Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
The human didn’t seem to notice. His face had grown red, and he stared at his battered sneakers. “No. He was talking about how noisy his dorm is and how hard it is to study there. I might have mentioned that the house I’m living in is quiet, despite having so many roommates.” Luke lifted his eyes to Azroth. “He might have hinted that he’d like to see where I lived, but I told him I’d have to clear it with my landlord and roommates first.”
Chaos exploded within the room. So much for the quiet house that he lived in. The floor shook under the combined weight of Tog and Bath’tuk dancing around. However, the rattling of the windows and the slamming of the various doors was likely from the house eavesdropping on their conversation. It wanted to celebrate Luke’s good news as well.
Azroth rubbed his brow as all the other demons began talking at the same time about ideas they had for making sure that Luke won Matteo’s heart.
“Candles! Humans love candles! We need to fill the house with candles!” Mullmag argued.
“That’s too much fire. Humans burn easy. Dinner. Feed the humans. They find sharing a meal romantic!” Tog shouted back. “Luke, do you think blue eyes or brown eyes taste best? We can make a casserole with eyes and lots of crunchy bits.”
“You can’t feed humans eyeballs!” Ogos snarled. “The most successful way to win a human’s heart is to get him drunk. We need to stock up on bottles of wine. The red kind.”
“What if we scare Matteo a tiny bit and give Luke the chance to rescue Matteo from a scary thing?” Annod murmured.
Azroth nodded. That wasn’t a bad idea. Just a little scare could send Matteo running straight into Luke’s arms, giving Luke the chance to play the role of the protector.
Except he could feel Luke’s hard, narrowed eyes on him. Luke did not look pleased with that idea. Maybe these suggestions were not the direction he had been thinking.
“No, please,” Luke said, lifting his voice to a shout above all their ruckus. “There’s no reason to rush anything. I can count on one hand the number of times Matteo and I have had a conversation. What if he’s not gay? Even if he is, what if I’m not his type? What if he’s not my type?”
Azroth sighed. Luke was bringing up some excellent arguments, which he didn’t appreciate. He and the other demons wanted to get to the point where they were convincing Matteo to fall in love with Luke. That was the fun stuff.
“He’s not gay?” Annod whispered, sounding heartbroken.
“Can we make him gay?” Tog asked.
“What?” Luke screeched loud enough to almost shatter glass. “No, you can’t do that! I don’t know what kind of magic you guys have, but you can’t force someone’s sexual orientation. That’s wrong. Matteo is probably gay. He gives off that kind of vibe, and I thought I heard he was dating someone on the men’s soccer team, but they’ve since split up.”
“I don’t understand his not being your type. Or you not being his type,” Mullmag interjected. “He’s a man, and you like men. Does there need to be more?”
“And how can Luke not be Matteo’s type? Our Luke is perfect!” Bath’tuk shouted.
“Agreed,” Ogos chimed in.
“Luke is smart and funny.”
“He laughs at horror movies!”
“He’s thoughtful!”
“Maybe this Matteo isn’t good enough for our Luke!”
Luke propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. The tips of Luke’s ears were growing bright red, and the coloring was spilling down across his cheeks. However, Azroth was more inclined to believe the humble man was embarrassed rather than angry at the demons’ enthusiastic words.
Azroth waved a hand and conjured a cold bottle of water from the refrigerator. He stretched out and held it within Luke’s line of sight. The young man jerked upright and stared at the bottle for a moment before looking at Azroth.
“Sorry. We’re a bit overeager. We’re not trying to harm you or Matteo. This idea of romance and the dating process is very new to us,” Azroth stated in a calm, even tone.
“Thanks.” He accepted the water and cracked the seal as he twisted off the cap. “I think maybe we should approach this first encounter as a sort of fact-finding mission. My job is to discover whether he’s interested in me romantically, or if he only wants to be friends. If it’s the latter, we have to come up with a new contest for you. You’re not allowed to punish Matteo if he’s not romantically interested in me. I would be sad, but it’s understandable. Yet, if it’s the former, we can come up with ideas to win him over.”
“I really hope it’s the first one,” Mullmag murmured.
They all did. Of course, there was the argument that if Matteo was simply looking for a friend, they could still “help” him fall in love with Luke, but he doubted Luke would support that kind of coercion.