Page 57 of All That Remains
We moved on and I followed close, studying the gorgeous cross tattoo that ran down the length of his neck. It was his best ink, in my opinion—aside from the large Atlas shouldering the globe that graced his left bicep—lending an understated elegance to the hard-wired outer shell.
"That’s just a toilet," he flung the door open to a nearby bathroom and I caught a whiff of its piney air-freshener and expensive soap. "The spare room's over here." It was a modestly sized guest space furnished with a leather recliner and a double bed of dark linen. "Me cousins are always fightin' over who gets to stay in here."
We entered the master suite and he spun around to gauge my reaction. I could tell he was as pleased with this renovation as he was with the space-themed smokeroom, having taken care to furnish them with eccentric art.
"Home sweet home," he exhaled, tossing his arms out.
"Holy shit, it'smassive."
We refrained from making a'that's what she said'joke and laughed instead. It was funnier unvoiced.
"Incredible, Rome. I’ve never seen a room like this!"
"I sorta did that. It used to be two rooms..."
"Unbelievable..." I strode from one side of the room to the other. "Fuck’s sake...there's so much space in here—"
"Foractivities!" he finished myStepbrothersreference with a lazy chuckle. Our voices echoed from either side of the room in a commotion.
"HELLOOO!" I shouted.
"YOOOO!" he replied.
I wondered briefly what it would sound like if we made love in there. We were both pretty vocal, but I shook the thought from my mind and followed him towards the front of the house. He made a concerted effort to pass one last door without drawing notice to it, but I pressed him on it.
"What's this one?"
"Nothin'. Just storage. Used to be the game room."
"Oh yeah?" I inched toward it, pretending I would slip inside.
"Nothin' to see here," he chuckled. "Just some old books and shit."
"Mate, c'mon...it's me," I insisted. “I know there’s something weird in there…”
"You haven't changed a bit, have you? Nosey as hell."
"It's my strong suit," I smirked, trying to use my dimples to my advantage. "C’mon…what's inside?"
“I dunno…”
"Somethingextraweird, innit? SomeFifty Shadesshit? Kill room?"
"This is a Christian household,” he said with a playful sternness, slipping past me.
"Ah c’mon!"
One room led into another in big communal spaces with barely any halls, presenting few obstacles to seeing directly into the next room at any given time. It bore that coveted indoor-outdoor California living. Floor-to-ceiling doors that pocketed into the walls permitted tons of natural light in the lounge, where the sun-drenched yard served as picturesque backdrop.
The yard put me in mind of a 60s commune. A universe unto itself. A leafy, undisturbed glade independent of the outside world. I feared I might contaminate it somehow. Rome stepped from the covered patio onto the lawn, spreading his arms like a hippie cult leader. The yard before him was expansive and terraced, built into the side of a large hill with stucco steps and white walls demarcating the levels. He had spraypainted nearly every inch of the walls.
"I'm in love with this place," I said, following him up the hillside stairs towards the roof.
"It's small, innit?"
"I don't think so. It's perfect. The privacy? The yard?" He met my eyes and sort of lifted his brows. "I like that everything in the house is one-level, but the yard is endless."
"Me too...that's what got me to sign at the end of the day. The agent kept tellin’ me it was a steal...and I suppose she was right."
