Antidote

Chapter 36

"Wake up!"

"Mmph," I mumble back. For a few seconds, all is quiet. Then I feel myself being lifted from my position of lying down on the sand. Contentedly, I dip my head back, dozing off once more.

I'm almost fully asleep when the walking figure that's carrying me abruptly stops. I feel myself falling, for a brief instant. Then a huge KERSPLASH resonates and tangy salt water pours over me.

The cold water sends a jolt through my system, and I shiver. I dart to the surface as quickly as possible. Shoving wet locks of hair from my face and blinking the water from my eyes, I focus my glare on the stupid humanoid who dumped me in the ocean. He's currently standing on the sand, perfectly dry, doubled over with laughter. He stops laughing when he sees my glare. His eyes widen and he starts to run away.

With water oozing from my socks and a wet T-shirt that clings to my chest, I exit the water as quickly as I entered to give chase. After a few seconds, I catch up with him. I know I'm not strong enough to force him into the water, so I use my next best weapon.

I come to a stop in front of him and poke him in the chest. "That was mean," I say, poking my bottom lip out like a pouting child. I smile at him, using my best charm for the next part. "You should at least come swimming with me," I say, giving him the puppy-dog eyes and dragging him towards the shore. He smirks and says, "Are you going to change into your bikini?" I roll my eyes. "Just hurry up and come on, hotshot." "Let me take my shirt off first," he says, smirking. I grin deviously. Time for Part 2.

I wait until his back is turned to me, taking off his shirt. Before he can lift his arms to slide it off, I wind both of my arms around his backside, like I'm giving him a hug. Instead, I yank vigorously at Tristan's back, causing him to lose his balance and come tumbling into the water.

I swim off to the side, laughing as he surfaces. His appearance only makes me laugh more. He looks like a wet dog, dripping and panting.

By the time I'm finished laughing and he's finished grumbling and shooting death glares at me, the sun has set and my mother and Reese are already at the house. I gather our things, handing Tristan a towel and taking one for myself.

We walk inside and up to our rooms. I put away the beach stuff and change into a long, filmy nightgown. I don't want to go to sleep yet, so I make my way over to Tristan's bedroom. I knock on the door lazily, and he opens it and lets me in.

I sit down on his bed, next to him. "We should watch a movie," I say, staring intently at the black screen in front of me. "No, we should talk," he says, turning to face me. I sigh. I know he's right and he probably has tons of questions for me about it. "Are you going to do it again?" he asks softly, his eyes filled with an unknown emotion. I shake my head, and he seems relieved.

"Did you not think you were loved?" he asks, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion as he waits for an answer. I hesitate, then say the truth. "Tristan, I knew I was loved. I didn't really know I was loved by you and I'm still not completely sure, but I knew I was loved. Everything was just too much then. I couldn't take it, so I took my way out." He catches my chin with the palm of his hand, so his crystal blue eyes are staring into mine. "I will never leave you, Alex," he says in a voice that's raw and full of pain.

"You promise?" I ask, my chin trembling a bit as tears fill my eyes. "I promise," he says. A single tear rolls down my cheek, but Tristan kisses it away. I smile at the sweetness of his gesture. "Do you regret it?" he asks, looking into my eyes, begging me to tell the truth. Now, that's a tough one. Do I regret it? I'm glad to be back, for sure, but I've got a long road ahead of me. I say this to Tristan, and he captures my face in his hands. "Alex, I don't care how long of a road you have ahead of you. I will be there for you, with you, every step of the way."

I smile in appreciation. He leans back onto his knees, then says, "Do you know about my dad?" I nod. He says, "Good." Then he takes a deep breath and says, "Then there's something I need to tell you."

I raise my eyebrow at him, urging him on. Tristan says, "As you know, my dad is the leader of a gang and he wants me to take over for him when he's gone. He's supposedly dead right now, though. But, the thing is, I'm a gang leader, too."

I look at him, astonished, trying to absorb this new information. Tristan? As in, my Tristan? He smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," he says. "No, it's okay," I say. "But...what do you guys do?" "I know what you're thinking," Tristan says darkly, "But we're not like my father's gang. We don't kill and kidnap people. We don't sell drugs." "Then what do you do?" I ask curiously. "We fight," he whispers. "We fight the gangs that do do those things, and we take them down so nobody else can get hurt." "Tristan, that's so brave!" I say, flinging my arms around him.

"Thanks," he says, hugging me back. "But," Tristan says, with a bit of mischief in his voice, "That's not all we do." I groan. I knew there was going to be a 'but'. "Fine, what else do you do?" I say, crossing my arms like a reprimanding mother. "We street fight, vandalize subway trains, shoplift occasionally, and fuck girls." I frown. "At least, I did until I met you," he adds hastily.

Cue the awwws.

I smile at him. "Well, thanks for telling me," I say, rubbing his chest. He grins. Then I say, absentmindedly, "I'd like to meet your gang." "You can," Tristan replies. "They're all here for the summer, too." "No way!" I say, grinning. "What a coincidence!" He winces. "Well, I might've gotten them all tickets so we could be together." I laugh at him. "Great. So, tomorrow then?" "Tomorrow," he agrees, laying down. I snuggle up beside him and he slips an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. It's not long before we both hit the snooze button.