Chapter 16

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

Saturday 17th October 1998

To start with, an update. Nick managed to get away after a brief shoot-out… apparently he was sporting a few injuries, so Clyde and Amelia reckon he won’t be bothering us for a little while. He’ll live, but he’ll likely be spending time recovering. I get the feeling he’d chase after us even with all four limbs in casts. Not that that would be very menacing.

On my part… I woke up the morning after stung by guilt for not having given any condolences to Dakota. Not like it’d make much difference, but all the same, I took her loss and turned it into an issue of my own.

I really didn’t feel like seeing the others, but I didn’t feel that I could excuse not seeing them either. Guess I’ve been brought up well to be uncomfortable lying to try and get out of it. In any case, the general atmosphere wasn’t amazing, and I was mostly left alone. That’s not to say they just ignored me or anything, of course. But they didn’t make a huge effort to involve me. They were probably just giving me space. At least, that’s what I tried to assure myself, when the other possibility was that I was beginning to drive them away.

I also teleported my sword back across from my house, of course. I’d spent a few minutes fretting over how to get it back to Dakota’s before remembering I could do that…

When Dakota and I had a moment alone, I told her that I was sorry for her loss. We hugged – I refused to let myself take any comfort from it, and focused on her. She was the one who needed it. Even then, she didn’t seem to want to talk about it. That was fair. I didn’t press it any further.

As the new week chugged along, my mood steadily returned to more-or-less normal, overcast only by my continued dread over… everything, I suppose. But hey, we seemed to be in the clear with Nick for now, so the overarching stress was alleviated. The ever-present eyes had also finally disappeared, which really did suggest that they were tied to Nick somehow. A mystery left to solve.

Which brings us to Saturday.

“No letting Lucy throw wild parties,” Mum instructed me while hefting her small suitcase to the car.

Every now and then, my parents would go away for the weekend – leaving Saturday morning and returning late at night on Sunday, which has always baffled me as to what enjoyment they take from what can scarcely be more than 24 hours at their destination of choice – and this was one of those days. It had practically come out of nowhere, with only murmurings of them going away at some point until two days before they would be heading off. And they remained insistent that one of us always had to be home to look after the house. That left me with pretty short notice at which to tell my friends that I wouldn’t be seeing them for the whole weekend.

… because let’s face it, I couldn’t trust Lucy to stay home while I was out…

“I know you know I’m not interested in throwing wild parties, but can you at least tell me not to throw wild parties?” I asked in a vain attempt to feel even a little normal.

“Okay…”

My mother placed her luggage alongside Dad’s in the car boot and closed the compartment.

“No throwing wild parties.”

“Thank you,” I replied, before pressing tongue to cheek and adding an annoyed-sounding “I won’t!”

A quick test of housekeeping instructions and some waving-goodbye later, it was just myself and Lucy at home.

“Sooo,” my sister began while sprawled out on the sofa, still in her dressing gown, “I’ll probably be staying over at Paige’s so enjoy having the weekend to yourself.”

“Great, thanks,” I grunted. I liked being by myself sometimes, but an entire weekend was pushing it.

“Nah, you can have loads of fun doing the type of dirty things teenage boys do when they’re alone,” she teased, idly bobbing a foot as it hung off the sofa’s edge.

“Yeah… not sure I could do that for two whole days…”

“Keep yourself hydrated.”

“Why are we discussing this?!”

Seriously. Why was my sister bringing this up?

“Juuuust giving you ideas,” she insisted, waving her other foot at me as though dismissing me. “I don’t want you going stir crazy or anything.”

“You’ve got a dirty mind, Lucy!” I jeered, grabbing her swaying foot and unleashing a ticklish barrage upon it.

(… don’t even go there.)

She tried and failed to pull her foot away, cackling and squirming where she lay.

“Eeeee-hee-hee-viiiiil!” she squealed out.

