4Chapter 3
It was a dark and stormy cliche.
"Mom, this weather sucks!" I call out with an unflattering whine. "Make it stop!"
"If I could I would, hon," she says flippantly. "Coffee?"
"You are a goddess among women, seriously!" I reply.
"Tell me something I don't know," she calls back in a sing-song voice. The phone rings and I grab it off my bedside table, flipping it open and falling onto my bed.
"City Morgue, you kill 'em, we chill 'em," I say with a grin.
"Does no-one in this family know how to answer a door?" came the reply. I paused for a sec.
"Matt, is that you?" I ask slowly.
"Yes, and I'm freezing my nuts off out here and I'm soaked. Did you really have to move to such a... wet town?"
"I'll be right down!" I yelp, springing to my feet and racing to the door. I fling it open and there standing on the doorstep is my big brother, all the way from New York. "Bro! It's so good to see you!" I yell, flinging my arms around his neck.
"You too, little dude," he replies and I pull a face. "How's school?"
"Least said, soonest mended," Mom says rounding the corner. "I swear he does nothing but complain about that place." There's a moment where the two just look at each other. Matt's smile is soft and warm, despite how drenched he is, and Mom is so happy that she isn't even commenting about him dripping on the carpet.
"Hi, Mom." Matt says eventually. His voice is quiet.
"It's been a while," she replies.
"Too long," he agrees, walking up to her and throwing his arms around her. "Do you have an umbrella? I've brought Emily, but she's waiting in the car so she doesn't get soaked. I grab one from the stand and use it to usher my brother further into the house.
"I'll go get her," I say. "You go in and catch up with Mom and Dad." Matt grins.
"Thanks, bud."
"No prob," I reply, stepping out the door. I wave over at the car where my brother's girlfriend is waiting and rush over to the door. I open it and hold the umbrella overhead.
"Thanks Sam," she says. "It's great to see you."
"You too," I say. "This is a big surprise." I give her the once over. "You're looking as gorgeous as ever."
"And you're still just as charming," she replies as we walk to the door. She reaches out to open the screen door and I catch a glimpse of her hand.
"No. Way." I say slowly. She looks at me quizzically and I indicate my ring finger. She flushes and awkwardly stammers for a bit. "This was the big announcement?" I ask. "Oh my God! Congrats!" I give her a big wet hug.
"We wanted to tell you guys in person," she replied.
"Does that mean I have to start calling you Sis?" I ask. I shake off the umbrella and place it in the stand by the door.
"I guess so," she says with a little squeal and I grin. "It's still sinking in," she extends her arm so I can inspect the ring. "I forget I'm wearing it half the time and the other half I can't stop playing with it." I whistle appreciatively.
"Nice rock," I say. "Did you choose it or did he surprise you?"
"He surprised me," she responded. "Oh it was so romantic! He got down on one knee and everything!" Emily is cut off by a sudden scream from the kitchen.
"I see my brother just broke the news," I say wryly.
"EMILY WARRENSON, GET IN HERE NOW!" Mom demands. I'm fairly certain by the tone of her voice that she's probably openly crying. I grin wryly and gesture to the kitchen.
"Do you think it's too late to run?" Emily asks. "Your mother can be... enthusiastic when she's happy."
"You'll just have to put up with it," I say with a laugh. "You're family now."
I finally get an opportunity and drag my brother off to the living room while Mom interrogates Emily about every last detail of the proposal, Dad is standing beside her but not saying much. I think he's gone into shock.
"Congrats, bro," I say, sitting down on the couch. "You two set a date?"
"First week of the school holidays," he says. "We wanted you to be able to come too."
"Thanks," I reply.
"Will you be bringing anyone?" he asks. "We're doing the ceremony in the Columbia Boathouse, so we need to know numbers fairly soon."
"Well as you know, I'm single," I reply. "And none of my friends would be willing to fork out the flights to New York."
"Fair enough," he says. "If that changes, you'll let me know as soon as you can, right?"
"Well end of term is a while away," I reply. "I guess anything could happen. When's the latest I can let you know?"
"Depends on whether you are going by the venue or Emily's nerves," he replied with a laugh.
"Point taken, I'll be sure to let you know in plenty of time."
"You're talking as if there's an immediate possibility?" Matt says thoughtfully. "Are you thinking of asking someone out soon?" He looks way too excited at the possibility. "What's her name? Spill the goss!"
"There's no-one," I laugh. "You know if there was I would probably have texted or something."
"What do I know?" Matt replies. "I'm half the country away."
"Yes, in the glamorous big city," I respond. "I know. No need to rub it in."
"Is it really that bad here?" he asks.
