Chapter 7

He had never imagined that watching an egg could cause so much anxiety. As often as he could, Tristan retreated to his room watching the egg closely. He kept it wrapped in the warm blanket, and made sure to keep it slightly moist. Often he leaned his ear up against the shell, checking for any tiny squeaks or peeping sounds. He had no idea how old the egg was and realized that it could hatch at any time. While he kept an eye on the egg, he utilized the quiet time to try and sort out his mixed up life and to come up with a plan on what to do once the egg hatched.

No matter how much time he spent thinking about it though, he couldn't seem to come up with any solutions on what he was going to do. He knew that he couldn't keep it hidden forever. What would his parents think at discovering a skybax hatchling running around in his room and knocking things over as it tried to learn to fly?

When he wasn't watching the egg, he kept busy working in the restaurant and his help was greatly appreciated since his father, Cedric, had to make a trip with a shipping company which he often helped out with every now and then.

Tristan preferred working in the back, away from the main dining room full of guests. He'd never been a good waiter. He didn't have a friendly enough vibe and he struggled to keep his patience with picky customers. In the past he'd made so many mistakes with it that his parents were glad to keep him out of the dining room. After getting into arguments with people or rubbing cranky dinosaurs the wrong way, he decided that scrubbing pots and pans, cleaning, and organizing shipments of food was better for him to do, too.

One evening while Tristan was hard at work scrubbing skillets in the back, Tiana, who often worked as a waitress, came sailing into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. "Tristan, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend." She said while holding out a small scroll toward him.

Tristan stopped scrubbing and reached for the scroll. His sleeves, even though they were rolled up to his elbows, were dripping. "I don't have a girlfriend and you know it." He grumbled.

Tiana danced backward, keeping the scroll out of his reach. "You're hands are soaking. You'll ruin the paper if you don't dry them off first." She lifted the small scroll to her nose. "Mmmm. It smells good too, like perfume. The girl that brought it to you is waiting out in the dining room." Tiana's eyes were twinkling with mischief.

Tristan sloppily dried his hands on the apron he wore, though the apron was so soggy that it didn't do much good. "Give me that, and stop acting so silly."

Tiana dodged him again. "Ooh, if you didn't think she was so special you wouldn't be so eager to try and get this away from me."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, you're being ridiculous. Give it here and I'll show you what it is. It definitely isn't what you think."

Tiana finally handed it over. "Sure, whatever. You just don't want to admit that you like her."

Tristan ignored the comment as he untied the pink ribbon and unrolled the paper. "See, it's just an invitation to a party." He put extra emphasis on the word in order to distract his sister. "And look." He waved it in front of her, "You and Celesta are both invited too."

"A party? And we're invited?" Tiana clapped her hands together. "Ooh, this is great. I love parties!"

Tristan's lips parted in a hint of a smile. He knew that the moment he mentioned a party, Tiana would be distracted from teasing him.

She was already reaching for the scroll. "Let me see it. Oh, look, you've made soggy fingerprints on the paper already." She scolded. "Now the ink is starting to blur. At least I can still see what it says. Dear Tristan Starr, you are invited to Poppy Harper's eighteenth birthday celebration." Tiana grinned. "I can't wait to figure out what I'm going to wear." She handed the invitation back to Tristan. "Don't lose this, or ruin it any further. It has the times and an address on it."

Tristan took it and set it on the window sill in front of the sink where he was working and resumed his scrubbing again. After a moment, he glanced behind him to see that Tiana was still standing there, watching him.

"Sheesh, Tiana. Go away. Don't you have something better to do than stand around and harass me?" He grumbled.

Tiana tossed her head, pony tail bouncing around her shoulders. "I'm supposed to irritate you. That's what siblings do."

"Hmf." Tristan muttered. "Celesta usually doesn't."

But Tiana didn't hear him since she was preoccupied with conjuring up her next irritating statement. "You know, that girl—I guess Poppy must be her name—she's out in the dining room waiting for you." She reminded him in a sly tone.

Tristan shrugged as he turned back to the sink of soapy water. "What for? She came to deliver the invitation, that's all."

Tiana grabbed her brother's arm and towed him through the kitchen. "You can be so dense sometimes. Get out there and see what else she's wanting."

Tristan pulled his arm from his sister's grasp. "Fine then, but don't be so pushy about it and don't get any more stupid ideas in your head."

Tiana stood at the doorway, grinning.

Tristan frowned. "Don't you have work to do? I'm sure there are plenty of guests waiting to be served."

"Yes." Tiana said. "You're right. I do." With that, she pushed open the double doors connecting the kitchen to the dining room and shoved Tristan through so he couldn't try to stay back in the kitchen any longer.

As Tristan staggered into the dining room, he fought the urge to verbally lash out at his sister who now had her back to him as she calmly approached one of the guest tables to resume her work.

