Drifter

Pouring his fifth cup of coffee, Remy padded from the bathroom countre to the open front door of his room. Tossing the lighter onto the bed, he took a long drag of his cig and leaned against the frame. No matter how many times he tried to lay down and forget about the past several weeks, he found them haunting.

The memories replayed over and over like a stuck tape recorder. Painful images that neither comforted or answered him.

"All I'm sayin is dat it's hard to find someone to just say 'hi' to a guy, anymore. You have yer 'what's yer sign?' people, you got the 'hey bright eyes, I'll say ouch for ya from yer fall outta Heaven,' and den you got de 'hey, sup?' people. But none o' dem can sit down b'side ya an' just talk first." A loud-mouthed young man with a auburn long ponytail and a slim build sat at the end of the bar of the tiny and dated diner. He and the cook, an older man in his early to mid 40s, had been chatting about relationships and their weaknesses as Logan strolled in.

Logan took a seat five seats down from the two and waited for a late 30s-ish waitress to stroll over to him while smacking her gum and tapping her notepad with her pencil. "Uh, cup o' coffee, darlin." When she walked away to go and get his coffee, Logan took the opportunity to glance around the mainly empty diner. When his eyes settled on the cook and the young Cajun, he was quietly flattered that the young man was looking his way and smiling back at him.

The greasy cook dried his hands on his grease-stained apron and laughed gravelly, "Remy, you keep talkin' like you got high-dollar notions and you'll be left out in the rain. Again."

Remy stood in the doorway of his first-floor motel room, leaning on the doorframe, a souvenir mug of motel coffee in one hand and a half-gone cigarette in the other. The moderate rain tapped and thumped out a rhythm on the parked cars and gravel lot, in front of him. It was 2 a.m. and he couldn't sleep. His bare feet on the metal bar tingled at a chill. His faded and worn blue jeans were all that kept him from being stared at by the occasional passerby. He shivered as a cool chill blew into his warm room, sweeping his long hair back from his solid shoulders.

They lay there in complete bliss and sweat from the act. The room was dark, save for the blue hue of the moonlight that shone through the window of the motel room.

Remy rest his head on Logan's chest, listening to the soft heartbeat from the man underneath him. He lay to the right of Logan, and smiled as the older man moved his arm to snuggle the younger Cajun closer to him. "Dis is nice, cher. Ya seem to always know how to make Remy feel good. Like, ya know Remy."

Logan's serene smile faded as he thought about Remy's words, and what he was sent there to do. "Yea. Guess yer the kinda kid that just fits me just right." Replacing the smile quickly as Remy looked up, into his eyes, he kicked himself for putting himself through this deep of involvement.

"Reckon I found me a keep, non?"

A moment of silence before the whisper broke the tension, "yea, kid. A real keeper."

Remy sighed contentedly before whispering back, "Je t'aime, Logan."

"Ditto, Rem."

"Stupid fool. He ain't never gonna love you." Seeing the scene so clearly in his mind, he hadn't realised that he said it to the relentless rain and early morning hours.

Taking another sip of his cooled coffee and then bringing the cig to his lips, Remy thought back to another moment in time when he and Logan exchanged more than angry words between them.

The street was mostly empty, in the middle of the small Arizona town. Only two or three cars passed him. The speed limit was 35, being that the town was mostly residential, but the sleepy citizens were in no usual hurry and often drove 25-30.

Jim's Pool Hall was closed for renovation, and Sahara Jane's was the usual hang out for trouble on Friday nights. There were only a few places left for him to go and have a drink while people left him alone but it wasn't a night for noise as nosy people. He wanted to be alone and thought about picking up a bottle of Jimmie Walker Red at the local petrol station on his way back to his room.

Remy had just made up his mind when a small, white blur passed him quickly and spun around to stop, facing Remy's full-sized black Dodge Ram. Slamming on his brakes and missing the small car by a few feet, Remy threw the truck into park and barreled out of the vehicle, ready to knock the other driver on their ass. "Hey! You drunk or somethin? You coulda killed someone!"

Logan calmly got out of the car as Remy stopped by the driver's side front wheel. "I knew you'd stop. You've been avoiding me for a week. Are we gonna talk about this, or not?"

"Talk about what? You lied to me. Dere's nothin' to talk about."

"I didn't lie to you, Remy."

Remy crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head, fuming. "No? No. You just made love to me, made me believe you was sincere, den you just unload dis story about how you was sent here to kill me, and dat you couldn't do it because I was 'too pretty to waste.' Dat sounds like a lie to me, Logan. Or, whoever you are! Just tell me you don't wanna see me again, an' we can be done wit' it!"

"All right look, I know what I said sounded as if I was brushin ya off, but it was the truth. Let's just talk, okay?" Logan stepped forward with his hands in front of him, cautiously.

Breathing heavily and unfolding his arms to ball his fists at his sides, Remy shook his head. "Get away from me." Teeth ground and voice was kept low as he tried to stop the tears that welled up and threatened to fall.

Logan stepped forward again. "Remy,-"

"Stop."

Taking a deep breath, Logan grabbed Remy's face in his hands and kissed him for a long moment. It was ended before he wanted to as Remy had pressed his hand flatly against Logan's chest and surged a bolt of hot electricity through him, sending him back a few steps.

"Stay away from me."

Remy stepped back into the room as he snuffed the now mostly ash cigarrette into the frame. "All right, poppa, we deal wit' dis. 'Nough o' chasin shadows." Flicking the butt out into the rain, he shut the door on the night and Logan's memory.


End.