Like Gods

[22] morning light

"Shit!" He hissed as he stared at his reflection. And, of course, the door opened a moment later. He threw his hands up to cover his neck and stared wide-eyed, fully ready to find his mother standing in front of him.

But it wasn't his mom, it was Riley, and she was wearing a self-satisfied expression.

"I thought I heard you come in," she grinned, letting her eyes drift down to her brother's neck, "damn, Dyl, you let her do that to you?" 

"Uh... It was an accident?" Dylan stopped himself from correcting the pronoun. That was a conversation for another time.

"Accident? If you say so," Riley smiled, "wait here." She disappeared from the doorway. 

Barely a minute later she returned, a bottle of olive oil in one hand and an ice pack in the other. She started by giving him the icepack.

"Hold it against the higher ones for a minute each," she said and Dylan only stared, "then we'll take this magic worker and rub that in for a while." 

"How do you know this stuff?" Dylan sounded baffled, which, in fairness, he was. Riley gave him a long look.

"Look," she started, "I know I tell you a lot, way more than I tell mom and dad, but if you think I tell you everything I do, then you are dead wrong."

Dylan's mouth opened slightly. What did that even mean? Was his sister not a virgin anymore? She was only fourteen. Did she go to parties more than he did and who-

"Okay, now you can take this," she handed him a cotton pad drenched in yellow oil. He took it and stared at it for a moment, then raised his eyes to her. She stared back for about five seconds before moving her own and to her neck and making the movement that he was supposed to be doing.

"Will this make them disappear?" He asked after having rubbed around his neck for a few minutes.

"No," Riley stated, "but it will quicken the healing process. You will need to borrow my makeup if you don't want mom and dad to notice today." 

"Are you speaking from experience?" Dylan couldn't resist asking and Riley smiled.

"Maybe I am," she said, "maybe I'm not. You might never know." She made a waving motion in front of his face and backed out of the bathroom. Dylan couldn't help the short laugh that escaped him.

Once the olive oil had dried into his skin a bit, he went to his room and threw himself on the bed. It was still only eight-fifteen if he was lucky, he could sleep for almost two hours. He got out of the clothes that smelled faintly like a mixture of sweat and Chris after having cuddled all night. Then, he wrapped the covers around himself and sighed deeply. 

What a night.

__

As he'd expected, the 'family walk' had been as close to hell you could come without being in school, and had mostly consisted of his mother asking William loads of questions about Norway. Ry had very kindly let him borrow both concealer and foundation to hide the bruises that decorated his neck, and he'd chosen to wear a black turtleneck. Just in case.

Now, however, it was Monday morning and he'd just stepped out of his car. Felicia had been looking at him weirdly during the entire car ride there and she still hadn't stopped. She walked closer to him and he gave her a look.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she raised her hand to his neck and pulled down the new, gray, turtleneck before he could stop her. To his surprise, she only raised an eyebrow.

"Wow," she said, sounding completely unphased, "he's... bitey. Not that I'm surprised." 

Dylan felt like a deer in headlights. "He-? Bite- you? How could you know?" He spluttered and Felicia smiled with a look that said: 'how could I not?'