Re: Adrian's: Caleb R/Dietre A
“It’s Sieglinde.” Dietre gave up trying to pull the dog away, confident she wasn’t going to run out into the street as she was too preoccupied with licking Caleb’s jaw and wagging her tail so hard it seemed about to fall off. She was still all puppy wrapped up in an adult dog’s body, the littlest thing cause for celebration. Dietre’s opposite. He softly chastised her for her behavior in German, his tone so lacking in sternness that she likely thought he was praising her. After fawning on Caleb, she bounced back to her master, looking up at him as if to say, ‘Look! Someone’s here, isn’t that exciting?’
“It’s nice to see you, Caleb.” Would it be appropriate to compliment the man in some way? One hovered on his tongue before being quickly swallowed in a fit of cowardice. Compliments were for dates, and as far as Dietre knew, this wasn’t actually a date. He had chickened out there, too. Bringing up the idea to watch a movie had been his awkward attempt to segway into date territory, but somehow things didn’t come together the way he intended. Sigh.
“Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea? ...Or a glass of wine?” A pause. Did wine come off as too datey? “There’s beer too, I think…” Adrian’s, but Dietre could always buy replacements.
Skillfully avoiding tripping on Sieglinde (who had commenced circling the men in a kind of figure-eight, determined to be involved) he motioned for his guest to enter the living room. The house was old, but well taken care of, retaining much of its original features. It was a place that Dietre looked like he belonged to, Victorians definitely suited his tastes. The upright piano stood against the far wall, a spot where, a hundred years before, one just like it had probably sat. It had come a long way, rescued from an abandoned mansion in the woods, restored and brought back to life from the verge of ruin.