&
Location: Tessa’s House -> Everett’s Party
Interacting With: Each Other
The alarm beeped letting everyone in the house know that the front door had been opened. Tessa made a distressed noise and then said in a hoarse whisper
“My mom is home.”Austin looked at her with widened eyes.
”Your mum?! Okay, stubborn-arse grandma with a serious case of ‘lighten up’ is fine, but your mum?! Why is she even here? Your grandma’s here, and she’s even more stubborn than my cat! There’s no need for her to be here, right?” He sighed, peeking round the corner.
”Do you know what her reaction will be to you having a boy here?”“No idea, I’ve never done it before. She may be happy I’m talking to someone, or she may just freak out.” Tessa looked around the kitchen as if hoping to find a place to hide Austin.
“Just act natural, and like we weren’t making out.” Her face turned a nice shade of red. They could hear the television get turned down a bit and some voices from the living room, as if Tessa’s mum and grandma were talking.
He brushed some hair out of Tessa’s face.
”Okay. Casual, then.” The teen picked up a cup and pretending as if he were helping out. Though, if Tessa’s face got any redder, he began to wonder if he might have to extinguish her.
“Tessa,” A higher pitched version of Tessa’s voice said as she entered the room. “And the strange boy.”
“His name is Austin mom.” Tessa said, her voice a bit tighter than it had been, but surprisingly calm considering. Austin gave a sheepish wave, then turned back to the glass and slowly filling it with water, sipping it. He finished it off, placing it back on the side.
”Hi. I’m Tessa’s friend. We, uh, just came over ‘ere to play some Splatoon. Ain’t that right, Tessa?” He gently patted her arm, almost scowling at himself - his accent always got more common when he was nervous.
“Yep.” Tessa nodded in agreement sipping at her own glass of water.
“Are you staying for dinner then Austin?” Mrs. Gray asked. Tessa almost choked on her water.
”I’ll be glad to, Mrs. Gray. I might have to phone my mum to tell her, though. She was expecting me home a couple of minutes ago. But she’ll be fine with me hanging out with Tessa.” He gave a bright smile, before slipping a hand into his suit jacket and pulling out his phone. He flicked through the contacts.
”Excuse me a second.” He said as he walked to the other side of the room.
Austin tapped his foot as he waited for his mother to pick up, the robotic tone of the ringing grating on his brain. He eventually heard the familiar ‘click’ as his mum picked up, and took a deep breath.
”Hey, mum! Sorry I’m not home yet, I’m just at Tessa’s. It’s alright if I stay for dinner, right?” He rolled his eyes as he heard the recipient chuckle.
“Of course Austin. But don’t get too energetic.”
He lowered his voice to a whisper.
”Muuum! She’s only just become my girlfriend! Why would I- no, nevermind, I don’t even want to talk about it. There’s only kissing right now, okay?”“Ooooh, look at my boy being a big man. Go on, have fun!”
”Thanks, mum.” He said in an unenthusiastic tone, happily tapping the big red button.
And they say those are bad in movies, he thought, before walking over to Tess and her mum again.
”Alrighty, I’m free to have lunch here.”“Excellent. I’ll get started on it.” Mrs. Gray nodded and moved to the fridge. Tessa gave a Austin a relieved look behind her mother’s back. Then as if she remembered something her eyes got wide. She pulled out her phone and typed into it quickly, she passed the phone to Austin so he could read the message.
I forgot I need to talk to Mal tonight about something important.
”Oh, okay. What’s up?” He whispered, an inquisitive glint in his eyes.
“My cousin, I think he needs an x-ray.” Tessa whispered back.
“But his dad will flip.””Grant? And why will his dad flip?” Austin had to stop himself from shouting out loud. Tessa nodded.
“Mom, we’re going to go out to the shop, Austin hasn’t seen my work.” Tessa said loudly, her mom nodded, and Tessa took Austin’s hand leading him out the sliding glass door of the kitchen to the wood shop in the back yard. Once out there she took a deep breath.
“It’s a long story, and not quite mine to tell, but let’s put it this way my Uncle is a dick.””Oh, right. So is… he the reason Grant needs an x-ray?”Tessa’s face tightened and for a few quiet seconds she didn’t say anything, until finally she gave a small nod.
“Yeah I think so. I don’t have any proof though.”Austin’s face dropped.
”I’m sorry about that. The only dad I have just ignores me, not exactly the same as abuse. I wish I could be in Grant’s place instead of him…” He trailed off, looking into the distance. After a brief moment, he took a breath.
”He deserves better. Look, Tess, we need to call the police. A father shouldn’t be possibly breaking his son’s bones.”“I agree. Believe me, but I don’t have proof, and it’s been an issue that everyone has ignored for a long time.” She took a deep breath.
