IncuBUST

Tequila

It was around two in the morning, and someone was knocking on the door. I groaned and groped blindly for my glasses on the bedside table. I shoved them on my face and flopped out of bed. I shuffled down the hall and the person knocked again.

As I passed Sissy's room, the door opened and she emerged in her lacy, silk nighty with a replica of Harley Quinn's baseball bat in her perfectly manicured hands. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the bat lowering it to waist height for fear she might accidentally whack me in the head.

We entered the living room and found Octavia face down on the pull-out couch with a pillow over her head frantically signing, "Make them go away!" I touched Sissy's shoulder, and she readied her bat. With all the hearts she had broken throughout the years, we were no strangers to the occasional angry, drunk home invader. I neared the door and peered through the peep hole before sighing and glancing back at Sissy and Octavia who had raised her head in interest. I waved my hand and said, "Stand down, Sis." She lowered her bat, and I unlocked the door opening it to reveal Nikolai with an overstuff backpack over his shoulder. His eyes were red, his face splotchy.

He sniffled pathetically and said, "Hey, I'm really sorry to bother you, but, uh--" He let out a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sob and sniffled again continuing, "My mom kicked me out. Can I crash here for the night?"

I stared at him in shock at a sudden loss for words. A voice behind me said, "Of course, you can, honey. Come in." Sissy pushed me gently aside and gestured for Nikolai to step further into the apartment. She closed the door behind him and made a face at me. Nikolai's gaze fell to the bat still gripped loosely in Sissy's hand and he adjusted the bag on his shoulder saying, "I'm sorry if I scared you. I know it's late." She shook her head and set the bat by the door replying, "It's not a problem." She then glanced at Octavia and said, "Take your stuff into Chase's room and try to get back to sleep. You have school in the morning."

Octavia raised her hands to protest but Sissy gave her a look that reminded me of our mother and Octavia sighed waving at Niki and I before grabbing her pillow and stuff animal and trudging down the hall and into my room shutting the door behind her. Sissy then turned to Niki and I and held out her hand saying, "You must be Nikolai. I'm Chase's older sister Cecelia." He shook her hand and seemed to exhibit no response.

"It's nice to meet you. Thank you for letting me in," he said, and she smiled replying, "Make yourself at home. I'll be right down the hall if you need me." She gave me a pointed look and left the two of us alone.

I glanced awkwardly at Nikolai, and he adjusted the bag on his shoulder avoiding my gaze. I gestured at the pulled-out bed and said, "You can put your bag there if you'd like." He sniffled again and did so. I grabbed the box of tissues off the end table and handed it to him. He took it with a mumbled thanks and blew his nose.

I wrung my hands nervously and asked, "Do you want some tea or something?" He smiled sadly and replied, "Thanks, but I don't really like tea. Do you have hot chocolate?" I shook my head and said, "Sorry, no." I thought for a moment before saying, "I have tequila." Niki shrugged and said, "That'll work."

I led him into the kitchen and retrieved a nearly full 750ml bottle of Cutwater Tequila and two shot glasses. Nikola sat down on one of the bar stools and I set a glass in front of him filling it as I said, "I've got lime if you want." He grumbled, "Fuck a lime," and downed the shot in one gulp.

I blinked in surprise and filled my own glass. I raised it to him and said, "Salud," before knocking it back. Social interactions were always easier when there was tequila involved.

"So, how did you get in?" I asked refilling our glasses. Niki shrugged again and picked up his glass replying, "I tried texting Octavia, but she never replied. So, then I tried buzzing your apartment."

"Yeah, she put her phone on silent and we turn our buzzer off after midnight," I said, and he nodded downing his second shot. He made a slight face and exhaled slowly saying, "I tried some guy called Tyler Galen on your floor and he answered. I told him we were friends, but he didn't believe me. Then I asked if he knew Octavia and he said yes. I told him I was her cousin and he asked if my name was Nikolai. I said it was and he buzzed me in." He took the third shot as soon as I poured it.

Tyler Galen was the name Taylor used when he didn't want people to know he was there. It was a rare occurrence, but he always said that a man's house was a sacred place. He only let close friends know this was where he actually lived. He had a massive mansion in the hills where he threw public parties and such.

I nodded and sipped on my third shot asking, "What happened, Nik?" He grumbled and folded his arms on the counter resting his forehead on his arms and flicking his shot glass towards me. I sighed and refilled it. He reached for it, but I placed my hand on top. He raised his head and frowned at me.

"I told them, Chase. I told them I'm an Empath," he said, and my eyes widened. I let go of the shot and asked, "Why?" He drank half the shot and grimaced saying, "Everyone was yelling and angry and sad and worried and my head was killing me, and mom kept asking why I wanted to leave, and I tried telling her I just needed some space. She told me my family needed me and that I was being selfish. There was so much going on and it just came out."

He finished the shot and continued, "I told her I was an Empath and--" he let out a hiccupping laugh, "She asked if it was a gay thing." He shook his head and nearly fell of the stool.

"I tried to explain that it was kind of like being psychic, that it wasn't a big deal, but she wouldn't listen, and everyone was yelling, and emotions were running high, and my head wouldn't stop hurting and--" The empty shot glass between his fingers suddenly exploded in a shower of glittering broken glass.

I jerked back and he sighed rubbing his temples and muttering, "Sorry." I blinked in surprise and said, "It's okay. Stuff like that is perfectly okay in this house." I got off my stool and grabbed a broom and a dustpan. Nikolai refilled my shot glass and took the bottle for himself.

"It's not really," Niki mumbled taking a long drink from the bottle and grimacing as it burned all the way down. He watched me sweep up the broken glass and said, "I burst nearly every lightbulb in the house. Stuff like that hasn't happened since I was a kid and never in the house."

"What happened next?" I asked dumping broken glass in the garbage can. He set the bottle on the counter and covered his face with his hands sniffling loudly.

"Sh-she called me a freak," he replied, "M-my mom called me a freak and the w-way she looked at me--like I was some kind m-monster." His hands moved away from his face to clutch at his hair and I saw fresh tears cutting tracks down his cheeks. I raced over to him and threw my arms around him hugging him tight.

"Shh, it's okay," I said, and he shook his head sobbing, "No, it's not! She threatened to call the police if I didn't get out. A-augie and Celeste were begging her to let me stay, but sh-she was so angry. I-I could feel how angry she was at me, how scared, like she was worried I h-had contaminated her f-family. The way she looked at me!" At this point he dissolved into tears clinging to me like a needy child.

I held him tight rubbing soothing circles across his back and making shushing sounds as he cried. I pressed my cheek against the top of his head breathing in the scent of his hair and I murmured, "The hard part is over. You'll be alright." He sobbed even more fitfully into my chest, and I closed my eyes exhaling softly as I allowed a fraction of heat to pass from my skin to his.

He gradually sobbed himself silent staining my pajamas with tears and snot. I pet the back of his head and whispered, "It's alright." He clambered off the stool and I grabbed the bottle of tequila and box of tissues. He clung to my arm as I led him back into the living room and we sat down on the couch which Octavia had pulled out into a bed earlier that night.

I set the box of tissues between us and swallowed a few mouthfuls of tequila before handing him the bottle. I piled a bunch of Sissy's totally unnecessary decorative pillows up behind us and grabbed the television remote asking, "You wanna watch a movie?" He blew his nose and nodded cuddling up with one arm around mine and the other gripping the bottle of tequila.