Angels of a Feather

Chapter 3

Ari

We went up three levels of stairs to reach Nick's apartment. He unlocked the door and there was so much color. The walls were green and blue with splashes of pink. 

"Welcome to Casa Nick," he smiled. 

"It's really colorful," I told him with wide eyes. Nick just hummed as we left to go to what I assumed was his bedroom. I walked around and looked at some of the pictures. 

Despite a couple having three of the same looking boy, I could tell Nick was the happier of the three. They all had black hair and blue eyes. One of them was grumpy looking despite having a smile.

"Those are my brothers," Nick said. "Sky and Nate. Nate's the grumpy one." He grabbed down another picture. "That's me and my bio dad, Kanai." I frowned at the name. It sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. He did look more like Nick than the other man did.

"Bio dad?" I asked.

"Yeah, apparently my dad isn't my real dad or the one who gave me my good looks," Nick explained.. “But they’re both really great.”

“Ah,” I nodded. “How did you find out?”

“Well, Relda thought it would be cool if we found out about our mom’s family,” Nick told me. “So I did the DNA test kit thing and it told me who my real dad was because Kanai also took one.”

“Oh, ok,” I said.

“Yeah,” Nick smiled. “And that,” he pointed at a picture of a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes, “is my little sister Jamie. She is absolutely precious.”

“Cool,” I nodded. 

“Yeah,” he said again. “Oh, right, here.” He held out some dark green and white clothes. “I figured you’d like to change out of those clothes and take a hot shower.”

“A hot shower?” I asked, my eyes widening in anticipation of something warmer than ice slush to wash myself with.

“Mhmm,” he hummed. “Bathrooms over there.” He pointed to the door next to his bedroom. “Help yourself to whatever.”

“Alright, I’ll go take a hot shower,” I nodded, eager to feel the warmth of the water.

Nick

I watched him leave and felt like he wasn’t exactly human. Though he could have been trapped in a cult, it didn’t feel like that was it. I heard my phone go off and I picked it up. I let out a groan when I noticed who it was. Eric or whatever his name was, was just begging me to come back and give him a second chance. I sent a quick text explaining it was over between us and that it was nothing personal before blocking the number. I did not need him to keep blowing up my phone. I decided to turn on the TV and see if anything interesting was while Ari showered.

I knocked on the door to the bathroom when I realized Ari had been in there a really long time, like an hour. He didn’t answer so I peeked inside. “Ari? Everything okay?” I asked as I realized he hadn’t closed the shower curtain. I couldn’t help but look him over and saw the black and blue bruises all over him. I opened the door wider and walked in. 

He hurriedly grabbed the curtain and wrapped it around himself. “Nick! Wh-What are you doing?” he asked, his voice shaking a bit in fear.

“I was coming to check on you,” I said as I looked at his bruises closer. “What happened to you?” Concern and worry coated my voice as I tried to understand who would be so abusive to someone.

“I... it’s nothing,” he said. “I’ll be out in a minute...” He pulled the curtain higher around him.

“Alright...” I said, not pushing the subject. Maybe Relda or Dad would be able to get him to open up about what happened.

Soon enough Ari emerged from the shower with the towel over his head. “These are so much better than my old clothes,” he grinned, forgetting about the earlier bathroom incident. “Thanks for them.”

“No problem,” I said. “I’m going to jump in the shower and then we can figure out sleeping arrangements.”

He frowned. “I don’t think that would be too safe,” he told me. “It’s pretty slippery in there.”

“It’s an expression,” I told him. “It means I’m going to do it now.” 

“Oh,” he nodded, understanding dawning on him. “Alright. Is it okay if I watch that?” He pointed to the TV.

“Sure,” I shrugged. I grabbed my clothes and went to the bathroom and realized my floor was soaked from him not closing the curtain. I sighed and threw the dirty wash on it. It would at least soak it up and I could wash it all tomorrow. I really should have noticed when I came in here the first time, but I was more focused on his bruises than the state of my bathroom. 

I quickly showered and got out. I grabbed up the sopping mess of clothes and towels and threw them in the hamper. That would be tomorrow’s worry. Tonight’s main worry was Ari who was entranced by the TV and also looking all over it.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Trying to figure out where all the people live,” he said. “Like how are they able to show me things on the screen but I press a button and then new ones appear.”

I laughed. “No, it’s all filmed somewhere else and then it gets replayed at a studio and then it gets transmitted with wires or satellite and shows up on the screen,” I explained.

He nodded as he took this information in. “That makes more sense,” he agreed. “So guess it’s time for sleep?”

“Yeah, you can either sleep in my bed with me or the couch,” I told him.

“I’ll take the couch,” he said. 

“Alright,” I said and went to get him my spare comforter and pillow. I brought them out to him and he cuddled them both to his cheek. 

“They’re so soft,” he said. “And smooth. Back home, all the blankets are so thin and scratchy. And the pillows are just really hard.”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” I told him.

“It was,” he agreed as he got settled in on the couch. “Well night, Nick.”

“Night Ari,” I said heading to my room.