Chapter Two: Realizations
Leif's POV:
Diedre, Dee-doo, Dee-aaaayy-druuuuh, I sing in my head as I outwardly skulk around the school. Her promise that we'd meet again almost puts a dance into my step, and I know I've lost a bit of my usual brooding saunter to this light footed feeling I've got. I feel like Little Richard, and just want to dance my way through the day!
"Leif," Liam catches me on my way to physics class, "did you hear?" He looks a little nervous.
"Hear what?" I ask, suppressing the urge to do a slick spin on my heel and shoot some finger guns at him.
My best friend grimaces, "Aiden forwarded it to me. I guess the whole football team got it," he holds out his phone and plays a video his younger brother sent him. My face burns immediately as I see the clip of my sister grasping at the phone with one hand as the other tries to conceal her naked chest. The phone's muted for school, but I can clearly see that she's screaming at the person recording to stop.
"Who sent it out?" I demand angrily.
"Aiden wouldn't say," Liam whispers. "It literally just came out two minutes ago. I came straight to you."
I don't listen to anything else Liam has to say. Instead I run down the hallway in search of a football player. It doesn't take me long to find all of them huddled around watching someone's phone. I don't need to see the video. I know what they're fucking watching!
Without a warning, I kick square into the back of the fucker showing all his friends. Phoenix Armstrong doesn't even know why he suddenly goes flying forward into a locker, and he doesn't quite comprehend why his face is bloody when he turns to look at me. Fortunately, he seems to recognize he done fucked up when he sees me standing over him.
"Hey, it was just a prank," Phoenix utters, but I can see he's scared. I may not be on the football team, but at six foot four inches, I'm a giant compared to these guys. I just happen to be lean in the muscle rather than bulky.
"Your broken face will just be a prank too," I snap. "I want to see all you fuckers delete that video, and you all gimme the names of the idiots you sent it to. I swear on Christ if you don't get every last copy deleted-"
"LEIF!" I hear shouted at me and turn to see my Uncle Jason stomping down the hall, "Go to class!" he points down the ways toward the lab rooms.
"But-"
"NOW!" my uncle hollers again before turning on the football team.
"C-Coach Stackhouse!" The quarterback goes white in the face.
"Every last copy of that video better be deleted or I am cutting the entire football team. I will destroy our eight year streak, so help me GOD if that video is not wiped from the face of this earth! DO. YOU. HEAR. ME!?" He's screaming by the end of his tirade and I walk backwards down the hall as I watch every last one of them fumble with their devices. "Who sent out this video!?" he demands shrilly. "LEIF, GO TO YOUR FUCKING CLASS!" He screams at me next when I'm still not more than two yards away.
I finally start walking away in earnest, but I don't go to class. I go to the office.
"The point is, Mrs. Northman, we made it abundantly clear when you were all hired in here that having this many family members working and attending the same school would not give you any privileges. Now, a harmless prank-"
"God help you," my mother interrupts the principal, "if you call this a prank or harmless, I will call every news station from here to the east coast! We can let the public decide how harmless it is that this school did nothing to prevent nude pictures of a seventeen-year-old-girl to circulate the campus and God knows where else!"
My sister is sitting in the office with her head hanging, we can both clearly hear the argument taking place behind closed doors. Alexis looks up at me when I sit beside her. That look alone makes me take her hand and give it a squeeze. Her face is red and blotchy from crying. Even her shoulders look like they're on fire from the emotion and embarrassment.
"Mrs. Northman-"
"John," she snaps, "my daughter was assaulted and even though she turns eighteen this weekend, she is still a minor and compromising photos were taken of her on school grounds. To top it all off, it was blatantly done without her permission-"
"I see no evidence of that. She could have been faking anger to save face," Principal Marsters is going to be faking speech if he doesn't watch it!
"Oh, is Bella Sims' broken nose saving face as well?" My mother shouts. "What about the three other girls my daughter had to fight through to get the camera turned off?"
Shit, no wonder Lex couldn't keep the video from going out. She would have needed to use her supernatural strength to get through that many girls in time... I look at my sister sadly. She leans her head onto my shoulder and just keeps holding my hand.
"Leif," Mrs. Cole, the receptionist, whispers quietly, "you should be in class."
"I just drop kicked Phoenix Armstrong. I'd be sent to the office any minute anyway," I tell her. Mrs. Cole flinches, but nods.
