I take another sip of my hot café mocha and glance up at Ryan. He’s sitting across from me in the brightly lit little coffee shop where he’s arranged to meet up with Saffron, his older brother, our model. The pair live together, Ryan tells me, but Saffron is quite antisocial, whereas Ryan is always out and about exploring the town.
The coffee shop is cosy – it’s brown and cream décor gives it a homely feel and the staff were always super friendly. I’ve been here a few times in the past with Lee or old school friends before we all went our separate ways.
I study Ryan as he pokes his sandwich before taking off his hoody and hanging over the back of his chair. His sketchbook is beside him. He turns back to me and notices my spaced out gaze.
“Hello? Earth to planet Gav?” A wand is waved in front of my face and I shake my head, closing my eyes for a moment as I snap back to reality. Just then, the coffee shop door dings as the little bell above it is triggered. I turn my head and my jaw drops. Literally.
A tall, willowy figure glides into the room, clad in black with long, feathery raven hair. He’s slender, almost feline. His classy high-collar coat rests just above the knees of his black skinny jeans and his studded boots jingle with every step he takes towards us.
He’s absolutely gorgeous and I can say that objectively. As he sits down beside Ryan, I take a moment to steal a good look at him – his silky black hair falls loosely about his pale complexion and like his little brother, the same freckles dot across his cheeks. His icy blue eyes aren’t as bright and energetic as Ryan’s – there’s a certain coldness in his gaze. I wonder if that’s what Ryan meant by ‘he’s broken’?
Being completely honest, if Ryan hadn’t described Saffy’s unique eyes, I would never have guessed that he was Ryan’s brother when he entered the shop. Save for the black hair and freckles there’s practically no resemblance between the two.
His frozen gaze locks onto me and I suddenly feel nervous as fuck – I feel like I’m being judged even though the guy is probably just taking in my appearance without being rude. He smiles at me but his eyes don’t follow and that unnerves me slightly. There’s something almost mythical about his appearance – perhaps that’s why he’s making me nervous? He has an air of vampire about him but that’s probably just the sophisticated goth image he’s rocking.
“Saffron Speirs,” he tells me, his deep voice blossoming into the silence like a drop of ebony ink in a glass of water. “You’re the Gavin I’ve been hearing so much about.” He holds my gaze like a demon. He’s confident to the point of being overbearing but it’s beginning to excite me. He’ll be fucking amazing as a model if he’s this commanding in real life. That ashen skin is practically porcelain under the coffee shop lights; he’ll look ethereal under studio bulbs. Holy shit. Ryan was not fucking around when he told me Saffron would be an asset to us.
“This kid,” he motions to his brother and I notice his nails are painted matt black – nothing unusual for a goth guy but his nails are long and fashioned into claws and I notice he has them painted up with…occult symbols? It’s hard to fully study them as he moves but they look pretty wicked, in both senses of the word. “This kid will not shut up about you and I mean that.”
Ryan’s face erupts into violent blush as he begins to eat his sandwich, pretending he doesn’t care about Saffy’s teasing.
I laugh a little but I’m kinda entranced by him. I need to snap out of it and fast or he’s gonna think I’m a little too interested in him.
“Can I get you a coffee or a cup of tea?” I begin to rise to my feet as I reach into my jean pocket taking out my wallet. He waves a hand.
“No thank you – I’m vegan so I’ll pass.” As soon as I go to sit back down, he pouts slightly. “Actually, I’ll take a filter coffee, please. Thank you.”
I nod and head over to the counter leaving Ryan to brief him on our progress with the project so far. A few minutes later and I return to the small table. Ryan looks annoyed already. I sit Saffron’s coffee down on the table and he thanks me again before motioning for me to sit beside him instead of Ryan. I oblige and his aftershave almost knocks me out. It’s powerful but it smells…exotic and dark. Okay, he wins the aftershave competition. Sorry, Taylor.
“I was just saying to Ryan that these clothing designs,” a long clawed finger circles Ryan’s sketchbook before landing on one of the t-shirt designs, “are garbage.” I take the few seconds to register what was actually on his nails – the one resting on the page is painted up like a Ouija board and there’s some little metal studs on there too to add detail.
Ryan exhales sharply and raises his shoulders in a frustrated shrug.
“What is it you don’t like?” he asks his older brother. Saffron’s icy eyes remain on the sketches as he begins to shake his head, black hair dusting his shoulders.
“Literally everything,” he states. “What exactly are you both aiming for here?” He turns his attention to me and those cold eyes lock with me as he awaits a response. I blurt out the first words that come to mind.
“Well it’s clothing made from recycled materials.”
“I know that but what is it you want from this? Another run of the mill t-shirt company or something that stands out and is more upmarket?”
