Two for the Aisle

October: Shenanigans (11 Months, 24 Days)

“You scare the shit out of me when you don’t tell me everything that’s going on,” Matt said, pacing in at the bottom of the front stairs. “We’re getting a visitor. Okay, that I can deal with. Who is this visitor? Well, that’s a secret. Really? Really, Barnaby?”

Topher pushed his glasses further up his nose with a smirk. “You’ll like this one. I promise.”

He stopped and stared. “The last surprise you had for me involved us proposing to each other at the same time.”

“You liked that one, too, if I remember correctly,” Topher pointed out. “We didn’t even make it all the way upstairs before you had your hand in my pants after I said yes when you asked me again.”

“Putting a ring on it was hot, okay? Sue me,” Matt muttered, a blush highlighting his cheeks.

Rolling his eyes, Topher checked his watch and debated whether he could pass off looking out the curtains as though he was hoping for the ice cream truck instead of impatiently waiting for one of his future sisters-in-law.

The thought straightened his spine and temporarily blanked his mind.

“You gonna get that, babe?”

Topher startled out of his stupor and opened the door a crack to see Effie’s beaming face. “Ready?”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“You totally won’t believe me if I say the line ‘look what I found’ but really,” Topher said as he opened the door wider and Effie stepped across the threshold, “look what I found on the porch.”

“Effie?” Matt said incredulously. “Ef?”

She held her arms out wide. “Surprise, Matty.”

He put his long legs to good use, crossing the space in a minimum of strides to wrap her in a bear hug, lifting her off her feet. She giggled, thumping his back until he set her down wherein she grabbed at Topher. Winchesters were tactile, and he’d learned a long time ago not to fight it, allowing himself to be squeezed tightly. Effie smelled like country air, and he breathed in deep, a picture of the Winchester house flashing across his mind.

Home. Much like the house he was standing in.

“How did you get here?” Matt asked when she separated from Topher.

“I drove the Sunfire,” she said. She dragged her duffel bag into the house and shut the door against the chilly autumn breeze. “Which is kind of the other part of the surprise. Dad got an Oldsmobile for cheap off somebody he works with, and when it gets back from being inspected I’ll start driving that. Which explain why he didn’t want me to buy a parking pass for Williamston,” she added, holding out his car keys. “So you have the Sunfire down here, in case anything happens and you need a vehicle.”

Matt took his key ring numbly. Sure they used public transportation more often than not getting where they needed to go, but he didn’t want to wind up walking to the Ferry in the middle of December, and he felt a little awkward sometimes about having Topher drive them places. He didn’t mind being behind the wheel of the Cherokee, and he had no issues when it came to Topher driving the Sunfire. It was weird, and he couldn’t explain, but something eased a little at the thought of having his own car back.

“Thanks,” he said, tossing the keys in the bowl. “How are you getting back?”

“I have a one way ticket for the bus back to campus on Sunday.” Effie pushed her bangs away from her eyes. “I split it with a friend, who used it to get down here, and she’s taking a car back with her, so I took her bus ticket.”