Love from, Hell

Malcolm pulled up to another motel. This one was a little nicer than the previous one. Julie got out of the car and followed him inside. Malcolm walked up to the front desk. Julie stood tentatively beside him.

“We’d like two rooms please,” Malcolm requested.

The man behind the desk looked up at Malcolm then at Julie. He looked at his computer. “We’re a little short on rooms. Spring break and all,” the man said.

Malcolm frowned slightly. “Do you have any available rooms?” he asked, impatience creeping into his voice.

The man pushed his glasses up his nose. “You are in luck. We do have one room left,” he said, a slight smirk on his face.

Malcolm quickly handed him a credit card with colors that Julie didn’t recognize. When the transaction was complete, the man handed them two room keys. Malcolm again ignored the elevator and ascended the stairs. Julie followed him. He found the room with no trouble on the 3rd floor. He unlocked the room and stepped in. Julie followed him then turned pink.

No wonder the man at the front desk had been smiling. They had requested two separate rooms and the only room available was one with one bed. A double bed- meant for two people to share. And the small room clearly held no pull out couch, or any other seating furniture. Malcolm didn’t even bat an eyelash and he dropped the key on to the side table.

“I guess you’re hungry,” Malcolm said. It was a statement more than a question.

Julie swallowed and tried to ignore the bed that was the elephant in the room. “And I guess you’re not,” she said.

Malcolm smiled a little. Julie had to remember to keep breathing when he let out those small smiles. He went to the table and opened the door. In the drawer was a Holy Bible, a small box of tissues and a stack of take out menus. Malcolm hesitated for a fraction of a second, his hand lingering above the drawer, and then he reached in and pulled out the take out menus.

“Pick something,” he said and held them out to her.

Julie sat on the carpet and leaned against the side bed and began looking through the take out menus. Malcolm sat on the bed carefully and turned on the decrepit looking TV and watched the news that blared out on the first channel.

Julie selected a Chinese food pamphlet. Chow mien sounded pretty good and the one dish wasn’t too expensive. She looked over at the telephone that was on the bed side table next to Malcolm. Malcolm followed her look and handed her the phone without her asking. Julie tried to not smile at that fact as she took the phone.

The small card taped to the cradle said that hotel charged them 2 dollars a local call. Julie picked up the phone and called the restaurant. A very harassed sounding Chinese woman answered the phone. Julie put in her order and read the address of the motel off the plastic card and gave her their room number.

Once she hung up, Julie handed the phone back to Malcolm and then tucked her knees against her chest. She tried to watch the news but it was hard to concentrate with Malcolm sitting on the bed his legs stretched out near her face. From her peripheral peaks at him, Julie could see that Malcolm looked a little strange, leaning against the headboard. Seeing him in a relaxed position was… odd. Not bad, but still strange. Whether he really was relaxed was anyone’s guess.

After 25 long minutes of pretending to watch boring new stories, the phone rang. Malcolm answered it, said ‘ok’, then hung up.

“I’ll go get the food,” he said and slid off the bed and out the door.

Julie took this opportunity to stand up and get her blood circulating again. She sat on the foot of the bed and stretched her legs. Malcolm returned with her food.

“Here,” he said and handed the carton of food to her.

Julie slid on to the floor and opened the carton. The dish of chow mien was bigger than she’d anticipated and there were two sets of chopsticks. Julie crossed her legs in front of her and pulled the tin lid off the food. It smelled great.

“You want some?” Julie offered just in case, glancing quickly up at Malcolm.

To her surprise, he paused, as though thinking about it. Then to her even more intense surprise, he sat fluidly beside her, copying the way she sat. Julie stared at him, even in the dim lamp light and bland motel setting, he was still indescribably handsome. He glanced at her expectantly. Julie rested the dish on her knee closest to him and handed him the extra set of chopsticks. He took the chopsticks, holding it in his palm instead of his fingers.

Julie felt embarrassed for staring at him and looked away, down at the food. She scooped up some noodles and popped them in her mouth. It was really good but hotter than she anticipated. It burned her tongue a little and she swallowed it quickly, making an awkward gulping sound. Julie glanced at Malcolm, checking to see if he’d witnessed her embarrassing display.

Malcolm was looking at her, but he hadn’t seemed to notice the way she’d choked on her food. He looked… a little confused.

“What’s up?” Julie asked timidly.

Malcolm looked away at the TV. “Nothing,” he said. She watched him put the chopsticks down on the edge of the dish.

“I’m not that hungry,” he explained quickly.

Julie felt her face flush and she looked toward the wall in front of her. She slowly put more food in her mouth and chewed it as quietly as possible. She hadn’t realized that her stupid hot food gulp had been that disgusting. But… she was pretty sure it hadn’t been so overly gross. She glanced at Malcolm then down at the food. Suddenly she remembered the way he’d held the chopsticks and had a flash of intuition.

Julie sighed, trying not to smile like an idiot. Malcolm looked at her.

“Do you… know how to use chopsticks?” she asked him shyly, trying not to smile too much.

Malcolm lifted his chin sharply and Julie felt stupid. What a dumb question. As if there was anything Malcolm didn’t know how to do-

“No,” Malcolm answered finally.

Julie looked at him, keeping her surprise at his answer in check. It was hard to tell if he was embarrassed or if he was open to learning how to use the utensils. He was a good actor most of the time.

“Here,” Julie said, deciding to take a try at teaching him, and handed him his chopsticks again. “Hold one between your index finger and your middle finger and balance the other on your thumb,” she instructed and held up the way she held her chopsticks.

Malcolm copied her perfectly.

“K, bring your fingers together and make the ends pinch,” she said and demonstrated the motion.

Again, Malcolm did this flawlessly.

“Alright the tricky part is picking up the food,” she said.

Malcolm lowered the chopsticks and pinched at some noodles. He did it too loosely and the noodles fell out when he tried to pick them up. He tried again gripping it harder but then messing up his hold on the chopsticks and dropping the noodles. She bit her lip to keep from smiling when he growled very quietly with frustration. Malcolm stabbed at the noodles and his hold on the chopsticks was now completely wrong.

“Here,” Julie said with a quiet chuckle. She reached over to try to mold his hand into the correct position. The moment she touched his fingers, she felt a jolt of electric attraction and her skin tingled. Malcolm moved his hand a fraction under her fingers. Julie pulled her hand back, losing her focus on the task.

“Um… see?” she said, trying to calm herself by demonstrating again how to hold the chopsticks instead of touching him.

Malcolm copied her. Julie slowly with exaggerated movement lowered the chopsticks and pinched some noodles. Malcolm did as she did. She lifted the chopsticks to her mouth but then stopped to watch Malcolm take his first bite of food. How was it possible for someone to eat beautifully? Malcolm’s impressive jaw line became more defined while he chewed. When he swallowed she snapped out of her trance.

“So, you do require nourishment to live after all?” she joked gently.

Malcolm threw her a dark glance that Julie somehow knew wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously. She smiled to herself and ate her own noodles.