Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

33) Spaghetti Again

To say the meeting back in the kitchen is awkward would be an understatement. I am fully dressed now and so is Gus, but I am completely embarrassed like I haven't been since middle school. All of which feels completely out of place with what is happening in my world. I will say this, my embarrassment is probably the first normal emotion since the world ended. It at least is not fear or disbelief or grief or teenage girl in love run amok.

Gus Lancaster will have none of it. He refuses to acknowledge anything weird just happened. When I apologize again he says, "No worries. All forgotten. This kind of thing happens to me all the time. Best we just forget it."

"So, girls join you in the shower all the time? Naked?"

"It has become quite routine, almost dull, but what are you going to do?" he shrugs.

He is funny, I'll give him that. Since he is giving me an out, I'll take it.

"Making spaghetti?" I ask.

"Sure, is that what I'm doing? Some noodles, some tomato paste. Could be spaghetti."

"Can I join you?" I ask.

"Since it is your spaghetti and your house, for sure. Would you like to stay? Watch some telly, maybe listen to some music?"

I nod. That would be great, I am thinking. Sounds like a date. I remember those, though I never had too many before. My dates were usually with Steven and never ended with a kiss at the door.

Gus has not asked me about Torin yet so I ask him a question, "Where's your dad?"

"We argued," he says. "We do that a lot these days. He won't listen to me. Says he's the senior agent, which he is. Quite annoying."

"So, where is he?"

" Making arrangements to head back to our rendezvous point at the coast for the pick up."

"Pick up?" I ask.

"Prince Torin pick up. We found him. We found the prince."

"Oh yeah?" I ask. I don't know how I feel. It is for the best. Torin is safe now. "Where did you find him?"

"He was with the girl, your cousin Carli. They were looking for the prince which of course was really Jack, but Carli didn't know it."

So Torin is Jack, and Jack is Torin, and both of them lied to me and Carli. I am mad about this but, like I said, I feel I will have to process all this later when I can do it. Give it justice. Scream or something that is appropriate to this big fat lie someone I loved told me. Loved? Who knows if it was ever love? Is it love when only one side is all in, and the other one is a no good, lying scumbag?

"So, they are headed back now? Why didn't you go too? To keep him safe."

"I'm meeting them on the other side of Elkin in two days. I only came to see what you know about Jack. We are trying to find him. He is not our main target, but he is a member of the royal family too, and so we hope to recover him as well."

"That makes sense, but why do you think I know where he is?"

"Well, I could tell you were lying earlier about knowing them. You are not a great liar, Eliot. I understand that you were trying to protect them. Since they had traded places, and the prince supposedly had a girlfriend, we figured it was you. Jack's girlfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," I say. "Either one. We were just friends. He was my friend." There's that word again that hurts me to say it out loud.

Gus is plating the spaghetti and hands me noodles with sauce on the side.

"Just friends, huh?" he asks raising an eyebrow above that delightful dimple. Even I know how it looks since I was getting ready to jump in the shower with my "just friend" so I explain:

"He liked to pick and carry on. We were always joking around. He did kiss me on my birthday, but I was drunk and made him. We were just friends. And besides, he is way too old for me. He's like 24 or something." I roll my eyes to look convincing.

Gus looks at me like he is trying to decide something and then says, "I'm 24 myself. And well, you are young, and it's a good thing you were not with him, with him. Prince or not, or royal family or not, those two guys can be dicks to the ladies."

I nod in agreement.

"My apologies," says Gus Lancaster who bows, "On behalf of my beloved England. So sorry for the royal wankers we sent to your country on a Goodwill Tour to screw over the beautiful, young ladies of America."

Gus is seriously so funny. I laugh and curtsey back. "Apology accepted."

Gus laughs and pours some wine for two. "I trust you are old enough to have a drink?"

"Not really. Legally," I say, " but whose checking, right? And, I feel like a drink tonight. I've been screwed over by the royal family, my dad is dead, and the world ended already. So, why not drink?"

"Oh no, sorry to hear about your dad. So you found him?" Gus looks like he is genuinely sorry. "Maybe we should go easy on the wine."

"Not tonight, "I say, "Pour away. I got a lot to forget about tonight."

"I know what you mean," says Gus. "Our world has gone to shit, huh?" He takes a bite of his spaghetti and pours me a glass of wine. "But on a good note, the spaghetti is damn bloody scrummy."

I take a sip of wine. "The wine is damn bloody scrummy too."

We both laugh and clink glasses and Gus says, "Here's to scrummy."

Two plates of spaghetti and two bottles of wine later and I have forgotten why I was sad and upset in the first place. I feel like dancing and kissing this new man in my house. I feel like I deserve this man. I am young, the world has gone to shit, and I deserve some happiness. I've been drinking way too much, so I absolutely cannot be held responsible for my actions. That is what I am telling myself, anyway.

We drink and drink and laugh and laugh and kiss and kiss until my lips feel sore. Just when I have decided for 100 percent sure that I'm going to ask Gus for a repeat of the shower show I saw earlier, there is a knock on the door.

Gus is as drunk as I am because he says, "Honey, I'm home." And then he tries to find his gun in the couch cushions.

I peek out the window and say, "No need for that. You hide in the back. It's my nosey-ass neighbor. He thinks he is supposed to watch over me and make sure I don't have boys in the house." I roll my eyes.

Gus looks around and says, "No boys here, only a man." He bows again and gives me that one-dimpled grin.

I point to the back.

Gus has found his gun. "You sure? I can shoot him if you want?"

"I'm sure," I say giggling as I push him towards the back of the house.

I go to the door with my own gun because I told Mr. Thomas if I ever saw him again, I would shoot him.