“Why am I even staying with them? Why are they even keeping me? Can’t I live with you? Please let me move in with you!” Tyler leaned forward and grabbed Andi’s hands. His pheromones were all over the place as were his electric fields. His heart rate was too fast, and everything about him screamed misery.
“Living with me and George wouldn’t be such a great idea. We’re traveling a lot, and our working hours aren’t ideal for a teenager.” There, the voice of reason.
“I don’t care. I can cook, and nobody needs to oversee my homework anymore. Please, Andi. I just want to live at a place where I’m not viewed as an inconvenience or a mystery at best and a threat at worst.”
“I don’t think your parents view you as a threat. They love you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they haven’t kicked you out, which was exactly what my father threatened me with before my mother left him.”
Tyler stared at him with wide eyes.
“Listen, Tyler, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you they’re great parents and that everything is perfect. We both know that’s BS. What I am going to tell you is that they’re at least trying. It is more than I had and more than many other kids who are different one way or another can say for themselves. It’s not ideal, but it’s worth sticking it out and trying to make it better. And yes, comparing one pain to another doesn’t make your own less painful, but perhaps it can lend you some perspective.”
“And what if I don’t want to have perspective?” Tyler was now playing with the hem of his T-shirt.
“I’m afraid you have no choice. They are your parents, and they’re trying. And I don’t think your mother will ever be willing to let you move in with me. Not in a thousand years and when hell freezes over.”
“You don’t get along well.”
“That’s the understatement of the century. Though it’s gotten better since you came into the picture. How about this? You promise me to give your parents a few more chances, and I promise to be there as a mediator when needed and to provide a bed when you need some distance. A sleepover should be fine with your mom.”
“Can I stay tonight?”
The sheer hope in Tyler’s voice had Andi stalling. It was George’s birthday, and naturally, he would have said they needed some time alone after his family was on their way back home. Their flight was scheduled early in the evening, and the plan was for them to leave around three p.m. Tyler lifted his head from where it was buried against Andi’s stomach, looking at him with pleading eyes. Andi sighed.
“I have to talk to George first. And your mother.”
Tyler sat up. “Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me yet. Let’s go down to the kitchen and find George.”
George was watching the cinnamon buns browning in the oven while Daniel stirred the glass bowl with the glaze George would put on the hot buns. The brothers were bickering about the right consistency of the sugary liquid, with Daniel insisting it should be thicker while George argued it was just right.
“Really, bro, this is not right. It’s practically water and will never dry!”
“It will, trust me. I’ve been making cinnamon buns for years. I know what I’m doing.”
“I sincerely doubt it. You need more sugar.”
“Says the man who doesn’t even know what a confectioner’s knife is for!”
“I don’t need a confectioner’s whatever to put on some glaze!”
“I think I’m glad I’m an only child,” Tyler muttered while the brothers were staring at each other over the bowl with the glaze.
“This is my birthday and my kitchen and these are my cinnamon buns and we leave the glaze the way it is.” George’s voice brooked no argument, which of course motivated Daniel to contradict him.
“I’m your older brother, who by default knows better. I’m your guest, so I get a say in what I’m served, and I traveled all the way down here to celebrate with you so show a little gratitude.”
Their gazes were locked. Both had their hands around the glass bowl, not giving an inch, and Andi already saw it crashing on the tiles. The silverfish would love the sugary treat, and it would no doubt garner the attention of the ants in the garden. Both brothers were trying their best not to laugh, though it was a losing game.
Daniel leaned forward until he was nose to nose with George.
“Andi, tell your partner that a glaze has to have some thickness.”
Andi made a face. “If this was your attempt at an innuendo, I have to inform you that you suck.”
