Safe and Sane

It had been one hell of a long month. One without enough chance to call Carl, or Sara, though Sara didn't pick up so often. That night, though, Lin didn't give a shit for time difference or what the hell else might be going on. He needed to talk to someone. He needed to talk to Carl.

Swinging up into the cab of his truck, he stared at his cellphone for long moments, then punched in Carl's number, waiting for him to pick up.

Bag was packed, guitar detuned and in her case. Most things set, piled neatly by the door. Lin took one last look around, nodded, and sat down, waiting for Carl to get back.

Jess was terrible when she was bored. Hair pulled into a ponytail, she walked into the club common room wearing a cute t-shirt with a lollipop on the front, jean shorts and flip-flops. She'd been hoping to run into someone she knew, but seeing a guy all on his own and not looking like he was expecting to be busy, her plans changed. She walked over to him, a slight sway to her hips as she moved, and smiled her cutest, brightest smile.

"Hi! You waiting on someone?"

Carl wandered up to the bar and found himself a cold drink. Long day, and it was still too damn hot outside for much of anything. The club was always a nice place to be, even if it sometimes still made him feel scarily settled.

Still, it was a nice place to wind down and chill out.

He turned to the guy close by and offered him a smile, gesturing to the bar. "Want anything?"

Someone in the cafe definitely had a resource of obscure holidays. This Wednesday fell on National Aviation Day, and one of the members of staff had obviously decided it was a good idea to mark it, but hadn't been quite sure how. Several model airplanes sat on top the counter and were suspended from the ceiling, swaying gently in the draft from the AC vents, with no explanation at all.

The original opening of Strokes had been a relatively public affair, open to all. The expansion, opening the store downstairs, was more private. Considering the space available, it had to be - the store was considerably smaller than the cafe upstairs, and there were stricter age restrictions on access. An invitation had gone out to all members of the club, and Beth had also left the details with Danielle in case she was generous enough to invite any of her customers.

The cafe upstairs was still open, of course, and Beth had left Dotty in charge up there after a frenzy of baking to ensure that they'd have enough to feed everyone. Downstairs, Beth held sway.

Counters along the center of the room had glass tops to display various sex toys, and the shelves below held neatly stacked boxes of the same toys displayed above. Should anyone want a closer look - or feel - Beth had prudently kept two of each behind her counter for testing purposes, and a small curtained off area next to the counter for privacy while testing. On top of the counter was a display case holding jewellery and some of the more expensive collars and restraints.

Shelves against one wall held a small selection of books, cards, and novelties along with the more practical supplies - lubes, hygiene, condoms, dams, etc - and a small case on the opposite wall held the library selection, available for people to peruse at their leisure. Tacked on the door was a small poster politely detailing expected behaviour - D/s behavious was, of course, more than acceptable, but no public nudity and no actual sex was to be permitted, or she'd lose her license.

Candles lit the tables upstairs, low electrical lighting set the mood downstairs. Now all she needed was guests, and potential customers.

Another Wednesday, nearly August, and thunderstorms outside. Power held - so far - but the cafe was taking no chances. Which meant that instead of lights on inside, each table was lit by a couple of tealights safely protected in the bottom of water glasses, giving the whole place an unusually intimate atmosphere.

Hot drinks would be on offer as long as the power held out, and the owner and staff appeared to be praying for that between each order.

Took a while to wrangle a time Lin and Carl could both get a few days clear of Sal's, but it wasn't impossible. Tuesday night gig, end of shift, and they were clear until Friday night, which meant that Wednesday found Lin at the club, room reserved, waiting on Carl to join him.

Thursday night meant neither of them were on shift at the bar. Meant a chance to get out of the city. Lin loaded the truck up with beer, Jack, a couple blankets, a couple guitars, and Carl, and took them out into the land. Nearby canyon, country park, warden who regularly drank in Sal's and who Lin had delivered back a couple times after a few too many beers.

All of which gave them a quiet night to themselves overlooking the canyon, truck bed facing out, clear skies and bright stars above.

