Chapter 35: My New Home
The end of the school year and two weeks before summer courses started, there were only three real changes in my life.
First: Jordan and I, and by Jordan and I, I mean I was looking through furniture catalogues for the home I would be moving into…when I got the nerve to tell my parents.
I wasn't planning on changing everything, just some key pieces so I didn't have to think of Andy every time I read by the fireplace or ate dinner with my Jordan. I wanted it to be more homey. My first step was replacing the cushions on the futon from futuristic white to a light sage green and planting an herb garden in the back…yeah, I was just that gay. We'd, and by we'd, I mean I'd, also made a deal with the original contractor about getting two rooms added in the back for guests, like his niece Melody and nephews Levi and Dev, when they stayed over in the future. It cost a fortune, large grey stones being imported all the way from Norway, but since it made me happy, Jordan didn't complain.
Construction hadn't finished yet, but we were going through the company Jared worked for, and we knew eventually it would get out to the pack circle. Would they be able to piece together what it all meant? We weren't sure but we had decided almost directly after Jordan asked me to move in with him that we should wait until I graduated to bring up moving in together. We were together, we were in love, we didn't have to rush and push my parent's over the edge. They were being relatively tolerant now, not accepting but it was a start.
Second: David and Trisha were kinda sorta dating.
This also happened to coincide with a new bright chipper outlook from Ethan, which got my spidey-senses tingling, but since David was happier than he had been in years and she was tutoring him in Spanish so I didn't have to, I kept my mouth shut.
Jordan had a notebook on the DTE Sitch as we called it, but I didn't want to see the contents. Because if it was what I suspected (Ethan and Trisha having a secret love affair and using David as a spawn), I would have to do something about it… and David would be crushed. He was also likely to become violent, which would be another strike against him taking the position Alpha.
So I sat with her at lunch, I kiki-ed with her and tried my best to make her feel like part of the family, but I didn't trust her.
"You look… nice," Jordan whispered behind me as I fussed with my hair. It was Jace's goodbye party, which was the last and biggest change.
Third: It was the end of the college school year and Jace was leaving Port Angeles.
We were having a huge party but I wasn't too happy to be attending and Taylor, well Taylor was at a lost. It was as if we were going to a funeral.
Taylor sat on my bed, his knees clutched to his chest as if her were trying to hold himself together. Jace would be doing a summer internship at Logo TV and the whole Port Angeles crew, which Taylor now belonged to, seemed to be scared about life without him.
I was moving in to keep order, it was a request from Jace and seeing as he'd done so much for me and never asked for anything in return, I couldn't see a way to refuse. It was my first step towards independence and I worked it out with my family with a surprising lack of resistance. Seeing as they had cursed me with the wolf gene and made it so that I would never be able to have a normal college life, it was pretty easy to convince them to let me stay for the summer, closer to Peninsula where I was enrolled as a full-time student. It didn't hurt that about the drugs, the live-stock or exact number of inhabitant at the home on Grant Avenue… or their sexual preferences for that matter.
Momma wasn't thrilled, her Baby Bear was flying the coup, but she had been distracted lately so her heart wasn't in the argument and I won quickly. Jordan wasn't entirely overjoyed with the decision either. He wanted me all to himself, which I loved, but everyone in the house knew that we were an item and, on nights that he taught, he could come straight to Jace's house and stay with me instead of going all the way back to his cabin outside of Forks. Also, I promised to stay with him twice a week at least, now that my parents couldn't monitor it.
"Why do you say nice like that?" I asked smiling. I knew why he said it so shyly, but I liked to tease him.
Jordan wasn't comfortable being affectionate with me in front of Taylor. I'm not sure why, but he just wasn't. He'd rather make out with my in the middle of the grocery store, which we had done, than even so much as hold my hand when Taylor was in the room. They were friendly but Jordan was very reserved around him.
'You look hot' he signed, using his hands quickly to form the letters. It took almost three months for the Varn family to realize there was something different about their oldest son Levi.
Levi was gorgeous, a gorgeous doe eyed baby boy, but he didn't respond well to music, clapping or any other forms of stimulation his family gave him, and while his brother and sister were already starting to make incoherent baby noises, he remained silent. After a line of different doctors' appointments, it was determined that he was almost 100 percent deaf. They considered giving him a cochlear implant when he got older, a device that may help him recover some of his hearing, but they weren't sure how much of it. It was a big change for the small family. Now like any devoted uncle would, Jordan was learning sign language with Michael and Anna.
Jordan was great with the triplets, such a huge guy snuggling three little ones securely in his arms. He took classes on ASL, American Sign Language at Peninsula and watched tapes. I watched them with him, trying to pick up as much as possible for when they got older, and it turned out to be a great way to connect with Jordan's family.
