House of Korba

  Homecoming. Like normal students. I hadn’t thought about it, but now that Mr. Blackbourne had said something, I was thinking what it would be like. We’d still need to be on alert, but for a moment, I imagined what it might be like to blend in with everyone else. Music, dancing. He’d said they’d all attend. Did he include himself?

  Maybe it wasn’t as big a deal as I was thinking it was, but in the moment, I let myself become excited.

  I floated out of the bathroom.

  Korba Family Dynamics

  I left my soggy clothes hanging off of the tub, and collected my book bag, stepping out into the hallway. The apartment was quiet. I tiptoed to Silas’s door, dropping my bag inside, and shuffled off back toward the living room.

  I found Silas on the couch, back in jeans and wearing the Red Sox T-shirt. He had his bare feet up on the coffee table as he flipped through stations. There was a lamp glowing on the side table next to him in the otherwise dark room. With his strong jaw, his hair a little mussed, and his deep eyes, he looked so handsome that my heart started thundering.

  He looked up as I came closer, and held out an arm, beckoning. I slipped into the spot next to him. I curled up my legs, drawing them to my chest as I rested my head against his shoulder and stared ahead. I wanted to look at him more. There were lengths of time where I wasn’t around him much and I yearned to study his face and look into his eyes like he did to me. I wanted to know things I didn’t dare ask.

  His arm wrapped around my body, drawing me close, his fingers brushing my side. I was comfortable, but his fingers tracing the side of my stomach had my core trembling again.

  He held the remote in his other hand. “What do you want to watch?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Pick something.”

  I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t remember the last time I watched television. “There isn’t a game on?” Sports were safe. He liked that.

  “What do you really want to watch?”

  I lifted my head from his shoulder so I could look at him. Was he serious? Like I could pay attention to anything with being in this new place and him so close anyway.

  I was about to answer when the sound of the front door being unlocked echoed through the apartment. I stiffened next to him, tucking more into myself and wishing I had picked a spot on the other side of Silas so I could hide behind him.

  Silas, however, didn’t budge. He mumbled something I didn’t understand, maybe in Greek, and turned back to the television, continuing to surf channels.

  A stout man appeared from the hallway, his dark hair cut short and his nose big. He wore a dirty light blue worker shirt that did just enough to hide a protruding front belly. He chewed on a cigar as he dropped something heavy on the kitchen counter, then flicked a light, shedding a fluorescent glare toward us.

  “Hey-ey-ey,” the man laughed in our direction. “There’s the girl.”

  Silas grumbled and sunk deeper into the couch.

  My mouth fell open and I stared, scratching lightly at my arm out of nervousness. The girl? I thought I should stand and maybe greet him, but Silas’s fingers gripped my side tighter and I wasn’t sure I wanted to pull away from him.

  “Hello,” I said softly in an effort to be polite.

  “Hello to you,” the man said, his heavy Greek accent making it difficult for me to understand. “Silas talked about a girl, but I wasn’t sure he didn’t mean the blond kid.”

  Did he mean Luke? “No, I’m...um...I guess...”

  “Dad,” Silas said, sitting up on the couch and releasing his hold on me, dropping his feet off of the table. “This is Sang Sorenson. Sang, this is my father, Charalampos Korba.”

  His father grinned and crossed the room to stand over me, holding out a hand. “Call me Charlie.”

  I dropped my hand in his. His was big, like Silas’s, but he was shorter than his son. It was hard to imagine the tall and powerful Silas and him being related. I fought for the proper words to say. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” There. That was what I was supposed to say, wasn’t it?

  “Oh,” Charlie said, an eyebrow going up as he shook my hand. He made a face at Silas and grinned at him. “Listen to that. She’s a very proper girl.”

  “Don’t start,” Silas said, giving him a glare.

  “What are you talking about? I haven’t said anything.” Charlie backed away, falling butt first into the well-worn leather armchair. He heaved a sigh, readjusting himself as he settled in. “Oh god, you don’t want to know the things I saw today, Si. I swear, no one in this town knows how to unclog a toilet. They always manage to make it worse.”

