Cai Finch (itsajesusthing) wrote in darker_london, @ 2017-11-05 23:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | cai finch, daniel marlow, rachel eos, zoe kemp |
I'm standing in the rain with my lovers and my friends (Cai, Rachel, Zoe, Danny)
Rachel was waiting nearby when school got out. Cai spotted her immediately, across the road and down a little. There was a fence they used to meet at when they were all at London College together, low enough to climb on, high enough to look down on everyone walking past. She looks tired, Cai thought; when was the last time she didn’t look tired?
She slithered off the wall as soon as she spotted him, and jogged across the road in front of an oncoming car – not so close that it needed to brake, but close enough to make Cai grit his teeth till she was out of the way. Someone in the passenger seat shouted at her, but Rachel ignored them. From the way she ran over, he could tell she was stiff. “Have you been up there a while?” he asked.
Rachel shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess.”
“Missing school?” he teased.
“I don’t know,” she repeated, missing the teasing tone entirely. She chewed on the end of her sleeve, pulling it down over her hand to completely mask the bandage on her arm. “I wanted to get out of the house before Dad got home.”
Cai’s shoulders fell a little. “Come on,” he said, nudging her with a shoulder. “Let’s start walking.”
They waited till the crowds of London College students had dissipated a bit before talking. Cai’s news about Zoe was hanging on his tongue but he wanted to know about Rachel’s dad, first. “Tell me things,” he prompted, after they crossed the road again to put more distance between them and a pack of Year Tens.
Rachel made a face like she’d eaten something bitter. “He’s getting back together with Imogene.”
“You’re kidding?!” Cai was appalled. Imogene? The one who’d put her in jail? The angel? Indigo’s mother? “After… after everything?”
“I don’t know,” Rachel said again, kicking a stone through a puddle. “Maybe because of everything.” Maybe because of me.
“What do you mean? Because of the – attack?” Cai still wasn’t sure how to refer to what had happened to Rachel. Because of your vampire boss? Your vigilante demon? He was a psychic, and even so it still seemed a little unreal. Not only that, but Rachel herself didn’t really refer to the attack in any particular way, so he didn’t have a lead to follow. ‘That night’ she said sometimes. Or ‘what happened’. The only time she mentioned vampires was to make dry, painful jokes about them. And she never talked about the demon. She said she didn’t remember him at all, but she must have remembered enough to know it was a him.
Rachel shrugged, her hands tucked under her armpits. This made the scar on her arm press against her boob and she couldn’t hold it there for long.
“You know you’re welcome to stay at ours,” Cai suggested. “Any one of us can take you. And if he ever does move back in with her – you wouldn’t go too, right?”
Go back to Imogene’s? The thought rocked her. “No way,” she whispered, fiercely, which was a relief because Cai hadn’t heard her be fierce in a while.
“Good, cos, Jesus Christ,” said Cai. “And I’m not even using His name in vain right there. I mean Jesus Himself would have to stand in my way to stop me rescuing you if you have to live there again - oof” He was talking one second, and had the air knocked out of him the next as Rachel threw her arms around his chest. “Hey,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around her, doing a quick mental check to make sure he stayed grounded and in the present so he wouldn’t get sucked into a vision. He was a little bit scared of all the things Rachel had seen. “S’alright, I gotcha.”
She slithered off him eventually. Slithered seemed to be the right word, there wasn’t much strength holding her body upright. “Can we talk about something else?” she asked.
“You sure?”
“Yes. Anything. Tell me about tortillas or wood or something.”
“Or like how me and Zoe are dating now?”
“WHAT?” shrieked Rachel, and hit him on the arm. He took back everything he’d just thought about her lacking strength.
“Why are the women in my life so slappy?” Cai demanded.
“YOU WHAT?” Rachel slapped his arm again, several times, with both hands. “WHAT DID YOU JUST TELL ME?!?”
Cai ducked away, taking refuge behind a lamppost. “I regret everything!” She lunged at him, and he ran for the next lamppost as if it had any more hope of protecting him than the first one did, but running was never going to work to escape Rachel. Even tired and wounded she could leg it faster than Cai could.
“Why didn’t you open with that?” She reached around the lamppost with her grabby hands, poking him in the side and making him squawk. “Cai you are useless!”
“You had serious stuff going on!” Cai held up his hands, partially in surrender and partially to make it easier to defend himself from the onslaught. “I didn’t want to steamroller you!”
“Serious! Steamroller!” Rachel was indignant, but, Cai had to note, she was also enjoying herself immensely. “You let me whine on about my problems when you’re sitting on the BIGGEST NEWS OF THE DECADE?”
“Yup!” Cai said, reeling back like her voice had stunned him. “Guilty!”
“Augh!” she cried, and launched herself on him again, this time to wrap her arms around him. He grabbed back, his arms tight around her back because despite all the risks, Cai loved hugs. And he’d done so much work with Zoe over the last many months which meant that the risks were way less than they used to be, because he’d found his centre, he’d established his ground, and so long as he could ground and centre he’d be alright, and could hug his friends. Yeah he was scared by what he might see, but this fear was easier to dismiss when the person in question was smiling.
Rachel pulled back to look him in the face. “So,” she said. “How far have you gone?”
“Rach!” Cai protested, feeling himself start to blush. “We only got together last night.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Please, it’s been coming forever. I’ve seen you both.”
“Still,” Cai was definitely pink. “I’m going to be gentlemanly about it.”
“Please,” said Rachel again, but relented. Gentlemen, she knew from experience, were so rare as to be almost mythical, and if Cai was going to be one then, well, she didn’t want to push him away from that goal. She needed to live in a world where the possibility of gentlemen existed.
They fell back into step beside each other, heading for Casa Rosa. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it straight away,” Cai said.
“No you’re not,” Rachel shook her head. She figured Cai was always going to be the type to listen to other people before he spoke. How did both those brothers have that going for them when their only genealogical link was such a dud? “But one hundred percent for serious, please always steamroller my bad mood with your good news. I need it,” she said, in a moment of raw honesty.
She did, too. He could see it, this need, written all over her. It was in her sleepless eyes and wounded body and a pained, hungry look about the way she held herself, desperate for some goodness to hold onto. “I promise,” he said. “Every good bit of news I have.” She smiled and sighed and there was something a little shaky about both to start with, but she kept the smile up like a beacon, and the desperate look faded, or at least, the dark shape of it was masked by the light of her smile.
Cai gave her a squeeze, wishing he could squeeze hard enough that every trouble inside her would burst out like a tube of toothpaste.
He didn’t live very far from London College, an easy enough walk provided that the skies held their act together and didn’t start raining again. By the time they were a street away from Casa Rosa, it was starting to spit, and Cai was about to remark that they’d probably get inside before it started up again in earnest, but was interrupted by the arrival of a taxi that pulled up alongside them. The back window was rolled down and Zoe’s arms were crossed on the sill, her chin resting on her arms. “We nearly beat you home,” she grinned.
Cai raised mostly empty takeaway cup in answer. “Only cos we stopped for hot chocolates.”
“You want a ride the rest of the way?”
“No!” Rachel demanded, pointing at the ground. “You! You secret-keeper! You get your butt out of the taxi right this instant! You have some explaining to do!”
Zoe turned back to Danny in the back of the taxi to give him a pleading look. “Help. I think she’s onto me and Cai, Danny.”