Housemates – 8

Kogan waited for Vinny to get ready for church.  He wondered if she knew she was starting to smell like werewolf.  Derick had aspirations. Kogan wasn’t sure what to think of that.

 

“You know, if there is one thing I really appreciate about getting a ride to church on your bike it is the excuse not to have to wear a dress every single time.” Vinny declared, pulling on the new leather jacket he had bought just for this very purpose.

 

Kogan snorted.  For how good her ass looked in the leather pants he was sure she was making half the congregation sin just walking to the place.  Not that the cute dresses she swished around her thighs had been any better. He wasn’t about to point that out.

 

She was watching him thoughtfully.  “Did you go to mass every week before you promised my mom to drive me?”

 

“Yes.” He tossed her a helmet.

 

She caught it but looked nervous.  “Why?” she asked, then quickly added, “I mean… look, the catholic church is very clear that you… that non humans don’t have a soul.  It isn’t even like the homophobia where they just won’t let people in the club, they don’t even consider you people.”

 

“I know.”

 

“So, why?” her face was red and she was fidgeting with the helmet and looking at the floor.

 

“Why do you?  I know you don’t agree with the abortion policy.  Or the homophobia.”

 

Vinny just shrugged.  “Because it’s what my family does on Sunday.  I can follow mass on autopilot and just ignore it until it is after mass hospitality.”

 

Kogan nodded, “I like the architecture and the music and someone has to keep an eye on what the local humie population is saying about us.”

 

“You have a rosary tattoo.  That seems pretty committed.”

 

Now he chuckled, “Orcs are matrilinear.  The rosary is a nice reminder that christianity has an unacknowledged goddess that people worship and pretend it is different than the heathens.”

 

Vinny nodded solemnly.

 

“You and Derick.” Kogan said it simply and waited for her to respond.  All he got was a raised eyebrow. “How is that going to work?”

 

“I don’t know.  We will have to wait and see.”

 

“What I mean is, premarital sex is a big no-no in the church.  And that is where he is headed. If you aren’t you need to tell him that soon.”

 

Vinny sighed.  “That is a much longer discussion and we are going to be late.”

 

———

 

After church, Kogan made a stop at a coffee shop.  He paid too much for a coffee and bought her a too sweet, too creamy monstrosity masquerading as a coffee variation.  He also picked out a couple of panini. Once they were at the table, he took a swig of his drink. “I have time for that discussion now.  And we aren’t somewhere your family or mine can over hear us.”

 

Vinny blinked, “Kogan?  Is this the shovel talk?”

 

He sipped his coffee again, “I haven’t decided which one of you needs that yet.”

 

“OK,” she started, then stopped and chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment.  “Look, philosophically speaking, before birth-control abstinence was the only way to control STIs and pregnancy.  Sex was inherently dangerous when dying in childbirth was a thing and their weren’t even antibiotics. Never mind all that bullshit about … well, being patrilinear and men being worried about continuing their genetic line.”  She stopped long enough to take a drink and unwrap her sandwich. Then in a rush she said, “None of those reasons are actually relevant anymore,” before taking a big bite of her panini so that she couldn’t keep talking with her mouth full.

 

Kogan considered this.  “That is the philosophical argument.  How does it apply to you and Derick?”

 

“I don’t know what I’m doing with Derick.  I like him, he’s a great guy. We haven’t exactly made it to the sleep over point yet.  It means that if we do get there, you can be damned sure I will take precautions.”

 

Kogan nodded.  “I understand what you are saying, but he has already slept on your bed.  Just because he looks different doesn’t mean it isn’t him. You don’t owe him anything, but if this is a ‘let’s be friends’ situation it would be good to make sure he knows that.”

 

Vinny blinked.  “Yeah. I guess I need to think about things.”

 

“Flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t really work when you are going to end up still living in the same house with him if things go bad,”  Kogan pointed out. The coffee really was crap, but the sandwich was good.

 

Vinny was chewing while looking out the window with a slight frown.

 

“Finish up and we will head back to the house.”

 

Vinny nodded and popped the last bite of sandwich in her mouth.  After she swallowed she said, “If you had a car, it would have a cup holder.”

 

Kogan laughed, “If you had a car, you wouldn’t need to complain about my bike.”

 

Vinny’s face went carefully blank and she looked away.  Kogan realized that if she had a car, she wouldn’t need to work for them.  She took a long drink from her coffee then reached across the table and took the sunglasses he had hanging on his shirt.  She put them on and tossed her hair and said, “Let ride.”

 

Kogan shook his head and laughed again.

 

——

 

Vinny was young.  Orcs age differently than humans and Kogan was having to constantly remind himself that Vinny was young.  He hoped she was old enough to recognize how the werewolf’s eyes lit up as soon as she walked into a room.  She wouldn’t have anyway to compare before, but Kogan had certainly noticed that Derick was a lot more social since she had moved in.    Derick was an odd duck. Werewolves needed to be part of a pack and while Kogan had never gotten the whole story, he knew there was lots of bad blood between the local pack and Derick.  Petty childish stuff like them making fun of his tattoo. And that time they had egged the house. Derick wouldn’t have pressed charges, but Bazur owned the place and he had no hesitation.

 

Of course that hadn’t helped Derick’s situation.

 

“How was service?  Do you feel all holy?” Derick asked her as they came into the foyer.

 

Kogan snorted.  

 

Vinny laughed, “So holy.  Wanna watch a movie and drink beer until I get over it?”

 

Derick grinned, “I could handle that.”

 

Kogan still hadn’t decided who needed the shovel talk.  Maybe he should pull the pup aside and have a quiet word later.