Brave New World: Stargirl

Chapter 15

Yolanda was honestly relieved when she was awoken from her less than ideal sleep by someone knocking on her door, since honestly, she'd spent a majority of the night worried that Courtney would end up hating her now that she'd had time to think things through a bit.

So, after putting on her robe, even though she was wearing pajamas, Yolanda didn't want to feel awkward, but anyways, she then went to open the door to find Courtney, who was also dressed in her pajamas, waiting on the other side.

"Can I come in?" Courtney asked.

"Yeah of course." Yolanda said as she showed Courtney into her room.

"I need to talk to you about something private." Courtney said.

"Is this about what I told you last night?" Yolanda asked as she closed and locked the door behind her, since she didn't want to risk any interruptions.

"Yeah it is." Courtney said.

"Okay, what is it?" Yolanda asked and she was very surprised by the words that came out of Courtney's mouth.

"I like you Yolanda. As in, the same way you like me." Courtney said, much to Yolanda's pleasant surprise.

"Yeah. My mom actually helped me figure things out this morning and she encouraged me to come and tell you now." Courtney said and Yolanda relaxed.

"That's great." Yolanda said.

"But Yolanda, I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship yet. I mean, I didn't even think that I was gay or even bi until you told me how you felt last night and even so, it took having a talk with my mom about it in the first place to get me to realize it. I think it's a bit too soon for me to jump into a relationship, even though I want to." Courtney said and Yolanda nodded, not at all discouraged, since this all made perfect sense to her, since she'd gone through it herself.

"I completely understand and I promise I will help you Courtney. I wish I had someone to help me when I first came out." Yolanda said.

"I am sorry you had to go through that alone. But remember Yolanda, you're not alone anymore." Courtney said.

"I know and while I am a bit disappointed that you're not ready to date yet, just knowing that you do feel the same way about me is enough for now." Yolanda said.

"Good. Now, let's get downstairs for breakfast before Mike gets all the good pancakes." Courtney said and Yolanda smiled as she nodded in agreement, since she'd tasted Barbara's pancakes before and they were worth getting up early on a Saturday for.

Later on that day, Pat found himself walking towards a house on the outskirts of town. He was honestly considering calling Beth to make sure she'd given him the right address, since this place did not exactly look very homey to him. However, he stopped himself when he noticed a very familiar car in the driveway.

"Yep, this is the place." Pat said as a man who definitely was not Rex walked out.

"Can I help you?" the guy asked aggressively.

"Yeah, I was looking for your kid, Rick, is he around?" Pat asked.

"Is he in trouble again?" the guy asked.

"No, nothing like that. Just wanted to have a talk with him." Pat said, wondering who this guy was and why Rex and his wife would leave their son with him.

"He's not here and before you ask, no I don't know where he is. Now get off my property before I call the cops." the guy said and Pat sighed.

"Fine. Thanks anyway." Pat said, trying to keep his frustration under control as he walked towards his own car and called Courtney.

"Hey Pat, how did it go?" Courtney asked.

"Well, Rick wasn't here, but whoever it is Rex left as his guardian was. Speaking of, you might want to have the police check in here." Pat said.

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm guessing there's a reason you called me?" Courtney asked.

"See if Beth can use those goggles of hers to find Rick, since honestly, I'd feel a lot better knowing that Rex's son was actually being raised by someone who cared about him." Pat said.

"Okay, good to know. But you know we'd need actual evidence, since the police won't just arrest the guy due to one phone call." Courtney said.

"Let me worry about that." Pat said.

"Okay. I'll see if Beth can get you a location on Rick. But Pat, even if Rick doesn't join us, I still think he should have his dad's hourglass." Courtney said.

"Courtney, that hourglass is too dangerous to be allowed in a kid's hands without adult supervision. Rick will need to learn how to control the power it gives him, just like how you're still learning to use the cosmic staff." Pat said.

"I know, but still, I feel guilty knowing that we have something that's rightfully Rick's, but we're refusing to give it to him." Courtney said.

"Look, I want Rick to have his father's hourglass too, but I also know that Rex would never want it to fall into the wrong hands. Especially hands that could make it work." Pat said.

"Okay, I'll let you know if we find him before you do." Courtney said.

"Great, thanks." Pat said as he hung up and got into his car.

Rick Harris was currently standing in front of a tree, glaring at it like he did every day, since it was this stupid tree that destroyed his life. He still didn't know what had caused the accident that killed his parents, all he knew was that they'd been slammed into this tree and that his life had been ruined because of it, since now he was living with a bitter uncle who wanted nothing to do with him. However, Rick was drawn from his thoughts when he heard someone speak up from behind him.

"Are you Rick Harris?" a man's voice asked and Rick turned to see a man who looked around the age his dad might be if he was still alive, standing there.

"Depends, who are you?" Rick asked and to his surprise, the man smiled.

"I'm a friend of your father's." Pat said to the young man.

"My dad doesn't have any friends." Rick said.

"Let me rephrase that. I'm a friend of your real father, Rex Tyler." Pat said, surprising Rick.

"Wait, you know who my real dad is?" Rick asked.

"I do and he was one of my closest friends." Pat said.

"I don't remember seeing you at the funeral." Rick said.

"That's because I didn't know about Rex's death until after the funeral had happened. But anyways, I think we have a lot to talk about, since there's a lot more to your father than you realize." Pat said.

"Like what?" Rick asked.

"Like I have a few things of your dad's that I think he'd want you to have back at my shop. I hear you're good with machines. I could use someone with your skills." Pat said.

"Show me what you have of my father's and then maybe I'll consider it." Rick said.

"Fair enough. Come with me. I'd say you should let your uncle know where you're going, but based on my visit with him, I doubt he'd care." Pat said.

"You're not wrong. Let's go." Rick said, honestly not worried about getting into a car with a stranger, since not only did he know how to protect himself, but for some reason, he did trust this guy.

"Who are you?" Rick asked, deciding that he should get the guy's name.

"My apologies. My name is Pat Dugan." Pat said as he led Rick towards his car.