I hear Ryan emit a ‘huh’ noise at my side. Saffron reaches over for his black coffee and takes a few sips of it as he returns his gaze to the sketches, contemplating the ideas we’ve submitted to him. He sits his cup back down and reaches over for my printout of Charlie’s logo.
“Look at this” he tells us, leaning over to ge0t closer to Ryan. I lean in too and all three of us stare at the sharp edges and bold curves of the script logo. “This is an old English style font - it’s classic, harks back to darker days when people lived in fear of the superstitions. Underneath that you’re using a modern, sans serif font. You’re bridging the gap between old and new, dated and modern. Your logo is screaming designer gothic fashion to me but your designs tell me that you can’t be bothered doing any research into your market,” he glances up at us both, his eyes flickering from Ryan to me and back again. “I’ll give you some brands to research, Ryan. We can design this shit together.”
“How are we gonna make it though?” I ask, “We were hoping on using a t-shirt printing service.”
A dark laugh ripples into the coffee shop, “Fuck that. I’ll make the clothes myself.” He points to Charlie’s work again. “Look, you have a raven here on this letter. Quoth the Raven Nevermore. One of my favourite poems. Let’s take that line and work from there.”
I glance back up at him - there’s something reminiscent of a raven in him. I’m not sure if it’s the black hair and the pale skin or the cold eyes but he’s like a raven in human form.
Saffron is true to his word – a week later, there’s a loud, purposeful knock at my apartment door.
I open it to see the tall young man leaning against the hallway, his arms crossed and a large carrier bag resting at his worn combat boots. He greets me with a smile and a handshake and then I lead him inside, taking his coat from him.
He follows me into the living room where he centres his bag and lowers to his knees – he reaches over on all fours and reaches into the bag, taking out what looks like a roll of fabric and feathers.
“I want your thoughts on this. I’ve only made one piece so far. If you like it, we can go with one item.”
I nod, lowering myself to the floor too. Curiously, I watch as he carefully unfolds the fabric, revealing an old fashioned waistcoat with long tails – it’s like something a French noble would have worn centuries ago. The fabric is beautiful – white with a black damask pattern over it, the pattern lined with silver embroidery thread. Attached to the hem of the waistcoat is a flurry of black feathers and white lace, layered for about five inches or so. I glance up at him, my jaw agape.
“You…made this?” I stammer.
A smile touches his pale lips. “Indeed. I could have made it better quality if I had more time but I know time is of the essence here.”
“Saffron, I…” My eyes fall to the elegant piece of clothing again – it’s stunning under the light. “I’m speechless.”
“I’m glad you like it, Gavin,” he muses softly. “I haven’t shown it to Ryan – he’s so stubborn that he would instantly dismiss it in favour of the shitty t-shirt idea. If you and I can agree then we can go ahead and book a photoshoot and blast on ahead without his consent.”
That doesn’t sound too good but I guess I can understand where’s he’s coming from. I think Ryan would be okay with this stuff though but I guess Saffron knows him better than I do so I don’t question his judgement.
We spend a little while more talking about the project and Saffron’s vision for old meets new before relaxing on the couch and drinking more coffee.
“I’m glad I got to finally meet you. You make Ryan smile and I haven’t seen that for a while,” he tells me.
“I’m glad I’m able to.” I admit. “I wasn’t really keen on a friendship at first but I guess he just had an effect on me,”
“And why is that, if I may ask?” Saffy sips his black coffee as he leans further into the sofa. I shrug. I’m not sure if I should be honest and open up to him or if that’d just be weird. I remember how Ryan mentioned he was broken though so…maybe he’d be able to empathise with me a little bit.
“I…I’m a bit antisocial.” I confess. “I don’t really know how to handle people anymore.”
“Anymore? What happened?” I can feel his eyes on me but I keep my gaze on my own little cup of white coffee.
“I just kinda drifted away from people. I guess I’m too competitive with my photography so people don’t really like to be around me.”
“Ryan likes to be around you. He says you inspire him.” A long strand of raven hair starts being twirled those clawed fingers.
“That’s pretty cool – he kinda inspires me too.”
“Yeah. He showed me some of your photography online – you’re talented. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Ryan mentioned you’d done modelling before.”
“Oh yeah. Magazines, promotional images for my band, fashion images for a few brands.”
“What was your band’s name?”
The conversation falls silent.
“I would rather you didn’t know,” he says eventually. “Maybe in the future but not now.”
Okay…
“So, you and Ryan, huh?” A smirk touches his lips as the atmosphere lifts again.
What? I take a few more sips before sitting my cup down and crossing my legs.
“What about us?”
He shakes his head as his smile grows.
“Nothing. I’m just glad you seem to be helping each other grow again. Let’s make plans for this photoshoot.”
“The studio I use is in Glasgow – I can drive us to the train station and pay your train fare.”
“Please.” He laughs quietly. “I can pay my own way, kid.”