  “If they did know how to do it right, they wouldn’t need to call you,” Silas said.

  Charlie laughed, pulling the unlit cigar from his lips and shoving it into the front pocket of his work shirt. “You’re right about that. Keeps me busy.”

  A knock echoed through the room.

  “There’s dinner,” Silas said, standing up. He dropped a hand on top of my head, patting me as he brushed by, walking around his father to answer the front door.

  And my heart dropped in my chest. How dare he abandon me! I was tempted to jump up to go with him, but I couldn’t get myself to move. I clutched my arms around myself, over my legs. It might be improper to have my feet on the couch and I should lower them but I was too terrified to move at all.

  “Toss me that remote, love,” Charlie said, snapping and pointing to the remote Silas had left on the coffee table.

  The term he used for me caused me to blush, but the command was enough to get me to unfold. I grabbed the remote and stood up to cross to where I could place it in Charlie’s hand.

  He beamed up at me. “You are cute. How’d you meet my son?”

  I hesitated to figure out what to say, half hoping Silas would be back quickly to answer for me. “Um...well I met Kota and Victor and they introduced us.” Mostly true.

  “Oh,” he said, his voice dropping slightly, leaning over and his eyebrow shot up. “Are you...you know...from that fancy Academy? What’s it called? Greyson Academy?”

  It was called something? I didn’t know it had a name. I shook my head quickly. “No, I go to the public school.”

  His lips pursed and he nodded, sitting back. “Good. That’s where you should go. I tell my son that, but he got that scholarship and he says it’s a good opportunity. I said he should go get his wallops in at a public school. It’s good enough.”

  I had nothing to say to this, but I found it strange. Erica seemed to understand more about the Academy, even if she wasn’t told much. So not even their parents knew the inner workings. They just saw it as a private school. “It sounds like a nice place,” I said quietly.

  Charlie huffed, and waved his hand in the air. “All he does is school work. Never has time to help out his old man anymore. I tell him that he could make a good living if he just learned a useful skill, like plumbing. It’s all you need to do and you won’t waste your time or money on some degree. Look at all those kids out there now with large school debt and no job. That’s not a life. A trade is where the money is.”

  Silas returned, carrying a couple of bags into the kitchen. He placed them on the counter and started opening them, sorting out the containers.

  At hearing this, Charlie’s lips pursed again. His eyes fell on me, curious and amused. “So you are his girlfriend, right?” he asked in a louder tone. He was clearly trying to make sure Silas heard.

  My eyes went wide and I sought out Silas in the kitchen. He turned around toward the wall as if looking for something. I knew he’d heard his father. He was avoiding the question.

  “Yes,” I said, wanting to make Silas as uncomfortable as I was. If he was going to abandon me, I would try to embarrass him. He probably expected me to rattle off that we were just friends. Well, joke’s on you, buddy.

  Part of me secretly entertained the idea of claiming him. The other boys often sprung things on me, like not telling me until the last minute wit
h Uncle that I was with Luke. I enjoyed the turn around.

  Silas spun around in the kitchen, his dark eyes finding mine, his mouth open. Shock? Disbelief? I wasn’t sure which. Fair’s fair, though. Besides, he told that neighbor of his we were a couple.

  “Have you ever had a Greek boyfriend before?” Charlie asked.

  I knew this answer. “No, sir. He’s my first.” In more ways than one.

  “You’ll see,” Charlie said, beaming. “You go Greek, you won’t go back to any of those lazy American boyfriends.”

  I clamped my lips shut. I wasn’t sure how much Silas had told him about me but I didn’t really want to delve into details about how completely inexperienced I was.

  Silas cleared his throat, walking into the room with a collection of Styrofoam packages, plastic forks and a roll of paper towels under his arm. He deposited everything onto the coffee table, picking one of the containers back up and handing it over to his father. There were wafts of different spices, all mixing together.

  “Beer?” Charlie asked Silas as he opened the top.

  “We have Coke or water.”

