Like a Bird (2 page)

Chapter 3

The flight was thirty-seven minutes, and even though it was hard to hear over the roar of the blades, Louis managed to talk the entire time. Gareth didn’t respond and instead stared below at the darkened shapes of trees and rock that eventually surrendered to the garishly lit towers of concrete and glass.

A service elevator took them from the rooftop landing pad to the ground floor, where a limo was waiting. The driver greeted them both and opened the door. As the chauffeur wove his way through side streets to the downtown core, Gareth sat quietly and continued to stare out the window. His hands were clamped together to prevent them from shaking.

“Things have changed,” he said.

“That’s what happens when you don’t leave the house for a while. The city keeps moving, evolving, that sort of shit,” Louis said. He looked over at Gareth who sat stiff and still, appearing unduly calm.

“Are you OK?” Louis asked.

Gareth continued to stare out the window.

“You are not OK. You need another drink.” Louis grabbed a bottle from the limo stash and filled a gaudy crystal glass with clear liquid. “Here, I have no idea what this is,” Louis said as he waved the glass in front of Gareth, the drink sloshing about and almost spilling over the sides. “Just drink it.”

Gareth took the glass and tried to hold it steady as the driver sped through a yellow light and made a sharp right. He looked back out the window and continued surveying all he had been removed from: vivid signs, people bustling along the sidewalks, and construction at every corner. Finally, Gareth brought the glass to his lips and gulped back the entire contents while they sat at a red light. He winced. “That was not water.”

They were motionless for several minutes before either passenger noticed the delay.

Louis rolled down the divider and asked the driver why they weren’t moving.

“Sorry, sir,” it looks like there’s some kind of parade in front of us. The road is blocked. Do you want me to try another route?”

“Yes, of course I want you to try another route,” Louis said. He frowned and turned to Gareth, who was watching the marchers slowly stream by, waving placards that read “Crush corporate greed” and “Make the rich pay.” The driver tried to back up but the traffic was tight behind him.

Louis quickly assessed the situation. There was only their car between them and a crowd full of rage. “I think they want to kill us,” Louis said, gawking at the protesters. “Maybe we should get out and walk.”

“Are you kidding? I’m not walking around downtown in a cape in May!” Gareth said.

“Well, if we don’t get out now, we might become vegan barbecue, so I say let’s get the fuck out. Who cares about your cape, look what they’re wearing.” Louis pointed at the protesters dressed in garish costumes and hoisting massive paper-mache sculptures.

Gareth opened the car door. Louis tipped the driver and shoved Gareth out. They walked together down the sidewalk, two eccentric-looking men in dark capes, heading toward a river of people. Gareth stiffened as they entered the fray. He had difficulty keeping Louis in sight in the streetlamps’ yellow light. His mask, his large hood, and his long hair further impeded his vision. He could feel rising panic pushing him to move faster and faster toward a hopeful exit on the other side of the human stream. In his haste he began bumping people out of the way with his broad shoulders.

As he emerged on the other side, he stopped to steady his breath. He turned to look for Louis but couldn’t see him. Gareth scanned the crowd several times, his pulse quickening.

When a girl with dreads and thick glasses came up to him and put her hand on his chest, he backed away.

“Oh my god, I
love
your costume,” she shouted over the din of the mob and their crude instruments that sounded like banging pots and pans.

Gareth turned and walked further away until there were only a few people scattered about the otherwise empty street. He looked back and scanned the area again. He felt his phone vibrating against his leg.

Where the hell did you go?

Gareth texted Louis back.

Where are you?

Corner of Broadstone and 30
th
.

Stay there.
I’
m on my way.

Somehow Louis had ended up a block away from Gareth. Gareth set off east, toward Broadstone, down a narrow, one-way street lined with historical brick factories that had long been converted to condos. Rusted metal fire escapes lined the walls and a few people, illuminated by their cigarettes, seemed to be making covert deals next to a dumpster. Gareth held his cape closed to stop it from waving behind him like a flag as he strode to Broadstone.

