Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #9

Hale does not discover any faults in his functioning, so five weeks pass with no occasion on which to avail himself of Rayner's contact information. The weather turns chillier with the coming of fall. The leaves turn to fiery colours on the trees, and it rains. It rains often. The largest change to Hale's life comes in the form of a new chore—raking up the leaves. The satisfaction of scraping them into a pile, though, is not equal to the introspection and discovery he experiences with Rayner.

He sees him occasionally. Most often when he's out raking the leaves. Whenever Rayner asks, "What's new?" though, Hale has little to report. He maintains a smile through these conversations, the static still crackling in his chest whenever he sees Rayner's face peeking over the fence. Privately, he wonders if he's become boring and monotonous.

One morning in mid-October, Melissa sits down to her three plates of breakfast and says, "Oh by the way, college reading week starts Saturday. My daughter, Kayleigh, will be coming to stay for a few days. You can make up the spare bedroom for her, right?"

Hale already maintains the entire home to an immaculate standard, but he agrees to change the sheets and prepare a wine and cheese platter for the evening she arrives.

Kayleigh Holmes shows up on Saturday around lunchtime. Hale answers her knock at the door to greet her. Kayleigh's brows rise high behind her choppy bangs when she sees Hale at the door and not her mother. Her hair, once dyed bright pink, has since faded to a dusky shade, and her makeup is deliberately smudged. Her eyes and wide mouth look vaguely reminiscent of Melissa, but she otherwise bears little resemblance. Hale's scan brings up a litany of information too. Social media handles, her college major in environmental sciences, her allergy to peanuts and shellfish. Hale makes note of that last for his food preparations.

"Kayleigh. Come in. Your mother is just upstairs."

Kayleigh's nose wrinkles, and she walks in the open door while giving Hale a wide berth. "So you're the robot."

Hale represses a sigh. "I'm Melissa's BioAndroid, yes."

"Whatever, here." She tosses her red pleather jacket at him. Hale catches it and begins hanging it in the front closet. Before he can finish asking if she wants any refreshments, she dumps her bag on the floor and vanishes upstairs, screaming, "Hey, Mum!" Then, more muffled through the floor. "What's with the rancid setting on your butler?"

He hears Melissa say, "Oh, isn't he funny? He used to be such a killjoy, but the sarcasm's coming along."

Hale hadn't realized his annoyance at being referred to as 'the robot' had shown, but then he also reflected that Kayleigh's attitude had been the more 'rancid' of the two. He goes to the kitchen to prepare the cheese platter and spinach quiche appetizers. Thankfully, the conversation upstairs soon turns from the topic of Hale to one of Kayleigh's roommates, who apparently leaves hair clogs in the sink and shower all the time. Hale thinks if Kayleigh had a 'butler,' she wouldn't have hair clogs.

Both women return downstairs after a few minutes. They curl up on opposite sides of the sofa, turning on the television so they can talk over it and catch up. Hale serves the appetizers and pours wine.

Melissa raises the glass and says, "To your midterms. May you ace them all."

Kayleigh rolls her eyes but clinks their glasses. "Cheers." She takes a sip and regards Hale warily over the rim of her glass.

Hale can't be sure why she's looking at him that way, so he asks, "Are the appetizers to your liking?"

Kayleigh makes a face. "Mum, can the sex toy not lurk over us while we eat?"