“You’re one to talk!” I countered in jest, tickling a little more before releasing her. She recoiled, and promptly got off of the sofa.

“See, you’re so pent up that you assaulted your own sister!”

“That wasn’t assault, and it was just your foot.”

“Just my foot,” she repeated back while stretching a little. Her highlighting that made me freak out the tiniest bit; she gave no sign of having noticed, and began strolling for the stairs.

“I’m gonna shower. Try to control yourself thinking about my soapy naked body!”

“I will think about anything but that!” I assured her as she began marching upstairs.

It was quiet now.

I wasn’t used to this much quiet.

A quick stroll to the TV to turn it on and grab the remote, and I collapsed onto the sofa to commence some channel-hopping. Maybe I could find something interesting to kill an hour or two…

Several minutes later, I settled on SM:tv Live. Because I’m a big kid and there’s seemingly nothing else of interest being shown on a Saturday morning.

It being fairly early in the morning, at least for a teenager such as myself, I quickly felt myself growing drowsy. Sudden knocking at the front door jolted me back to my senses.

Hefting myself up, I made my way to the door, expecting either my parents having forgotten something or a salesman ready to be turned away.

What I was not expecting was Dakota’s beautiful, beaming face.

“Surprise!” she cheered while Bao and Kendal’s hands waved over her shoulders.

“Whuh?” was my eloquent response.

“Awh, your face!”

Well, as least she sounded pleased.

Bao and Kendal popped into view, while Zahid steadily leant to the side from the rear.

“We’re staying over!” Kendal informed me, bouncing a little in barely-concealed excitement.

“They thought you needed the company,” Zahid clarified. “So – as long as you’re good for it – we’ll hang here while your parents are away.”

“I…”

What kind of friends had I made? They were inviting themselves over just to keep me company… and after what happened a week ago…

“Yeah, of course…” I decided, stepping aside to allow them in. While they entered my abode, my mind rattled through any house rules or important information I needed to impart to them. My thoughts were scattered pretty much immediately as Bao heaved three heavy bags up in front of me.

“Where can I put these?” he enquired.

“Err… living room?” I pointed uneasily in the room’s direction. His response was a rapid nod before heading off.

“So, do we get the tour? Me and Dakota both did it at ours!” Kendal reminded me. “Now it’s your turn!”

I noticed she had a backpack on – presumably a change of clothes and whatever else. Dakota and Zahid each had one too. Whether Bao had brought his entire wardrobe or what, I had no idea…

“Further reason for me to never let you come round mine,” Zahid remarked, bringing a pout out of Kendal.

“Right! Yeah! Let’s, err-”

“Oh hey, SM:tv!” Bao called out from the living room. Guess he’d only just noticed.

“- let’s, uhm, start with the living room?”

You wouldn’t think I’d known these guys – at least properly – for over three months. The suddenness of their arrival and my inability to plan left me completely overwhelmed in the moment.

Kendal set off for the living room like a homing missile, while Dakota and Zahid followed me at a more tempered pace. As we entered the room, Bao was hooking his Sega Genesis up to the TV.

“Don’t mind me, thought we could play some Sonic 3 later,” he informed me without turning away from his work.

“Sure!” I agreed, not that I seemed to have much choice in the matter.

“The infestation has begun,” Zahid joked. “First, you find video games all over your house…”

“Sonic sounds good…” Dakota spoke up. Bao stopped dead in his tracks.

“No. You don’t get to play video games unless it’s… your birthday or something.”

“Afraid I’ll beat you?” she smirked.

“She’s got you there, man,” I added to further the tease.

“I’m not afraid!” he insisted, finishing the job and turning to us. “We’ll do Competition Mode and I’ll show you who’s boss! Oh, and Alex, could Harriet come over at some point…?”

“We’ve discussed this…” Zahid sighed.

“But she can be part of the group too! Just… the non-Painter one!”