“I wish I could fix it, I do, but at this point I don’t know if there is enough proof, and Westly has too much power in the community. I’m hoping an x-ray will show a spiral fracture, and if it does that might be just enough proof against him.” ”We need to get him to a hospital. If we can get the proof, it won’t matter what his dad thinks anymore.”“I agree.” Tessa pulled herself up onto the large working table in the middle of the shop.
“On an entirely better note, welcome to my wood shop.””Awesome!” He looked around at all Tessa’s work in awe.
“Thank you.” She blushed a bit, but smiled.
He smiled back.
”Wish I could do stuff like this. Hey, we could like, join forces!” His face brightened.
”I could draw some of the figures you’ve made, and I can even draw up some sketches to help you with ideas! I’ll have to pull out my ‘old files’ from when I used to be good at drawing, y’know? Try to get my juices flowing and my hands working.” Tessa nodded along.
“That’s a brilliant idea. I’ve never been that great at drawing.” She pulled out her sketch book.
“I can only ever just get the general idea of what I want, it’s never like it is in my head when I put it on paper.” She flipped to a page that showed one of the pieces on the table next to her. The sketch and the driftwood itself could have been done by different artists with how differently it turned out.
Austin looked the picture up and down, then the driftwood sculpture.
”I see what you mean now.” He chuckled.
”But don’t worry - loads of famous artists and the sort probably had buckets full of balls of paper; drafts that turned out crap. So, what do you say? Team?” The teen smiled at her.
“Team.” Tessa held out her hand for a shake. Austin took it, but pulled her towards him, leaning in and kissing her, using his leg to push the shop door closed.
The pair didn’t get much longer until there was a knock at the wood shop door and Tessa’s mum’s voice from outside the shop. “Dinner is ready. I made spaghetti.”
“Okay, be right there.”Austin looked at her and smiled, before holding out his hand, for her to take it.
”Shall we?” Tessa took his hand.
“You ready for the most awkward family dinner of your life?” She asked as they stepped out of the shop.
”Eh, why the hell not.” He said with a goofy shrug.
”Have at it.” Inside the house, just to the left of the kitchen was the dining room table, already set for four people. Tessa’s grandmother was sitting at one end of the table, looking irritated, but that was to be expected. Mrs. Gray was bringing the pot of spaghetti into the dining room. She waved with her elbow toward a seat for Austin, which he eagerly sat in.
“Tessa, will you get the water pitcher?” Mrs. Gray asked her, Tessa nodded and pulled a pitcher of cold water from the fridge. Once everyone was sitting down, Mrs. Gray served the spaghetti.
”This is nice,” Austin said, politely taking his plate full of spaghetti.
”I’ve never really had the chance to have dinner at a friend’s before.”“That’s unfortunate.” Mrs. Gray gave him a sympathetic look. “Okay, I’ll lead in prayer.” She held her hands out for Tessa and Austin to take. Tessa took one of her mom’s hands, and then held out her hand for her grandmother on the other side of her. Austin took Mrs. Gray’s hand, then (though quite reluctantly), Tess’ grandmother’s. “Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts, which we are about to receive from your bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
”Amen.” The British teen copied, the process having almost been embedded into him during primary school. It was all he could ever remember about assemblies - having a prayer at the end of every one, and repeating ‘amen’ in a robotic and unenthusiastic voice. Though, his voice was more lively this time, just in case Tessa’s grandma decided to say anything about his apparent lack of enthusiasm.
“Amen.” Tessa voiced, then for several minutes there was nothing but silence as everyone started eating. Finally, Tessa’s grandmother broke the silence.
“I saw you two coming in from the shop.” She said looking pointedly at Tessa.
“Yeah, I was showing him my stuff.” Tessa’s voice sounded nervous, as if someone had just decided to open the can full of worms and she was trying to stop them.
“Your stuff huh?” The old woman sneered.
“Yes, he hasn’t seen my art before.” Tessa was clearly trying to stay calm.
“I think that’s sweet.” Mrs. Gray cut in. Tessa’s chin lifted and an eyebrow raised. She looked at her mom confused. “That you are showing your
friends your art, just be careful. I don’t want just anyone wandering around in our back yard.”
”Thank you, Mrs. Gray. I quite like Tessa’s art, actually. I never had the idea of creating things out of wood in the past. All I’ve ever done is drawn.” He smiled at Tessa from behind a fork-full of spaghetti.
“And I’ve never drawn all that much.” Tessa smiled back.
“Well, as long as you two won’t be drawing each other.” Tessa’s grandmother said.
