CHAPTER TWO

Melissa lets out a squeal and springs up to hug Amelia. Rock high fives Wood and gives him a you sly old dog look.

"What the hell?" Unfortunately, those are the first words out of my mouth and I can't stop them. I smile quickly, trying to recover. "That's…awesome."

They both look at me anxiously. "You're okay with it, right?" Amelia's eyes are pleading.

"Of course! It was…just a surprise." I get up too and hug her. "I mean…it just seems kind of soon. You guys have only been dating for six months." I hope that didn't come out mean.

"I know, but…" Wood kisses her on the cheek. "I didn't want her to get away."

Amelia blushes, but tries to hide it. "Besides, there have been lots of more impulsive marriages."

"I'm so happy for you guys," Melissa beams at them, picking her backpack up off the floor. "But I gotta go. I'll see you later!" She pecks me on the cheek and waves goodbye.

"Yeah, I should go too," Rock shoulders his bag. "Somebody brought a little one-legged owl to the shelter and my parents probably have their hands full." He leaves, but not before grabbing the unopened bag of chips. Damn.

Then it's just the three of us. For some reason, it feels…awkward.

"Well!" Wood rubs his hands together. "I'd better get dinner going."

"I'm gonna go clean out my backpack." I grab it and head for my room, Tanya following. I wish Rock and Melissa hadn't left so quickly…I guess they thought it was a family moment or something, but it's uncomfortable. It's not that I don't like it – I think it's great that they're getting married, I really do! I just don't know what to say and they're expecting a big reaction.

I sigh and throw my backpack on my bed. Tanya hops up and sniffs it. She's a lot bigger than she was when I found her and now she takes up half the bed. It can be a pain to sleep with her.

I pull out my guitar and pluck a string. I haven't tuned it in a long time and it's excruciatingly sharp. I've just got the one string right when there's a soft knock and Amelia steps in. "Hi, Dash."

I look up, still tuning. "Hey."

She sits down next to Tanya, resting her hand on Tanya's back. "Dash, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" I realize I'm widening my eyes a little too much to look sincere.

She twists the ring on her finger and I notice it for the first time. It's nice, but then again, I don't know much about jewelry – my mom's ring has been missing for months. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" I put down the guitar. "It's just…are things gonna change?" I didn't realize I was worried about that until I say it.

Amelia looks concerned. "What do you mean?"

I shrug one shoulder. "I don't know…I mean, if you guys broke up while you were dating, it'd be kinda easy…when you're married, it's kinda harder. And what if you had kids? And…I don't know, it still seems kinda soon, that's all." Evidently, my mouth works faster than my brain. I had no idea I was worried about all that.

"Oh, honey…" She kneels in front of me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't you think we've thought that through? We wouldn't be getting married if we weren't ready for commitment. Whatever happens, happens, but we're ready for it. That's why we decided to go ahead, even though it's kinda soon."

"Well, I hope you guys will be very happy," I smile. "Sorry about freaking out. It's just been a long time since I had two parents."

Her expression goes sad. Dammit. I don't mean to depress people when I say things like that or get their sympathy…I just wish they wouldn't tread so lightly around me.

"So how did Wood propose?" I stand up and start walking out into the living room again, anxious to change the subject.

"I'll let him tell you." Her lips turn up ever so slightly, as if she's trying hard to suppress a smile and can't quite manage it.

Wood turns away from the stove and puts a hand on his chest, looking into the distance dramatically. "I rode upon the whitest steed and when my lady I did see, I then got down upon one knee and said 'dearest, will you marry me?'"

I clap, wondering how long he had been planning that one.

Amelia rolls her eyes. "Just about. He asked the band to play our favorite song and knelt on both knees and asked if I would take him."

"Everyone applauded." Wood adds, flipping a hamburger.

"What would they have done if she said no?" I flop down on the couch.

"Probably still applaud." She kisses him on the cheek.

I let out a little sigh. They look really happy together and I'm so happy for them. I really don't know why I was so freaked out. I guess it's just always been me and Wood for so long, it'd be weird to have an aunt or cousins around. And I'm still a little worried about what might happen if they break up, but that may never happen. Gotta be optimistic.

Wood sweeps her into his arms and they start dancing, laughing as Tanya wedges herself between them, wagging her tails.

I chuckle. That won't be so hard.

(-o-)

I'm up early the next morning, even though I don't have to be. It's a habit now, and one I'm going to have to put up with until this marathon is over.

I slip on my running shoes, shake Tanya awake and quietly, we both make our way out the door and down the steps. After a few minutes of stretching, I start my run.

I love this time of day. During the school year, it was kind of a drag to wake up early enough to run, take a shower and still make it to homeroom on time, but I always enjoyed myself once I was out here. It's still dark, with only a foreshadow of a glow from dawn and everything's so quiet, it sometimes feels like we're the only things in the world. Not even the birds are up yet and the only sound is our footfalls and heavy breathing.

