Chapter Twenty Two: I Don't Know How I Should Feel About That...
[Author's Note: I'm just gonna fast forward it. Sorry these chapters were so late. I was having a bit of a problem with a teacher of mine. Anyway, thanks for being patient.]
Vulcan P.O.V
I had left Seth at home to babysit my sister. Now Aiden and I are outside this restaurant and debating whether or not to go in. "You're the one who said you wanted to have lunch." I reminded him. "Yeah but now that we're here I'm freaking out." Ever since his dad's funeral Aiden has changed even more. He's starting to face everything head on. I think he's starting to learn how to face his fears. "Are we just gonna stand out here?" He didn't answer me. He was still frozen in thought. I finally decided to just force him into the restaurant. I grabbed his hand and dragged him with me. "Hey!" He protested. When we got through the door we looked around. Ms. Straus stood up and waved us over form the other side of the room. I smiled and waved at her. In truth I could never understand how Aiden forgave her. Honestly, I wanted to slap her around. But I'd never lay a hand on a woman, not even if she did something that might warrant it.
We walked over and said out greetings. She moved to sit beside Evan as we sat down across from them. "This place is so relaxing isn't it?" Aiden's mom asked as she leaned against Evan. I had no idea what to call her. "It it Ms. Straus." I agreed. "Please, just Leanne." She smiled knowingly at me. I guess then that she knew about Aiden and I. "Right, Leanne then." I glanced at Aiden who looked more nervous than before. I sighed. "Tell us about yourself." I said, gesturing towards Evan. I didn't wanna call him by his first name. "Well I'm a pediatrician." He looked towards Leanne. "I just love children and hope to have my own one day." Could Aiden's mom even have any more babies? How old was she anyway? "Ah I see..." I smiled. I turned to Aiden and bumped his knee with my own. "Please calm down Aiden." I sighed. "Oh dear, he's nervous." Leanne said as if it was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. "Sorry..." Aiden apologized, the cutest blush spread over his face. "No need to be nervous Aiden." Evan said. He held out his hand. "My name is Evan Ross, it's nice to meet you." He smiled so warmly it almost diverted from his last name, ALMOST. "Ross?" I asked. "Oh yes, I had a brother that worked in your school. Sadly a unfortunate event took place and he was fired." Evan said with a sigh. This guy was way too polite. "You're referring to uh...the former Biology teacher right?" I asked. Evan nodded. I wanted to curse. Aiden stiffened up immediately.
"Is something the matter?" Evan asked. I did not know how to reply to that. "Uh..." I glanced at Aiden who looked immediately frightened. If Seth were here, he would've taken a swing at this guy. "How is..Mr. Ross?" I asked, my tone a mix of nervous and hidden anger. Evan looked at me strangely. "He's all right for someone in prison." "Right..." Aiden still wouldn't speak. "You know something don't you?" Evan asked. Leanne looked confused. "About why your brother was arrested? Yeah...I'm sure everyone knows." I replied. Aiden looked at me, worry in his eyes. "There's something else isn't there?" He looked at me then at Aiden and something seemed to click for him. "Oh my...he didn't..." Aiden looked down. I saw Leanne's gaze change from complete confusion to mama bear pissed. "He..." I could tell she wanted to find him and make him pay. "I think I still have the video." I said as I went through my phone. "Yup still here..." I played the first few minutes. Evan's face turned pale. "I'm..." I held up my hand. "Oh man not this again. Look, it happened, there's nothing more to say. He got what was coming to him...no offense sir." Evan sighed. "Oh dear..." He gave an apologetic look to Leanne. "I'm so sorry my dear." Leanne took in deep breaths and sighed. "As long as Aiden is safe." "Oh he is." I fast forward the video to the end where I was totally kicking his butt. "See? He's safe." "He's been protecting me." Aiden said, finally contributing to the conversation.
"Okay, enough with the sad stuff, let's eat." I said, trying to divert the subject to anything else. Evan smiled and nodded. He waved down a waiter and asked for the specials. I let Aiden order for the both of us. I really wasn't feeling this at all. Maybe it's because Evan is Mr. Ross's brother and I instinctively want to kick his ass. We sat, we ate, we made small talk, and I watched as Aiden's mom fussed over his hair. "It's too long sweetie. You need a haircut." I personally liked Aiden's hair long. The thought of running my fingers through it always made me shiver. I wanted it to get longer so it could trail down my body if we ever got around to having sex. But that thought should be saved for another occasion. "Tell me about yourself Vulcan." Aiden's mother said as she smiled at me. "Well what would you like to know?" I asked. "Your name is very odd, let's start with that." She replied. I smiled. "My dad was a Roman historian. To top it off, his side of the family is descended from Roman generals. I guess he wanted me to have a piece of the history." "I believe Vulcan was the Roman God of Fire and Metalworking." Evan chimed in. I nodded. "Yup, my sister is Maia, named for the Roman Goddess of Growth." "Oh how adorable! How old is she?" Leanne asked. "Oh she's 11. She's so cute!" Aiden answered with the biggest grin on his face. I was so happy to know that he loved my sister.
I watched as Aiden laughed with Leanne and Evan. How was this guy related to that pervert? Just thinking about Mr. Ross makes me want to find him and beat the absolute hell out of him. "What about your parents?" I was brought back to reality by Evan's voice. "Oh...uh...they passed away." "Oh dear I am so sorry to hear that." Evan looked like he had stepped on a line mine. I smiled. "It's all right, it was a long time ago. I know they're in a better place." I glanced at Aiden who smiled sheepishly. I remembered that time with my mom. I was happy to have been able to talk to her. It was thanks to Aiden that I had the chance to talk to my mother, and have the relief of knowing my parents were happy. "What about school?" Leanne asked, she smiled and I knew she was trying to change the subject. "I skip class a lot but my grades never seem to drop." I shrugged. Aiden looked at me. "You're serious?" I nodded. "Yeah...Seth too. We just never seem to have any problems academically." Aiden looked at me like he couldn't believe it. "I've seen you leave school before it's even begun." I shrugged. "Yeah well what are you gonna do? It's just not challenging." Evan looked at me. "How high is your IQ?" He asked. "I don't know. I never bothered to check." I replied. He hummed. "What?" I asked. "Oh nothing, carry on." He said as he waved me off with a smile.