Austin had to stop himself from choking on his spaghetti. He clearly wasn’t alone on that, as Tessa had to quickly take a sip of her water.
“That was crass mother.” Mrs. Gray said surprisingly calm.
“You’re trusting your daughter with some strange foreign boy.” The old woman seemed to have found her steam. “You know nothing about him, and that’s not easy in this damn town. There’s a killer out there all over again.” She looked at Austin as if he were the killer.
“Gran, first of all Austin was with me this morning when Rachel was killed, and second he didn’t even live here three years ago. You can’t seriously think he’s guilty.”“No, not him, but a stranger to this town is guilty I’m sure of it. We’ve had them traipsing through here like it was a zoo for the last few years, why not?” She shrugged and seemed satisfied with her logic. Austin hurriedly swallowed down some more spaghetti.
”With all do respect, but if you don’t think I’m the killer, then I don’t really see the point in bringing it up.” He grabbed a glass and filled it with water, drowning it down like it was alcohol.
“You’re still a strange boy. It may have been a while since I had kids of my own, but neither of them ever ended up with strangers.”
“He can only be a stranger if you let him.” Tessa snapped.
“And it’s not like ending up with someone you know saves you from danger. Do you ever really know someone?” Austin’s eyebrows were now flicking between the two in wide-eyed surprise, though he did find it a little bit amusing that Tessa and her grandma were having a bitch fight. And, when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, with the two glaring daggers at each other, he performed the impossible - made it all worse. And do you know how? One, timid little voice cut through the silence like a knife. And all it said was:
”Ooh…”The old woman shot a glare at Austin, his fate was sealed, she’d never like him now, that was plain enough to see. “You know people you lived with your whole life.”
“Bullshit.” Tessa said, mostly under her breath, but loud enough for everyone at the table to hear her.
“Tessa Lee Gray.” Mrs. Gray said sternly. Tessa flinched. “Watch your language. To your room now.” Tessa set down her fork and pushed herself away from the table.
“Sorry.” She mouthed at Austin, but didn’t say anything to her mother or grandma. Tessa walked out of the room without stomping, which must have been difficult.
Austin sighed, garnering more glares from Tessa’s grandma in the process.
”This spaghetti is, er, nice, Mrs. Gray.” He said awkwardly, missing out all the tee’s in the process.
“Thank you Austin, but you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want.” Mrs. Gray said sweetly.
“Or if you do want.” Tessa’s grandma added. She did at least look somewhat mollified by the glare Mrs. Gray sent her way.
”I think I’ll just finish up, yeah.” He said, finishing off his spaghetti and standing up, washing up the dish and fork in the sink. Once he was done, he dried them off and put them in their respected places.
”Thank you for the lovely comments on the various topics discussed,” He shot an ice cold expression at Tess’ grandma, completely void of all emotion. Then, with his lips curled into a sly smile, he added (with the same amount of coldness),
”If you ever want to talk again, don’t be a stranger.”Satisfied, he stepped into the living room, grabbing his things and shooting Tess a quick text.
To: Tessa
Gonna head home now, after your grandma kindly saw me off. Cya later, yeah?
”Thanks again for lunch!” He called behind him, opening the door (setting off the robotic voice) and closing it behind him. With a groan, he headed off in the direction of nowhere, slowly increasing speed, before becoming a blur.
From: Tessa
Meet me at the corner.
He looked down at his buzzing phone, coming to a stop and reading the text.
To: Tessa
On my way. Be there in a Flash!
He chuckled to himself, turning direction and speeding off, a simple black and white streak running through the city. He made it home, running upstairs and changing into a more casual outfit, and grabbing his ‘just-in-case-I-get-super-bored’ backpack. Finally done, he sped back down and out, arriving at the corner. At first Tessa didn’t seem to be there, and then she spoke. With her words she appeared.
“Sorry about all of that.” She had changed as well, adding a jacket to her outfit.
“Hope they didn’t scare you off.””No, it was more of a case of I had to leave, really. But I put that stubborn old mule in her place, I think.” Austin chuckled, recalling the events.
“So I don’t know how we’re supposed to get to Everett’s. I don’t know if you’re up for running the whole way there with me in tow. If not, I can see about getting a ride from someone. Maybe Jay.””Please!” He laughed, picking her up in his arms.
”It’ll take, like, ten seconds, or something, I don’t know, I’m not Einstein!” He chucked again as the world became a blur around them.
”Hey, just make sure you don’t puke. It can be disorienting.” Austin, of course, had gotten used to it, and his eyes adjusted to allow him to see clearly.
Tessa nodded, probably not trusting herself to speak, and buried her face into his shoulder. She held on tightly, catching her beanie before it was left behind.
