“These are very tight.” Colin complained as we walked into the coffee shop on campus. I sighed. Of course he’d be bothered by the clothes Carla’s brother was nice enough to lend him. I wish I had the balls to tell him he looked smoking in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. He probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“You just aren’t used to them. How come you wear such loose fitting clothing? Is it so you can shift quicker?” Carla asked curiously. The barista took Carla’s coffee order and waited patiently to take ours. I ordered a hot chocolate, since coffee and I were on bad terms. Colin said he would have what I was having.

Apparently, he’d never been to a coffee place before. He was a strong believer in black coffee, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that what I ordered was definitely not black coffee. He was going to have to find out the hard way that we weren’t the same in the slightest.

“Yeah. We change pretty fast, so it’s easier to wear clothes that don’t constrict movement. I mean, the clothes disappear as soon as I change, but that’s because of the magic.” I tell her. She said she was paranormal, but never said what kind. If she were a telepath, she would already know everything I was thinking. Not an empath either. She couldn’t sense Colin.

Humans and paranormals were close cousins. It’s the only race that directly stems from humans. There is no way to track what child will develop abilities, but once they do, they are registered, and usually put in schools for the gifted. I wanted to ask, but didn’t have the courage to.

“That’s really cool. So Colin, how long have you been, you know, with Sam?” She raised her eyebrows suggestively to try and tease him. It definitely worked. Colin blushed profusely.

“W-what?” Colin stuttered. The barista called out our names and we collected our drinks at the counter.

“Ah. So not all things are foreign to dragons. You catch my drift.” She says in a teasing voice. Part of me loved seeing Colin squirm and the other point wanted to defend him. He reminds me of me when I’m trying to get through understanding the supernatural world.

I wonder what it was like for paranormals. They weren’t human, but they weren’t really supernatural either. There were several paranormal families that moved into Undercity when humans discovered that they existed, but most stayed and took the abuse head on. Humans weren’t very nice to the paranormals.

“I do- do not catch the drift.” Colin told Carla as surely as he could.

“I see. Interesting.” She teased him further. “But Sam took your last name, didn’t he?” Carla pried. I slammed my cup down a little too hard.

“That’s kind of between us.” I said suddenly. It was a little harsher than I meant it too sound. Jac climbed down off my shoulder and onto Colin’s. Carla seemed taken aback.

“Hey now. I was only teasing him. I’m not prying into private business or anything.” She said with a contradicting smile that clearly said she was. Carla took another drink of her coffee and took a deep breath. I looked over to see Jac whispering something into Colin’s ear. By the look on his face, I could tell Jac was saying something he really wasn’t supposed to.

From the look on Colin’s face, I’d say gleeful joy and uncontrolled fear both fought for control of Colin’s facial expressions. Neither was quite winning the battle.

“I see.” Colin said. Overall, it looked like controlled excitement won the war. His eyes sparkled with a happiness that hadn’t really been there in a while. His smile was soft and gentle with a tint of eagerness to it. I wondered what Jac told him.

“So I have a million questions. Can I ask?” Carla leaned in toward the table and hugged her drink in both hands. I nodded.

“Only if we can ask you questions.” I told her.

“Absolutely. Okay. First question. Do dragon’s mate this early normally, or are you guys an anomaly?” I stared at her. That was not the question I was expecting. I was thinking she would say something like ‘can you breathe fire’ and I’d look all cool and be like ‘yes’. But instead she has to ask a question I can’t even answer.

“It is usually much earlier than this. But since Sam lived in the human world, we didn’t meet until a few months ago.” Colin said. He was happy enough to talk to her now. I wonder what changed. Jac sat comfortably by his ear. Was he helping him out?

“And do all the dragon spirits become these little lizards when they die?” Carla asked. I started laughing when I saw Jac’s reaction to being called a lizard. He had a huge problem with that. He did really look like a red and yellow lizard though.

“Only when their mate is still alive. And size depends. The more transformative energy, the bigger the lizard.” Colin said with a smirk. He pet Jac on the head with a finger like he would if Jac really were a lizard. Jac was just about to lose his mind.

“I’m not a lizard!” He screams infuriatingly. Colin and I burst out laughing. It was made even more funny because Carla couldn’t understand a word he said.

“What’s so funny?” She asked. “Are you guys making stuff up? Is he really just some lizard or something?” Carla begged for real answers. The idea that this was some elaborate prank and Jac was really just a lizard made us laugh even harder.

Colin’s laugh made me even happier to hear. Thank the Zodiacs, he was happy again. But how long would it last, I had to wonder. It might only be for right now at this very moment. And then whatever is making him sad will shut him down again. So I had to enjoy every moment I got to see him laugh.

“He just hates being called a lizard.” I told her through my uncontrollable fits of laughter. I took another drink of my hot chocolate and realized that Colin had never even taken a sip of his. Maybe he knew that he wouldn’t like it, but ordered it anyway? Maybe he was trying to fit in with us. I knew he hated putting sugar in his drinks.

We talked for a while longer and sipped our drinks. Colin was relaxed and happy, and that made me feel at ease. The clothes he was wearing were surprisingly human, and fit him well. The long basketball shorts were just the right length, and the t-shirt he wore under my jacket was a tight fit. It went well with his overall appearance.

“It’s nearly three, Sam. We should be going now.” Colin said to me. I tilted my head in question. We had nowhere to be, did we?

“Don’t tell me you forgot. What would you do without me?” Colin said teasingly. He got up from his seat and I reluctantly followed suit. Was he going to make me guess where he was going? Because I really didn’t know. I couldn’t think of anything I had to do today.

“Ah, I have to be going too. I’ve got a class at three thirty.” Carla picked up her bag and smiled at Colin. “Keep the clothes. My brother’s got plenty.” She told him before dumping her coffee cup into the trash and excusing herself from the shop. We waved goodbye to her.

“Alright, spill it. What did I forget exactly?”

“Obviously the Council meeting!” Colin smacked the back of my head. I groaned. He was right.

I completely forgot.