I shoved open the door with my shoulder and kept my body crouched. Two figures had their backs to the door. I could feel my pulse leap into my throat. Intruders. I had dealt with people invading my home plenty of times. This time I was ready.
My arms wrapped around the waist of the first man and my shoulder drove into him with enough force that he should have been knocked over. Instead, a strong hand gripped my wrist, broke my hold, and flipped me so I was staring at the ground, hand pinned behind my back, and completely vulnerable.
In the flash of movement I caught a glimpse of blond hair and a bad haircut.
It happened so fast that I knew Diana would still be waiting at the door. I raised my head to yell for her to run, save herself, call the Conspiracy, anything. Instead I saw the strangest thing. She was leaning against the door frame with her phone out and pointed at me. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line and her cheeks puffed out like she was trying not to laugh.
"I tried to warn her but you know how she is," she said, but she wasn't addressing me. Her eyes were fixed on a point above me, presumably the face of the man who was grappling me. "I thought a video would be better. I was expecting a happy reunion, not a judo flip."
"Sorry, it's just a reflex." And I recognized the voice.
Well, I almost recognized the voice. It was familiar in a way that wasn't quite right. Like it had changed in the time between then and now.
Diana couldn't stop her laughter now as she walked inside and closed the door behind her. "No, don't apologize. This is the best blackmail I have on her."
I couldn't take it anymore. With a blink, I transformed the floor of the living room into an ice rink. Diana slipped mid step and fell on her butt and a thud out of eye sight said the mystery third person had fallen too. All it took was a jerk of my body to the left and the man holding me was joining them on the floor. My ice couldn't slip me up so I righted myself and smoothed down my sweater in an attempt to look dignified before I turned to figure out who had broken into my hotel room.
A squeak escaped my lips before I could gather the man into a hug. Man wasn't quite the right word for him, although kid didn't work either. Elliot looked older than when I had last seen him. He had ditched the bowl cut but still hadn't figured out how to style his hair so it hung limply against his forehead. He had grown a few inches too, taller than me now. That was wrong. But he was still thin and the scars that had earned him the nickname of Stitch back in school were prominent against his pale skin.
He didn't hesitate before wrapping his arms around me and hugging me back. "I can't believe you're here!" The words were breathless.
The ice melted beneath us, and the other figure stood from where he had fallen behind the couch. There were tears brimming in my eyes, but I gestured for Miguel to join the hug. He crossed the room in a few steps.
With both of them back, I took two seconds to squint back the tears that were threatening to stain Miguel's shirt. When I pulled back I got a good look at the two of them. Like Elliot, Miguel had a new haircut with neatly trimmed sides and his curls piled on top of his head. But he hadn't changed nearly as much as Elliot. He still had the broadest shoulders known to man and brown eyes that read every inch of my face. Just the haircut and the new smile on his face were different. It was still shy and soft, but I didn't need to needle it out of him.
"How is this possible?" Then I turned my back on them and pointed accusingly at Diana. "You knew! You knew and you didn't say anything!"
She pulled a kitchen chair between us for defense. "Rory called me about it two weeks ago. We thought it would be a fun surprise."
In an attempt to help me not commit murder, Elliot began explaining. "Miguel and I were in a... sticky situation in the capitol. We had to get transferred on short notice, and the agent in charge of our case suggested Nova City. I wasn't going to pass up a chance to work with you again."
"I was the agent in charge of your case! And I saw you on TV! I thought you were too smart to do such stupid things." I turned to Miguel, who hadn't said a word since I walked through the door. Typical Miguel. For the first ten years of our friendship, he had spoken exactly five words to me. And I had missed him and his silence so much. "You were supposed to look after Elliot and keep him out of trouble. It's a good thing the two of you are here. You need someone to look out for you."
For a moment I paused and let my words sink in. "But you're actually here? You're stationed in Nova City, right?"
Elliot nodded. His face softened. "We aren't going anywhere."
"Except school," Diana interrupted. "We need to leave right now or you are going to be late to your first day of class, young man."
From the couch, Elliot picked up a backpack and threw in over his shoulder. Diana grabbed her bag from beside the door.
"School?" This day was getting more and more strange.
"It's part of our cover for moving to the city." He grinned, and suddenly he was the Elliot I had always known, just a goofy seventeen year old who finally hit his growth spurt. "And the Conspiracy didn't want to let my big brain go to waste so they made me sign up at the University of Nova City." He deflected my playful punch with his backpack.
"And, like I said, we are going to be late if we don't leave soon," Diana said as she opened the door. Just before the door clicked shut, she shouted, "You two have fun and make us some dinner since you have nothing else to do. I'm sick of leftovers." She shot me a very obvious wink because she is a terrible secret keeper. I have no clue how she convinced me that she didn't know my identity as Queen of the Misfits back in Summersville. We had worked together all summer before she finally let her knowledge slip. Tonight she was being so obvious that there was no way Miguel and Elliot hadn't caught on to what she was insinuating.
