Lubic

Lubic was counting down the seconds until he was off work. His first official day as a detective had been full of mainly paperwork and he was eager to be out of there. He rubbed a hand over his close-cropped hair, smiling to himself when he thought of how his sister-in-law always begged him to reconsider growing it a little bit to better show off the natural blonde colour. He always replied that blonde hair makes you more of a target, and so insisted on shaving it all off as often as he could. His best friend and fellow officer, Joseph Stevens, always joked that Lubic just shaved his head to camouflage any bald spots.

In fact, as Lubic was racing out of the station to meet his brother for a drink, who should appear but Stevens. Along with teasing Lubic about his hair, the dark-but-balding officer always teased Lubic about being so close to his family, even though the two officers would usually head out for a night of drinking or cards every Saturday.

“Oh, look Lubic,” Stevens said as Lubic raced past him, a twinkle in his grey eyes as he made a point of checking his watch, “you’re already late for supper!”

“You’re just jealous, Stevens!” Lubic retorted as he raced on past.

A Friday night drink before dinner had been Lubic’s and Ryan’s tradition for years now, ever since Lubic had gotten his job with the force. After their drink, the brothers would head to Lubic’s house for a family dinner. As usual, Lubic located his brother’s car in the parking lot of the Troll and Harpy, the bar they always went to on Friday nights. Of course, it was never difficult, as the green Del Sol stood out like a lion amidst the lowly minivans and economy cars of the working classes.

And sure enough, as Lubic entered he saw his older brother Ryan in their usual table, tie loosened and beer in hand. Lubic didn’t bother looking around as he headed to their table. A second beer was sitting opposite Ryan, which Lubic gladly took a swig from as he lowered himself into the chair facing his brother.

“So, how’s the all-important detective?” his brother asked with a grin.

“By the looks of things, about the same as the high and mighty banker!” Lubic replied, matching his brother’s grin.

Where Lubic had light hair, his brother’s was darker, like their father’s. Lubic was slimmer, which of course led to all kinds of teasing from his larger, more powerfully built brother. In highschool, Ryan had been a hockey player, and he still believed in keeping in shape; he regularly went to the gym and it showed. Lubic had been lucky thus far that his job had kept him somewhat active; he didn’t believe in the gym. But aside from their different physiques and attitudes about exercising, the brothers had the same mocking grins, as well as the same sea-green eyes; it was easy to see they were related.

And so they chatted about their respective jobs, not really having a whole lot to say since they had seen each other the previous night for the birthday celebrations. They lingered over their drinks for an hour, and were just getting ready to head to Lubic’s for dinner when a woman with pale gold hair and eyes the colour of the sea stopped them.

“Excuse me, but are you Lubic?”