Evicted

Chapter 6

   The next morning, Cyril awoke to find Thor actually laying on top of him. He didn't mean to wake the cat, but his slight movements caused the feline to blink awake, yawn, and hop off of him.
   Sitting up, Cyril yawned as well and rubbed his eyes, then put on his glasses. When he exited the room, it was apparent that Ray was still asleep, as his door was closed.
   Cyril was going to head for the kitchen, but Ray's door surprisingly opened.
   Stepping out, squinting at the brighter lighting, Ray didn't look fully awake, but he smiled a bit. "Morning. I tried to get up at the same time as you." He ended his sentence with a yawn.
   Seeing Ray yawn made Cyril yawn again and he chuckled. "Well your timing was perfect then. I just got up too."
   Ray looked satisfied with himself, running his hand through his wild hair. "Seeing as we're both up, feel like going somewhere for breakfast? I know a place."
   "Sure. Sounds good to me." Cyril agreed; he didn't mind cooking breakfast, in fact, he enjoyed doing it, but if Ray felt like going out to eat, he wouldn't say no.
   Both men went into their rooms, switching also into the bathrooms to get ready for the day.
   Showering quickly, Cyril stepped out, dried, clothed, and began fixing his hair. Narrowing his brow, Cyril flattened the pesky area of his hair that liked to stick up towards the back. Looking at himself for a moment more in the mirror, he decided he looked acceptable and left the bathroom.
   Cyril didn't have to wait too long before Ray came out of his bathroom, ready for the day. Ray wore a simple t-shirt and some jeans. Admittedly, it felt kind of strange to see Ray dressed this way, and Cyril felt a bit out of place because he was wearing slacks and a button down long sleeve.
   Ray seemed to notice that Cyril was sort of uncertain of himself, so he teased him a bit. "Getting all fancy for a day out on the town?"
   "My more casual clothes are still in my car...if I managed to grab them from my apartment anyway. A lot of the time I do wear buttoned shirts normally though." Cyril adjusted his glasses and rolled his sleeves up halfway. "It's different to see you in such casual clothing."
   Ray shrugged. "As long as I don't look like I was dragged through a thorn patch backwards like I do when I first get out of bed, then I'm good."
   Cyril laughed lightly. "Oh, a little messy hair isn't so bad on you."
   Ray's eyes seemed to gleam for a moment, but he didn't speak further on the compliment. "We should head for the café then. All the old people who got up at the asscrack of dawn are probably leaving now, so it won't be so crowded."
   "Sounds good."
   The men exited the apartment and got into Ray's car, soon heading down the road.
   Cyril watched the buildings passing by for a while before sitting back normally again in the passenger's seat.
   "Hey, Cyril." Ray murmured.
   "Yeah?" He looked to the blond man expectantly.
   Ray looked at Cyril a moment, not too long, since he was driving, but as he looked at him, he smirked and began humming 'Right Where I Belong'.
   The song instantly began playing in Cyril's mind. "Damn it Ray! Again?"
   Ray laughed at Cyril openly and looked rather satisfied with himself as they pulled into the parking lot of a nicely sized café.
   Getting out of the car with Ray, Cyril tried to chase the song from his mind, but it wasn't too easy to do.
   Once inside the café, it appeared that Ray was right. Many tables were empty, and as they were walking in, elderly people were walking out. "Perfect timing." Ray commented.
   It was a simple café, so they were able to pick where they sat. Ray seemed to lead the way, and he sat with Cyril at a table by one of the wide, clear windows.
   Cyril took his seat and looked around. The café was welcoming and decorated in a more vintage-like style. Records and antiques decorated the walls. He half expected to see hipsters standing around, but the only people now were employees and the last few old people.
   An elderly waiter came over moments later with a notepad. "Hello, I'm Gary and I'll be your waiter. What can I get for you gentlemen to drink?"
   As Cyril noticed Gary was speaking to him first, he looked up and couldn't help but notice the bright rainbow bracelet the waiter wore. He didn't say anything about it though, and answered, "Black coffee, please."
   "I'd like coffee too, but with milk and sugar, please." Ray added.
   "I'll be back with that. In the mean time, here are the menus and the newspaper." Gary set down the said items and walked back to the kitchen.
   Cyril began looking at the menu. "What will you get?"
   "Probably eggs and toast." Ray shrugged. "Maybe some bacon."
   Shrugging as well to himself, Cyril decided that sounded nice. "Me too." He closed the menu and set it down, looking around the café.