"Why'd you do that?" Alexis chokes out, but I can tell that she knows why I did it. I don't want to say out loud that the entire football team has seen her topless now.
It takes longer than I think it should before our dad arrives. He stomps up to the office with a look on his face that would make me shit myself if I knew it was focused on me. The yelling back and forth in the principal's office seems to halt suddenly, and Alexis looks up at our dad with a mixture of fear and shame.
Dad doesn't say anything to Alexis, which bothers me. Even a quick, "it's not your fault," would have been better than just breezing past her like she's the one who created this fiasco.
"I am taking my children home," Dad declares as he pops his head into the principal's office.
"Leif isn't-"
"Leif is likely to injure someone if he has not already done so," Dad interrupts Principal Marsters. "I am taking my children home, and I want reassurances that every cell phone in this school is confiscated and wiped. If I see pictures of my daughter on the internet, I will go after this school with such legal force that it will be a national news sensation," he threatens in that pleasant business manner that is unnerving in its stern resolve. "I want my brother-in-law in charge of interviewing the students who received the video, and my wife will talk to the students who recorded my daughter. Do you understand?" I can tell by the end of the statement that Dad's turned on the glamour, and I know that Alexis and I will be leaving in just a few minutes.
"Yes, Mr. Northman," Principal Marsters agrees easily, and both of my parents emerge from the office right after.
"Leif, Alexis, get in the car," Dad tells us and we both hop to our feet. Alexis manages to keep her head bowed even as she snaps to our dad's command. "Alexis, get up front," he tells my sister as we approach his Corvette. I squeeze into the back, but keep my mouth shut about my midget of a sister getting shotgun. Okay, she's 5'8", not really short for a girl...
Before Dad can even turn on the car, Alexis cries out, "I'm sorry!" I put my head down as she starts to openly cry, and my fists clench, wishing they were wrapped around Bella Sims' throat. That fucking bitch! If she wouldn't like the attention so much, I'd consider revenge fucking her and posting it online for the world to see!
"Alexis!" Dad pulls her into a hug. "You have nothing to be sorry about! This is not your fault, and you have no reason to apologize!" He's murmuring into her hair and smoothing it against her scalp. Suddenly that professional facade breaks, and he becomes our dad again. He's upset and raging at the wrongs done to his daughter.
"I could've stopped it!" she sobs into his chest. "B-but I was so-so-"
"Angry that you were afraid you could not keep your strength in check," Dad finishes for her. "Sotnos, if you had smashed all those girls' faces in, I would not have been angry at you. However, I am so proud that you kept your wits through this entire morning and managed to keep your reaction within the abilities of a human."
Alexis raises her head and brushes away a stray tear. "Leif drop kicked a football player that was showing off the video."
Dad looks back at me and smiles, "Good boy."
As Dad pulls away from the school, I can't help but smile despite the shitty day. That's something both our parents have always agreed on. They'd rather we protect one another over anything else. Between Uncle Jason's glamour and Aunt Cammie's magic, we can kind of erase any major screw ups. Dad's money could relocate all of us at the drop of a hat if it was really necessary, too. I suppose that's the reason why they've always said 'family first'. Friends will come and go, schools will be graduated from, but our family will be here till the end of time.
When we arrive home, Lex and I go to her room and play some video games. I know it's just an attempt to take her mind off everything. She knows that on Monday she'll be back in school and be the butt of everyone's jokes. Right now, she can kick my ass in Mario Kart Klassic, and just forget about today until tomorrow.
I wish Uncle Jason would erase everything that happened today, but I know a case of bullying would be an abuse of our family's power. We've been told that there are always consequences in life, whether we caused them ourselves or not. Part of living is dealing with the shit that comes with it. There was nothing supernatural about what happened today. None of our secrets were exposed. It was just a high school bitch being a bitch. The most my family will do about it is use their gifts to keep it from spreading like a wildfire. They won't make it like it never happened. No matter how much I wish they would...
"Yoshi!" I yell as the COMP Yoshi hits me with a red shell and takes me from fourth place to eleventh. It's better to stay in this moment with Alexis. If she wanted to talk about today then she would. Since she's not bringing it up, I'm gonna leave it at that.
After a couple hours of racing, Alexis puts down her controller and gets up to grab her tablet. She starts downloading her missed classes, and I do the same so we can do our homework together. We work in silence for an hour or so until Alexis looks up at me.