When he reached the corner, he heard his friend before he saw him. Louis, standing before a small group of people, looked up and spotted the looming figure as he approached the group.

“Hey! There you are,” Louis said waving him over. Louis put one hand on Gareth and guided them both up the street as he turned his head to salute good-bye to his newest friends. The pair walked north along Broadstone, where the streets were filled with cars instead of people. Just up ahead, another large crowd was kept in an orderly line by velvet ropes.

Gareth looked at the sign above the entrance but it was blank. Two large bouncers blocked an unmarked door. He scanned the crowd and couldn’t miss a tall furry creature that resembled Chewbacca. He noted all of the revelers were in costumes.

Louis stopped abruptly to talk to a woman in a leather corset. “It looks like this is where the party’s at. Tell me, darling, what are you waiting for?”

“It’s May-hem,” she said, as if he was supposed to know what that meant. Louis nodded, his mouth slack as though questions might pour from it.

“Hey grim reaper,” a youthful voice called out from the front of the line. While Louis began to pry more information from the coy brunette in a corset, Gareth stood by.

“Hey! Grim Reaper!” Louis turned around and realized the shouting was coming from a voluptuous girl with pink hair. She was dressed as a nurse in an impossibly tiny dress with a small hat perched on her head. Positioned near the front of the line, she waved Louis and Gareth over with an enthusiasm that made her cleavage quiver.

As Louis approached, leering at a new prospect, the nurse dismissed him. “I was talking to your friend.” She peered around Louis to smile at Gareth. Louis grabbed Gareth’s arm and dragged his friend forward. Just then the line began to advance, and the nurse grabbed Gareth’s gloved hand.

“Come on,” she urged, managing to pull Gareth toward the bouncers now standing in front of an open door. Gareth tried to shoot a look of concern to Louis who was right behind him. Louis raised his eyebrows as he pushed Gareth toward entrance.

The bouncers scowled at the older caped men on the other side of the rope.

“They’re with me,” the nurse said. The bouncer on the right nodded as Louis and Gareth slipped through the door. A black entryway that reeked of cigarettes opened to a metal staircase leading to the basement. Flashing lights and loud music washed over them as they descended. The pink-haired nurse, who still gripped Gareth’s hand, led the way. She walked through the main bar, where people in costume were sparsely gathered, and made her way around a corner to a back room with a smaller bar and a silent horror film projected onto a brick wall. The nurse marched up to the bartender and ordered two drinks.

She took the drinks without paying and handed one to Gareth. She flashed a sultry look in his direction and wrapped her lips around the small straw sticking out of her glass. Gareth took his straw out, tapped it on the side of his glass, and tossed it on the floor.

“You can call me Kitty,” the nurse said, stretching up to reach Gareth’s ear.

Louis jumped in to fill Gareth’s awkward silence. “I’m Louis, this is Gareth,” he shouted over the music.

“Let me introduce you to some people.” Kitty reached for Gareth’s hand and pulled him back toward the main room with Louis still following behind them. Gareth tried to throw a desperate glance toward Louis again, but his large hood got in the way.

Moments after they entered the room, Kitty began greeting random characters with hugs and kisses. She made a round of introductions and Louis dove in to the conversation. Gareth hung back, silent and still. There was the clink of glassware as the trio moved from one cluster to another like the formal greeting crew. Gareth kept his gaze on Kitty’s gentle curves and the lace of her bra peeking above the deep neckline of her costume.

Rounds of shots appeared one after another, and Gareth began to sweat under his oppressive cloak. Kitty stayed close with one hand on him when she wasn’t embracing someone new. By now the club was densely packed: a nightmare of pulsating noise and gaudy strangers filling whatever small space remained.

After the third round of drinks in quick succession, Gareth began to sway uneasily.

