Thanks for all the excitement and support, everyone! It means a lot to me— probably more than you know. <3 Love you all!

——— 

Aunt Natalie came into the kitchen, wearing a fluffy white robe, her eyes still clouded over with sleep. “Morning, kids,” she said. “Hi, Theo. Where’s the coffee?”

As the rest of the family trickled in, chirruping greetings and asking about breakfast, Jack slid down from the table. Theo handed Rachel a bottle of syrup, followed him, and twitched her fingers at Adri in a beckoning to do the same.

“Bye, mom!” Jack said, and slipped out the door. Adri and Theo went after him. In front of the house was an outcropping with a cushioned porch swing. A short set of stairs led down from it, with a path extending off of them to the sidewalk. The yard was small, and the grass in front was green but sparse, pockmarked here and there with clumps of wilting purple flowers.

It was not cold out, but not hot, either. Mild, as Maman would say. Not quite this, not quite that, as if the weather itself was a teenage girl unable to decide what to wear that day.

“What do you want to see first?” Theo asked. She leaped over the porch railing instead of taking the stairs, but despite her brash actions, there was something guarded about her movements, something delicate. She walked with a calculated precision, head high, back straight, feet barely making a sound as they tapped across the pavement.

“I don’t know what there is to see,” Adri said.

“Let’s just start walking and see what happens,” Jack suggested.

And so they did.

They walked to everywhere and to nowhere. Theo and Jack pointed out this and that house, the library, the post office, informed her of where to get the best pizza, which ice cream trucks had chocolate dipped cones and which didn’t, and gave her whispered information about every person that they passed.

“That’s Mrs. Ramirez,” Theo would say, smiling warmly at a portly old lady shuffling down the sidewalk with a bag of groceries. “She has a very nice cat.”

Or, “There’s Benson Truong,” Jack might deride, surreptitiously jerking his head at a dark-haired boy carrying an instrument case. He had waved at them. Theo had reciprocated, Jack had not. “He’s in our grade at school and he’s awful.”

“Come on,” Theo said, “He’s not that bad. Are you still upset that he bullied you in elementary school?”

“It’s not something you just get over,” Jack muttered.

Adri at first did her best to remember the nuggets of information that they passed to her, but soon gave up on it, beginning to listen to hear rather than to retain. Periodically, without warning, Theo would run ahead of them and leap over benches and swing around street lights. Her smile was sharp and wide and flashed not across her face but inside it. She sang sometimes too, her steady dialogue shifting into a scale or a jaunty jazz tune at random.

Adri wasn’t sure if she liked her or not.

Jack said hello to everyone that passed them, regardless of whether he knew them or didn’t. He stopped to compliment strangers on their shoes or ask them about their day. He reminded Adri of an oversized puppy, earnest and clumsy and sweet.

“That’s a good way to get murdered,” Theo said after Jack had an almost five minute conversation with a man on a motorcycle about ice cream flavors.

“It’s a good way to make friends,” Jack chirped.

Adri stifled a burst of laughter at Theo’s disbelieving expression.

“Anyone want lunch?” Theo asked after some time, “Because I sure do.”

“It’s fine with me. We can go visit Alex,” Jack said, checking his watch.

“Who’s Alex?” Adri asked.

Theo smirked and batted her eyes at Jack. “His booooyfriend.”

Jack turned crimson and shoved her, glancing around as if to check if there was anyone there who might have heard. “Stop!” he whined. Theo had been pushed into the pole of a street sign, but she was laughing so hard that she bounced back without seeming to notice.

“He is not my boyfriend!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Theo said, calming herself.

Adri watched the exchange with interest and a measure of confusion. Jack was a boy, and so, it seemed, was Alex. She knew, of course, that there were people “like that” and she wasn’t against it, but it wasn’t something discussed among her family. It was something hush-hush, something private, something there but never quite acknowledged, like cousin Charles who brought his “flatmate” to Christmas dinner each year.

Theo’s speaking as if being gay or whatever was the most normal thing in the world was new and… slightly uncomfortable. Adri swallowed her uneasiness and didn’t voice her thoughts. It was obvious that neither Jack nor Theo would take it kindly.

Yes!!! I wondered what happened to TAoSS! I'm so incredibly excited, your solo writing is so good. XD (I just found this now, I haven't been on Inkwell in a while)

up to the tippity top!

Misinterpreting Adri’s expression, Jack turned to Adri with an explanation. “Alex’s older sister works at Leah’s Diner and he helps her out on busy days.”

“The food’s… interesting. Some stuff is really good and some stuff is, like, probably poisonous. You just gotta have the insider info,” Theo said, tapping her temple with a smirk on her face.

After a couple more minutes’ work of walking, the building in question came into view. It was square and squat, squished between a clothing boutique and a dollar store. The name of the establishment was displayed above the door and below the white-and-blue striped awning, except that some letters had fallen off, so it was now advertised as LAHS DINR.

It gave off a disgruntled retro vibe— not “cool 80’s theme diner” so much as “no one has bothered to renovate this diner since the 80’s”. The whole thing looked sort of sad, a little nostalgic, but mostly half asleep.

“Good moooorrrnnninnngg!” Theo sang, flinging the door open with a bang and striking a dramatic pose. An older couple sitting in a window booth turned and gave them a dirty look. “Long time no see! Didja miss me, Al?”

“Oh, definitely,” a boy— Alex? — said dryly. He was sitting behind the counter with his feet, encased in a pair of beat-up black vans, propped up on the surface. “It’s been, what, a full twenty-four hours?” He smiled, a wry, smug thing, that crept up on the side of his face like a slinking cat.

Adri immediately disliked him.

“Alex!” Jack had finally caught up to them, and dashed past Adri into the restaurant, coming to an ungainly stop and nearly smashing into a wall. Not seeming to notice, he beamed brilliantly and waved at his friend, who again smiled, this time more affectionately and said, “Hey, Jackalope.”

Adri frowned. “What’s a jackalope?”

“A mythical creature,” Theo said. “It’s a rabbit with horns, basically, and Alex thinks the nickname is so clever because Jack, the softie, likes animals.”

“It is sort of clever,” Adri acknowledged.

“Don’t tell him that,” Theo said. “He’ll become more insufferable than he already is.”

Interesting work so far. 

I do wonder if it's necessary to 'warn' people that a story is going to mention LGBTQ stuff? I know that there was some debate about portraying romance a while ago, but is anyone warning people that there is going to be 'straight themes'? And if it's to warn people who will be offended, well, isn't that their problem? This isn't a insult on you, I just think that you shouldn't feel like you have to warn people about that stuff. 

Portraying any kind of romance will be carefully reviewed before a comment is posted. That is a guideline to which all comments are subject.

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Yay it's back! I loved it before and I love it again now ^ ^ 

To the tippity top!

To the top, beautiful story!