   He hadn't noticed before, but the remaining old people seemed to all be in couples. Cyril also noticed that each couple were people of the same gender. It clicked that this must be a popular place for gay couples to go.
   Ray was watching Cyril casually from the corner of his eye, subconsciously tapping the table with his fingers silently.
   Gary appeared from the kitchen again, carrying their coffee and setting it on their table. He left some sugar packets and a small pitcher of milk as well.
   Ray told Gary what he and Cyril wanted to eat, then the elderly man was off to the kitchen once more.
   Cyril picked up his coffee and blew on it, sending small amounts of steam into the air.
   "You noticed, huh?" Ray asked, stirring the sugar in his coffee.
   "Noticed? Noticed what?" Cyril replied, blowing a bit more on his drink.
   "What kind of a café this is..." Ray responded, pouring a bit of milk into his mug.
   "Yeah." Cyril sat up a bit more and gave a shrug to show Ray that he didn't care. "So?"
   Ray's expression seemed to reflect with a look of relief. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay with it."
   "I mean, I've never been to a place mainly for gay people before, but it's no different than any other café I've been to." Cyril took a sip of his coffee. "Except maybe it's better decorated."
   "I'm glad you think so." Ray smiled and sipped his drink as well. "Although not all gay-based places are this...calm..."
   Cyril didn't know exactly what to say to that, so simply nodded in what he hoped looked like causal acknowledgement, then looked around for a second. "I really do like the decorations." He added suddenly, not wanting there to be an awkward pause; he didn't want Ray to think being here made him uncomfortable or anything like that.
   "Yeah, they're pretty nice." Ray agreed, stirring his drink even though it didn't exactly need any more stirring. "It's even better around the holidays; they go all out with adorable decor."
   "I bet it's great." Cyril imagined the lights they'd have during the winter holidays, and looked out the window to see that the sills outside held beautiful colorful flowers.
   Ray smiled cheerfully, following Cyril's gaze to the flowers just outside.
   Nothing else was said for the moment, until Gary returned, putting their plates in front of them both. "Here you go, gentlemen."
   "Thank you, sir." Ray nodded to the waiter.
   "Thanks." Cyril added.
   Gary smiled to them both, then went off to help another table.
   They both began to eat. Ray placed his eggs on the toast, whilst Cyril kept the two separated.
   "Don't like your food touching?" Ray asked mischievously after a moment.
   "It's not that." Cyril shook his head. "I just feel like having some jelly." He selected the small jar from one of the trays Gary had left for them and spread some of the grape jelly on his toast.
   Ray watched calmly as he ate his own meal, careful to not drip the yolk everywhere.
   "There we go." Cyril looked satisfied with his toast and began to eat.
   They both allowed a relaxed silence for the other to eat for a short while until they soon desired conversation. "Should we move you in or go shopping first?" Ray asked eventually.
   Cyril shrugged. "I'm good with either. Although moving things into the apartment while it isn't too hot out might be better."
   "Good point. We'll do that first then." Ray replied, wiping up the yolk from his plate with bits of toast.
   "I didn't mean to eavesdrop," Gary said self-consciously as he stepped up beside their table to refill their coffee. "But it's so nice to see that a young gay couple can move in with each other so peacefully these days."
   Ray's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to respond.
   Cyril answered instead before Ray said anything. "Yeah. It sure is great to see how far society has grown in acceptance."
   Gary beamed happily at them before wandering away to the other customers.
   "You realize that he was talking as though you and I are a couple?" Ray blinked in surprise at Cyril.
   "Yeah, I know." Cyril tried not to sound awkward and shrugged. "I just figured I wouldn't embarrass the poor old guy for getting it wrong."
   Ray went to reply, but stopped and snickered. "You've got a little..."
   Cyril was confused at first, but then realized that Ray was pointing to his cheek. Picking up his napkin, he tried to brush away whatever was on his face.
   "Here, I'll get it." Ray picked up his napkin and wiped gently at the opposite side of Cyril's face. "There. You had a little jelly."
   Feeling his face heat up, Cyril cleared his throat when Ray pulled away. "Oh. Thank you."
   Gary came back and placed their check on the table. "No rush, boys, but here you go."
   As Gary walked away, Cyril grabbed the check. "I got it."
   Ray was going to argue, but recalled Cyril's statement last night about paying for their meals. "I'll get the tip then."
   Cyril seemed satisfied with this. He took money out of his wallet, luckily having the right amount in bills, and placed it on top of the check.
   Calculating the tip, Ray placed his own cash atop Cyril's money.
   Finishing off their coffee, the men stood up and walked out of the café, waving to Gary as they went.