Shelter me (Sean)

[Marnie Sullivan]

Backdated to Saturday, August 1st, 2015

Marnie hadn't argued when her parents vetoed the idea of living in a dorm for her freshman year at college (college! already!). What was the point? She just considered herself lucky they were letting her go to college at all. Marnie's parents were never all that strict growing up - they hadn't needed to be. But after her screwup in March, even with her graduation to celebrate, she knew they were hesitant to trust her on her own. Which, well, could she blame them?

If it weren't obvious enough, spending the summer trapped in their tiny apartment in Maine meant Marnie couldn't help overhearing every conversation her mother and father had, even behind closed doors. Sleep could be difficult when your bed was a couch and one room over your parents were arguing in hushed tones that rose in frustration before being shushed again. What kind of security did the University of Vermont have on campus? What kind of trouble could she get into? What if her neighbors were partiers? It was too late to apply to a school in Maine, they couldn't make her wait a year to start school there, they'd have to find another place to live! And on and on. 

By the end of July, after a lot of back-and-forth and nobody getting as much sleep as they should, they'd made their decision: No more dorms.

But as wary of the dorms as they were, Marnie's parents liked the idea of her sleeping on the street even less, so there was still the question of where she would live. Friday night her father scoured online listings; Saturday morning came with a bookmarked collection of places he'd deemed acceptable and instructions for her to call with inquiries ("You need to be involved, you could use a little responsibility.").

The first two listings were no luck; straight to voicemail. Reading off the screen, Marnie dialed the third listing's number. With the phone ringing in her ear, she scrolled back through the photos posted; this place looked like it would be more comfortable than a dorm anyway. But most places would be, wouldn't they?

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Because Sean wasn’t a controlling person, he wasn’t in the habit of answering Josh’s cell phone, just as Josh wasn’t in the habit of answering the telepath’s. The difference between them, of course, came from the fact that Hammel called Sean’s cell phone for emergencies at times, while Josh didn’t give out his personal number to clients; all of those went straight to the younger man’s office. Answering Josh’s phone was safer, because there ran no risk of violating confidentiality.

In some ways, Sean yearned for the 1980s and early 1990s, before cell phones, so that nobody could disturb them on a Saturday morning while they were out. Such yearnings were fleeting.

Yet Josh was at Temple, and he had left his phone with Sean that morning before stepping inside, so as not to disturb the congregation during services. By contrast, the telepath had tended to an errand in Burlington and now sat in a café with an iced coffee and a crueler, waiting to pick up his partner. When the phone rang, he answered it, prepared to tell whoever was on the other line that Josh was indisposed but would get back to them later that day.

Bringing the phone to his ear, he answered, “Hello?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

Here we go, someone who actually answers their phone -

Wait a minute.

"...Ah, yes, hi!" Marnie said, clearing her throat and reeling herself back in after a confused freeze. The voice on the other end had only said one word; why would he be familiar? She didn't recognize the house or the phone number, maybe he just sounded like someone she knew.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had never particularly cared for speaking on the telephone. Not due to any Luddite beliefs or technophobia, but simply due to the fact that his powers didn’t work over the telephone, and he preferred face-to-face (or mind-to-mind) communication for that reason alone. As well as because he liked to read facial expression and body language in addition to tone and word choice when having a conversation.

Despite the disadvantage of the telephone, he also recognized her voice. However, he would wait to confirm that, by finding out why she had called his partner in the first place. “May I help you?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

One advantage to talking on the phone, however, was that if the other person can't see your face, they can't see how red it's turning.

"Dr. Neville!" Marnie sputtered. "I'm, I'm sorry, I think I might have called the wrong number. Sorry to bother you, have a nice day, sorry!" She hung up without waiting for a response, which was rude but not quite as rude as accidentally bothering your old school psychiatrist on a weekend, maybe.

It took a moment to recompose herself, but she had a job to do. It was just a phone call. No big deal. Double- and triple-checking against the number on the screen, Marnie dialed again.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Marnie had apologized and hung up so quickly that Sean hadn’t had the opportunity to assure her that he wasn’t upset by the telephone call. That it had been an accident certainly made more sense than Marnie having found his partner’s telephone number through some other, obscure channel. With the phone call ended, he slipped Josh’s phone back in his pocket and returned to his crueler and his coffee.