We talked about a lot of things. Some of them weren't even relevant but seeing Aiden smile was what really made my day. We stayed for dessert and after that we parted ways. Aiden was humming some song by The Police. I know it because I heard many times as a child. "Every breath you take?" I asked out loud. He turned to me. "What?" "That song you're humming." "Oh! Yeah that's the one." I smiled and grabbed hold of his hand. We walked down the street and held hands like little kids in kindergarten. I was happy. We made our way home and as soon as I opened the door, 80's music blasted us. "What the fuck!?" I rushed into the house to find Seth and Maia dancing. They were twirling and laughing and just dancing without a care in the world. "What are you guys doing!?" I had to yell over the music. Seth stopped what he was doing and turned towards us. He grinned mischievously and glanced at Maia who seemed to pick up what he was putting down. They both ran to us and grabbed us. The 80's music turned into a Michael Jackson medley and, I'll be honest, when it comes to MJ I don't play. So you can guess what I did. Yup, a lot of moon walking and crotch grabbing. I felt like MJ meets James Brown on the dance floor.
"Damn Vulcan." Seth laughed as he jumped right in and we performed every single Michael Jackson move we've ever seen. When the music ended, Seth grabbed the remote and turned off the stereo. "Well that was fun!" He grinned. Maia jumped on my and climbed her way onto my back. My little monkey! She giggled and sat on my shoulders. Aiden came up to me and started tickling Maia's foot. She laughed and tried to struggle. "Whoa there girl I'm going to fall." Aiden chuckled and stopped tickling her. "I didn't know you had a weakness for Michael." I grinned. "Anything Michael is my jam!" Seth laughed. "That is an understatement." I grinned. "Were you a good girl Maia?" I asked as I looked up at her. "Yup!" I looked at Seth. "Is that true?" He nodded. "She helped me make lunch and clean up." I gently set Maia down and ruffled her hair. "Atta girl!" She smiled and then her face suddenly brightened. "Oh! Vee, I have something to show you!" She ran upstairs. "Huh?" I turned to Seth who shrugged. She came back down with an envelope in her hands. "See!" She handed it to me and I opened it. When I read it I didn't know whether to burn it or beat the person who wrote it. "Maia, this is..." I couldn't even finish my sentence. "A love letter!" She grinned. Aiden and Seth did a double take. "Love letter!?" they shouted in unison. "Yup, a boy in my class gave it to me yesterday." She seemed so cheerful, like there was nothing wrong with this. "Aw, how adorable! Young love..." Aiden said, chuckling. I turned to him. The look on my face must've been hilarious because he started laughing. "This is not okay!" I yelled. Maia's face fell. "What's wrong Vee?" I turned to her. She seemed genuinely confused. "Uh...Maia...do you like this boy?" She didn't even blink when I asked that question. She merely hummed in thought. "He's nice I guess. We don't talk." "Uh-huh...and what did you say when he gave you this letter?" She smiled. "I told him we should be friends first!" My sister is just too nice. "Okay...and what happens when you do...uh...like him?" She shrugged. "I'm 11 Vee, dating isn't in my book yet." I sighed. I'm not sure how I should feel about this.
Meanwhile Seth and Aiden were giggling up a storm. They were trying really hard not to make it seem like this was hilarious to them, but they were failing miserably! "All right Maia, what else did this boy say?" She shrugged. "He said that he has a crush on me and would like to get to know me better. He said to read the letter." She smiled. "He doesn't really socialize much. I've only seen him hang out with one or two other boys but that's about it." She then looked up at me. The look on my face must've confused her. "Did I do something wrong?" I must've looked angry. But c'mon! Can you blame me! I'm not ready for this yet! "Um, no Maia...it's just uh..." Seth then put an arm around my neck and grinned. "Vulcan's just looking out for you, sweetie." It was then her face kind of turned pink. "You're still number one to me Seth." She fidgeted and twiddled her fingers. Seth smiled and picked her up and spun her around. She laughed and spread her arms out. "Seth, put my sister down. I'm not done interrogating her." Seth rolled his eyes. "Kill-joy." He set her down. "Now tell me who this boy is." I said. She grabbed the letter back from me. "Um...Chase." I was surprised that she didn't know him that well. "You don't even know his name?" She pouted. "Like I said, he doesn't socialize much." But then again, neither does Maia. "All right, bring him over sometime. You know, when you two have become friends and all that jazz." She brightened then nodded. She ran back upstairs humming the tune to Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius.
I sighed. I am not ready for this. But then, is anyone ever ready when their kid sister grows up and starts noticing boys? Seth put a hand on my shoulder. "There there Vulcan." He was teasing me. I glared at him. "How can she be so calm about this!?" "Because unlike you she doesn't see a problem with it. So what if a boy has a huge crush on her?" I glanced at Aiden. "She's growing up." He stated. I went over to the couch and sat down. "Ugh, what a day." I leaned back and sighed. Aiden lied down next to me, using my leg as a pillow. Seth sat down and pulled Aiden's legs over his lap. "Now now Vulcan, Maia had to grow up at some point." "I know." I ran my fingers through Aiden's hair in thought. "When she does bring his daring ass over, should I be mean or cotton candy nice?" Seth chuckled. "Both..." Aw man...seriously!