We run about four miles, maybe more, and then stop and turn around. About halfway back, we slow to a walk, partly as a cool down and partly because we just can't run anymore. The air always seems thinner and colder in the mornings, and it's harder to catch your breath.

I put a hand on Tanya's back, which is hotter than usual and damp from the dew still in the air. "What are you going to do when I have to run the marathon? I don't think they'll let you run with me, you know."

She lets out a yap that echoes slightly in the quiet air and gives me a look that says They better!

I laugh and scratch behind her ear.

I can hear alarm clocks going off as we get closer to our building. I pick up our newspaper before heading up the stairs, limping a little because of a rock in my shoe.

Even after taking a longer shower than usual and doing a bunch of pushups, it's still too early to really do anything. I read a couple of chapters, pace around and finally get so bored that I start making breakfast.

Ever since Amelia moved in, our fridge has been something it's never been – full. Before, we barely had enough for the next meal and now we have leftovers practically every night. It could also be because we have more money now, but I still think Amelia has something to do with it. Bachelors never are much good with food.

I make pancakes from an box of instant mix and fry up some bacon, the jumping fat scorching my hands in the process. After I'm done, not wanting it to get cold, I pound on their door and shout "RISE AND SHINE" probably loud enough for the whole building to hear.

After a couple of minutes, they stagger out, bleary eyed – no doubt they were up late last night – but light up when they see the food.

"Thanks!" Amelia sits down and starts cutting up her pancakes while Wood sticks two pieces of bacon in his mouth and crosses his eyes at me.

I laugh and sit down across from him, eating as slowly as I can just to kill time. After a while, they say goodbye and go to work and I wash the dishes and change into a nicer shirt.

Now it's about nine and I think that's late enough. I call Tanya and we both start walking towards Melissa's house. It'll be nice to hang out with her alone…Rock's usually around to help out with my training and we haven't really hung out without him.

She's out back near her pool, pulling the skimmer across the water and wearing an amazingly small bikini. I swallow and knock on the back gate.

She looks up and smiles, walking over to let me in. "Hey."

I grab her waist and pull her close, kissing her hard. After a second, I let her go, breathless. "You look great."

She blinks a couple of times, clearing her head. "S-so do you."

I gesture at the pool. "So whatcha doing?"

"Oh…" She turns and heads back to it. "Remember how I said there were tadpoles? I'm trying to clean some of them out."

I bend down to look at the net. There are only a couple of tadpoles wriggling at the bottom, but they're huge. They're dark brown, almost blue and they have a weird swirl on their stomachs. "Wow."

"Yeah." She picks up the skimmer and carefully empties it into a bucket next to her. "But I don't want to kill them, so maybe I'll let them go in a pond or something."

I tousle her hair. "You're such a good person."

"I know," She grins and stands up. "So are we going?"

"Where?" I nudge Tanya away from the bucket.

"Oh, I thought we said we were going to the beach."

The corners of my lips turn up. I know she just decided that this morning. "Why can't we just swim here?"

She lifts an eyebrow. "Well, unless you want these little guys swimming up your trunks…"

I pretend to contemplate this for a second before giving in. "Fiiine… I gotta stop at my place for a bathing suit though."

We start walking, Melissa complaining casually about her brother, me with my arm around her shoulders, giving her sympathetic squeezes every now and then and Tanya next to me, carrying a stick I guess she found in Melissa's backyard. All at once, I get this incredible feeling of happiness. Sudden realization that I am dating the most beautiful girl in the world, I don't look so bad myself, I'm getting a new aunt and I have the best pet ever. Life is just so good and I –

What.

My head twists around, but it's too late.

Melissa puts a hand on my shoulder. "What?"

"I…" I shake my head. "Nothing." We're in front of my building now, so I give her a quick peck on the cheek and run up to get my bathing suit.

I stop right outside my bedroom, leaning my head against the door and breathing hard. Calm down, calm down. It was fast, you probably didn't see it right… but my heart is still pounding.

I calm down after a couple of minutes and change into my suit, grabbing one of my t-shirts so Melissa can have something to wear over hers.

She's playing with Tanya, but she looks up when I come back outside. "You okay?"

"Yeah!" I hand her the t-shirt. "Why?"

She struggles into the shirt, which hangs down to the middle of her thighs. "I dunno. You seemed really upset when we passed that jogger before."

I force a smile. "Nah, it's fine."

She looks suspicious, but leaves it at that.

The beach is about a mile away, past the gym – kind of a walk, but it's worth it. It's really just a little sandy shore with a little section of water roped off from the rest of a big lake, but it's pretty fun. By the time we get there, we're just hot and sweaty enough to want to swim. We kick off shoes and peel off shirts and I tell Tanya to stay with the clothes and be good. She doesn't really like the water anyway, understandably.

Melissa runs in, shivering and laughing and splashes me as I wade slowly and carefully. I yelp and turn on her menacingly. Soon we're both laughing and splashing each other and doing handstands and kissing underwater and just generally making everyone else there jealous. The happy feeling comes back, even stronger this time, but…

What I might have seen keeps tugging at the back of my mind.