Chapter Twenty-One

It was late when Warren finally made it home. He had stayed a few minutes later cleaning up before Mrs. Yin snapped at him, telling him he wouldn't get over time. He didn't think he would he just wasn't in a rush to get home. There wasn't really a reason for it. So grabbing his jacket and helmet, he got onto his bike and headed home.

It was cold, autumn already coming soon and the sweltering heat, which never got much above 85 degrees anyway, was almost over. Not like you could tell at school anyhow. The thing was so high in the air, it was colder there than the surface world. But, he didn't mind the cold. It never really bothered him for the sheer fact his body temp always hovered around 100 degrees given his gift. He didn't feel it a lot of the time, but tonight there was a bite in the air. It was welcomed given he spent so much time in the back where the air was stifling to breathe because of all the steam the dishwashers kicked up.

As he swung the bike into the driveway, he turned it off and walked it to the spot behind the large hedge to shield it from the street like he always did. It wasn't that they lived in a bad neighborhood it was just that he was over protective of it. You would be too if you bought the hunk of junk and rebuilt it yourself with a minimum wage page check. So, he locked the bike and headed inside. He hadn't expected any lights to be on though.

When he walked through the door and tossed his keys into his helmet, he was surprised to see the top of someone's head on the couch. Their hair was black and didn't match his mother's so for a moment he hesitated, feeling stupid when he remembered that they had recently become a boarding house. Sighing to himself, he shut the door and locked it, walking towards his room.

"The hell you doing on the couch?" he asked, noticing the TV was off. She didn't respond. Scowling, he walked to the back of it, ready to smack it with his helmet. "You ignor…"

He stopped speaking abruptly when he realized why she hadn't said anything to begin with. Aryana had her book resting on her chest, her hand still holding it firmly as though she were still reading it, passed out cold. She was laying on the couch sometime after she had gotten home from the restaurant and started reading only to fall asleep before she even realized it. He was fairly certain she wasn't waiting up for him to get home, just didn't realize she was as tired as she had been.

Warren paused for a moment, wondering if he shouldn't just leave her there. He wasn't going to wake her up, he knew that. He'd seen what she did when she was startled awake and he didn't feel like her ruining anymore of his clothes because she overreacted. So, instead, he walked around the couch and leaned over her. Gently, careful not to wake her because of the already mentioned reaction, he slid the book out of her hand and put it, pages down, on the end table. Standing, he grabbed the corner of the blanket on the back of the couch and pulled it over top of her.

Almost immediately she shifted. Warren was ready to duck if she lit up again only to have her grip the edge of the blanket and curl into it, rolling onto her side as she continued sleeping as though nothing had happened. Breathing a bit easier, he reached up and turned the light off, snapping his finger for a small bit of light to get back to his room so he could fall asleep after working all night.

Warren woke in the morning to the smell of food. It made him hungry. He rose almost instantly as he groggily stumbled towards the kitchen to find out what he could steal without his mother forcing him to grab a whole plate and sit to eat. When he rounded the corner however, it wasn't his mother that was standing at the stove frying bacon. He paused, wondering if he could slip back into his room without Aryana seeing him when his hopes were suddenly dashed.

"Would you like something to eat?"

He just stood there for a moment. What was he supposed to say? Of course he wanted something to eat but he didn't want her making it. Not that he had anything against someone else making his food, he just didn't want it to be Aryana. After a while when he hadn't responded, she turned to actually look at him. His expression was relatively unreadable, something between sleepy and confused.

"Would you like something to eat?" she repeated, wondering how much of what she was saying was getting through.

"No." he lied, his eyes moving to the plate as she added her few pieces of bacon to her eggs and hash brown.

"Liar." she said simply, handing him the plate. "Here."

He eyed it before looking to her.

"I can make my own food." he said, feigning insulted.

"Why make it when I'm offering you this?" she asked with a cocked brow. "Take it."

Reluctantly, his hand came out and took the plate, moving towards the kitchen table when he heard her crack a couple more eggs. He took a bite and was surprised by how good it tasted. Without saying anything, he went about eating, nearly done by the time she had come to sit and eat her own. Neither said anything to the other, not sure what to say nor the type that would really instigate a conversation in the first place. So, when he finished, Warren stood and made his way to the sink, ready to do his own dishes.

"I'll do them."

He stopped briefly, turning to see Aryana biting her piece of bacon, just looking at him.

"I can do my own dishes."

She cocked her brow to him again, hearing the tone in his voice and not liking it.

"What's your problem?"

"Are you trying to prove yourself or something?" he replied, avoiding her question entirely.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you trying to make me look bad by cooking breakfast and doing the dishes like a good little girl?"

Her eyes went wide, almost unable to believe he had said that to her. Still holding her bacon when the shock turned to anger, Aryana couldn't stop herself before she ignited the pork, burning it to a crisp piece of charcoal before she could stop herself.

"Damn it." she hissed, dropping it onto her plate before looking up at Warren angrily. "First of all, I was already cooking breakfast so I thought you might want some. I was already doing it and it was just easier. Secondly, I was offering to do dishes because I dirtied them. And thirdly, don't flatter yourself. You don't need my help to look bad. You do pretty good on your own."

"Fine." he snapped, smacking the water knob down and shutting off the stream. "Then you do them."

"I already said I would Sparky." she said matter-of-factly, taking a bite out of the bacon he hadn't forced her to fry.

He growled under his breath as he walked pass her and out the front door. She didn't seem bothered by the man in the least, ignoring his flustered comments like you would a child. The only thing that was missing was her smacking the back of his hand whenever he smarted off, but she was fairly certain if she did that, the two would be fighting and she wasn't 100% yet. After that, it'd be on but for now she'd bide her time. Finishing her breakfast, Aryana did what she said she would and cleaned up, washing the pans and plates before setting them aside to dry and changing her clothes.

Warren was tuning his bike again, the only thing he liked doing and actually calmed him down, when the front door opened. He glanced over the gas tank to see Aryana walking out of the front door, putting on a pair of sunglasses. She noticed him looking at her and cocked her brow to the man. That seemed to be becoming common place anymore, raising a brow to the young man though the topic varied. Warren went back to his work, acting like he didn't want to launch fire at her from his seat.

"Where are you going?" he asked absently.

"Why? You going to miss me?" she asked sarcastically, limping her way towards the sidewalk, attempting to move without her cane for the first time since her injury.

"You have to be a smartass every time I ask you a question?"

"You have to be a jackass every time you ask one?"

"You know what," he snapped, nearly going on another tangent before she interrupted him.

"I'm going for a walk around the block." she said simply, silencing him quickly. "I'll be back soon."

He watched her walk off, limping slightly despite obviously trying to walk straight, and head off down the sidewalk. He looked to his hand, wondering if it would have been mean to throw his wrench at her despite how badly he wanted to.

Aryana on the other hand was waiting for him to do something along those lines, spout angry insults of throw something at her but was surprised when he didn't. She shrugged to herself as she thought about it, wondering if she was losing her touch. The pain in her knee was getting better, the young woman able to stand for longer and longer periods of time than she used to, but walking still seemed to be just out of reach. She was going to have to keep stretching and taking walks around the block to strengthen the damn thing back up. Thankfully, she wasn't going to have to take the cane to school anymore. She might limp a bit, but that thing was getting on her last nerve, almost making it harder to get around sometimes than helpful.