Quench - Robin Little

[Freddo (DELETED 7766)]

The winter sun hung low in the sky behind a barrage of clouds. It didn’t matter how thick those clouds were or how low they hung, for their promise of rain did little to mask daylight. Fredrik drew the curtains shut with a scornful tug and returned to his empty bed.

It was the insistent pitter-patter against his window that roused him from fitful sleep. In the dark, he lay with his lacklustre eyes focused on the ceiling fixtures, their plaster outline highlighted by the outside light filtering through the space between curtains. Every so often, a breeze would flit through, ruffling a drape, and in turn letting more light in.

Restless, Fredrik stretched until every stiffened joint cracked. Then, he relaxed back into the mattress, keenly aware of the wrinkled sheet beneath him. He spent many minutes as he was, listening to the pitter-patter surge and ebb against the glass and concrete. He may very well have fallen back asleep for an undetermined amount of time.

There was only one thing that could cure his indolence. His gaze flitted to the nightstand, barely visible in the unlit room. With a huff, he rolled onto his side long enough to reach for his phone. When the device was firmly in his grasp, he collapsed onto his back a second time. His eyes watered at the brightness of the screen, thumb dragging across it to alter the settings until he could stare at his phone without inducing retinal pain. Blinking, he went through the motions of unlocking the SIM card and searching his contacts. Only one name stood out tonight: Robin Little

His thumb hovered over the phone number, but Fredrik thought better than to call the other at this hour. He selected the option immediately below, and lifted his second hand to the phone to type his message with greater ease. Once sent, he rested his hands across his bared stomach and returned his gaze to the ceiling. In due time, he’d either muster the energy to get out of bed or get a reply, but until then, he waited, uncertain which would come to him first.

Can you deliver tonight?

[Robin Little]

After the visit from Prudence, Robin had slowly started to clean Lorelai’s apartment. It wasn’t his, as much as he claimed it to be. As much as it felt like his, now. The place he returned to every night – of course it was going to feel like home. Though Robin had never really had a place of his own. Generally, it was always someone else’s name on the lease. It was always someone else’s couch that he commandeered. Lorelai had moved out, though. Somewhere to be with Levi, alone, he assumed. It meant that he had a bed. Beds were always more comfortable than couches.

It was such a human thing to do, cleaning. He thought of all the vampire novels he had read (not many, besides the classics) and he couldn’t remember any of them doing their own cleaning. But then, those vampires had never much cared for creature comforts. They were more animal than vampire, right?

Robin didn’t feel like an animal. He felt bereft, most of the time. Bored, maybe. Even though the girl he’d met at the internet café had spiced up his life, some. Not in a romantic way, mind. She was just intriguing, with her tutus and her masks, her photographs and her blunt behaviour. It distracted him from remembering how drunk he could not get.

It was only when he was finished with the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, that he meandered out to the living room and realised he had a message. It could have been minutes since he had received it. It could have been hours.

Freddo.

Robin knew he’d push to call the guy Fred. Freddo was such a ridiculous name. But how could Robin judge? He was either named after a bird, or a comic book character. He’d prefer to have been called Batman.

• Yes. Usual place.

Suddenly, Robin was giddy. He had found a regular. Now, with a new prospect for the night ahead, he hurriedly dressed. Why he felt such a high only when giving blood, he didn’t know. Nor did he care. He just wanted to do it again.