Despite Tandy's request, Ty hurls her clothes into the washing machine without the slightest bit of care. Adina eyes him reproachfully.
"Tyrone, there's blood on those."
"Yeah?"
"You need to soak them before you put them through the wash."
Ty blows a frustrated breath through his nose, body riddled with tension. Adina sidesteps him and reaches into the drum, setting the clothes in the sink.
"Something happen with Tandy?" She asks hesitantly.
There's always something happening with Tandy. "Nah, Mom, she's fine. I'm just…" I'm pissed because I had to skip out on my girlfriend to rescue my best friend who can't be bothered to give a shit about her own life. I'm pissed because every time I try to be a good friend, she's throws it back in my face. I'm pissed because I watched Billy die – she knows I watched Billy die – and that doesn't seem to matter at all to her. "It's been a long day."
Adina gives him that sad look he can't stomach sometimes and squeezes his arm. "Go rest, baby."
Ty shakes the sense back into his head. "No way, I gotta help you with this."
"I've been getting stains out of clothes since before you were born." She says with a shove. "Get out of here."
He stands watching her a moment before she gives an impartial wave and he finally heads back upstairs. Ty shuts the door to his bedroom and listens to make sure his dad is still occupied in their room. When he hears nothing, Ty bows his head and closes his eyes, imagining himself in the front yard.
His stomach woops as he goes weightless, then settles when his feet reconnect with the ground. He roots through the bushes for a moment before finding his cloak. Ty tucks it neatly under his arm and phases back into his room.
He hardly takes a breath before his mother's voice is echoing up the stairs. "Tyrone Anthony Johnson."
Cold panic shoots through him, his pulse accelerating with the sound of her pounding footsteps. He throws the cloak into the corner a second before his door flies open. Adina holds Tandy's hoodie in a vice grip, so tight her knuckles pale and her arms shake. The devastation in her eyes frightens Ty in a way he doesn't understand.
"Mama?" He murmurs. He hasn't called her that since he was eight.
"What," she seethes, "is that girl doing with my baby's hoodie?"
Tyrone feels the cogs in his head stop turning. "What?"
"Why does that girl have my son's hoodie?" she booms, tears escaping. Otis comes barreling into the room, but can't get a word in before Adina's crossed the floor to Ty, thrusting the hoodie in his face. "Look, look!" She shakes the left sleeve furiously. "It's navy blue thread. It doesn't match." Her eyes take on a crazed, far off look. "You two were at the park and Billy ripped his sleeve on the playground. I told him I'd have to get black thread to fix it and he said not to worry, to just use what I had. This is his jacket, Tyrone."
She shoves it into his hands and Ty nearly drops it. His body must realize the truth before his brain does because he's trembling. He kneads the fabric between his fingers and everything else fades to the periphery of his attention. It's smaller than he remembers, almost with a start. When he was young, Ty would sneak into Billy's room while he was at work and put it on. He'd lay on the floor, his arms stretched out wide, and he'd imagine growing into it one day.
Adina cuts through the haze in his mind, gesturing angrily behind her. "Why does that girl have it?"
Ty stutters like he can't fathom who she's talking about, but it comes back after a minute. Tandy. All this time, Tyrone thought Billy's hoodie was floating aimlessly somewhere in Lake Borgne. He thought it was gone for good, just like his brother. But it had been with Tandy.
Otis approaches him wearily, his hands outstretched. Tyrone passes him the hoodie and his father holds it close to his chest.
He's breathing heavily, not looking at Ty when he says. "Explain this."
Explain this? Shit, Tyrone doesn't understand it. Until a few months ago, he thought he was alone on that beach. The beach… Tandy must have taken the hoodie from the beach. White hot indignity flares up in him – she'd stolen his hoodie, left him there alone! – but it dissipates just as quickly. They'd been kids, kids that just went through absolute hell. He wasn't going to blame her for anything she did then. Still, in the entire time they'd known each other, she hadn't said a word. After everything he'd told her about Billy – how much he missed him – she hadn't even thought to mention it.