Lin cracked open a couple beers, offered one across, and leaned back against the cab, legs stretched out in front of him. "Good to get out for a while, huh?"

To: Carl Stevens
From: Drake Holloway
Subject: Since you're a music guy.
Attachment: My Wish.mp3 (actual download link)

Carl,

I heard this song and thought of you. I figured maybe if it was set to music and rhymed it would be easier for you to understand than if it was just me.

Drake.

( Lyrics )

Really it was very simple. He saw Carl in the club, and walked over to him.

"Hey," he said, grinning and happy to see Carl. "I haven't seen you around in a while. Everything okay?"

Rather than simply relaxing, Beth's Saturday had been full of physical work at the store. Or it was very nearly her store, anyway, or at least her cafe. She'd scrubbed the newly installed kitchen from floor to ceiling and down again, and everything was prepared for inspection on Monday. All of which meant that when she arrived at the club in the early evening, she was a little tired, but content with her achievement, and very much looking forward to an evening not thinking about health and safety statutes.

She found Carl, went over, and slipped her hand into his with a small smile, waiting for him to be ready to acknowledge her.

It had been a few days now since Lin had called to let him know he wasn't coming home. And Carl was worried sick. The call was the only thing remotely comforting about any of it. He spent whatever time he had either covering Lin's shift or writing music. And waiting for his phone to ring or the door to open.

He was settled on the couch when it finally did.

It took a few days for Carl to work up the nerve to actually talk to Lin about the things he'd talked with Beth about - or at least, try to without actually running the fuck away from all forms of conversation. The fact that it was still pretty hard to catch Lin alone when neither of them were dead on their feet just helped him there.

But it was Sunday and there really was no excuse for putting it off any longer.

Carl grabbed himself a beer and settled next to Lin comfortably. "How're you healin'?"

She'd offered him the use of her kitchen, and Carl was finally taking her up on that offer. It'd be nice to cook again, and it'd be even nicer to sit down and enjoy a nice meal with her, talk some more.

He knocked on Beth's door and waited, smiling brightly when she opened it. "Hey you."

Wednesday night. Lin still hadn't gone anywhere except between his own bed and the bathroom. Carl was back to sleeping on the couch. Lin was slowly going stir crazy, and it was munch night. A night he wasn't meant to be working in the bar, which meant Carl wasn't out either. "C'mon, Carl. Just an hour or so. Ain't like I'm gonna be doin' nothing strenous!"

Sara had spent a lot of the last three days at the bar with Lin, helping Carl out with things that needed doing and making sure Lin didn't hurt himself any more than he already had. So it was no surprise that she was there now, trying to make him keep still so she could check his bandages.

Lin had gone out of town for a few days, which was fine in theory, but his timing could have been better so Sara stopped by his place when she was pretty sure Carl wouldn't be covering one of Lin's shifts, hoping to catch him home. She knocked on the door to Lin's little room that he shared with Carl and held up a six-pack when it opened. "I come bearing gifts. But I promise I'm not Greek."

Saturday night saw Lin back in town. Only been gone a few days, but the evidence of it was clear. Bruises beginning to fade down the left side of his face, split lip scabbed up, and a certain care in the way he moved and held himself as he climbed down from his truck, reaching to snag his guitar case with a slight wince and hiss of breath. Into Sal's and through to the stage, just enough time left - barely - to get his girl out, tuned and plugged in for the start of the set.

"Thanks for setting up," he murmured to Carl, out the side of his mouth, and if his voice was a touch rougher than usual, edge breathier, most folks listening wouldn't be complaining.

They managed to keep things from getting awkward, mostly by just dealing with it themselves and not really talking about it. Lin needed time to deal – and he needed to talk to Sara, and Carl was going to respect that. Because he really hadn’t meant to fuck anything up. Things had been going good for Lin, after all.

It didn’t help that, the moment the set ended, he spotted Sara bouncing towards them. He managed a smile at the sight of her. “Hey Sara.”