Among the Living (Tyler G Book 1) (15 page)

It really did warn him that she
might be able to take him in a fight. Without ever doing more than being
herself
.
It was a threat that he needed to be on the lookout for, if he didn't want to
end up going down too easily. Not that he was planning on starting a fight with
her, but he, as a regular person, was at a disadvantage that way. Probably with
most of the people at Westfield.

Maybe even more than that.

Ben, being a decent seeming
person, arrived for his shift on time, and chatted for a bit before Tyler got
out the door. It wasn't that he had anything better to do, or anyplace to go as
much as that it felt weird to be at work when he wasn't being paid for it. Like
he didn't really belong. Being new was probably part of that too.

Not that getting Zack to call The
Rotted for him wasn't worth a few hours of work, as far as he was concerned. It
really was. Feeling at loose ends, he didn't know if going home was the thing
to do. Calley's didn't really feel like that yet. It had his stuff though, and
he was allowed to be there, as far as he knew. Before he got fifty feet down
the red brick walkway in front of the store, a body collided with him from the
back. Small arms wrapped around him, then pulled him to the side a bit as a
flash of red and blue started laughing.

Calley nudged him with a hip
almost instantly, bumping into him warmly.

"Hey dude. Headed
home?"

"That's the plan. You?"

"Indeedy-do. I even have the
next
three
days off. I plan to hang around playing videogames and
getting drunk. I can count on you to toss food at me every eight hours or so,
right?" It was pretty charming, especially when she took his hand and
pulled him away, as if staying for even another minute in the evil place of employment
was a risk.

Given that she had way more
experience that way than he did, he made a point of walking faster. After all,
the very first time he'd gone into work on a day off he'd ended up working for
several hours. It could just be a thing that he didn't know to be aware of in
life.

His binder was in his right hand,
and Calley pulled on the left, which he realized, probably made it seem like
they were together. That got him to look at her brightly freckled cheeks. Her
glasses glinted a bit when they got outside, though she dropped his hand then,
and started watching the world more closely than was probably needed. She
wasn't good looking really, but she was very fit, clean and friendly, which
were good things too. In a lot of ways that was easier for him to deal with
than the Alede or even someone like Eve.

"What kind of things do you
like to eat? I mean, if I'm supposed to toss it to you, I'd guess things that
aren't too messy. So, no spaghetti? I can cook. I know, it seems strange given
what I eat, but I learned how, because my mom was gone a lot growing up. She
worked all the time."

"Oh? I thought you only did
whole fruit and punishment? Raw broccoli and all that?" The statement made
it seem like she hadn't fed him rice the night before, which was cooked, but
maybe she'd thought he was just being polite eating that kind of evil prepared
thing.

"That's not my diet, and
anyway, that kind of thing has just been the last few years. Meat is
murder." He hadn't said that before, and did eat eggs, sometimes, but the
girl didn't call him on it, or go on a rant claiming she was going to eat all
the meat in the world because he chose not to.

She didn't even imply that not
eating meat meant he was a pussy. Since about half the people he told his
reasons for his diet did, that was refreshing. Instead she just nodded.

"I'll eat pretty much
anything. For real. I don't go in for intelligent creatures, but otherwise, if
it's slow enough for me to catch, it goes in my mouth. I need too many calories
to do anything else. About seven thousand a day."

Tyler knew that he needed to eat
more too. It was hard though, with his current diet plan. Not that the last
days were
helping
. Kids on their own for the first time often lost
weight though, until they could get established. Everyone knew that. He was
fine. Even being lean he could go for several months on very little food if he
had to.

"Okay. I'll try to cook
occasionally then. What kind of games do you play?" It was a safe enough
conversation, and had him introduced to a mind numbing collection of things
kept in a cabinet next to the television, when they got in.

There were a lot of fantasy
oriented games, but most of them were first person shooters. When she got to
that section she sighed.

"It's a bit of a cop out on
my part. I need to practice more, but it's a lot of work to drive out to the
range all the time. Boring, too. I know, you can go with me? That could be fun.
I'm required to keep in practice, just in case a war ever starts. Most Shifters
do their public service by serving the community as mercenaries. Shifting lets
us heal way faster than most people, and we tend to be kind of good at fighting
for one reason or another, so it works out. Do you know how to shoot?"

"No? I never have
anyway." It just hadn't been part of his life. Really, the closest he'd
ever come was using a bow and arrow at summer camp.

"Cool! I can teach you. It's
not that bad. A bit loud, but hey, what isn't? Neat. So, let me go get a
shower, then we can have dinner?"

"What do you want? I can go
get that started."

Frustratingly, she just waved at
him and started walking out of the room, loosening her clothing.

"Anything will be
good." It meant going into the other room and seeing what was there.

It was actually a well stocked
larder, like what his mother had always kept, so he made a veggie stir-fry,
with a peanut sauce and rice. He made enough for six people, figuring that any
leftovers would keep well enough. Refrigerated rice wasn't brilliant, but it
was
edible
.

When his new roommate came out she
was dressed in gray sweats, and hadn't bothered with shoes or socks. They were
baggy, but she had mentioned that she was planning to sit around and be comfy,
which this really seemed to be.

Sniffing a bit she examined the
food that was laid out on the table and then gave him a highly serious look.

"But... What are
you
going to eat?" Then she grinned, because there was a lot of food. Even if
she ate as much as she'd claimed earlier. She wasn't a regular Human, so that
was really possible. For that matter he needed about half of what she did, or
more, most days.