"Tyrone."
His parents are clutching the hoodie between them like they're adrift and it's the only thing keeping them together. Ty swallows and tries to make his voice steadier than he feels.
"Do you remember the day I came home," he says slowly, "after Billy died? I said I woke up on the beach."
His mother sucks in a breath. "You dove into Lake Borgne after your brother. We know."
Ty nods. "That dance shoe I found? That was Tandy's." They stare at him blankly. "She was there on the beach, too." Once he says it, every lie of the evening seems to rise up in his throat and burst out. "She's not really scared of hospitals. She's doesn't have any insurance. That's why she didn't want to go. And her dad didn't die of cancer. He died in an accident off of Paris Road Bridge, the same night Billy died. Tandy was in the car when it went off the road into Lake Borgne. That's how she ended up on the beach."
His parents gape at him, struck dumb. Ty feels like a balloon that's been deflated, totally boneless. It feels good, though, for them to know. There's so much of his life that he's had to keep from them recently. He's glad this isn't another thing between them.
Adina's the first to recover, piercing Ty with a fierce stare. "You saw her on the beach with you?"
"No, she woke up before I did."
"Then how do you know any of that's true? How do you know it's not some lie?"
"I just know, Mom." He says immediately. "Trust me, please."
He watches her struggle to accept it. Taking a step closer, Ty lays his hands overtop theirs. He swallows back a flood of emotion and looks them both in the eye, willing them to believe him. Otis holds his gaze a moment before marveling again at the hoodie.
"It's unbelievable." He says with wonder. "You two ending up on that beach together."
Ty can't help but laugh. "Yeah, Dad, that's an understatement." Have I mentioned that I can teleport and see into people's fears?
Otis nods like they've made some sort of agreement and wraps his arm around Adina. She smiles reluctantly, leaning into him. She reaches for Ty and he lets her pull him into their arms, the hoodie pressed close between them.
Tandy Bowen is, by no means, hiding in the Johnson's guest bedroom. She has not been nervously braiding and unbraiding her hair for the last half hour, even though it only makes her migraine worse. She is not afraid to open the door and see the hurt on Tyrone's face, the disgust in his parents' eyes.
Admittedly, it's occurred to her more than once to sneak out the window, but she can't run off in Adina's daisy printed pajamas. Plus, she's still sore and concussed and exhausted, so here she sits. The voice sneers well it was fun while it lasted, wasn't it? Someone who calls you, someone who's willing to put up with you? Way to fuck it up.
Nausea roils in her stomach, but Tandy swallows it down. Closing her eyes, she turns her palm out in front of her and feels the heat in her skin ignite. She turns the dagger idly in her hand, then lays back on the bed, holding it against her chest. It's a weapon, she understands, but for some reason it calms her. Ty had talked about a guardian angel, something watching over him, protecting him. Tandy doesn't think she has one, even if they do exist, but she has this.
A knock on the door startles her and the dagger dissipates into smoke. She sits up too fast and groans as her head throbs in protest. Ty opens the door slowly, brows furrowed with concern.
"You okay?"
Tandy meets his eyes despite the shiver it sends down her spine. "Yeah."
She wishes he'd just get it over with, tell her what she knows is coming, but he just stands there waiting.
"Can I come in?"
She shrugs. "What if I say no?"
He mimics her shrug, feigning nonchalance. "I'd say you're in my house and you stole my hoodie so that's kind of unfair."
Oh, so we are doing this. She tries to steel her expression and stare him down, but the lack of anger in his eyes throws her off. He closes the door behind him and drifts closer, still keeping a respectable distance. Tandy slides of the bed and prays that her legs won't give out when she tries to stand.
"I know I should have given it back, but I didn't." She throws the words like punches, hoping one of them will smack that damn look off his face. "I didn't give it back because I didn't want to."
Because you're vial, the voice whispers. You're a thief, a disease. Because you–
"Because you're a screwed up bitch, right? You're a selfish bitch who doesn't care about anyone but herself?" Ty doesn't raise his voice, but his eyes are pleading. "Keep spouting that crap, Tandy, and I'm gonna start believing it."
