My parents arrived home the following afternoon and were less than impressed with the fact that I'd basically moved my boyfriend in in their absence. They hadn't exactly been delighted that they'd entrusted my care over the summer to a family that had essentially hooked me up with their approximation of a British frat boy, and I think they'd been pretty content with the idea that there was an ocean and a continent between Tristan's genitals and mine. Ever cynical, they were impervious to his usually heart-melting charm and though they did warm to him slightly as he kept up a steady stream of conversation, they sure as shit did not fall over themselves to make him feel welcome like people usually do.
Okay, Tristan mused as we all sat down to dinner that night. I'm starting to get a clearer understanding of some aspects of your personality.
I cringed, half torn between being mortified that my parents weren't being as accommodating as Gregory and Edwin had been to me, and defending them from this arrogant, obnoxious stranger who'd randomly appeared in their house.
Kaley, and especially Maya, were getting a kick out of watching Tristan try again and again to win them over, and sat at the far end of the table, smirking. Towards the end of dinner he brought up the three of them finding a hotel to stay in, but my parents insisted they continue staying at our house, being pretty transparent about the fact that they knew we could get up to a lot more in a hotel room than we could under their roof. I was basically a festering ball of frustration and embarrassment by the time we could reasonably excuse ourselves to bed.
Kaley and Maya were permitted to continue using the guest room - I don't think my parents had fully worked out the cousin vs girlfriend thing - but Tristan was moved to the box room and I don't know who was more amused by that; Kaley, Maya, or Tristan himself.
This is a very small bed, he informed me from the box room, as I lay in a pool of embarrassment in my own room.
Then, a moment later, My feet stick out over the edge.
A minute after that, This is what it feels like to be a giant.
And, finally, Come on, Cody. I know you can hear me.
What do you want me to say? I'm sorry my parents aren't freaky supernatural wizard people who need us to do the nasty and save the world.
I'm only joking. Don't be upset with me.
You should find a hotel to stay in while I'm at school tomorrow, I responded, figuring the least he deserved while he was on vacation was to sleep somewhere where he was treated like the adult he was.
You're kicking me out?
I squirmed; I was pretty uncomfortable and wanted to just snap at him that yes, I was kicking him out, and stop being so difficult about it; but on the other hand he'd literally just travelled halfway across the world to see me and my parents were being dicks and I was being kind of a dick too.
Having you and my parents in this close proximity makes me anxious.
I get that. But it's not going to make the best impression if I just pick up and move to a hotel and refuse to spend any time with them. Think big picture here, Cody. Long term. Do you want them to like me in five years? Ten? Fifty?
I swallowed. I hadn't thought of that. I let the fact that Tristan was thinking about us still being together in fifty years wash away some of my frustration and shifted on the bed, feeling a little happier.
Oh, was all I managed to say.
They're asleep, Tristan observed, not saying anything else, leaving it up to me.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get down here.
—————————————
When I woke up he'd already gone back to the box room and I didn't seen him until I emerged blearily in the kitchen for breakfast; he and Kaley and Maya were already sitting at the table with bowls of cereal and plates of fresh fruit and cups of coffee and orange juice in front of them. My mom and dad were both bustling around the kitchen getting ready for work; my dad was already muttering into his phone and my mom had a piece of toast hanging from her mouth as she stirred her coffee with one hand and buttoned her suit jacket with the other.
Neither of them paying much attention to any of us, they moved around one another in a dance only they know the steps to, one I've seen every morning for most of my life, before both leaning in to kiss me on either cheek and disappearing.
'Aww,' Maya said sarcastically. 'Adorable.'
'Shut up,' I snapped at her, pouring myself some coffee and choking it back. 'I saved your life twice.'
'That is so three months ago, Cody,' she said, smirking.
'I think it's sweet,' Kaley interjected, smiling.
I ignored them, skipping breakfast in favour of a second cup of coffee, then grabbing my backpack and slouching out of the house in a huff.
'I've never seen you in such a bad mood for so long,' Tristan mused, catching up with me as I struggled to get my bike out of the garage. 'I'm starting to think I shouldn't have come.'
Feeling guilt and disappointment swell in my tummy, I looked up at him, crestfallen. 'Sorry,' I mumbled. 'I know I'm being shit. I just feel really stressed and weird. I don't know why.'
'Something's freaking you out,' he observed. 'You're all defensive.'
'Sorry,' I mumbled again.
'I'm not accusing you of anything. It's just strange; it doesn't usually happen that one of us would feel it and none of the others would. Something's got your hackles up but me; Kaley; Maya; none of us are affected.'
'You think there's something supernatural going on?'
He shrugged. 'Maybe. Why don't you let me drive you to school today?'
I glanced down at my bike. 'You'd have to come get me again after, I can't walk home.'
'Well, in that case,' he said sarcastically, catching me by the shoulders and steering me towards the black convertible. I sat in the passenger seat looking down at my knees and wringing my hands in my lap as he drove, not feeling any of the usual fear for my life that being in a car with Tristan in the driver's seat usually entails.