It was the first step in bridging a bond between me and Michael. He was touched by my dedication and over time he'd pretty much taken me in as part of the family. He even joked with me about positions and lube, which was disturbing, but comforting all at the same time. I wish I could say the same about my Dad, but tension still filled the room and Jordan only came here when he knew Sam would be nowhere in sight, like today.
"I think you look hot too," Taylor joked from the bed and Jordan blushed, hanging his head. Taylor, who knew Melody would have to learn sign language for her brother, got books too, something Jordan had forgotten all about.
"I'm ready then I guess," I said unsurely. There was something so wrong about saying goodbye to Jace, no matter how short the period of time. Jace was a fundamental part of going to school at Peninsula and now he wouldn't be around as I filled my plate with gen ed classes.
The summer was here, beautifully symbolizing an end of the old and the start of the new. The air smelled like blossoming flowers, effortlessly mixing with a warm sea breeze as we packed into his car for the night. My mom was sitting silently at the window when we passed, nodding to us as we left. She was pale, a little sickly looking but she waved me away when I asked about it. I worried about her more and more lately. It was all fine and good to have an imprint, but my mom needed friends and the wolf-girls were still on the splits.
Rachel stayed away from both Kim and my mom so she wouldn't look like she was picking a side, and both Kim and Momma were waiting for the other to apologize. In the process they had brought the other wolf-girls, Helen and Leticia, closer together, but my mom was still alone. They needed Claire to push them all back together, but Quil and Claire were staying at Whitman College for the summer, attempting to finish the four year course in two or three years.
When we got to the restaurant, a gaudily decorated Mexican joint with deals on pitchers of strawberry margaritas, Solace was the first person to greet us. He came alone, Leah was not up for partying with a group of college kids but Jace wanted him around and why would he refuse? Other than Phil and Krys, Solace didn't have many friends left in Seattle, and Krys would be leaving soon, taking a job in New York for a marketing firm. Everyone was there from the close like Emma and Lawrence to the obscure like Solace and Emma's boyfriend Tripp the meter-maid who I had only met twice in the ten months since I'd known her.
There were big sombreros and lurid ponchos tacked on every wall, murals of merry Mexicans riding burros, baskets of chips and salsa at every table, which was now filled to the brim with fabulous gays. We were a sight to be held, a menagerie of orphans, tops, bottoms, jocks, nerds, students, drug dealers, professors, wolves and law enforcement officials filling up the entire back room.
We were not only celebrating Jace's success but also my move as a new member of the unofficial fraternity. I would be packing my things first thing Monday morning, only three days away, and it was electrifying.
With three full pitchers of frozen strawberry margaritas sloshing in my belly, I kissed Jace goodbye… literally. I don't know why I did it. I'm not attracted to him, and I am more than madly in love with Jordan, but it just seemed necessary in my intoxicated state of being. Jordan and Lawrence weren't too pleased with it but Jace gushed, slapping my chest effeminately as Jordan pulled me away claiming my lips for his own even though Taylor watched.
It was Jace's night and basically he got what he wanted, so following my drunken display of affection Jace demanded kisses all around: Sebastian, Taylor, Mason (who I had it on good authority AKA Jordan, was in love with Taylor, but that's a story for another day), George, Jordan, Tripp and even Solace, and other than Tripp, they all complied, leaving him the happiest homo in the entire universe.
The other patrons of the restaurant, sitting in the six tables not occupied by our party had one of two reactions, complete horror or utter amusement. An older gentlemen and his pretty younger wife actually bought us a big bottle of Cuervo, coming over to dance with us when Jace got the urge and pulled half of us up with him. None of us knew how to salsa dance but we tried; the graying man and his wife giggled and sashayed with us.
"This is going to be good for you, Buttercup," Jace shouted in my ear over the loud music blasted through the speakers just for us.
"What?"
"Living in the house!" Jace clarified.
"You think? I'm not sure I can fill your shoes," I admitted nervously. I was now being entrusted with the duties of the household, it was scary.
"Yup, you'll be wrangling up the boys and keeping them from getting too out of line, it's going to be good for you. You're a natural born leader, you just haven't had anyone to lead yet, I can tell!" Jace screamed kissing my cheek quickly before jumping back to his Lawrence.
Lawrence was the type of guy who didn't like to let people in on his emotions, but the whole night, I didn't have to be in his head to know he was hurting. Jace would leave in the morning for three months and Lawrence was devastated. He touched him as much as possible, his arms, hair, ass; but his eyes read sadness. By the end of my night, he casually offered to help me move in but I declined, hoping to give him a few days in Jace's room to mourn before I invaded it.