  “I told you to get some,” Charlie said. “I work hard all day. I should be able to come home and have a cold beer.”

  Was Silas expected to get beer? He couldn’t buy it legally.

  Silas ignored this and turned to me, eyebrows going up. “Coke?”

  I shook my head. “Water, please.”

  Silas grinned, walking around to the kitchen again and coming back with two sodas and a water bottle. He passed one of the sodas to his father. Silas tried to walk around me to sit on the side further from his father, but I moved over, patting the spot on my left. He took the spot and I breathed a sigh, relieved. He felt like a shield. Not that I thought his father would do anything. He seemed nice and fun, but it was a little overwhelming. I thought maybe it was my stepmother’s influence. I couldn’t erase years of paranoid whispers overnight.

  I opened the water bottle, taking a gulp as Silas opened four of the food containers. My stomach started to growl smelling warm meats and a mix of spices I wasn’t familiar with. My eyes widened as Silas prepped the four containers in front of us.

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d like,” he said. “So I tried to get a little of everything.”

  “You haven’t taken her out for Greek food yet?” Charlie asked between bites.

  “I just got her some here,” Silas said, sounding agitated.

  Charlie looked to me. “Where’s he been taking you?”

  “Uh...” I said, unsure how to respond. “Well, we’ve been to the mall, swimming...mostly he comes to my house.”

  Silas shot me a look I didn’t understand. Well that’s what you get when you let me answer the questions, dum-dum.

  “He’s met your parents already?” Charlie asked, sounding impressed.

  “Y...yes,” I said quietly.

  Silas grunted, opening his soda.

  Charlie laughed. “Going kind of fast with this one, aren’t you Silas? When were you going to tell me she was your girlfriend?”

  Silas rolled his eyes and then focused on me, pointing out the different dishes in front of us. “There’s gyros, shawarma, moussaka, kibbi...” he said. “Try some. Tell me what you like.”

  I bit my lip, leaning forward and feeling awkward, but speared a piece of gyro with a fork and ate it. A blend of onion and garlic melted with the meat in my mouth. It was heavenly. When I swallowed, I asked, “What’s a gyro?”

  “Lamb,” Silas said, forking his own piece and eating it.

  I swallowed again, my eyes wide. Baby sheep? Why not full grown sheep? Why sheep?

  Silas smirked. “Good?”

  I nodded. I couldn’t lie. It was great. I pushed the idea of baby sheep out of my mind. “What’s shawarma?” I asked, spearing a piece but holding it before he told me it was kitten or puppy.

  “Chicken,” he said.

  I ate it. It was good, different, but I liked the gyro better, which I hated to admit.

  Silas remained patient with me, explaining the different foods and what was in them. After every new bite, his eyes remained on me, as if trying to figure out which were my favorites based on my facial expressions. In the end, I knew gyros were my favorite, and there was a delicious cream sauce that went with it that I liked.

  After I ate, I curled up against Silas, my arms around my stomach as I felt too full to move. Charlie found a sports channel and watched the news recap of events of the day and talking about the upcoming games. The lull of people talking along with Silas’s warmth caused me to start to nod off. To wake myself up, I sat up and stretched, but a yawn escaped me.

  Silas grinned at me. “That sounds like a plan.”

  “She’s sleeping here?” Charlie asked.

  My eyes bugged out at Silas. He didn’t know? That made sense, I supposed, considering he seemed surprised earlier to see me at all. I wasn’t going to let him make me answer this one.

  “Yup,” Silas said, ignoring me and squaring off with Charlie. “Problem?”

  I held my breath.

  Charlie didn’t answer, but he grinned in a way that sent a chill through my spine.

  “Shut up,” Silas said, starting to pick up leftover containers. I got up to help, wanting to be useful and also not wanting to be alone with Charlie anymore. He was sweet but that knowing grin made my heart go into full panic. I couldn’t think. This wasn’t normal for a lot of parents, and I shoved a hand over my cheeks, pretending to rub it while hiding my blushing.