"What's up?" I ask cautiously, expecting to hear her finally open up about what happened today.
"I don't want to be a cheerleader anymore," she chokes out.
I put down my tablet and scoot closer to her, "Why's that?"
Alexis looks down at the quilt on her bed, "All the girls that blocked me from getting Bella to stop recording were supposed to be my friends. We've been cheering together since middle school. Even Belly, who's supposed to be my best friend, was laughing and trying to keep me on camera longer. I don't want to catch them anymore. I want to throw them in the air for a lift and then walk away."
"That's not a reason for you to quit," I point out. "You should stick with it. Keep catching them. Show that you're the better person."
"I don't want to be the better person," she confesses. "I'm not like you, Leif. I don't have to stick it to people passive-aggressively."
"Hey, I can be aggressive," I pause a second before adding, "Be-be aggressive." Alexis snorts on a laugh. "See, you can laugh. Life isn't so bad just yet if you can still laugh, right?"
She pushes away an emotional tear that dripped out when she laughed, "I guess."
"But, you know what?" I continue.
"What?" she snuffles a bit.
"You can rat them out about last night now. You don't have to save them from Dad's wrath anymore." She blinks at me a moment before shaking her head. "Why not?"
"What's it worth piling on? Last night is over and done. Dad's not mad about that at all. There's no point." My shoulders slump at her rather grown-up statement, and I feel a little disappointment in myself. I'm not usually vengeful or petty, but after seeing my sister get publicly humiliated like this, I do want revenge.
"I just don't like seeing you hurt like this," I mutter.
Alexis smiles and pats my hand, "That means more to me than a hundred kicked football players and cheerleaders." I smile at that and lean in for a hug.
"You're sure you're okay?" I murmur questioningly in her ear.
"I will be," she assures before pulling away. "Right now I'm sad and hurt, but that won't last forever. Right?"
I smile a bit now, "Nah. Besides, you'll definitely outlive anyone that remembers."
She snorts on a laugh and picks up a pillow to smack me. "Loser."
Suddenly I'm relieved that we don't have a birthday party this weekend. Even though it's our eighteenth , Mom and Dad had insisted that we just have a family weekend. After all, we had a big party for our sixteenth birthday, and we'll probably have a huge one for graduation. Not that I'm big on parties. Alexis kinda is, but she's always been a bit of a professional hostess.
The afternoon lulls by, and around five, Mom gets home with Uncle Jason and Aunt Camilla. Alexis and I come downstairs to greet them, but they all know we want to hear about what happened at school.
"Between your Uncle and I, we believe all the videos and screenshots have been erased," Mom tells my sister calmly. "Bella Sims had sent out a mass message and then wiped her entire phone, so your father had to make a few calls to get her phone dumped for all the names it sent out to. We should have that information this evening. Otherwise, every phone on campus has been cleared."
"I'm sor-" Alexis starts to apologize again, but it's Uncle Jason that stops her.
"Lexi, don't even begin to think you got something to apologize for," Jason sighs. "We all had some bitch from school to deal with. The point is, there aren't supposed to be any cellphones in the locker rooms for this reason. Bella's being given a week suspension and kicked off the cheer squad. The other girls are being put on a three day suspension."
"That's it?" I roar.
"Well, we weren't about to mule kick all of them," Jason glowers at me. "Which reminds me, you've been given a two day suspension for that one."
"Worth it," I grumble, crossing my arms over my chest indignantly.
Our mother sighs and finally sets down her bags next to the front door. "Do you two want us to stay home tonight? After everything-"
"No!" Alexis and I shout in unison. Friday night is Mom and Dad's date night. They usually go into Columbus, get a nice hotel room and come back the next afternoon. I was surprised that they were still planning on taking one the weekend of our birthday, but grateful all the same. Their answer was that it was a big weekend for us, and we deserve some time to let off steam too.
"I discourage you from inviting anyone from school over," Mom goes on.
"Definitely not planning on having any teenagers over," I assure her.
"Pizza and kung-fu night?" Alexis suggests, and it's the first sign of excitement I've seen on her face all day.
"Please, do not break any coffee tables this time?" our dad calls as he walks up from his office.
