Doubles
“Whose phone is that?” Cain asked, his fingers were inside the peritoneum of the anesthetized canine on the operating table repairing a severe hernia. A phone was vibrating somewhere in the room.
Indigo, who was assisting in the procedure, glanced around spying the phone in question, “Yours.”
“Make it stop.” He ordered, grey eyes glancing over to hers from above his surgical mask. His hands were still, they’d continue the work when it was quieter. “Actually see who it is.” Usually only Akiko or Holland texted him. Sometimes his siblings. Even more rarely his mom.
Indigo broke away, pulling off her gloves and disposing of them in the bin, before taking his phone. “How do I unlock this thing?”
“Zero nine two nine.” Cain answered, his fingers were already moving again.
Indigo unlocked the phone and quickly opened the text messages that had come through. Indigo rolled her eyes at the cutesy contact name: It’s Akikooooo.
> Hey!
> wanna check out that new sushi place later?
> let me know
“Can you hurry up?”
“Sorry your phone is weird. I don’t know iPhones. I have Samsung.” Indigo complained. She was lying. It was fairly self-explanatory how to silence a phone. She texted back:
> Can’t. Vet called off.
>Working a double now.
Indigo deleted the messages with the exception of the last one ‘working a double now’ and turned the phone on silent before dropping it back on the countertop. She knew Cain had lied about working doubles before, so she thought she’d go ahead and do it for him. She banked on the knowledge that Cain likely wouldn’t remember to go back and check for those messages later either. “It was Akiko saying she’s going out with her co-workers tonight.”
Cain frowned, “Oh.”
“I guess you don’t get an invite?” She suggested trying to make trouble but Cain only shrugged. He probably wouldn’t have gone even if Akiko had invited him. “So you wanna hang out tonight?” She asked as she moved to the sink to return to a sterile state.
“Sure why not. I’ll just tell Akiko I’m working a double.”
She beamed at him moving back to her position by his side, “Already done.”
Without looking at her Cain shook his head, “And what if I had said I didn’t want to come out tonight?”
Indigo shrugged playfully, “I’d just convince you anyways. Like I always do.”
He seemed satisfied, “True.”
_______
Cain was stumbling drunk through the doorway of an apartment he didn’t recognize. Indigo tripped and fell into him from behind. She caught herself, hands on his hips, laughing into the space between his shoulder blades. His tail trapped between them. She liked the feeling of his back.
“I’m wasted.” Cain observed pulling away from Indigo, tripping again over her shoes that were piled at the door. “And you’re a slob.” He muttered kicking at the shoes.
“Nice guest I have.” Indigo pouted but took his arm to guide him father into her apartment. She pulled the cord to a lamp flooding the room in light softened by a dark purple lamp shade.
To Cain, her apartment resembled a hookah lounge more than a living space. Floor covered in overlapping multi-colored rugs, pillows, cushions, and throw blankets piled along the walls, a low table in the middle. It smelled like incense, something spicy, and vaguely of weed. He wondered what Anita would make of the place.
“So whadda think?” Arms out she spun in the middle of the room while she asked his opinion. When she stopped she stumbled nearly falling over the table.
Cain caught her by the arms so she wouldn't fall. She leaned into him, hands on his chest, gazing up at him with dazed eyes. “It’s...something.” He remarked flatly, clearly it wasn’t his taste. Cain preferred his living room fitted with a flat screen TV, his gaming consoles, and he and Akiko’s ridiculous book and CD collection.
She wrinkled her nose and swatted at his face, “You’re such a downer, Cain. Little naysayer. Grumpy Cat.”
Cain dodged her hand and moved away. “I fucking hate when you call me that.” He didn’t need to say what part he hated. She very well knew.
“Oh sit down.” She demanded, pulling now at his hand.
Cain didn’t need much coaxing, the room was spinning, and he very much wanted to sit down. He wanted to lay down and sleep, really. Maybe not lay down just yet, that usually made the spinning worse. The pillows were soft, but Cain would have preferred a couch. He had long legs and sitting on pillows and cushions on the floor was not ideal. Indigo plopped next to him, wiggled close, and purposefully brushed her hand against Cain’s tail. It flicked away from her, moving to the other side of him. Indigo giggled and reached for his ears.
Cain batted her hand away, “Can you knock it off.” Her obvious advances had gone largely unnoticed by Cain, but the attention to his cat features was a forever no-no and it didn’t matter how drunk he was.
“Does Akiko get to touch your ears?” She pried as she leaned closer to him. She lifted his arm and maneuvered beneath it.
“No.” Cain let his arm be manipulated. Better than his ears or tail.
“Why not?” Indigo nestled against his side and closed her eyes. He smelled like sweat and alcohol and a hint of musky cologne. She didn’t mind at all.
