SKIN (WATTYS UNDISCOVERED GEM)

Chapter Ten: My Eyes Have Always Followed You Across The Room

AN

I think this one will be particularly mind opening for all of us.

Schuyler has hot dads, you know that right?

They're both basically older versions of Jared Padalecki and Troye Sivan. ;-; but rlly.

Song on the side reminds me of Lennox and Schuyler v-v

SERIOUSLY LISTEN TO THE LYRICS. AND IT REMINDS ME OF SAM AND DEAN WINCHESTER...

Pointless little jealousy but you guys needed to see just a little, so sorry for that.

*

Grandma Leila is a kind-hearted woman, she grew up on the Native American reservation two counties away from Bishop and fell in love with the milk boy who used to stomp dance at every bonfire- in fact, Grandma Leila's Jimmy earned half of his salary when they were just newly-weds by competing in stomp dances.

But over the years, Grandpa Jimmy, who is more than ten years difference to his wife, has become hard of hearing and can't keep up with the steps in the dances- hasn't been able to for years, and Grandma Leila has a speech impairment that has only gotten worse as she got into her early seventies.

And it makes sense to Lennox to stick to Grandma Leila like glue- even if it doesn't really make sense. If anything at all, they shouldn't have clicked at all- he can barely understand the english language and she can hardly pronounce the english language.

But she looked uneasy in her God-awful sweater that Ben complimented his mother-in-law on, and Lennox was staring at his feet like all of the world's secret could be found in the soft wool that covered his toes. So naturally, you go to someone who is expriencing the same tummy-turning events you are.

It starts off with Schuyler introducing Grandma Leila and Grandpa Jimmy as her loving grandparents that could make the best chili in the state- and it spiralled into Grandma Leila wrapping her frigid arm around Lennox's own tone bicep, leading her onto the couch to listen to her more carefully.

Ben seems to be almost taken back- he gives a wiry grin after ten minutes of back and forth conversation that goes between the two before deciding that sometimes the world is just weird. Grandma Leila was usually bitter to newcomers, they didn't take the time to listen to her or they were too scared to ask her to repeat her words when they got jumbled up.

Lennox didn't have to though- the one thing he knew about human language was that all it seemed to be made of were repetitive sounds, clucks that could be easily detected if you knew how to look for them. And Lennox knew how to.

Grandma Leila appreciates the company of her granddaughter's handsome companion, grinning with a smile made out of dentures, and letting out a breathy laugh everytime he would let his eyes trail to Schuyler while he was in the middle of talking. It wasn't because he was rude either, she could tell he was more chivalrous than most men, it was more like he couldn't stop himself.

The morning is spent with Grandma Leila telling jokes and pushing Lennox's buttons every time he looks to her granddaughter or blushes when attention is pulled to him. Grandpa Jimmy is asleep on the leather chair, reclined all the way back with a party hat on his thinning head of hair for his son's 49th birthday. Schuyler is laughing with Tessa, sitting on the rug in the living room feet away from Lennox and Leila, wrapping presents of all sizes and preparing decorations. Ben keeps running back and forth, up and down the stairs, stopping in the kitchen every few minutes to check on the cake and lunch he's preparing for his husband, Spencer, who tried to come downstairs after he heard his daughter brought the so-called boyish-friend home- but was pushed back into his bedroom and ordered not to come downstairs until all of the guests arrived.