"Not necessarily for me," I say, thinking of Daniels. "It's just so much... smaller here," I wring my hands. "It's a hard adjustment to make, going from a city where you can be fairly anonymous to a town where everyone knows your name and everyone knows your business." Matt pulls a face. "It's like..." I struggle to find the words. "There's a lot more pressure here to fit in. If you don't fit in back home, there's always another group you can try and be friends with. If you're on the outs here," Again, unbidden, Thomas' face flashes in my mind. "You've got no-one." Matt sighs.
"Is someone giving you a hard time?" he asks. "That Liam guy you were telling me about..."
"No," I say quickly. "Liam and I are friends now, actually. I'm actually fairly popular here, it's just... I see how they treat people who aren't and it bothers me a bit." Matt sighs.
"You're a good man, Charlie Brown," he says. "But being a lone crusader for social justice is a sure-fire way to put your neck on the chopping block."
"I know," I say. "Liam was calling me 'Samuel Laker: Minority Warrior' at lunch today." Matt managed to keep a straight face for about five seconds before devolving into a pile of hilarity and scorn.
"Oh that's classic," he says. "I can just see you in some kind of spandex suit, flying around the city to correct injustices. Your supervillain counterpart can be called White Privilege!" I roll my eyes.
"As usual," I start with heavy helpings of sarcasm, "Your biting wit is incredible."
"Speaking of biting wit, you'll be best man, right?" He asks.
"I'm a minor, bro. Are you sure I'm the best person to be charged with organising your bucks night?" I ask.
"Probably not," Matt admits. "But I can't imagine getting married without you standing next to me." I choke slightly. For all his faults, Matt's a pretty awesome guy.
"YOU CAME IN WITH THE BREEZE-" I croon loudly into the detachable shower head. "ON SUNDAY MORNING!" I'm currently having what could possibly be the hottest shower I've had in weeks. God bless gas heating, that's what I say. That's one good thing about our new house as opposed to the old one: tankless hot water, so I don't have to worry about people up before me using all the hot water before me. "YOU SURE HAVE CHANGED SINCE YESTERD-ARGH!" I leap to the side as the water all of a sudden turns icy cold. "What the..." I turn the tap off and step out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around me, I reach over and turn off the wall mounted iPod station still blaring out No Doubt lyrics into the echoing bathroom. I open the door, letting clouds of billowing steam out into the upstairs corridor and shiver slightly.
"MATT?" I call out. Mom and Dad are at church usually until 2, so no luck there. "EMILY?" No answer. I creep downstairs and look around. There's a note from Matt stuck to the fridge by an incredibly garish magnet Dad got on his last work holiday.
Hey little dude,
it begins.
Ems and I are going to take a look around town. We would have taken you with us, but you were asleep. Mom and Dad say don't burn the house down, and they'll be back later this evening from church because of some fete and then dinner with some guys they know from there. Knowing them we'll probably be back before them this evening.
Without even bothering to sign off or anything the note finishes and I sigh irritably. No hot water and no adults to fix the bloody thing. It's probably the pilot light, but I haven't the faintest clue how to fix it. I grab my phone and look up the local plumber on the internet before dialling.
"Hello," a very familiar voice says tiredly through the phone. "Clued-in Plumbing, we do it in the kitchen with the lead pipe."
"Daniels, is that you?" I ask incredulously. "You work for the plumbers?"
"Sam?" comes the astonished reply.
"Yeah, it's me," I say. "How're you doing?"
"Battling on, you know how it is," Thomas replies. "What can I do you for?"
"Buy me dinner first and find out," I quip in reply. There's an embarrassed stammering on the other end of the phone and I grin despite myself.
"You are too easy," I say laughing.
"So say the rumours," Thomas says and I wince. I'm fairly certain he's doing the same because he follows it up pretty quickly with an apology. "Sorry, I keep doing that, don't I?"
"A bit," I admit. "But like I said in the car, the way those shitheads treat you I'm not surprised you're a bit bitter."
"Anyway!" Thomas exclaims loudly, none-too-subtly trying to change the subject. "My boss is giving me weird looks so I should probably ask what you need." I slap my forehead and groan. I had completely forgotten that it wasn't a social call.
"Homo Neanderthalis Footballjockius strikes again," I say sheepishly and Thomas laughs. "My hot water is busted, and knowing my luck it's probably just the pilot light, but even if it was, I wouldn't know how to fix it, and I'm the only one in the house and my nice warm shower was rudely interrupted..."
"Say no more, I'll be 'round in a bit."
"Thanks, buddy," I say. "You're a lifesaver."
I open the door and nearly fall over laughing.
"Not one word," he says angrily.
