The three Gothscould only stare at her, dumbfounded and at a loss for words.Crispin pretty much rolled his eyes while Dorian raised his piercedeyebrow contemplatively.
Kell nodded thoughtfully and then frowned. Was she serious? Orwas this an act to gain their pity? Whatever it was, it was workingon him, atleast.
“Why do you want to live here, Rebecca?” Dorian asked, tiltinghis head. “I mean, you do realize that you’d be sharing a housewith three guys, right?”
She frowned abit and looked a little conflicted over the matter. It hadn’treally crossed her mind at the time, that it would be a problem.After all, there had been strange guys coming and going from thedorm all the time. At least here, with these guys, she figured theywould eventually get used to each other.
“Call me Becky, please. Rebecca just sounds too formal,” shesaid with a reluctant smile. “As for your question, I guess Ihadn’t really given it much thought. The fact is, I really justwant to move out of the dorm. It’s not a very pleasant place tolive. It’s very cold and impersonal. Besides, I felt a littleunsafe over there,” she explained, looking pointedly atKell.
The thought ofher being unsafe curdled Kell’s insides terribly. To his credit, heremained mostly expressionless, except for the barely detectabletwitch of his right eyebrow.
“Kelley seemed nice enough. When I noticed him putting up thead in the student services office, I didn’t see the harm in givinghim a call.”
Kell inwardly winced at the way she’d said his name.Kelley… No one evercalled him that anymore. He was Kell. He was cold, hard,unapproachable and undeniably Goth. Yet somehow, coming from her,it sounded… right.
“Fine, Becky, I get that. But did you realize at the time, thatyou’d be sharing a house with the three of us? Surely you musthave. It said so right in the ad,” Dorian explained with a worriedfrown. “Won’t that be… uncomfortable for you?”
“No, not really… should it?” she asked warily.
The three ofthem couldn’t help but chuckle and exchange knowing glances.
“Well, I should think so,” Crispin said, giving his head aquick shake, waving his hand over her in a dismissive manner. “Imean look at us… we’re Goth. You are not. You wear blue jeans andHello Kitty pyjamas, for Pete’s sake. Besides, you’re a girl. Howin the world do you believe this can work?”
“I don’t mind that you’re Goth. To be honest, I don’t see it asan issue.” She shrugged, glancing down at her pink pyjamas.Self-consciously shuffling in her seat, she unwittingly flipped upher shirt to better study it, inadvertently showing off asignificant flash of belly button. “What’s wrong with HelloKitty?”
Her innocenceand obvious naivety cracked the three dumbfounded Goths up to thepoint where even Crispin had to leave the room for a moment togather his wits.
“What’s so funny?” she asked with a wary smile, wanting in onthe joke. It had been so long since she had a reason tolaugh.
She was serious, wasn’t she? Kell couldn’t help but befascinated by this girl’s total lack of awareness of howpotentially dangerous a situation she could be putting herself in.Watching her sitting there in her silly PJs, so at ease with thethree of them, three virtual strangers, he was suddenly glad thatit was he whom she’d attached herself to. At least here with him,she’d be safe. From harm anyway.He suddenly cringed at the thought of her showingup on someone else’s doorstep.
Eventually,after he stopped laughing, Dorian continued. “Where do you comefrom, sweetheart? Your hometown, I mean.”
“Toronto…” she said wistfully.
“Toronto? So why then come all the way out here to Kingston?You could have gone to OCAD,” Kell commented, perplexed. He too,originated from Toronto, three years ago. At the time, he had beenrecently orphaned. With too many memories haunting him and havinghad enough of the big city scene, he applied to KingstonUniversity. After being accepted, he had moved out here and boughtthis old Victorian home with his inheritance, hoping to rent it outto fellow students. Then along came Crispin, and Dorian.
Just the factthat they were curious about her reasons for being in Kingston,warmed Becky’s heart. Finally, here was someone who cared enough toask.
“You’re right, it does sound odd. But you see, I received avery generous scholarship to attend Kingston University. InToronto, I was living with my granny until recently when she had tosell her house. She’s getting older and more frail. Consequently,she needed to move into a retirement facility. She didn’t want meto feel obligated to take care of her. She wanted me to go off tocollege so that I could live my own life,” she frowned as she saidthe last part. “Gran often talks about her own college experiencewith such fond memories. I think she wanted me to have the samebut…”
“But what? Don’t leave us hanging, love.” By now Kell wascompletely enraptured by her story.
“It’s not been that nice an experience for me,” she admittedwith a frown. “It’s been… lonely.” She had to stop when her lipsstarted to quiver.
“Dear God, this can’t be happening,” Crispin said, burying hisface in his hands.
“Shut it, Crisp.” Dorian elbowed him in the ribs.
“Wow…” Kell raised his eyebrows, dragging his hands over hisface. How in the world was he supposed to remain unaffected by suchan admission?
Needing to voice her concerns, she stifled her emotions andcontinued. “I, uh… I don’t know my way around very well. I took ataxi here. I’ve already checked out of the dorm. I don’t haveanywhere else to go. Please,just let me stay here,” she begged, forcing hervoice to remain stable.
“Now hold on just a minute, sweetheart,” Crispin snapped. “Thislittle lost kitten act of yours will not work. It simply will notwork!”
Averting hereyes from Crispin’s accusatory glare, Becky looked to Kell andDorian for some form of support, but on their faces, she only sawexpressions of turmoil and distress.
“I can pay you. I have money from my scholarship. I’ll simplyredirect the funds. Please…”
“That’s not the point, love,” Kell finally said, inchingforward on the couch. “It’s not merely about the rent. It’s aboutyou living here with us.”
“I know that part already. I’ve told you it doesn’t bother methat you are Goths. There were lots of
