M-37

Sparkling Grape Juice

"I swear, this one is perfect!" Jamie told me. He stood in the middle of the kitchen while I leaned against the counter with a beer in hand.

"Again?" I asked, raising a brow. By far, this wasn't the first man that Jamie had introduced Isaiah to. It wasn't entirely Jamie's fault that none of them were good enough, but he had definitely chosen some iffy people before.

"Yes, he's great for you!" he said, smiling excitedly, "I've invited him over for dinner so you two can meet."

"He's great for me, huh? Isn't that what you said about Greg? You know, he stole the cat," I said, trying not to be too harsh. Jamie was very sensitive and emotional, and I loved him too much to purposely hurt his feelings.

"Isaiah, seriously," Jamie said, "just give him a chance. Please." He used his stupid puppy dog eyes, which I probably should have been immune to by now, to convince me.

"Fine. He gets one chance," I said with a defeated sigh. "So, what's this guy's name, anyhow?"

"Rowan," Jamie answered.

☆☆☆

Later on, I was in my room when I could hear Jamie in the kitchen, listening to his dumb pop music. I came out into the living room, where I could see into the the kitchen. Standing over the stove was Jamie, along with two pots and a metal bowl on the counter.  I smiled softly before Jamie noticed my presence and turned towards me. "Rowan will be here soon," he told me, speaking loudly over his music, before looking at the clock, "Probably in, like, 20 minutes. Though he tends to show up a bit early to things."

Typically, I didn't get along with the type of people to arrive early, but I dismissed that thought. "What are you making?" I asked as Jamie turned back towards the stove.

"Spaghetti and meatballs," he answered, "And I couldn't talk Rowan out of bringing a cake, so there's gonna be that for dessert."

I glanced down at the coffee table in front of me. My cat, Aslan, laid on it, curled up and asleep. Beside it was a framed photo of me, Jamie, our mom, and our dad. I knocked the picture over, not wanting to think of mom or dad. I loved them with every fiber of my being, but they left us. It wasn't fair, and they didn't deserve to be happy on our coffee table.

"Stop knocking the picture over. You're gonna have to grow up," Jamie called out. I looked up to see that he wasn't even looking my way, he just knew what it sounded like because I'd done it so much.

Grow up? Says him. He acts no different than he did back in 1st grade, but sometimes that was a good thing. Sometimes my life needed some of his positive energy. His therapist said it was a coping method, and he might eventually grow out of it, though it'd probably be a slow process.

Eventually, Jamie finished and split the spaghetti and meatballs into three equal portions. I watched from the living room, petting Aslan.

Jamie got three wine glasses, but filled them with sparkling grape juice instead of wine. Jamie wasn't old enough to drink, though I was sure Rowan was.

There was a soft knock on the front door. Quickly, I stood over and answered it. Standing there on the other side was a handsome man a few inches taller than me, though that wasn't saying much. Shortness ran in the family, and it'd hit Jamie harder than anyone else. The man at the door, Rowan, had dark brown hair, combed to look formal. He wore semi-formal clothes, which made him look like he was here to pick up his girlfriend for the middle school dance. In his hands, Rowan held a box, which I assumed the cake was inside of. "Rowan, I assume?" I asked, looking up at the son of a bitch.

Rowan gave a firm nod that made me want to vomit. "And you are Isaiah?" he asked. His voice was extremely odd, flat but not quite monotone. It was low, lacking the rumblyness that my own voice had.

Rowan held out his hand, and I reluctantly shook it. "Where should I put the cake?" he asked as I let him in. I took the cake and set it down on the table, unsure where Jamie actually wanted it. Rowan took a big breath in through the nose and let out a small, happy hum, "It smells great," he told Jamie.

"Thank you," Jamie said as he finished setting the table.

Rowan excused himself to the bathroom. As soon as I heard the door click shut, I turned to Jamie, "He's been here before, hasn't he?" I asked, unamused.

Jamie nodded as he filled Aslan's food bowl, "Yeah, why?"

I shook my head and sighed, "I was just wondering," I answered. Rowan hadn't asked where the bathroom was, which I had found suspicious.

Rowan soon came out of the bathroom and we began to eat. Our conversation was boring, normal dinner talk, nothing more interesting than what the weather was like and what had been in the news recently. After we finished eating and were mostly full, Jamie got three more plates out for cake.

We kept talking as we ate the cake. It was chocolate, with vanilla frosting. And it was amazing. I typically preferred savory food over sweet food, but Rowan's cake was to die for.

"By the way, Isaiah," Jamie said. He never told me anything good after saying something like that, but Rowan was there, so I didn't prepare myself to hear anything terrible. "Rowan has something important to tell you," he went on, looking at Rowan with a mischievous smile.

"Alright," I said, turning my attention to Rowan.

He let out a small, nervous sounding chuckle, "I don't know, Jamie. This may be something I'm supposed to keep to myself."

I gave weird looks to both of them, clueless as to what was going on. "Isaiah's a bit mean, but he's not judgmental," Jamie assured Rowan.

"Alright, alright," Rowan said, before looking my way, "I'm an experiment. I was born human, grew up human, but my brain is mostly electronic due to experiments that were performed on me," he said.

Out of all the things Rowan could say, that was on the bottom of the list of what I was thinking about. It took me a second to process it all before I asked, "Is that. . . legal?"

Rowan shrugged, "More legal than some of the other experiments," he answered. Rowan went on, listing the things his brain allowed him to do. He had medical skills, culinary skills, and could talk fluently in 10 languages, to name a few. Plus, he still kept all of his emotions, thoughts, and opinions, because not all of his brain was electronic.

"Really?" I asked, looking back and forth between the two of them, "This isn't an elaborate joke, is it?"

Jamie shook his head and Rowan answered, "I swear on my life, it's true."

Great. Not only did Rowan look all perfect, but he was incredibly smart, too. What had possessed Jamie to bring me a person like this?

There was no way I was going to date this half-metal son of a bitch.