  I rushed behind Silas into the kitchen where he stuffed the leftovers into the fridge, already packed with other takeout containers.

  “You cook awesome,” I said.

  Silas smirked at me, closing the fridge and poking me in the stomach. “Get your ass moving.”

  I laughed.

  He nudged me toward the second hallway and to his bedroom. My heart tripped over itself at this. His dad knew I was there, and was okay with me sleeping there...and in his room. That alone was scary.

  As we approached his bedroom, a door further down the dark hallway opened. Out stepped a figure, a skinny, tall shadow that I could tell was male. The thin veil of smoke I’d smelled earlier increased a hundredfold now. I swallowed to keep myself from coughing.

  Silas stiffened behind me, and stared down the figure in the doorway. I looked at him, trying to spot details, but it was too dark. The person stepped backward into his room again, closing the door.

  “Silas,” I whispered.

  “Forget it,” he said, opening his bedroom door for me.

  “But who was it?” I asked, stepping in the room and turning around to look at him.

  “My brother,” Silas said.

  My eyes widened. “Oh.” Was he home the whole time? “Is he hungry? Should we tell him there’s leftovers?”

  “He’ll eat if he wants,” Silas said. He huffed, but shook it off, smiling at me. “Don’t worry about him. He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

  I pursed my lips, following his lead, but wondering why his brother didn’t greet Silas or come out. Was he shy?

  And why did it feel like Silas didn’t want me to know about him?

  Boyfriends and Girlfriends

  Silas found a large cotton baseball jersey for me to sleep in. I changed in the bathroom up the hallway, taking my time to brush my teeth and wash my face. Sleeping in Silas’s room had my insides rattling again. This was no longer a tease on the couch. This was something more. Intimate. This was something Charlie grinned about and might cause North to watch, wanting to hit the emergency button.

  As it was, I was wearing just the shirt he gave me, and a pair of dark blue satin panties. The only comfortable shorts I had to sleep in were still wet. The jersey covered me enough that it would have covered shorts anyway. It looked like I wasn’t wearing any, but looking like I wasn’t wearing shorts and actually not wearing them were two very different things.

  I peeked out of the bath
room, wanting to avoid colliding with Charlie or Silas’s brother. I tiptoed barefoot to Silas’s room, slipping inside and quickly shutting the door behind me.

  Silas was still dressed. The room was cleaned up a little, our phones sitting on the nightstand together. He was fixing the bed, straightening the blanket on top. He turned when I dropped the book bag by the door. His eyes slipped over me in the shirt. He paused in his movements and his lips parted.

  My cheeks heated up, and I pressed my thighs together where I stood.

  He straightened, pointing to the bed. “Hop in.”

  My heart was thumping so hard, I could have fallen over. I shuffled across the floor until I was near the bed. I double-checked with him, and he jerked his head toward the pillows: a second one had been added. I climbed on, knee walking over until I was on one side. I took the side furthest from the door, holding the blanket away and slipping in underneath.

  As I got in, the shirt I was wearing slid up my hips. I threw the blanket over myself at the same time for some cover, bringing it up over my shoulder and settling in. When I put my head down, I forgot I was wearing the hair clip, so I sat up and took it out. I shook my head to let my hair fall over my shoulders, leaning over to put the clip on the nightstand.

  Silas watched me the entire time like he was waiting for me to settle. I did, eventually, put my head to the pillow and waited. He moved to his bedroom door, throwing the lock and hitting the light switch by the door, casting us into the dark.

  There was a glow from a streetlight outside shining into the room, acting like a dull night light and letting me adjust my sight quickly. Silas approached the bed, yanked his shirt up over his body and tossed it to the floor.

  And then he turned slightly away from me and slowly stripped off his jeans.

  My heart tripped over itself. It was dark, so I mostly got outlines, but I was wondering why he turned away like he did.

  Silas in his boxers. I shouldn’t have been too intimidated. I’d seen Nathan and slept in the bed next to him while he wore only boxers. Silas did the same, but the other boys had been around. Right now, though, this was his bedroom, and we were alone.