The Spawns

The Spawns | Chapter XXVII -- The Little Moments

"Nope, I'm a self-taught independent woman," she announced quite proudly.

"No classes?"

"The street is my school," Nikki all but chanted, raising her hands in the air, her face looking up.

"You mean Youtube. Youtube is your school," Jackson told her, unimpressed. I snickered at his bored expression that came with the quip.

Breakfast was eaten leisurely. There was no rush. I enjoyed it quite a lot. At home, with my brother and Cole and Mai there was always a place to be at, a project to work on, something to do, and somehow it kind of felt like I was always in a hurry around them, like a hummingbird flapping its wings around. It wasn't visible for them, but boy oh boy was I fluttering around.

When everyone was done and changed and ready to go we got into the van and made our way to uncle Nik's apartment. Nik was Tyler's best friend from college, and he was very close with my parents too. His father treated my father after he had a seizure.

He had a penthouse in the city and while he was away to South Africa for his research my uncle was looking after his place.

I'd gone to his penthouse a few times with my family so I wasn't completely clueless as we made our way to his place. Luminous was the word that came to mind when I thought about it. Most of the penthouse was glass windows with a view on the city.

What confused me though was what my uncle said as we walked through the door and my cousins started to run around. "Remember kids, the good chocolate and candies are hidden in the walk-in closet behind the shoe wax in the purple box. The sexy bastard thinks he can outwit us by hiding the goods. Not going to happen. FIND THE CANDIES MY MINIONS."

"You never should have been allowed to be a parent," Aunt Vanessa sighed.

Uncle Tyler grinned at her. "I love you too dear."

"No candy for you?" I asked Nikki who wasn't running like her brother towards what was probably uncle Nik's room.

"Nah, no eating before swimming," she answered and then told her parents we were heading to the pool.

It wasn't a shared pool, it was a private one. The living room windows opened to a terrace with a decent size in-ground pool. It kind of made me think about my grand-parent's own place.

Nikki and I swam a few laps and then just floated around chatting about nothing and everything. When her brothers joined us we let them the pool so they could splash around and fight as much as they wanted and went to sit on the chairs scattered around the terrace.

"So, were you able to get any sleep last night or were you just overthinking about the whole you-not-being-worthy-of-Cole thing," Nikki suddenly asked me. I had a millisecond heart attack, thinking her whole family had heard her. Luckily, her parents were on the other side of the pool with all of their attention focussed on the boys.

"I do have to admit that thinking about him finding love somewhere else hurts," I answered softly.

"Sure it does, you love the guy."

"Even if I do, I still think being together would be a bad idea..." It was hard to admit the next part but I had to. I needed to be honest. "Even if I would lie if I said it wasn't what I always secretly dreamed about, what I always hoped would happen in the end. I say I can't be with him, but in the darkest, deepest parts of me it's the only thing that gets me going."

It took a little while for my cousin to speak again. I think she was thinking about the right words to say. "Don't get me wrong, but you seem to be putting a lot of importance on this whole loving Cole matter. It is important, sure, to some extend. But it's not really important too. Cole is not going to suddenly disappear. He's not dying. He's not going off to colonize Mars and never ever coming back. He'll still be here tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. Cole is going to be here. How long have you loved him?"