The rest of the night passed in laughter and good company making me grateful it was a Friday night. Glancing out over the town one more time, I turned and headed back to my truck before asking “mama, papa, quereis ir a casa conmigo o no?”

“No baby, we’ll teleport there with the girls and give you a little time to yourself” mom smiled as they grouped up to teleport together. Waving, I climbed in my truck and took a deep breath before starting the engine and backing out to head home.

About halfway to my house, someone randomly stepped into the middle of the back road I was on and forced me to break hard and swerve not to hit them. Once the truck was fully stopped, I sighed a heavy breath and caught a scent of Cajun spices and incense that made me roll my eyes in irritation before putting the truck in park and getting out to face the idiot. Rolling my eyes again, I asked “you know I could’ve killed you if you weren’t fast enough right, moron?”

“Yes, but that was very unlikely to happen. I know for a fact that your family was running interference to keep me from talking to you. So, I figured an ambush was the only way it would happen” Fay said anger evident on his face.

“So, what if they were. Did you even think that maybe, just maybe, I asked them to keep you away from me?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

“Why would you even do that? I’m your best friend, so why would you want to avoid me?” he asked completely confused again.

“Lafayette, think about the last two days and tell me there isn’t some reason for me to want to avoid talking to you. First, you out me completely by accident, apologize with a few songs, and then when I’m ready to talk about it, I find that you magically have a growth attached to you. Oh, and then when I don’t want to talk because I know the conversation we need to have has to happen in private, you ambush me in an open classroom and start a fight. Then when I leave the room, you soon end up right where I knew you would playing tonsil hockey with your newest floozy and then to add insult to injury, you ambush me again in the parking lot and start yet another fight. So, excuse me for not wanting to talk” I said letting out all my anger and irritation towards the person who is supposed to know me better than anyone.

“Okay, maybe that makes some sense but I was worried you would end up doing something you couldn’t take back” he said rubbing the back of his neck. Knowing I was making a mistake before I opened my mouth, I said “there are only a few things I could do that I would ever want to take back but no I wasn’t going to hurt myself again. I was hurting enough as it was and that would've been completely useless. Hell, lets be completely honest here, I still am but go ahead, ask what I know you’re dying to know.”

“Why does me having a girlfriend bother you so much now when I’ve had several before and you never behaved this way” he asked. Taking a deep breath, I said “that answer is kind of obvious but I will explain the second part of that problem, your floozies’ have always bothered me. Simplemente no me dolió tanto verte con ellos.” With that said, I turned back around and got in my truck. Throwing it in gear, I left him standing in the middle of the road thinking about how much of a big mistake I’d just made though with as clueless as he is, it may not have been as bad as I thought. Crying as I drove home, moms’ voice popped in my head asking “are you okay sweetie? Kora says your hurting and crying. What happened?”

“He ambushed me in the middle of the road and I was forced to tell him something but I’m hoping he’s clueless enough not to understand what I said to him” I thought back as more tears streamed down my face.

“Okay, pull over and I’ll have dad come drive you home” mom said gently. Doing as she said, I thought back “se hace, gracias mama.”

The next day when I turned on my phone, I had over thirty messages and missed calls from Fay. Clicking on the text messages first, I was grateful that we had different types of phones so he couldn’t see the read receipt as I scrolled through the twenty-nine messages. The last three caught my attention making me pause and stare at the screen.

[Fay: I’m sorry. I know I can be an ass sometimes but I really am worried about you. So, message me when you get this.]

[Fay: Okay, I’m at your house and your sister and her mate look like they want to kill me. Though, I’m not sure why. Can you please tell me what the hell is going on?]

[Fay: S'ils vous ont toujours dérangé, pourquoi n'avez-vous jamais rien dit ? et pourquoi ça fait plus mal de me voir avec elle qu'avec les autres ? Est-ce que ça veut dire ce que je pense qu'il fait?]

Taking a deep calming breath, I decided to write back in French only answering part of his questions.

[Theo: Cela aurait-il eu de l'importance si je l'avais fait ? et ça fait mal physiquement de te voir avec elle, ne me demande pas pourquoi car honnêtement je ne comprends pas non plus.]

Ignoring the voice mail messages for now, I put my phone on the beside table and headed to my closet for something comfy to wear today since I was planning on staying in today. Grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, I made my way to the bathroom to take a shower and as I turned to get in I caught sight of the series of stars on my hip that had changed color again. Running my finger against it, I hissed in pain as mom popped in my head “are you okay? Kora says your hurting, what’s wrong?”

“Wow, sometimes it pays to have an empath in the house. My mark changed colors and it hurts to the touch. Can you send dad to the bathroom to look at it please?” I thought grabbing my towel to wrap it low around my waist as she said “we’ll both be there in just a second.” A minute later, a knock sounded on the bathroom door and I unlocked it to reveal both my parents waiting on the other side. Letting them in, I waited until they closed the door before I slid my towel down further off my hip enough to reveal it but keep me covered.