'Hey,' he said reaching out to put his hand on the back of my neck and knead the muscles there gently after he'd pulled up to the sidewalk outside my school and put the car in park. I looked up at him, chewing my lip. 'Try to relax, okay? I'm sure it's nothing. There's a lot going on right now and having us here, around your friends and family, is probably just making you a little paranoid. Worlds colliding, and all that. If anything... Else, was really going on, the girls and I would have felt it by now. It was probably a little short-sighted of us to just dive bomb into this part of your life instead of trying to ease it more slowly. I think your powers are just a little tense about it, that's all.'
I nodded, wanting to believe him, but his explanation didn't make me feel any better.
'I'll pick you up here at four, okay?'
I nodded again, reaching for the handle of the door, but he pulled me towards him with the hand that was still on my neck.
'You're not getting away that easily,' he smiled, before kissing me. When he pulled away he looked more concerned than he had before, frowning at me worriedly. 'Let's do something tonight,' he suggested after a second. 'Just you and me. See if we can ease some of that tension.'
'Okay,' I agreed, managing to smile this time, and got out of the car, feeling his gaze burning into my back as I walked across the front lawn towards the school.
'Did he seriously drop you off in that car just now?' Denis asked as he and Timothy appeared on either side of me out of nowhere while I struggled with my locker combination.
'Yeah,' I said. 'Why, how do you know?'
'Grapevine,' Timothy said simply. 'Everyone saw.'
'We weren't trying to hide it?'
'Yeah, you sure weren't,' Denis joked. 'They're talking about the kissing, too.'
'I am for sure not the first person to get kissed in a car at this fucking school,' I snapped, rolling my eyes as my locker finally sprang open.
'Yeah,' Mackenzie interjected, materialising beside Denis. 'But you are the first person to get kissed by a boy who looks like him, in a car that looks like that.'
'And if I'd just gotten kissed by a boy who looks like him in a car that looks like that I'd be in a much better mood than you are right now,' Sarah informed me, smiling. 'What's up with you?'
'I dunno,' Mackenzie mused, coming to my rescue unwittingly. 'If I had to spend all day in school while my super hot British boyfriend who's only in town for a couple of weeks was left to fend for himself, I might be kind of moody about it.'
'Cheer up, Codes,' Sarah said, wrapping an arm around my waist and steering me towards our first class. 'You've still got us.'
I guess the arrival of tangible proof that I had still existed and been living and doing things while they'd all been in France had jolted my friends into realising they'd been kind of neglecting me, because for most of the morning they managed to avoid talking about their summer at all and instead focused on the party; asking me more questions about Tristan and Kaley and Maya; and making plans for the following weekend.
Things turned decidedly sour at lunch though; Katherine appeared and brought with her a cheerful-looking Axel.
'Where did you come from?!' Mackenzie asked, surprised. 'I didn't know you went here.'
'I started last week,' Axel explained.
'Axel is a senior,' Katherine added, smirking, like we were blessed that somebody cool enough to have started school a year before we did wanted to sit with us.
'Where are the others?' Axel asked, opening a bottle of water and looking up questioningly.
'The Brits?' Timothy asked. 'They don't go here. They're just visiting.'
'Visiting Cody,' Sarah added teasingly. 'Lucky boy.'
'Why do you want to know?' I asked him, narrowing my eyes. Whatever Tristan said about my hackles being up because of worlds colliding, I felt pretty defensive when Axel had asked about the Darlingtons.
He looked up at me in surprise while my friends made faces like they thought I was being rude, which I guess I was, and rather than waiting for him to answer they quickly changed the subject, asking him about how he liked the school and his classes and what teachers he had and whether he'd made any friends in his year yet.
I excused myself a few minutes before the bell rang and took my tray to the trash, slouching out of the cafeteria to make my way back to my locker. I tensed when I heard someone calling my name and turned around quickly, feeling oddly vulnerable having my back exposed to Axel.
'Cody,' he said again, once he'd caught me up.
'Yeah?' I asked, beginning to walk again because standing still with him felt like being trapped.
'I think we got off on the wrong foot,' he said, and shot me that lopsided smile. 'I'm sorry if I freaked you out at the lake yesterday, I didn't mean to scare Katherine or anybody else.'
'You didn't scare me,' I muttered, even though as I was saying the words I realised I was wrong - he did scare me. He was scaring me right now.
'I was just hoping we could start over,' he continued. 'I don't know anybody here and I really like your friends so far and I don't want things to be awkward. I get that you're protective of them because they seem like cool people but I'm just a normal guy, I swear. Maybe we could hang out and get to know each other?'
Hanging out one-on-one with Axel was just about the last thing I wanted to do, but even though he made me feel simultaneously defensive and aggressive I was also pretty curious to get to the bottom of why exactly he was having this effect on me, so I just shrugged and said, 'Okay.'
He grinned at me, seeming relieved. 'Cool. Maybe after school?'
'I'm busy.'
'Oh.' He deflated.
'I'm free tomorrow,' I added, and he brightened again.
'It's a date,' he said, before turning and walking away before I could inform him that it most certainly was not a date.
'Different, but not better,' Tristan said cryptically as I got into the car that evening after my final class.
'What?'