To that end they both loaded
their plates, and ate silently, across from each other in the tiny dining room.
There was a metal sculpture on the wall behind him, that looked like leaves.
There were small red glass candle holders too. The other wall, which was mainly
open, showed the living room. The television was off, which was a thing that
didn't even impact his mind, since the box had
always
gone off while you
ate in his life. The two times he could remember that they'd eaten at home in
front of the tube, both had been during Presidential elections, so they could
track the polls.

The whole thing felt a tiny bit
strained, but that was all him, he realized. Well, not totally. After all,
Calley was normally almost manic in her chattiness, or had been so far. Right
now she just ate, pushing food into her mouth like it had wronged her. After
half her heaped plate full of food vanished, almost like magic had taken place,
she grinned up at him over the remains of the rice.

"This is really good.
Thanks. We should try and do this a couple times a week. Have dinner together?
I'd invite Ginger, but she just doesn't really eat. Maybe we could con her into
sitting here while we eat and chat about how to take over the world. Or sex. I
like that one, as a topic."

That should have made him blush,
given that this was probably the first time in his life that anyone had just
sat down with him and talked about that kind of thing or even said the word in
a way that didn't mean gender. Thinking about it, he'd never heard a woman say
anything that boldly, with him right there.

Even the Alede hadn't. They might
do
it, but that wasn't the same thing. They kind of didn't get a choice.
Their nature forced them to it. Just like his was making him eat food. It
didn't mean he didn't like it, just that it was a thing that he didn't have
vast control over.

"All right. How do we use
sex to take over the world?"

There was a soft snort then, and
a few more bites of stir-fry.

"Porn, clearly. We get
everyone hooked, and then threaten to take it away if they don't toe the
line."

"Ah. That doesn't sound very
easy. What if we could, I don't know, have a vote? Get everyone on one page,
and then slip in the idea that, hey, Calley and Tyler are great people to have
in charge?"

There was more eating and then a
giggle.

"Great idea. Unfortunately
we already have national elections. It hasn't worked too badly." Gesturing
with her fork, she made a circle in the air. "We just don't get to take
over that easily. We should have gotten there first, like smart people, but no,
both of us had to be born in the wrong century for that, didn't we? Laziness,
pure and simple. So, back to my excellent porn idea."

It was his turn to eat for a bit,
while not really thinking. It was kind of flirty, but heavy handed, for him.
Then, it might simply be that this was the way it was done. You did porn, got
people hooked, and then took over the world. That or Calley was hitting on him.

Finally he nodded.

"Are you suggesting
something? Because I'm all single and everything..."

Calley winked at him.

"Yup! I've been hinting for
days
too. I was afraid you didn't like me or something. Which would be insane. I
mean, who doesn't love
me
, am I right?" Her fork flashed for a bit,
as she looked up from her plate, meeting his eyes. Her own were a combination
of playful and something else. Coy, or possibly flirtatious. It wasn't a look
that he'd never seen before on a woman, though it had been rare enough that it
took a few moments to kick in that she really meant it.

Playing with him at the moment or
not.

A sudden wave of nearly crippling
shyness tried to creep over him, and his throat tightened. This was the part
that would do him in, as far as getting to have a girl that did more than speak
to him in pitying tones. True, no one had ever been as bold with him before as
far as sex, but this always happened when the topic closed in too pointedly.
They'd do normal things like make too much eye contact, and he'd freak out,
look away and make everyone in the world think he was too good for them. That,
or he seemed so weak that any hint of interest that had been there would fade.

Women said they wanted a lot of
things in a man, but according to his mother, the only source he'd had on the
subject, what they really liked was
assertive
. Not stupidly so, either.
They wanted a man that seemed valuable and like he was worth having, which for
ladies involved hitting a bunch of subconscious keys that a lot of them only
sort of knew were there.

Things like direct eye contact,
not smiling and not acting like you were going to pass out just because the
subject turned to something a little bit more intimate than the weather.

Focusing on that, he made himself
look back and her, locking eyes like they were lovers in a movie, and nodded.

"Sounds like a plan then.
The porn part. I'll want to get a bit of practice first, since I'm a
virgin."

He didn't look away, even though
it was about as stupid a thing as he could have said. His mom had also
mentioned reading a new study that showed that women were as into sex as men,
as long as the man seemed a good bet for being skilled. He'd pretty much just
announced the opposite there. It was kind of an important part though, since
the woman was going to find out about that if they did anything. Ty knew where
various things were supposed to
go
, but that was about all. Still, he
straightened, and tried to give her a look that seemed a bit smug.

"A sexy,
sexy
virgin."

It got a laugh, and a slightly
strange expression from his new roommate.

"Really? That's hard to
believe. You're cute, and do things like save damsels in distress on the
street. If that doesn't get a girl's juices flowing I don't know what would.
Are you just saying that as some kind of reverse psychology thing? To make me
think I'm special?"

He let a rice loaded fork, a bit
of the savory peanut sauce saturating it, come to his lips.

"Seriously? The woman that
can change into a Bat doesn't think she's special?" That hadn't been what
she'd just said, but it was a great place to start from. People liked to think
that you were focused on them. In fact, it was part of why women liked
assertive men really. They wanted a partner that would pay more attention to
them than the competition. That meant a guy would give them more of his time
and resources, if they had children.

Except of course that it didn't
work, really, because the men that had historically been successful at seeming
like that, as if they'd stick around and be there for a girl the next day, leaving
all the right hints and bits of information that said that kind of thing, were
also the creeps that would be gone in the morning. That had to be clear, didn't
it? Either that or Lucy had a penchant for really strange dinner conversation.