When the door closed behind her and Elliot, I turned back to face Miguel. He was glancing out the window as if wishing a wrecking ball would crash through and put him out of the misery our awkward silence was creating.
"Was this a surprise for you too?" I asked. He had to know what I meant. There was too much hurt in my voice. He still hadn't spoken a word in our whirlwind of a reunion. I knew that Miguel didn't like to talk, but back in Summersville we had ended on a good note. He was getting more comfortable with me.
I guess six months apart had ruined that, because he just shook his head at my question.
I was grasping for something to talk about, anything to break this quiet that I had never experienced with Miguel before. Over the years of our friendship, there had been plenty of silence unless I decided to fill the space. But this was new. I wanted to get mad at Diana for abandoning me so quickly when I needed a good wing woman. I wasn't often at a loss for words, but Miguel was usually the culprit when I was.
He found a solution faster than I did. He cocked an eyebrow at the kitchenette. The counters were empty. We couldn't see into the fridge because it was shut, but I knew it was also empty. Our trashcan was piled with takeout containers and the sink littered with dirty dishes.
"I don't think Diana actually expected us to make dinner, but if we want to I definitely need to go grocery shopping." The prospect of ordering takeout excited me for once. I could call Mario's Pizza and Pasta and for once tell them that I didn't want my usual. I would need twice what I usually ordered now that the rest of my friends were back.
Sweet superheroes, they were back.
As I came to my realization, Miguel cleared his throat to catch my attention. It was an effective strategy. Any sound Miguel made was a guaranteed attention grabber. He opened his mouth as if to speak but laughed instead. It broke the tension that had been smothering the room.
My nerves turned to bubbles in my chest that escaped with laughter. This was Miguel. Not a stranger, not a criminal on the street, but my best friend.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just so easy to not talk around you." His voice was stronger, but in a good way. The pauses between his words were shorter than they had been back in Summersville where each sentence was a struggle to get out. But his words were still quiet in a way that forced me to pay attention. As if I would ever ignore Miguel.
I grinned at him. "What if I don't talk and you do talk and then it'll be even."
And there was his laugh again that I had heard only a few times before, but it was as perfect as I remembered.
"I can't believe you're actually here." The words were trying to get stuck in my throat, but I coughed them out. He needed to know. "I was afraid I would never see you again. And Elliot."
"I missed you too, Green."
The nickname that only he called me and the warmth that flooded my chest at the sound of it made me hold my arms out to him. Even a stranger would have been able to read the words in my gesture. Miguel crossed the room in a few strides but paused before he could hug me.
There was a look in his eyes that I could read but not understand. The beginning of tears clung to his dark eyelashes and his brown eyes were wide with guilt. There was an apology on the unsure smile he gave me. An apology for what? I didn't know. Didn't care. Tonight I wasn't looking for answers, just the reassurance that he was back.
Another twitch across his face. Another question. Is this okay?
He must have been stupid if he didn't know the answer. I threw myself at him in a classic Anna tackle hug. He had already braced for the impact. His arms wrapped around my waist like they could protect me from everything.
I held on tight. Tight enough to make sure he wasn't a ghost. Tight enough to make sure he was staying with me for good. My face was buried in his chest. I had never missed his scent before, hadn't even recognized it, but now it was the most comforting thing I had experienced. Cheap laundry detergent, a hint of wet dog, and something warm that I couldn't put a name too.
"Don't leave again." I was sure he wouldn't hear the words that fell out of my mouth in a whisper. I wasn't sure I wanted him to hear, but I needed to say it. Those were the only words I was capable of saying today.
His arms tightened around me. Of course he heard. Or at least knew. He had to know right? I had never been any good at keeping secrets from him.
I was reluctant to let go, not when his strong arms felt so natural around me and his heart beat a rhythm so familiar that it felt like silence had wrapped just the two of us up in this second.
But I pulled back just a little. Just a shift to tell Miguel that however much I wanted this to last forever, it couldn't.
As he reluctantly let go, he brushed a quick kiss onto my forehead. "So dinner?"
You're welcome.
Y'all didn't really think that I was going to let Anna and Diana deal with Mr. R alone, right? Anna needs her boys back by her side. And what kind of author would I be if I didn't write a sickeningly sweet reunion? Don't worry, there is plenty of big sis and little bro moments with Anna and Elliot coming too. At least a few of our misfits are back in together, where they belong.
Let me tell you, switching between editing the early chapters of TVH and writing CS has been a trip because I don't know if I should call our kiddo Stitch or Elliot, so go easy on me if I mess up a few times in the next chapters.
m nicole