That reprieve proved short-lived. A moment later, Josh’s phone rang again. Sean pushed away his late breakfast, picked up the phone, checked the number briefly, and then patiently answered, once again, “Hello?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Hi, um, Dr. Neville." It was definitely him, and this was definitely the number from the listing. But his name wasn't on it anywhere - maybe the listing itself had a typo? "I'm really sorry, I was calling about an ad for a room to rent, and I think they used your number. I'm not trying to bother you at home, really!"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

That was certainly Marnie Sullivan’s voice on the other end of the line. And she had found the ongoing ad to find someone to take Josh’s house. Between the poor market recovery and the transient nature of many residents of Pilot Ridge, he and his partner had never found an actual buyer for the other man’s house, the one he had lived in for the year between moving to Vermont and their reconciliation. Greg had used it for a bit, and then they had rented it out to families or former students in need of lodging, always finding a way to float the mortgage payments between rent or other investments.

“That would be my partner’s ad,” he assured her. There was no reason for her to think that she had bothered him, or that the person was untrustworthy or unreliable. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the listing, but it’s in Meadow Wood.”

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Oh!" Well that explained that, then! It looked like she'd freaked out over nothing. Great start to the morning. "Would, um, would it be possible to talk to them about it? Is the room still open?"

Dr. Neville's partner's ad? Like partner-partner or partner-partner? The latter would explain why Dr. Neville was answering their phone on a Saturday, but did that mean the room was in his house? Except that didn't sound right, either - Marnie had never been to the doctor's home, but she had once run into him on a jog in his neighborhood, and that hadn't been in Meadow Wood at all.

Meadow Wood was a nice area, though - that had been the neighborhood Marnie had lived in before her parents had moved north to take care of Poppa. She made a mental note to google the address after this phone call to see how close it was to her old house.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“The short answer is yes, but not now. He’s otherwise occupied.” Josh was proud of his Judaism, both culturally and to the extent that he considered himself religious, but Sean had no need to tell random people precisely what the other man did on Saturday mornings. That was for Josh to divulge on his own time. Then, to answer her other question, the telepath confirmed, “The room is still open. And, if you want to talk about it now, I know that house like the back of my hand.”

Unfortunately, due to the distance, Marnie was far outside of his range, and so he couldn’t answer questions that she hadn’t asked. It was unfortunate, because that typically allowed him to direct the conversation as needed.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Okay, so not the same house Dr. Neville lived in. Good. Not that she didn't like him, she did, but Marnie couldn't imagine that kind of living situation not being at least a little awkward. Which this already was, a bit, but the photos in the ad did look nice and it was the only listing she could remember being in Meadow Wood, so maybe it was worth soldiering on.

"Well, um, is anyone else living there right now?" Marnie asked. The ad already said what it needed to about rent costs, and she wasn't sure what all one was supposed to asking about renting a room. She didn't care about carpet versus tile, or maybe square footage, not after a summer in this tiny apartment, for example.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean was the last person who could lecture credibly on the topic of not opening his home to students in need of a bed. L.C. had fallen into his lap, and Emma Cousins had stayed with him several times when coming to Pilot Ridge to visit. Still, that had mostly occurred before settling back with Josh, and he certainly wouldn’t charge rent for a student borrowing his guest room. Rent was, in part, for the privacy of not living with two middle aged men.

“It’s empty right now, which means that if you take the room, we’ll build other inhabitants around you.” By which the psychiatrist meant that he would only take in other college students if approached, and he would ask Marnie if she felt comfortable having male housemates before taking in a young man.

[Marnie Sullivan]

It was empty now? That meant that unless and until anybody else responded to the ad, Marnie would have a whole house to herself! She couldn't lie, that did sound appealing, especially after her cramped conditions since graduation.

"Do you get people asking about it often?" Marnie asked hopefully. The place certainly looked big enough to comfortably fit multiple housemates, but she was already imagining the freedom to listen to music without headphones late at night or take long showers without imposing on anyone else's schedule.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“We’ve had several renters over the years, but the two busy seasons are right before the start of the college term, and right before the start of the Hammel winter term.” So that had been in his experience, for college students and relocated families with a newly manifested child respectively seeking housing in the area. “However, you’re the first so far, which might make it a slower fall semester.”

Despite his inability to hear her thoughts from this distance, Sean felt confident that she would be happy about potentially having the entire house to herself. Few people complained about living alone in a real house rather than a cramped dormitory with other older teenagers.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie thought back to the open house she'd attended with a handful of other incoming freshmen, after being accepted but before getting in trouble in March. They'd toured the campus, including one of the dormitories, which had had a room prepared to demonstrate how homey and inviting they could appear with enough color-coordinated trappings from Target all over the place. It had felt like a downgrade from Hammel at the time; at least at Hammel you had a room to yourself and simply shared common areas. A whole house, though? Definitely tempting.

"Are pets okay?" she asked, remembering another rule the tour guide had mentioned those months ago. "I have my chameleon from school, and a cat too, but he lives with Mom and Dad right now."