When The Rich Son Falls

Twenty

The last day of Topher’s stay in the hotel finally came, marking his first week at Mariner’s Bay. One week had passed. One week! Topher never could have thought that he would be able to survive an entire week without eating at his favorite sushi place, partying, or sleeping in the comfort of his own bed, yet there he was: the longest he had been sober, had not eaten sushi, had not had s*x, and had not slept in the most comfortable sheets in the world, but he survived. Of course, he would rather have the former if he easily could, but knowing that he was able to live without those things—even if just for a few days—made him feel indestructible.

He was the king of his own world, and he knew it.

Topher proudly smiled at his reflection in the mirror and gave himself a pat on the back. Behind him were his designer luggage and his bag full of money, and he was ready to go.

It was his last day in the hotel—for now, that is—and it was time to move on; even if the moving on he was about to do was technically still in Mariner’s Bay, just a few minutes away from the hotel itself. It was still a change of pace, a change of scenery, and this time, he was going to have someone living with him.

It was a concept that he did not welcome a week ago, but considering that he was a man that was basically on the run and had no other choice, it became something that he chose to look forward to, by tilting his perception into making himself think that even Harry Potter had roommates. Even Batman, technically, lived with Alfred. Even mutants lived together in the X-Mansion.

Given that reasoning, Topher, despite having no special abilities except for his astonishingly good looks, charm, and wealth, figured that having a roommate should not be beneath him, especially if it would prolong not having to face his family for a few more weeks. So, he chose to look forward to it.

With a confident smile, his back straight, and his outfit on-point, Topher headed out of his room and down the stairs to the lobby, where he found Nicki, Mandy, Bruce, and a few other hotel staff that he had become acquainted with, standing by the front desk.

Topher was used to the fanfare. In fact, he welcomed it; so when some of the staff asked if they could take pictures with him, he gracefully allowed them—given that they were not to post anything about it on social media. Once that was over, he walked to the front desk and surrendered his key card.

“I am officially checking out,” he said with a proud smile as he handed it to Mandy, who—with her big heart and tendency to wear her emotions on her sleeve—looked like she wanted to shed a tear.

“We’re going to miss your energy around here,” she said with a sad smile that also made Topher want to hug her and cry with her.

“He’ll be back in a few days,” Bruce pointed out, wrecking the dramatic scene that would have unfolded. “Maybe even earlier.”

Topher raised an eyebrow at him as he slightly pulled down his sunglasses. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, only to jump into conclusions the next second. With a horrified look on his face, he asked in a whisper, “Oh no, don’t tell me… does he fart a lot? Does he have roaches in his home?”

“No, James is a clean person,” Bruce replied. “I meant that even though James is the kindest person there is, he might kick you out before the end of your stay is up.”

A corner of Topher’s lip curled up at him, but when he saw the look on the others’ faces—like they, too, agreed with him—his mouth hung open like he was deeply hurt. “Hey, now,” he loudly said, “I promised I will be on my best behavior. I will even contribute to the household chores, like a good and proper roommate.”

“Really? You know how to cook?” Bruce challenged him with a smug smile on his face.

“I-I know how to microwave things,” Topher haughtily replied. “That kind of counts as cooking, since the microwave technically cooks the food inside, right?”

It was obvious on everyone’s faces that they didn’t see it the same way as he did.

“How about washing dishes?” Mandy asked. “Mopping?”

Topher crinkled his nose at that as he thought about it for a second. “I’ve run a dishwasher once at a friend’s house to try it, and I know how a mop works. I’ve seen it in movies. You get it and you just wipe the floor with it, don’t you? Like this,” he said, miming with his hands.

Bruce let out a deep sigh that made his disapproval clear. “You have to clean it first with water and—oh, why bother.” He placed his hands up in surrender and just shook his head, confusing Topher as to what he was saying wrong. Before the topic could get any further, the doors at the entrance opened and in came James in a t-shirt and jeans instead of his usual uniform.

After a round of back-and-forth greetings with his employees, his eyes landed on Topher and he asked, “Hey, you ready?”

Topher grabbed his things quickly and said “Yup!”, full of energy. He had to admit that ever since James dragged him out of the sauna and saved his ass for a second time, his fondness of him only grew. He was actually excited to see James after an entire day of not running into him—because he was on leave to visit his godparents—as if they had been long-time friends that hadn’t seen each other for a while.

“I am very ready,” Topher said with a grin as he rolled his luggage and walked towards him. James graciously held the door open, but before Topher stepped out, he turned around to face the rest of the hotel staff, and announced, “I will come back here in a few days, so until then, lovely ladies and gents, stay fresh,” before he made his exit.

James, on the other hand, simply waved goodbye to his employees before he closed the door behind him and led Topher to his car.

Back inside the lobby, Bruce stood up and leaned on the desk beside Mandy and Nicki. “He is just the weirdest guy, isn’t he?” he thought out loud, which none of his co-workers argued with.

“Seems like a good person, though. Deep inside,” Mandy said, looking at the flowers that Topher had given them earlier that week. The rest nodded, agreeing with her. After a second of silence, one of the cleaning staff took out a bill and placed it on the desk.

“I bet James is going to kick him out before the festival.”

Everyone exchanged glances, and the next second, they were all taking out their wallets to place their bets as to how long it would take for Topher to break James’s mind.

Meanwhile, inside the pick-up truck sat the two men who were unaware that they were being betted on. Topher settled himself on the front passenger’s seat with his bag of money on his lap, while James buckled himself into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine.

“Sorry, I’m a bit late,” he said as he began to drive. “The traffic outside of town was worse than I expected.”

“Oh, right, you went and visited your godparents overnight, right? How did it go?” Topher asked, looking very much invested in the topic, “Great? Dramatic? Boring?”

“It was… alright.”

“How fun,” Topher commented, even though the tone of James’s reply didn’t seem like it. “So, was it your godparents that raised you?”

“Yup,” James responded with disinterest as he focused on the road. “They took me in when I was 4 years old.”

“A 4 year old Jimmy,” Topher thoughtfully muttered, but then corrected with a, “Sorry, James,” when the man cast him a side glance with a raised eyebrow.

Topher sat slightly turned his upper body, so that most of his back was resting on the door and he could get a better look of James. He stayed like that, staring at him, deep in thought about a lot of things; like, envisioning how James must have looked like as a child, how youthful James looked in a t-shirt (“Is this man really 30?!), which then turned to thinking about how nicely a casual shirt fit him.

Topher didn’t care that he had been staring at James for what seemed like a full minute; nor did he care that he was being very obvious about it. It was James who found it weird when he noticed that Topher, who had uncharacteristically not spoken or moved for quite a while, had been looking at him like he was some kind of relic in a museum.

“What?” James frowned at him. “Stop that.”

“Stop what? Looking at you?” Topher innocently asked.

“Looking at me like…” James stopped for a second as he considered what to say next. “Like that.”

“Like what?” Topher asked with a chuckle as he noticed the man’s face begin to redden. He couldn’t read minds, but he very much liked the reaction he was getting just by sitting and staring. “I was just trying to imagine a 4 year old you. Was your factory default the kind face you show to everyone or the mean face you always have with me?”

James sharply exhaled through his nose and defensively muttered, “I don’t have a mean face.”

“That,” Topher pointed a finger at his face and smiled. “That mean face.”

James scowled at him, which only made him laugh. “Alright, alright, I’ll quit it,” Topher said as he properly positioned himself in his seat, facing the front. He took one last glance at James and approvingly muttered, “It’s a nice face, though.”