wood as the rest of the building, with a large opening on each wall to look out over the town on all four sides. But these windows, as one might call them, didn't have any glass, they were completely open to the point that someone could easily climb through if they wanted. Along with that, there was no ceiling, instead the area was open to the darkening sky above. Clear light bulbs were strung around the area along the walls, and across to several poles stationed around the area, giving a nice peaceful glow to the dining area. To the left of the door we had come through stood a second bar and grill with two men taking care of food and drink orders. There were several tables scattered throughout the floor, few were empty, and few others had several people chatting, laughing, and drinking their evening away. But in the center of it all sat a single table with a white tablecloth and a red rose at its center. I smiled at the table and felt joy for the lucky couple that was eventually going to be sitting there. As the man had indeed planned for it to be a special night for his special someone. I only hoped to one day have someone do something that special for me in my future.

We followed the girl as she weaved her way between the tables, and I was shocked as I watched her place our menus on the table with the white cloth and rose. The same table that I had been admiring. She gave us both a smile and stated that our server would be right with us, before she rushed off. I just stood there, awestruck, bouncing my gaze from the table to Luke, then back to the table. I didn't know what to say or how to react. It was as though some monkey in my brain had decided that it didn't want anything to work properly anymore and pulled every plug it could find.

“What's wrong,” Luke asked as he eyed me carefully. He had even gone to the length of holding out my chair for me to sit. But the look on his face told me that he was worried about my reaction. “You don't like it? Is it too much? It's too much. Uh, I can have them take the cloth and rose away, if that would make things better. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone this over the top. I just-"

I cut him off by gently taking ahold of his arm and giving him a smile. My hand and arm surging with the familiar tingling the moment I touched him. Could this moment get any better? “You have no reason to be sorry.” I said, repeating his own words back to him. “It's just. . . You barely know me. We just met yesterday, and this looks like it was set up for someone special, not for someone like me.”

“You're right.” Luke said as he slowly took hold of the hand that I had placed on his arm, and he cupped it in both of his hands. He looked me over for a moment before he looked me in the eyes. “It's the fact that I don't know you that makes it more important. I did this because I wanted to show you that even though we just met, you are special to me. I want to get to know you. But if this is too fast, I understand, and we can take things slower if you'd like."

It was sweet, and I admit, it made my heart skip. But, how could I commit to something with this man when I was going to be leaving in 3 months? I would feel awful if I fell for him, or worse, he fell for me and I ended up just leaving at the end of summer. I had told him last night that I was here for vacation, after that we would head back home to Maine. But, had he already taken that into account?

“It's not that, Luke,” I began. “I told you that I'm only here for the summer. Once summer is over, we're heading back home. I said yes to dinner because I thought it would be fun to spend more time with you, and get to know you better, yes. But this seems like more than just a dinner date. If you and I commit to each other, relationship wise, just for me to leave after just getting together. . . That wouldn't be fair to you, and I'd end up feeling like a dick.”

“You’re right, that wouldn’t be fair, to either of us.” He said as he patted my hand, the tingling continued to race up my arm. “Just give me until the end of summer to get to know you. Just until the end of summer. We can figure out where we stand then. Deal?”

I hesitated with my answer. Summer was three, almost four months long, which was plenty of time to get to know Luke a bit better. But what if we did end up wanting a relationship? Would he be willing to visit Maine, or would I visit him here? Would we have video dates during the week or just text and call like a typical awkward long distance couple? But then again, all of that is assuming that we would want to have a relationship in the first place. Yeah he was sexy. By God was he sexy, but that was all assuming things would work out between us. What if they didn't? Would we stay friends, or would we become those kinds of people that had tried to date but things just got awkward and we’d no longer be able to make eye contact when passing each other on the street? Then again, he did have beautiful eyes, and I couldn't imagine going long periods of time without being able to see him. Just thinking about not being able to see him regularly frustrated me. I wanted to spend as much time with this man as I possibly could. What the hell, I had three months. What's the worst that could happen, right?

I gave him a grin as I leaned in and gave him a tight hug, being just tall enough to rest my head on his shoulder. My body vibrated all over with the tingling sensation as my body pressed into his, it was so exhilarating that I couldn't help but relax into it. “You have a deal. Until the end of summer.”

I couldn't see it, but I could pretty much feel his smile as he rested his cheek on the top of my head and returned the hug with big strong arms. I could've stayed there forever and just lost myself in his strong comforting hug, and let the rest of the world just fall away. But we just had to be interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

“Ahem. So sorry to be barging in on you two love birds,” the server said with a kind smile. He had short black hair and black square rimmed glasses to go with his black server uniform. His voice was kind and modulated as he spoke. His white name tag, which read Kyle, stood out on his dark clothes. “Can I get you two something to drink, or would you like me to come back?”