“Uhm…” I began. With Nick temporarily incapacitated (try saying that three times fast), Bao had brought Harriet over to Dakota’s a couple of times during the week. We hadn’t told her that we were the Painters yet, though Bao was aching to do so.

“I don’t really know her well enough to invite her to stay over… but she can visit tomorrow if you want…”

I felt bad for even that compromise. I wasn’t doing it out of spite – it just felt weird to have her staying here when I barely knew her.

“That’s fair,” Bao reasoned. “But that’s the whole day tomorrow, alright?”

“Okay,” I agreed, smiling at his enthusiasm. “So, on with the tour?”

I quickly guided them through the rest of downstairs… or at least I attempted to make it quick, but Bao and Kendal slowed us down with observations and questions. Every photo had to be studied like something at an art exhibition. In any case, we eventually made our way upstairs. The pair of them had served as such a distraction – and again, the whole surprise had jumbled my brain enough – that I only realised mid-journey that I would have to show off my Transformers figures. That was going to be awkward… well, Bao would probably be interested, at least…

“Wow, it’s the Painters! Lemme grab my autograph book!”

Lucy. I’d forgotten she was here.

And, of course, she was stood there with no clothes, no towel, and evidently no dignity.

I averted my eyes immediately, though I have no idea who out of my friends may’ve done the same.

“Lucy! Put a towel on, for fuck’s sake!”

“Oh, am I naked?” she asked glibly. “Am I naked and dripping wet? Sorry, I had no idea…”

“That’s okay,” Kendal spoke up. I could only assume she was eying up my naked little sister.

“I think I’ll air-dry, just as a treat for you guys,” Lucy decided.

“I’ll throw you out and lock the door!” I threatened her hollowly.

“Ooh, kinky,” she purred, before heading past us and downstairs, still in her birthday suit.

“Sorry about that…” I addressed my friends.

“Really, that’s okay,” Kendal beamed at me. She’d definitely been eying up my naked little sister.

Bao placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m a taken man now. I only had a little look.”

“I appreciate the honesty, but I could’ve lived without knowing that…”

With that, I led the gang a handful of steps along the landing to my currently-ajar bedroom door. My heart was starting to beat faster from nerves.

“Just, uh… hang on a moment…” I muttered, coming to a halt in front of the door and taking a couple of steadying breaths.

“Let’s go…”

I pushed the door open and led my friends in, bracing myself for the worst. My yet-to-be-made bed was on full-display, but I figured that much was excusable. Four pairs of eyes looked all around, taking everything in.

“Ooooh, what’re these?”

Dakota spotted them first.

Then, Bao gasped.

“Daaamn, Alex! Beast Wars!”

(That’s the series and line of Transformers these figures are from, the current version. I didn’t call them that before so as to not risk confusing you. Totally not afraid of coming across like a dweeb!)

The two of them, and Kendal, quickly crowded my wall-mounted shelf, staring at the couple-dozen figures I currently had. Somehow, it felt like their eyes were all on me.

“You never ever said you were into Transformers, Alex,” Bao pointed out, still looking over the collection. “We could’ve had so many conversations about it! Actually, I have a video of the old movie if you’ve not seen it before. It’s somewhere in my video cabinet… I was starting to sort that out over the summer but then I couldn’t find the original Mummy movie, so I was looking for that- have you ever seen that? I mean, seen the movie, not my tape.”

“Uh…”

Where to start with that?

“Sorry I didn’t say… have seen the old Transformers movie, haven’t seen the old Mummy… hope you find it soon.”

“It’s cool, I found it. It was in my laundry pile for some reason,” he shrugged.

“My brother has some of these!” Kendal informed me. “He’d love to see all of this! I bet he’d be soooo jealous!”

“I mean, I spend most of the money I scrape together on them, so…” I explained awkwardly. Being compared to a kid… I mean, it makes sense. They are toys.

And now, Dakota turned to me.

“These are really cool!” she enthused. “Can you tell me about them?”