Tristan opened his mouth then closed it again, realizing that his comments would disturb the pleasant atmosphere of the dining room. Once again, he marveled at how two practically different worlds could exist side by side within the same building.

The kitchen was noisy and cluttered and fast paced, but the dining room remained peaceful and orderly with the gentle murmur of voices rising above the tables. His mother's elegant touch seemed to be everywhere. Red silk curtains wreathed the windows, matching the tablecloths draped over the round wooden tables. The cloths were so long that they fell in folds nearly to the floor and only the claw shaped feet of the table legs peeked out from beneath. Green ivy and white lotus flowers were carefully arranged among the decorations of the colorful and artistic looking blown glass pieces displayed here and there throughout the room.

As Tristan's eyes scanned the room, his gaze settled on Poppy waiting for him at one of the tables by a window. She watched him approach with an eager expression on her face. She looked clean and fresh and the pink dress she wore seemed to bring out the blue in her eyes while the evening sunlight slanting in through the window caused her hair to glow like gold.

Tristan suddenly realized that his sodden apron was still tied to his waist. Using his damp sleeve, he quickly swiped at his sweaty face. It was always hot back in the kitchen with the ovens going and the water boiling for dishes.

"Hello, Tristan." Poppy said brightly. "So you really do work at the renowned Sauropolis Star restaurant."

"Um, yeah, that's what I told you, didn't I?" Tristan replied, smiling in spite of his previous frustration with his sister.

"Yes, you did. I just, I don't know. I guess I just thought I'd come see for myself. For some reason I keep thinking I'll catch you one of these days wearing a Skybax Rider uniform."

Tristan felt his smile slip. "And instead you see me in work clothes and a wet apron, doing the drab work in a fine restaurant. I'm not sure what gives you the idea that you're going to find me wearing a prestigious Skybax Rider uniform." He replied, doing his best to hide the fact that his heartbeat quickened and it wasn't because of the pretty girl in front of him. It was her words.

Poppy's chin dropped to her chest. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to irritate you. It's just, well…why did you act like one that first day I met you? I mean, you saluted like it was second nature."

Tristan sighed and plunked himself down into the chair on the oppose side of the table. You're not going to give it up about that are you?"

Poppy continued to look down, avoiding his gaze. "Well…" Her voice trailed off and for once she didn't seem to know what to say.

"Look, that day you first met me I wasn't exactly myself. I'd been traveling and I was tired and out of sorts. I think I already mentioned to you the other day that I was just messing around when I did that Rider salute."

Poppy ran her fingertips over the tablecloth. "Well, you're a pretty good actor then, I guess. You looked so natural that you had me convinced."

"So…I can see that you didn't come by here just to drop off an invitation." Tristan said slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"I—I just—well you seemed so nice and all around my family the other day, but that first day I met you it just seemed like you were a different person. You were so rough looking and I thought, well who knows. Maybe he really is a Drifter after all and he's tricked me this whole time."

"A Drifter who acts like a Skybax Rider?" Tristan raised an eyebrow, trying to act like the idea was ridiculous.

"That part was confusing." Poppy admitted.

"Let me ask you something. Why would a Drifter be pretending to be a Skybax Rider transporting an orphaned egg?" Tristan said nervously as he tested the waters, wondering what the girl's answer would be.

Poppy shifted uncomfortably. "True. That doesn't make sense unless he would've stolen it for some reason. I hear they want to control the dinosaurs."

"Poppy, I'm not a Drifter." Tristan gazed at her seriously.

Poppy sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be thinking such things."

"I see you had second thoughts about me and yet you still came by and dropped off an invitation to your party. It sounds to me like you don't need to convince yourself of my innocence." Tristan's smile was back again, but something deep down was still bothering him. He shoved the apprehension aside.

Poppy smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. It's silly, I know. It's just, well, you know how ideas start coming to mind once you get by yourself and start thinking too much."

Tristan stood up, smiling. "Well, it looks like your imagined Drifter turned out to be a boringly ordinary fellow who has a family and works in their restaurant, sweeping floors and scrubbing pots and pans. No Skybax Rider. No egg thief."

Poppy stood up as well. "You'll still come to the party then, won't you? I mean, after I doubted you and all?"

Tristan swallowed hard. He'd been honest, right? He wasn't a Drifter, he wasn't a Skybax Rider, and he wasn't an egg thief. Then why was he still fighting this feeling of guilt, like he was still deceiving the girl somehow? He pasted on a smile. "Yes. I guess I'll still come and I'll make sure my sisters come too."

Poppy left the restaurant with a sunny expression on her face and Tristan returned to his work in the back, feeling as if a gloomy cloud had descended upon him.

He was a mess in the kitchen the rest of the evening. He collided with one of the other kitchen workers, he scrubbed too hard on some of the china which resulted in scratching the paint, and after dropping a skillet on the floor and accidentally breaking a tea mug, the cook in charge of the kitchen that evening sent him away, telling him not to return back to work until he could learn to stop breaking things.