"I'm sorry, it's just you're usually so..." I crack up again, taking in the sight of him in his uniform overalls. "Meticulous," I eventually gasp out.
"Yeah, laugh it up," he says bitterly. "I earn more than you."
"Considering I earn nothing, that's not hard," I say by way of reply.
"Where's the heating unit? I'll get to work right away." I lead him to the heating unit and stand back, watching him go to work.
"Well it's not just the pilot light," he says. "I think it might be a problem with your gas supply. Have you tried turning on the stove?"
"Uh... no?" I say stupidly. We do so but the stove works fine.
"Curiouser and curiouser." he says. "So the problem isn't with the supply to the house..." We walk back outside and he reinspects the unit.
"So what's the diagnosis, doc?" I ask.
"We'll need to turn off the gas supply to the house, I'm afraid." he says grimly. "Seems like you've got a busted pipe somewhere along the way and chances are it's leaking gas into the ground. Could be an explosion if we don't shut it off."
"So no hot water for a while then?" I ask.
"Not unless you boil it yourself," he replies.
"But it's the middle of winter!" I exclaim. "How long is it likely to be until you can find and fix the problem?"
"This is beyond me," he says. "I deal with water pipes, not gas. You're going to need to get a man in." I groan theatrically.
"Then how am I supposed to shower? I'm not going to go to school all smelly." He wrinkles his nose.
"Have you smelled yourself after gym?" he asks with a bit a sneer. I raise a quizzical eyebrow.
"Why? When have you been going around smelling me?" I ask. He flushes bright red.
"I haven't!" he says quickly. "I was just saying..." Thankfully for Thomas it was at that point that my brother and his fianceé made an unexpected return.
"We're back!" Matt calls loudly through the kitchen. "Turns out there's not much to do in this town besides the church fete and Ems and I were sick of mom and dad parading us around like prized livestock." The two walk out into the back yard where Thomas and I are staring intently at the heater. "Oh, hello," Matt says. "What's happening?"
"We've got a gas leak somewhere between the pipe that leads onto the property and the heater." I say. Matt's face falls.
"Oh, that sucks. For you I mean." he clarifies. "Emma and I head back tomorrow morning, so it's alright for us if we don't shower tomorrow."
"I pity the people on your plane," I say dryly.
"Yeah, well they can suck it," Matt replies and Emily hits his arm good naturedly. "That's what they get for flying economy."
"Can I get you a drink?" Emily asks Thomas.
"Oh right!" I exclaim. "Matt, Emily, this is my friend Thomas from school. He works for the plumbers. Thomas, this is my brother and the woman who he somehow managed to trick into accepting his proposal."
"Sam!" Emily says, chuckling as she tries unsuccessfully to look disapprovingly in my direction. "I'm Emily," she directs at Thomas. "And that's Matt," she says.
"Charmed, I'm sure," Thomas says shaking her hand.
"Can I get you that drink?" Matt asks.
"A cup of coffee would be perfect, actually." Thomas says gratefully. "I'll just go turn off your gas and call in the cavalry." Matt and I go into the kitchen and start preparing the coffee while Emily potters around behind us getting underfoot.
"Well he seems like a nice guy," Matt says conversationally. "You haven't mentioned him."
"We've only recently become friends," I explain. "He's a cellist, I'm a jock. We don't exactly run in the same circles."
"Then how did you meet?" he asks.
"We have Math together," I reply absently. "but we didn't exactly talk before he gave me a lift home on Friday during the storm."
"Ah, that recent then." Matt says offhandedly. Emily looks up from reading the newspaper and looks like she is about to say something but quickly stops herself. I am about to ask her what's up when Thomas returns and gratefully accepts the offered mug of coffee.
"Well that's done. I'm not registered to work with gas fittings, so you'll have to book in with my boss," he says dusting off his overalls.
"Thanks anyway for your help," I reply.
"I'd better get back to work once I've finished this," he says, sipping at his coffee.
"Well it was nice meeting you," Matt says as Emily nods in agreement.
"How does a cellist end up as a plumber, anyway?" she asks.
"We all have to pay bills," he says with a sigh.
"Your parents make you pay the bills? But you're in school!" I interject. Matt nudges my side and mutters something that sounds like "Tact" into my ear. Thomas stonewalls at that point and I realise I've said entirely the wrong thing. Thomas quickly finishes his coffee and grabs his toolkit.
"I've got to go," he says quickly.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school though, yeah?"
"Yeah..." he replies tentatively. "See ya then." He's gone before I can get another word out and I lean my head heavily back against the wall with a satisfying 'thunk' noise.
"I miss being a teenager like I'd miss having a hole in my head," Emily says sarcastically. I can't help but feel she's on to something there.