When the restaurant closed and everyone headed back to Jace's house to continue the party, Jordan played the parent and drove us underagers back to La Push, being the only one among us not drunk, though it wasn't even 10 pm. yet. Taylor danced up his driveway, and with one final steamy kiss, I stumbled up my front porch alone. I passed out in my cold bed. I wanted to stay with Jordan but he was having a professory type meeting very early the next morning and thought it would be better not to test my parents before I moved out.
I packed the next morning, not everything, just a few bags. I didn't plan on staying there forever, just about three months, three month where I would come back every Monday and Wednesday for patrol as my father demanded when he agreed to let me move to Port Angeles. Around lunch time David and Trisha showed up, holding hands, I examined it, the way she held her hand farther away from her, and if my Jordan was welcomed here, he probably would have noted that in his. It seemed somewhat significant but I could have just been looking for things, especially since I smelled Ethan in her hair when I went in for a hug.
"Que gusto verte, Trisha," I greeted her, hoping to stir memories of Spanish class in David's mind, it was one of the obstacles standing in the way of his graduation, but it was no such luck.
"What the hell are you two saying?" David asked thickly. I wasn't really in the mood to explain so I smiled when Trisha did, she was patient.
"Oh, good, you're all here. Why don't you guys have a seat?" My dad said entering the kitchen and pointing for us to take seats at the kitchen table.
David, Trisha and I took seats on one side of the table and my dad sat on the other, pulling my mom over to him; she sat on his lap.
"Well, kids, we have some exciting news," my dad said. Any announcement that started that way was usually not good news.
"What's the good news?" I asked hesitantly.
"Before I tell you, you two have to promise you won't get mad or upset. This is good news." Yup, this was going to be bad news, it was pretty much clear that whenever someone asks you not to get mad, it wasn't gunna be good news.
"Um, are you sure I should be here? I'm not really family," Trisha said quietly from between David and I agreed but said nothing.
"Please stay, Trisha of course you're family," Momma smiled. It burned knowing Jordan would not have been afforded the same welcome.
"Dad, you're scaring us. What's going on?" David asked nervously.
"My beautiful boys…I love you so much! And I know you'll be here for me during the rest of my pregnancy," my mom whispered.
Pregnant.
It was completely irresponsible, self-indulgent, and short-sighted, but also kinda nice...
Besides, there wasn't exactly very much room in this house so my leaving might be seen as a good thing now that there was another little Uley on the way.
"Eww…you two still have sex? That's disgusting!" David, always seeing the big picture gagged comically.
"You will be excellent big brothers," Momma beamed kissing my cheek directly after David's.
We all congratulated them, I mean what else could we do and when Trisha left I made an announcement of my own.
"I'm going to move in with Jordan after graduation…maybe earlier if you consent." I didn't really need their consent after graduation, and I could legally move in after my eighteenth birthday, but I was hoping they would give me their blessing.
No such luck.
"You're gunna move in with a thirty-something year old man and you want our consent?" My dad scoffed, I hated when he talked to me like this, as if I were stupid, especially since he never used that tone of voice with David.
"Well, seeing as I tried to be happy for you two having kids at like a hundred years old, I thought you'd give me the same courtesy. How stupid of me expecting my family to support my loving and committed relationship. I forgot, I'm not imprinted so obviously my love is not valid," I said scathingly, grabbing all of the packed bags in my room and driving off before anyone could respond. It felt good to tell them off, to curse them as a collective unit.
When I arrived at the house on Grant Avenue, two days early, I got the kind of warm welcome I never got at home.
Mason, Sebastian and Vlad helped me unpack, Emma supervising from the top of my dresser where she kicked her little bare feet with gusto, telling me about her day as she took hits off of a long purple bong. George and Tripp cooked dinner together because it was their scheduled duty, and when Jordan arrived, dressed in his best professor-like clothes, he rolled up his sleeves and helped, salvaging their chicken alfredo with a little bit of elbow grease.
We ate dinner as a family around the new television in the living room, each settling with a partner on one of the many couches and futons that lined the room. No one looked at us strangely, or, well even looked at us at all, when I curled into Jordan's side snuggling in for a movie. No one hissed, scoffed or laughed when we kissed, giving up on the pointless action movie and settling in for a make out session.
And best of all, we didn't have to hide or make up excuses when the kisses got too hot and we needed release. Jordan pulled me up the stairs, guiding me to my new room with only a few cat-calls hurled in our direction before we locked the door behind us and christened my new room, in my new home.