Tragic Magic [boyxboy]

Chapter Three

When I woke up I was in bed, still in my clothes, but somebody had taken off my shoes and moved me under the duvet. I wasn't sure how I felt about the fact that somebody had come snooping into my room after I was asleep and manoeuvred me like a rag doll, but then I thought that maybe it was Tristan and felt an involuntary swell of excitement.

                Dismissing it, I glanced at my phone, and was alarmed to see that it was one o clock in the day. I jumped out of bed like an electrocuted ninja, shoving my feet into my shoes and running a perfunctory hand through my hair before tumbling out of my room and down the stairs, tripping into the living room where I found Tristan and Annabelle sitting quietly on the sofa, the elder reading and the younger playing with a jigsaw puzzle.

                They looked up at me in mild surprise.

                'Good morning,' Tristan said with a slight smirk; it had stopped being morning hours ago.

                'I'm so sorry,' I mumbled, embarrassed. 'I can't believe I slept in on my first day.'

                'It's fine,' Tristan said in his sexy accent. 'Annabelle went up to get you when you didn't show by eleven. She found you comatose and fully dressed, so I put you in bed. You're jetlagged. Don't worry about it.'

                I blushed at the thought of him putting me in bed and how I must have looked. Snoring and drooling probably.

                'Where are your parents?' I asked, sitting down.

                He raised an eyebrow. 'At work.'

                'What do they do?'

                'Dad's a lawyer,' Annabelle, 'and Dad's an artist.'

                '...Right.'

                Tristan snorted. 'It's not too difficult to work out which is which. Gregory's the lawyer, Edwin's the artist.'

                'Thanks,' I mumbled gratefully.

                Tristan stood up. 'Well seeing as you're awake I'll let you get to work,' he said, marking his page in his book and putting it on the bookshelf. 'I have some things to do in town; I don't know what time I'll be back but Edwin and Gregory will probably be home before me.' He paused. 'Good luck,' he added with another smirk before leaving the room and, soon afterwards, the house.

                I looked awkwardly at Annabelle, who seemed happy enough with her puzzle. I'm an only child, I've never had to deal with kids before. The one and only time I ever babysat was for an actual baby who was in bed before I arrived and didn't even wake up before the parents came home. Annabelle was gonna finish that puzzle eventually and then I'd have to figure out something to do with her.

                I glanced at my phone again; it was nearing half one. That meant lunch, right? Did they eat lunch here, or did they have dinner during the day and then supper at night? Was the cook Tristan had mentioned already on top of it or should I start looking for takeaway numbers?

                'So...' I said awkwardly, and Annabelle looked up at me, beaming.

                'Wanna help?' she asked enthusiastically.

                'Uh. Sure.' I got down on my hands and knees and knelt across from her, studying the puzzle. It looked like it had about a hundred million pieces. I glanced at the box to see what nutjob toy company had made a puzzle like this for six year olds, but it didn't have an age recommendation on it; it was for adults.