She feels helpless as he looks at her, doesn't know what she can say that will satisfy him. He waits another moment for her to figure it out, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes when she doesn't. He turns away, fingers reaching for the door when the words rip themselves from her throat.
"I felt safe." She doesn't mean to yell, sinks her teeth into her bottom lip to try and regain some control. Then Ty pivots to face her and it vanishes. "I didn't want to give it back because it made me feel safe." She inhales deeply through her mouth because it's suddenly very hard to take in air. "Through… through losing our house and Mom losing her job and… and everything after it just made me feel less afraid. I wasn't ready to give that up."
She ducks her head because she's dangerously close to ugly crying and that's not a humiliation she needs to add to the evening. Ty's frozen in place and she's torn between wanting him gone and wanting to run to him.
They stand in silence for a long time before Ty says, "I know you're not crazy." Her brows knit in confusion before realizing what he's talking about. He goes on. "I'm sorry for making you feel like that, and I'm sorry for being a hypocrite." He takes a step closer, then looks at her as if to make sure that's okay. She doesn't move so he takes another. "You're right, though. I don't like any of this Roxxon stuff, and it's not because your family doesn't deserve justice, Tandy. It's just… I'm scared…"
She watches him battle with the words. Sinking back onto the bed, she folds her legs into a pretzel and pats the space beside her. It earns a doleful smile from him and he collapses onto the mattress, shifting so that he's on his back. His eyes stay fixed on the ceiling.
"When Duane got shot… it was like watching Billy die all over again."
Tandy's jaw drops. "Ty –"
He sits up quickly, deftly avoid her hand but leaning in close, demanding her full attention. "I can't go through that again, Tandy. Don't put me through that again."
She barely shakes her head. "What do you want from me?"
He looks down and she finds herself thoughtlessly inching closer until her skin is humming at the proximity. Light and darkness flicker around them but he doesn't pull away. When their eyes meet, his are deep and intense, like an ocean she has no hope of navigating.
"Promise me you'll be more careful."
It may be the events of the day finally getting to her. It may be the sensation coursing through her body. It may be his eyes. For whatever reason, she doesn't lie when she says, "I will. I promise."
There's a dense silence that follows and Tandy's almost grateful for the knock on the door. They leap apart, ending the light show just before Adina walks in.
"Your clothes are dry." She marches straight up to Tandy and hands over her clothes, minus Tyrone's hoodie.
Sorrow threatens to overwhelm her, but she forces a smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Johnson." Adina nods once and turns sharply on her heal. Tandy jumps off the bed. "Uh- wait!" She fidgets awkwardly with the clothes in her arms. "I'm sorry for causing your family so much pain."
Adina raises an eyebrow. "Heard that, did you?"
"I heard enough." Tandy swallows. "Enough to know I hurt all of you, and I'm sorry. As soon as I'm changed I'll be out of your hair. I won't bother you again."
Ty launches himself off the bed. "Tan, hold up."
His mother silences his protests with her hand. She regards Tandy mindfully. "I'm not kicking you out, Tandy. You're still concussed."
"But really, it's okay if –"
"No, no. End of discussion." And with that she's gone.
Tandy blinks, a bit star stuck, until she gazes down at the clothes in her hands. Bitterness twists low in her gut.
"I'm sorry." Tyrone says.
"It's fine." She tosses the clothes onto the bed without looking at him. "It's your brother. You guys have every right to his stuff."
Her defenses are starting to rise up again and she can't decide whether or not it's worth fighting them. Ty must be able to see it, must be at as much of a loss as she is, because he starts pacing. Tandy lets a breath out through her nose and closes her eyes, desperately wishing they could switch powers, just for a night. She'd flash herself to some uninhabited beach in Mexico and never look back.
Tyrone stops suddenly, eyes snapping up to meet hers. Whatever internal debate he'd been having must be settled because he looks at her resolutely.
Inclining his head toward the door, he says, "I got something to show you."