We had been watching an old Jackie Chan film that recently got re-released digitally in 5K resolution with filtered audio and SFX enhancement. Needless to say, the adrenaline got to the both of us, and I ended flipping Alexis over the couch. She gave a gold medal attempt at recovering, but a stray magazine on the floor caused her hand to slip from beneath her handstand and she'd fallen flat on the coffee table. We called Uncle Godric about getting it fixed, but he said we would still have to fess up about how it got broken in the first place.
"We promise nothing," I tell Dad with a big grin.
"Don't worry, Bro," Jason claps my dad on the arm. "Godric and I will make them confess to all transgressions they try to hide."
"Do not call me 'Bro'," Dad sighs at my uncle and I smirk. Uncle Jason is my favorite. He never holds back with my dad. He's perfectly comfortable poking at my dad's formalities and lightening things up. Other than this morning when he was screaming his head off at me and everyone else in the hallway, he's always been the goofiest, and most easy-going of the family.
Aunt Cammie is a close-second, though, but only loses 'cause she's like a second mom to us. Honestly, though, she puts up with a lot more of my shit than my actual mom does. I think it's because we both have a mischievous streak and like to prank each other.
"All right, all right. C'mon, Cammie, let's get outta here," Uncle Jason ushers Aunt Camilla out the door, but as he does he glances back at Mom. They exchange a glance that I know very well. Alexis and I use that same look when we're silently trying to reassure each other.
Probably something to do with the fucking video of Lex, I think angrily.
"Well, I'm going to pack a bag for us," Mom turns to Dad and gives him a swift kiss. "Leave in thirty?"
"That sounds perfect," Dad smiles at her and watches her run up the steps. I don't need to look to know where his eyes are trained. Can't tell them to get a room, only to get to their room.
"Just so you two know, we are expecting some friends this weekend," Dad says once he's stopped staring at Mom's butt. "They could be arriving tonight. If they do, be respectful, and try to keep the house neat in the event that they come by tonight. Their names are Diedre and Quigley," He glances at Alexis with a bemused smirk. "And this time, it is fine to engage them in conversation. I am sure you will all have a lot to talk about."
Why'd that feel a little foreboding? I wonder as Alexis and I just nod and then excuse ourselves to start picking out a queue of movies from the digital library.
"All right, last time was all Jackie Chan. How do we want to pick this one?" Alexis asks.
"Comedic?" I suggest. Alexis needs some laughs tonight.
She pauses, "That's like sixty-six percent Jackie Chan."
"And your point?"
She considers this again and then laughs, "Okay, you win, but we need at least one movie that's not a Jackie Chan film!"
I agree and we start telling the remote what movies to put in the line-up. We argue over our top three movies back and forth before finally deciding on: 'Kung-Fu Hustle,' 'Rush Hour,' and 'Shanghai Noon.'
Just as we're getting ready to settle in for our triple kung-fu feature, Mom comes downstairs with a bag. Dad meets her halfway and takes the bag from her with a quick kiss.
"Alright, call if you need anything. Be good, no parties, and we love you!" Mom calls as Dad pushes her toward the garage. "I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" she utters sharply at our dad and I feel really confused by everything.
"What is it?" Alexis asks me as we hear the garage open and shut with our parents' departure.
"Don't you find it weird that they still went out tonight?" I ask.
Alexis looks at me with raised eyebrows, "Of course I find it weird. It's our birthday weekend, they're expecting guests that could show up tonight, and then with the crap that happened at school today, I didn't think they'd let us be out of their line of sight. Now we're by ourselves?"
"What do you think it's about?" I frown curiously.
Alexis thinks for a moment, "You don't think that Quigley and Diedre are supposed to be our babysitters for our summer trip, do you?"
The idea of that annoys the hell out of me! Mom and Dad promised that Lex and I could go on our first vacation alone after graduation.
Aside from my little indiscretion of dropkicking Phoenix today, we've done everything that's been asked of us. If they plan on sticking me with a babysitter this summer, they've got another thing coming!
But what if our babysitter's Diedre? The horny teenager part of my brain whispers excitedly. Maybe you can stick her instead of her being stuck with you. I swear my inner monologue makes the worst jokes.
"Well," I find my anger was just a flash in the pan, "they're vamps, right? So, we'd still have the days all to ourselves. Besides, I doubt they'd report any fun we'd have. They'd probably just be there to make sure we don't get hurt or lost or something."
My sister looks at me with momentary surprise before her expression falls flat. "You're thinking you might get to bone Diedre, aren't you?"
