Page 7 of The Fall Before the Heat

“Are you okay? Is everyone still alive?” I whispered back.

“Yeah. The house is gone-gone, though,” Del choked out the words.

“I’m so sorry, Del,” I said, pushing myself upright.

“Me too. I mean, your house and all, right?” He said, trying to muster up enough stability to make it sound like less of a big deal.

“Right,” I nodded again. “Mine too.”

“How did you do it?” He asked.

“Do what?” I whispered.

“Ever do anything again.”

“Del, I’m sure it was a great house – a lovely house even. It was home and it held memories, but it was still just a house compared to your family.”

“But what right do they have to do this?” Del sobbed again.

“They don’t have the right to do this. That’s why there’s a war going on,” I said, keeping my voice level.

“Where do we go when we finish here?” He asked, choking on his words.

Most guys cried because they missed home or their girlfriends or boyfriends or their dogs. They cried about things that would get better with time. Time wouldn’t fix this. Time would never rewind and give Del back the things war had stolen from him.

“Look, it’ll be okay,” I said, trying to sound more hopeful than I felt. “We’re roommates now. I know we don’t really know each other, but that’s sorta like being a pack, right? So, if there’s no home to go to after the war, you’ll just come with me. I’ll get an internship somewhere. Maybe we’ll have to live tail to tail in a studio apartment until we figure things out, but you won’t bewithout a place to lay your head. I’m sure your family will have a new house by then, but if they don’t that’s what you can do. You can just come with me. It’ll probably feel like a shack, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

Del drew in a sharp breath, and I pressed my hand against the wall. Even after living together for weeks, we were virtual strangers. Still, something inside me ached because he ached. Usually, I stopped the crying of my roommates to get some sleep, but this was different. I meant every word I said. Del and I lived together this long without getting on each other’s nerves too much. Why not longer if he needed help?

“You’re just saying that because you want me to stop crying,” Del sniffled.

“No, I’m not. I mean it,” I said.

“You don’t smell like a lie,” Del said.

“Because I’m not lying,” I chuckled and shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.

“But why?” He asked.

That was the five-million-dollar question and I wasn’t sure of the answer.

“Hey, did you eat dinner?” I changed the subject.

“No.”

I almost asked why, but the answer was because I didn’t cook dinner. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Del didn’t grocery shop. He ate the food in the cafeteria from breakfast and lunch when it was open. That was included in tuition. I hadn’t seen him go hunting either, but I wasn’t always around. I never begrudged him dinner because I liked the company when our schedules lined up to eat together and I’d always told my roommates they could have leftovers from the fridge. Mostly, I bunked with other scholarship guys in the past.

I grabbed my phone, checked my student account, and smiled to myself.

“Hey, do you want to order in Mama Dragon’s?” I asked.

“I’m okay.”

“I’m paying,” I said, trying not to sigh at him.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure, Del. I’m hungry and don’t want to eat alone.”

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