“Because I don’t want her to?” Cain, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the line of questioning, moved his arm from around Indigo and scooted over to give himself some personal space.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not a pet! I’m a person!” He was angry now and started to push himself up again. “I’m going home.” Indigo grabbed his arm and pulled him down again.
“No, you’re too drunk Cain. Stay with me.”
“You’re making fun of me.” He jerked his hand away, but didn’t move to get up again.
“I’m sorry. I’m just curious. I’m not making fun of you.” Her hand smoothed over his arm to his shoulder. “You can be yourself around me.”
Cain looked away, he shrugged his shoulder to get her hand off of him. “Fine. Whatever.”
Indigo playfully bit him on the arm. “You’re so grumpy!” Before he could react, she was up again. “I’m going to freshen up a little bit. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into an adjacent room, shutting the door behind her.
Freshen up for what? Cain didn’t ask. The room was spinning violently. The last round of shots was catching up to him. He was just sober enough to know that he didn’t want to be this drunk anymore.
When Indigo returned from ‘freshening up’ she was wearing silk pajama shorts, a tiny camisole, and smelled like apple cinnamon. She was trying to look cute, hovering at the door jam, with her best 'come hither' look in her eyes. Cain paid her no mind. He was on the floor with his shirt unbuttoned and pushed off one shoulder. His belt was around the upper portion of his left arm and he was trying to start an IV on himself.
“You’re fresh, I guess.” He said good-naturedly even as he used his teeth to tighten the belt around his arm. With his free hand he palpated the veins in the crook of his elbow. He found a good one and in went the needle. Cain forgot to cap the catheter and small spurts of his blood squirted out in time with his heart beat from the line he’d set before he realized his mistake. “Whoops!” He laughed and stopped the flow before attaching a bag of fluids into the line and opening it again.
Indigo rushed into the kitchen for paper towels or anything to clean up the blood on her cushions. “What are you doing Cain! Goddamnit you’re getting blood on my shit.”
He didn’t seem to notice that she was mad. Either too drunk or he didn’t care. “I’m sobering up. I’m about to go home.”
She returned with a wet dish cloth and some paper towels. She dabbed at the blood on the cushions trying not to push it deeper into the fibers. She felt her desire for Cain fading away. Or at least her desire for him at that particular moment was fading. He had bled on her cushions like an idiot and wasn’t playing along anyways. “Where did you even get that stuff?” She asked, impatience in her voice.
“I took it from the animal hospital for tonight. I got it out of the car while you were getting fresh or whatever. It’s just normal saline. Well I put a GI cocktail in there too. My own homemade banana bag.” He was more talkative when he was drunk sentences spilling out of his mouth like he had been saving them up. “Works like a dream. Do you want one? I can set one for you. I have an extra.” Cain smiled with pride as he poked gently at the IV site before holding the saline bag up with his free hand.
“No, I’m fine.” She stopped her work to look up at Cain. The dim lighting played across the sharp angles of his face and the curve of his lips in a rare smile. Her eyes spared a glance to the half of his exposed chest and stomach. He was so hot it hurt to look at him sometimes. She dropped the rag and towels and moved next to him. She took the bag to hold it up for him and made as if to examine the IV site. “Are you going to be okay to drive Cain? You can stay here if you want to.”
“I’m taking an Uber. I’ll get my car tomorrow or something. Akiko will be expecting me.”
He was completely oblivious of the effect he had on her. Indigo wondered if it was like that with Akiko. Whether he was so annoyingly absent-minded and unaware but impossible to get mad at because he was also so annoyingly dreamy. Those impossible grey eyes. How had he perfected that devastating stare? Those messy yet perfect curls of his. The colorful tattoos. The line of his hip bones so sharp looking like he could detach and put on a new leg if he so chose. How dare he.
“Oh.” Her mouth snapped shut. Indigo was disappointed, but she leaned against him anyway. His head fell against hers. His cheek pressed to her scalp. That was the only reciprocal physical contact Indigo could hope to expect and she knew it didn’t mean what she wanted. For the moment it felt like progress.
To Cain, it felt like progress too, for different reasons. Like he was finally making a friend who wasn’t related to him in someway or sharing his bed. But Indigo and Cain had both had too much to drink that night and their judgments were both impaired.
They stayed that way until the saline was empty. He made her explain why she didn’t own a TV. She made him describe his favorite video games. When the saline was gone so was he. Cain went home, leaving only the smell of sweat, the discarded IV supplies, and the stain of blood on the cushion.
Indigo posted pictures of them on her Instagram page. Selfies taken in a dark bar to memorialize the night. Finally talked him into it. She captioned on a picture of him somehow looking very serious yet amused. She hoped Akiko would see them. She wanted someone else to hurt when they looked at him.
Bitch, I'm limited edition.
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