Luke and I chuckled as I sat, my body instantly ached for him the moment we were apart. Once in my chair he helped me scoot in before taking his own seat across from me. He gave me a smile before turning to our server. “I'll take a cinnamon tea.”

I ordered a Pepsi before Kyle rushed off. I turned back to see Luke peeking over his menu at me while he tried to hide the smile on his face. “What?” I asked as I tried not to laugh at him.

He continued to smile widely as he looked down at his menu. “Nothing, just, thank you, for giving me a chance.”

I shook my head. “I should be thanking you for tonight. I've honestly never had anyone go through all this trouble for me just over dinner.”

“Well, you're worth it.” He said with a wink, and I could see in his eyes that he meant it. “Now, order whatever you'd like.”

I gave my menu a glance. Everything sounded delicious; from the BBQ ribs to the T-bone, to the fried steak, and even the grilled chicken breast with cranberry sauce. There were so many items, each one sounding absolutely amazing. That was about the time I noticed something odd about the menu. “Everything sounds delicious, but I don't see a pricing for anything anywhere.”

“That's because I told them to give you a menu without the prices listed.” Luke said without even lifting his head from his menu. “Don't worry about the price. Order what you'd like, and don't hold back.”

“Luke, that's way too generous of you. I can't ask you to pay for me.” I put my menu down and looked at him with my concern visible on my face.

“You're not asking me to,” he said as he looked past his menu and gave me a kind smirk. “I'm the one who asked you to dinner, so I'm the one paying. Besides, I own a company that provides log furniture to several lodge resorts all around the country. I think I can handle a meal like this.” He semi-whispered the last bit and followed by giving me a wink then returned to looking over his menu. I wanted to protest further, but knew I wasn't going to win the argument.

We eventually got our drinks and gave our orders.

Once our menus were out of the way, we got to chatting, taking this opportunity to follow the original plan and get to know each other a little better. I gave my usual information of me being 27, having graduated from college a few years ago, that I was going on little over 4 years of being a firefighter in my hometown, my favorite color was blue but I told him that his amber eyes were a close second. I mentioned I had taken kick boxing for a few years before I was 21 and never picked it back up because I was tired of breaking my knuckles. He even asked me at one point if I was a cat or dog person, which I always found the question to be ridiculous, but I told him I always loved dogs but wouldn't say no to a cat.

Luke, on the other hand, was much more interesting. He was 47 and had never been married because he hadn't met the right guy. His favorite color was red, his favorite candy bar was Snickers, he was definitely a dog person but loved cats almost as much, but they hated him and always ran away when he approached them, or scratched the shit out of him. He had lived in Cedar Falls most of his life, having spent 4 years in California working as a park ranger, before he moved back home. He now owned the Lodge Furnishing company on Main Street which built and sold log styled furniture to several different lodge resorts all over the country, and the one building in town was not the only company building he owned, he had several others scattered around the U.S. but had supervisors to run them for him. Now, he basically just had to do the occasional paperwork as the business was practically being run for him at this point. Needless to say, he was a fairly wealthy man. I questioned why he didn't live in a bigger house. He stated that he enjoyed a simple sized home and didn't want to worry about keeping a bigger one cleaned.

“Aw come on,” I said, doing my best to keep from laughing. “You're saying you don't want a massive mansion, in which you could hire different guys to take care of it? You could make them all wear speedos as their uniforms, and when they break something or don't do their jobs properly you could punish them in some fun ways.” I said the last part while wiggling my eyebrows.

He laughed so hard and for so long that I was afraid I might have broken him. He laughed for several minutes before finally calming down and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I never thought of that, until now. Now I'm upset that I didn't do it. But, no, I enjoy my current home too much. In fact, I’d like to sho-"

“Hey Luke, I'm glad you came in tonight.” We were interrupted by a tall lean man that patted Luke on the shoulder as he spoke. The man was just slightly shorter than Luke, and half his width, he was fit but thin. He had long black hair that was tied back into a ponytail. Their eyes were similar, but the man's eyes were more on the hazel side. He wore a black polo shirt, with black slacks and dress shoes. His aura screamed that he was the owner of the steakhouse. “I was hoping to see you. I see you're on a date.

Luke just smiled up at the man before standing and giving him a hug that said they were close and cared for each other. He then turned to me and gestured toward the man. “This is my brother, Tyler. Tyler, this is Theo White.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Theo. I apologize for interrupting, I just wanted to speak with my brother for a moment.” Tyler said as he extended a hand toward me.

“Not a problem at all.” I gave a kind smile as I accepted the hand shake. My hand tingled intently as static electricity cracked as our hands touched.