“R-Really?” I stuttered. I didn’t necessarily think she’d be outright disapproving of it, but this level of interest took me by surprise.

Dakota stepped towards me, and leant over to whisper in my ear.

“If I didn’t mind the feet thing, why would I mind this?”

My skin prickled like a static shock had gone through me. If steam could really come out of a person’s ears, I’d be whistling like a kettle on the boil. Dakota leant back, smiling brightly at me. Never mind butter, an ice cube wouldn’t melt with her.

“Then… I guess I’ll talk you through them later…” I nodded stiffly. “Tour, let’s err- let’s tour…”

I turned, to see Zahid looking unimpressed.

“Just so you know, I saw you sizing up the Transformers section when Bao dragged us into Toys’R’Us in London. I’m not interested, but it makes no difference to me.”

Yeah, yeah, there was nothing to worry about in the end, I know.

“Thanks,” I nodded again, giving him a relaxed smile.

The rest of the tour went smoothly – other than the bathroom, I basically just outlined the other bedrooms without letting them in. Seemed wrong to show off bedrooms that were being regularly used.

After that, we returned downstairs. Lucy was doing exercises, clearly trying to show off her body; we managed to convince her to at least put some underwear on, and while Bao dug out his Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles cartridges (seriously, how cool is that docking trick?), she returned in what must have been the smallest set of underwear she owned. Still, compromise was compromise. I’d seen her in a bikini on holiday, so I could tolerate this.

We gamed through to lunch. Dakota sat back for the time being, paying close attention to the gameplay and controls so she could race Bao in Competition Mode without spending time getting used to the game. Lucy continued to loiter, adding vocals to the music and even dancing around to a few tracks (Kendal wound up joining her). Our growing hunger finally brought us to a stop around midday, and the six of us more-or-less ransacked the kitchen. By 1pm, we were back to the game, and a few hours passed as Dakota and Bao battled each other in Competition Mode. They’d decided to see who could score the most victories, so things didn’t get quite as intense as the Mario Kart incident… Lucy gave Dakota a shoulder rub to try and keep her relaxed, though the looks she kept giving me suggested it was an attempt at spurring some kind of “half-naked-sister-on-crush” fantasy.

My two sparring friends eventually called it quits on a draw, though Dakota needed some convincing to leave it there and was still certain she would’ve won the next round. I led Dakota back up to my room – leaving Lucy with the others, which unnerved me somewhat – and talked her through the Transformers figures, as well as showing her the beast modes of some of them. She was genuinely fascinated, and it was adorable. Her favourite was Armordillo, the little armadillo bot (I know, who would’ve guessed?) who she found particularly cute.

“How many more do you need? To finish the collection, I mean,” she asked while flipping Armordillo’s tail back and forth, rapidly switching him between beast and bot.

“Err… five more, but there’s another 23 that are out in America and we probably won’t get them until next year.”

“And you’re gonna get them all?”

“That’s the plan!” I confirmed.

“I think it’s really cool that you have a hobby you’re passionate about,” she told me with that bright smile of hers.

“I mean, it’s nothing like your dancing… but thanks,” I smiled back.

Back downstairs, Lucy had made her way onto Kendal’s lap, and Bao had switched to Castlevania. In short order, he stopped and we took to watching Terminator 2 on video; after that, we ordered pizza, with Lucy managing to leap into view of the deliveryman while still in her underwear.

“Hey, uhm…” Dakota began as our latest topic died down. “Can I tell you about my dad?”

“Of course,” Kendal replied reassuringly.

“Well… his name was Elliott,” our Irish friend began. “He and Cassie were American, and they came over here to… I dunno, fulfil some dream of being secret agents or something. They were young and they’d just been given this huge inheritance… their grandparents ran this successful business decades back. So they came here and started scouting people to work with them. Dad met Neil, and Cassie met Mam. He…”

A fond smile and teary eyes combined on her face.