“Are you OK?” Kitty asked. Gareth shook his head. She grabbed his arm once more and dragged him, stumbling, to a back-alley door with a metal stoop. Gareth sat down on the step, inhaled the cool night air, and closed his eye. Kitty sat close to him, her thigh pressing into his. He turned his head away from her and leaned on the cold metal railing. She made small circles with her fingertips on his back.

“Do you want me to come back and check on you in a bit?” Gareth nodded. She stood up, tugged at her dress to cover her bottom, and headed back into the club, leaving her little white hat in the doorway so the door wouldn’t lock.

Muffled sounds from the club mixed with horns honking and people laughing as they stumbled down the street. The reduced volume and the crisp spring air were enough to restore Gareth to his senses. He briefly pondered the white of Kitty’s hat against the dark mottled door and the soot-covered brick that framed it before he descended the few steps to the alley to make his way toward the street. He had not gone far when the club door flew open with a bang.

“Are you leaving me?” Kitty called. Gareth turned to see the uncomprehending look of an abandoned puppy on her face, her wide blue eyes mournful. He smiled slightly and lowered his head to conceal his own face. He shoved his hands in his pockets and ambled back toward the door. From the bottom of the low steps, Gareth accepted her extended hand, and together they disappeared into the dark club.

They found a booth in a dark corner of the back room. Gareth slid in first and Kitty settled in close. She reached up to touch his face but his hand intercepted to grip her wrist. Again, he shook his head. Although his hood still concealed most of his face in shadow, she sensed him staring into her eyes. Undeterred, Kitty appeared charmed and pulled her arm back, which pulled Gareth in still closer. When she pressed her lips against his, he pressed back. Gareth released her wrist, and put his arm around her back, pulling the softness of her chest into the hardness of his. Kitty moaned.

They explored each other’s mouths, biting and sucking. Teasing. Kitty pulled up her skirt enough to straddle Gareth. The remaining piece of satin fabric that separated her from this mysterious man, glided along the stiff ripples of his black jeans. A prickling energy sizzled up from her thighs and traveled through her chest, all the way to her lips. She pushed harder into his groin, and he grabbed her thigh with one hand and her ass with the other.

The confidence in his grip was clear, yet Kitty continued to push against his strength with the slow movement of her hips. She placed her palms on his chest and pushed back to create a little space as she pulled her lips away and touched her nose to Gareth’s. She stared into his exposed eye and flashed him a little sideways smile. She reached toward his fly but found his hand had beat her to it. Pulling her underwear to the side she eased on top of him and Gareth wrapped his cloak around her waist.

When Louis wandered into the room, the bright white of Kitty’s uniform caught his eye. He noticed her discreet writhing on top of a dark, cloaked figure and chuckled to himself. He glanced at his watch, 12:21 a.m. He made his way through the crowd to the bar and ordered a shot of Scotch. With one elbow propped on the bar he sipped his drink as he waited for Gareth to wrap things up.

When Louis noticed Gareth running his hand along the back of Kitty’s hair as she rested her head on his chest, he decided it was safe to intervene. He left his empty glass on the bar and hurried over. He tapped Gareth on the shoulder. Gareth, frowning at the intrusion, glanced at Louis’s outstretched phone with the time clearly displayed in large numbers. Gareth arched his eyebrow toward Louis, who signaled to meet him at the front door.

“Are you leaving already?” Kitty asked after witnessing the silent exchange. Gareth nodded and stroked her cheek with his thumb. He motioned to get up but she pulled him back down.

“Wait!” she said. “I’d like to meet you again.” Gareth reached for her phone in the pocket of her dress that sat at the top of her thigh. He typed in his number and slid the phone back in her pocket. Kitty kissed him hard then climbed off Gareth and gave him her hand. He stood and followed her to the front door, where Louis was waiting.

“I’ll see you soon,” Kitty said with her hand on Gareth’s chest. She let her hand slip away as she sashayed toward the stairs. Before she was out of sight she turned and waved.