"A guy can dream," I shrug, "and you haven't seen her. If you had a bone, you'd give it to her too."
Alexis makes a face of both amusement and disgust, "Just for that, you're paying for the pizza all on your own."
Fine by me, I'll just use some of the five dollars you gave me, I think happily. "Where do you want pizza from tonight?"
"Alonzo's," she replies promptly.
I sigh, "Lex, they don't deliver."
"So? You can take Mom's car," she says.
"Lex," I whine.
"Pleeeeaaase?" Alexis whines right back and pokes out her bottom lip. Normally the puppy eyes don't work on me, but she had a shitty day. The least I can do is pick up her favorite pizza for movie night.
I sigh again, "Do you want a Coke or a Pepsi from the gas station?"
"Cherry Pepsi!" she giggles.
"All right. Call in our usual order. By the time I drive all the way there, it should be ready," I feign further annoyance as I snag mom's car FOB from the hook.
Alexis laughs and takes out her cellphone while I go out the garage.
My first stop is the gas station where I grab a couple sodas and a little bit of candy. Then I continue my drive to the Alonzos Pizzeria only to arrive and find that our order's not ready just yet. So, I sit out on the curb and light a cigarette to wait out the oven. While I sit there, I watch the cars drive by, and try to listen to the music they're playing inside their vehicles. My and Alexis's hearing is awesome by human standards, but complete shit by vampire standards. We hear better than Mom and Cammie, but might as well be deaf in comparison to the vamps in our family.
Finally our pizza is ready. I put it in the passenger's seat and head home only to find someone's parked their cars in my driveway and now I can't pull back into the garage. With a sigh, I grab the pizzas, and start walking to the front door. There's someone standing there, and it doesn't take me long to recognize who that someone is!
Diedre's POV:
I turn as I hear a car pull into the driveway, and I am pleasantly surprised to see that it is Leif walking up the driveway toward me. The same delight I am feeling is mirrored on his face when he realizes it is my car occupying his driveway.
"I told you we would meet again," I smile as Leif approaches. His face turns a soft red as he gets closer to the front door. He has a pizza pressed into his side and a convenience store bag dangling from his wrist.
"I'm glad," his voice is hoarse, a polar opposite from its pubescent squeaking of the night before.
"Are you talking low like that so your voice does not break again?" I tease, relishing at the fresh surge of blood my comment brings to his ears.
"My mouth and throat went dry when I saw you," he whispers.
Reaching up, I touch his face and run my thumb over his lip. I can practically feel his body vibrate with energy at my touch. Those patches of rough facial hair trying to sprout mixed with the baby smooth areas that have not managed to produce the seed of facial hair just yet scrape and glide against my palm as I hold his chin. His head lulls toward me like a puppy wanting his ears scratched, but my thumb continues to caress and knead that plump lower lip.
His eyes darken as I stare at them. The irises transform from a powerful ocean to an endless abyss as my finger moistens with a drop of saliva. Suddenly his breathing changes from heavy exhales to slow, timed inhales. A smile tugs at my lips. He is trying to temper his arousal.
"Answer the door, Storeen," I hear Quigley's voice from inside the house, and am snapped from my journey through Leif's eyes. "Your future is out there." I check in on him through our connection because his voice sounds saturated with anguish. What I find swimming inside of him is regret, longing and an undercurrent of anger.
I stand frozen with my hand holding my future Mate's chin and watch motionless as a frustrated noise erupts from Quigley's Storeen. The door flings open, and I blink in the sudden flood of light it brings. Leif's head turns dazedly at our spectators.
"Oh," the young girl who looks the spitting image of her mother, only taller, and with her father's shade of blue for her eyes, stares at us in surprise.
Quigley stands with equal confusion, "Who is that?" he points at Leif.
Before I can reply, the girl answers, "That's my brother, Leif."
Twins! I think wildly, but I do not fret because the connection between Leif and I is abundantly obvious.
"Which one of you was born first, Alexis!?" Quigley demands with an intense anxiety flooding my connection to him. He grasps her shoulders urgently as he gives her the smallest of pleading shakes. I suddenly realize what his distance and mood had been about last night. He met Leif's sister and thought she was to be my Mate!
"Leif's the older twin," Alexis answers in bewilderment, confused by my Child's intensity.
