Life by the Page 7
7
The next few days were very much the same. It was cold, dark, and somewhat lonely in his house. Leon didn't feel so lonely though, only when he was not preoccupied with his work. The fire in his hearth burned and crackled every now and then as he would sit either to smoke or to think. Nathan had been occupying a small segment of the back of his mind for those few days. He remembered him but he never deliberated on anything really concerning him. Martha was there too and he thought of her even less frequently. He had started something new a few days ago, the way he always started his stories, but he wasn't sure if it would become anything.
One morning Leon woke absolutely freezing. The fire was dead in the fire place and he had forgotten to turn up the thermostat before he went to sleep. Entering the kitchen he realized he was out of coffee. Nothing depressed Leon more than an empty coffee can since he drank the stuff more than he did water. He sighed throwing away the empty can. It was as the can fell to the garbage that quite abruptly Nathan shot from one end of his mind to the other, reminding him that he hadn't called. It had been about five days since he had been in town. He moved to the phone as he picked up the small piece of paper that the Nathan had given him. As he took the phone off the receiver he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and a tinge of anxiety. He wasn't accustomed to this sort of thing and he vaguely remembered something about a three day rule or something to that affect. He hoped he hadn't offended Nathan by not calling sooner. As he slowly dialed the number and a tone began to ring in his ear from the ear piece, he thought of what he was going to say. He had nothing prepared. The phone rang for a long time. He wiped his nose and rubbed his forearm from the chill in the house. Then there was no more ringing and a noise came from the telephone like that of someone answering. "Hello?" the voice was light and inquisitive.
"Hi is this Nathan?" Leon blurted out quickly. He didn't like talking on the phone in the first place.
"Yes this is Nathan" The voice on the other end was still light and inquisitive with just a touch of energy that made Leon a bit warmer in the cold house.
"Hi this is Leon the guy who..."
"Oh Leon!" Nathan broke in before he could finish. "You called". His energy increased, he sounded pleased.
"Yes" Leon said with a pause that made it a bit awkward. He cleared his throat and said "I was wondering if you were doing anything this morning." Nathan hummed lightly as if in thought.
"No not really, why?"
"Well I've run out of coffee and I was wondering if you would like to get some with me." Leon was surprised by the confidence with which he asked him. It was as though he felt more awake, something just changed and it didn't feel like he was asking, rather someone else.
"Sure!" Nathan replied "What time were you thinking?" Leon looked to the clock on the wall. It was 8:20.
"How does a quarter after nine sound to you?"
"Perfect!" replied Nathan almost before he could finish. "Same place I bumped into you?"
"Yes that sounds nice" Leon laughed a bit "I'll see you then." Nathan laughed as well.
"Alright bye for now."
"Bye-bye". Leon hung up the phone and took a deep breath of frigid air. He smiled as his tail wagged energetically while he leaned against the kitchen counter. He felt a little childish almost, embarrassed for no real reason. He felt younger than he was, as though he were trapped in an older wolf's body. But above all he felt good. He may have felt good, but at the time he looked like a bum. Not that sexy kind of messy that some people look when they roll out of bed, rather the kind of messy that makes you jump when you look in the mirror not quite recognizing the man staring back at you. His fur was matted and unkempt from sleep and he was still in his pajamas and his hair stuck up at strange angle at the top of his head. It was time for a shower.
The water was cold at first as it always was in the mornings. It shot him awake as he passed his hand under the water to check the temperature. He let the water run as he stripped of his clothes. Leon was in decent shape for a fellow who rarely visited a gym. He was lean and had a thick coat with a few knots in it here and there. He had let his claws grow long and sharp for a while as he tended to forget about clipping them. It never really bothered him having long claws anyway. He scratched his fuzzy chest and yawned as he passed his hand under the water again. It was getting warmer but it still needed a minute. In the meantime he looked at himself in the mirror and examined himself while at the same time giving a miss to his untidy fur. He liked the way his chest looked and had always admired his peck muscles. The fur on his chest always puffed up towards his neck during the winter months and he thought that made him look dashing in the nude. He smiled and noticed his teeth needed to be cleaned so he brushed them. What Leon didn't like was his smile. He felt it gave something away about him, it seemed a bit unnaturally fake, and sometimes almost like a sadistic grin. Maybe it was his imposingly sharp teeth or the way his nose stuck up a bit as he smiled widely. Either way he didn't like it. When the water was finally warm enough he stepped into the mist and began to scrub himself with soap. He didn't mind the water so much but his ears went flat on his head anyway. He thought of how the next few hours were going to play out and eventually the day. He thought of Nathan briefly and wondered what Nathan thought of him. He quickly pushed the fox out of his mind for the time being as he was in the shower, and to think they way even before the first date made him feel dirty even as he cleaned himself. After cleaning himself he through a nice clean shirt with a nicely pressed collar and a thin brown sweater with some jeans. He looked himself over in the mirror approvingly and then smiled. He felt the only diminishing thing on his person was that smile. He thought to himself how nice it would be to change that smile like one can change a shirt. He strained the muscles in his muzzle attempting to form something of a charming grin but that only made him look worse. He sighed but was determined not to let this make him feel down. He shouldn't take it to seriously it's only a date. "You're just nervous because it's been a while" he thought to himself. "That...and your meeting with a man" was his second thought, which to him didn't actually seem that odd which both puzzled and pleased him at the same time. As he walked out the door and breathed in the chill morning air he had that childish feeling build up in his stomach again, and ignoring his slight headache from lack of caffeine, he strode off towards town.