'You. You're different to how you were this morning, but you don't seem any happier.'
'Can we just get out of here?' I shifted around in my seat. 'I'm antsy.'
'I can tell,' he said, pulling away from the sidewalk. 'How was school?'
I shrugged one shoulder and he didn't say anything else, driving for over an hour until we were far outside town, climbing higher and higher into the mountains until he eventually pulled over into a secluded area near a cliff, looking down over the twinkling lights of the city as the sun started to set. We continued to sit in silence for a few minutes until he finally took a breath to speak.
'Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with your powers,' he suggested.
'What do you mean?'
'Maybe this is regular old human emotional stuff. Maybe you're just... Sad.'
I scowled. 'I'm not depressed,' I snapped.
'I didn't say that.'
'You always manage to say a lot and nothing at all at the same time.'
'I feel like we've been fighting more than anything else since I got here.'
'We always fight. That's our thing.'
'I guess I just thought it might be easier without all the pressure we were under this summer.'
'You're upset with me.'
'I'm not upset with you, Cody. I'm worried about you. This isn't who you were back in London.'
I stared down at my hands in my lap, frustrated. 'I know,' I said quietly. 'I'm not exactly enjoying it either.'
I jumped when his hand appeared under my eyes and he slipped his fingers through mine. 'Talk to me,' he said quietly. 'Tell me everything, no matter how small or stupid it seems. Let's get to the bottom of it.'
I took a deep breath and let it out. 'I don't know. I just feel like I'm bouncing around on the negative spectrum. I feel anxious, annoyed, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, furious, defensive - all day. I'm antsy and tetchy and it gets worse whenever anybody talks about you.'
'So do you think it has something to do with me?'
I shrugged again. 'I don't know,' I repeated. 'It doesn't make much sense that it would. I'm really happy that you're here and I want to spend time with you and have fun and make the best of it before you have to leave again. And it's just making me feel shitty and worse that I'm leaving you with crappy memories for when you go home. But I just can't seem to shake myself out of it.'
Tristan shook his head. 'Dealing with problems like this is part of being in a relationship. So the honeymoon period is over - it wasn't going to last forever. Now we get down to the serious side of things. It's working through issues like this and coming up with solutions and being a team that means we stay together and build a strong, lasting relationship. And that's what I want with you. Just because we have chemistry and a connection and-'
'And superpowers,' I muttered.
'And superpowers,' he said, laughing, 'doesn't mean everything is going to be easy and perfect all the time. We still have to work at it. And you and I have to work harder at it than most, because of the distance.'
'Then you have to get Facebook,' I said seriously.
'Facebook?'
'Yeah. I know you're three hundred years old and you don't understand computers but we're in the twenty-first century now and going Facebook Official is important.'
Tristan was laughing at me, but he nodded. 'Okay. I can do that. Anything else?'
'Get in my head more. When you're in London. I miss your voice.'
'Okay,' he said smiling. 'I can definitely do that.'
'And...' I trailed off, feeling like I was being too particular and nit-picky, but he squeezed my hand and raised his eyebrows so I took a deep breath and let it out and said, 'You could say it more.'
'Say what?'
'It. "I love you." It was such a struggle to drag it out of you the first time and you've barely said it since. You literally haven't said it once since you got here. I mean, you do other stuff, you show me in a bunch of ways, it would just be nice to hear it sometimes too.'
Tristan was looking at me carefully and I squirmed under his gaze, worried I was pushing it. 'Okay,' he said. 'You're right. I fucked up on that.' He tilted his head. 'I do love you, Cody.'
'I know,' I mumbled.
'I also kind of feel like that might be a symptom of something else, though.'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't know. I just feel like there's more.'
I sighed and tipped my head back against the head rest. 'I guess I'm just having some trouble acclimating to, like... "Us". We didn't have a whole lot of time together in London after you finally, you know, told me how you felt. Then it was three months of only communicating with you over email. And now you're here.'
'It's too much?'
'No, that's not it. Just... God, Tristan, you spent a lot of time and energy trying to convince me that not only were you not into me, but you didn't like me very much, found me annoying, didn't want me around, and couldn't wait for me to leave. Most of the time we've spent in the same timezone has been that dynamic. I don't feel...'
'Secure,' he suggested, and I shrugged miserably. Considering all the things he's done for me, how much he takes care of me, and the fact that he'd randomly and for no reason at all showed up just to surprise me, that felt like a pretty selfish thing to admit. 'Come here,' he said softly, tugging on my hand, and I climbed awkwardly across the centre console to sit sideways on him, still looking down at my lap and unable to fully meet his eyes. 'You're right,' he said, putting one hand on my face and pulling me around to look up at me. 'Don't feel bad about telling me this, because you're right. I'm sorry I didn't realise. We'll work on it, okay?' I nodded. 'For what it's worth, I am into you; I like you a lot; I only find you annoying about twenty percent of the time; I want you around one hundred percent of the time; and I hate being apart from you.'
'Me too,' I whispered, choosing to ignore that he found me annoying a whopping fifth of the time.
He didn't say anything else, just pulled me closer to hug me, and we sat like that for a while, just sort of holding one another. Which was nice.