Even I am surprised as Quigley immediately crushes his mouth to Alexis's lips. I watch in a state of amusement as her eyes widen in shock. Her hands touch against his shoulders as if to push him away, but before she can decide how she feels about the turn of events, his mouth detaches and his forehead presses to hers. There is a brief murmur of Gaelic which translates to, "Thank you, Lord!"
"W-why did you do that?" Alexis asks shyly.
Quigley's hands rise to cup her face like he fears she will shimmer away like a reflection in a disturbed pool of water. "Because I want you to become mine." Alexis only manages a disbelieving squeak at the proclamation, so he continues, "From the second I dropped you off here last night, my soul has been in purgatory believing that you belonged to another. Now, knowing that is not the case, I want to make my intentions clear."
"I don't understand," she confesses dazedly.
It is my turn to speak at last, "That is because there is information we have that you do not. Please, allow us to explain the situation."
Leif kindly gestures for me to enter the house before him and seems to look around his home as if he has never been there before.
"Leif," his sister coaches, "put down the bag and the pizza on the coffee table. I'll get some plates. Diedre, Quigley, would either of you like a blood?" she asks courteously. I am reminded further of her mother.
"No, thank you," Quigley and I reply in unison as the girl disappears into the kitchen. Her brief disappearance inspires another wave of anxiety from my Child, and I cannot help the smile that tugs my lips.
A moment later the girl, Alexis, returns with a pair of plates and sits down next to her brother. Quigley and I remain standing while the siblings patiently wait for our explanation.
"Before we can explain the current situation, it is important to give you a quick backstory on why we have the information that we have," I tell them. "Around nineteen years ago, my lover of over two-thousand years was killed. Her name was Cassandra. She was a Seer as well as my Binded Mate."
Alexis raises her hand, "What's the difference between Binded and Bonded?"
"Bonded," Quigley pipes in, "is when a vampire and human exchange blood three times to create a connection with one another; like your parents. Binded is when two unrelated vampires wish to make a similar connection. The only way for them to do this is to create a Knot- a third vampire Sired by the two unrelated ones. The Knot acts as a relay board for the two unrelated vamps to feel each other. I was the Knot in Diedre and Cassandra's ritual."
"However," I continue on, "Cassandra saw her Final Death was imminent, but also foresaw that she would be reborn. She left a letter before she died, telling me where I could find her reincarnation." I look at Leif hesitantly to see how he is absorbing the news.
His brow is furrowed, and I can see that he is resisting the idea, "I used to be a chick?" he asks, and Alexis bursts out laughing.
"Your soul inhabited a female vessel," I tell him, feeling amused myself.
"Do our parents know?" Alexis asks.
"About Leif and I, yes," I reply to her. "Cassandra never foresaw the possibility between you and Quigley."
"Does that mean," she hesitates, and glances at Quigley in embarrassment. "I mean, could it be that we're not meant for each other?"
I look at my Child and then his prospective Mate, "For Quigley to respond to you the way that he did, I would be very surprised to find that you are not compatible as well."
"Why didn't mom or dad tell us... me about any of this?" Leif asks.
"I was in mourning for Cassandra," I explain carefully, "and all of us knew that growing up would be difficult and confusing enough for you without this."
"I think it was a good call," Alexis announces. "Otherwise, don't you think you would have felt like you'd been stuck in some sort of arranged marriage?"
Leif processes his sister's point and then laughs, "Yeah, I guess it would have felt weird. Then again, if I'd had her picture, I probably would've thought I'd hit the jackpot!" His comment makes me laugh lightly, and I feel strangely pleasurable aching when he takes my hand in his. "So, are you my girlfriend then?"
I chortle a little before I nod, "If the sentiment pleases you."
"For now. I'm not gonna lie; I feel a bit overwhelmed," Leif whispers.
"I understand," I assure him before I rise to my feet. "Now, you two should enjoy the remainder of your evening. Quigley and I have given you a lot to think about, and he and I need to have a discussion of our own."
"Thank you," Alexis rises to walk us to the door. Her mother has definitely taught her good manners. Leif stumbles to follow us as well, obviously needing his sister to guide him with his brain so full of bewilderment.
"Alexis," Quigley smiles and I feel him become bashful, "if it would please you, might I take you out tomorrow night after your birthday celebration?"
The young woman flushes before giving a silent nod. With that, my child and I leave. I am sure all of us need to regroup after this evening.
TBC
A/N: Please remember to review, and I will see everyone next week!
-Andi