“The first thing he did when he saw her was ask her to marry him. He was lovestruck. She turned him down, of course. She didn’t even know this guy. But now they were teammates, the four of them starting up this little group of agents. Mam dealt with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, and Dad, Neil and Cassie were the field agents. And over the years, more people joined them, and then Neil and Cassie fell in love, and so did Mam and Dad… They got married in 1980 and they had me pretty shortly afterwards. Dad was scared, because it was all so sudden and how do you even do this job and be a parent at the same time? But… he figured it out, I guess. I dunno how. I was too young to know, really. He was just Dad. He was Daddy, and he was my whole world. Funny and strong and loving and…”

She exhaled shakily. The smile had disappeared.

“When the team went into Nick’s place, things got messy. Dad… he got shot. He could barely talk when they found him and he… he died there. But he… god, I don’t know how he did it… he’d found his way to a phone and he left an answerphone message, to say goodbye. Like he knew he wouldn’t get the chance. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of Mam crying, because she’d listened to the damn message when she got home. She told me…”

Sniffling, she wiped away tears.

“She told me ‘Daddy’s gone to heaven’. Those words… and we held each other and cried our eyes out the whole night.”

Kendal quickly wiped her fingers of grease and then rubbed Dakota’s back comfortingly.

“We moved to Ireland a few weeks later. Mam thought I needed a new start…”

Her expression was suddenly dark. She spoke no further of that train of thought.

“I miss him so much. Every single day. I wish I could hug him just once more. If he really had to die, I wish I got to say a proper goodbye… I’m sorry I never told you all before. I just… I couldn’t bring myself to. It still hurts me and…”

“It’s okay, Dakota,” I told her softly. “We understand.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, doing her very best to recover herself. She picked up another slice of pizza. “Anyway. Sorry for bringing the tone down. Let’s talk fun stuff now.”

…

We were a bunch of teenagers without any parents around, so of course we stayed up way past midnight… and there maaaay have been a little drinking too. Just a little. It felt less like we grew tired and more like we were slowly losing all of our energy. Like something was draining us dry.

“Okay, who’s sleeping in my bed?” Lucy chimed. Remarkably, she’d been in her underwear for the entire day.

“Like… taking your bed instead of the sofa…?” Bao doublechecked with her.

“Yeah, with a free sexy Lucy to snuggle with!”

“I mean, if no one else wants to take you up on it…” Kendal bubbled, getting up with a huge stretch. She and the rest of us had changed into our pyjamas by now. “Night guuuuys, see you tomorrow!” she waved, following Lucy upstairs.

“Oh, speaking of,” Dakota turned to me, “can we talk privately for a moment?”

“Sure!”

We both got to our feet and walked to the kitchen – I looked back to see Bao and Zahid sharing a knowing look. Shutting the door behind us, I turned to take her in.

“Would it be cool if I at least slept in your room?” she asked sweetly. “You know I prefer company and… well, you’re my kind of con-ver-sa-tion-a-list.” (She had to say that slowly to get it out properly.)

I never got to counter the idea that I was a conversationalist of any kind, because-

“A-At least…?”

“Well, I did wind up sleeping on the bed with you that time,” she pointed out. “But it’d prooobably be awkward to actually share the bed… unless you fancied going tops-and-tails…?”

“Why are you doing this to me…?”

I must have sounded about three inches tall. Complete with squeak.

“Cos it’s fun!”

At least she was blushing too.

…

“Do you…?”

“Do I…?” she smiled that incredible smile at me.

“… never mind…”

No… even buzzed, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Despite everything, despite how much I adored her, I was unable to even consider the possibility that she felt the same way about me.

“Fiiiiiine,” she concluded, prowling right up close. “Tops-and-tails it is. We’ll see how long you can resist, you handsome perv.”

“Pffff-”

Handsome? Me?!

“It’s a deal, you beautiful… feet-having-girl.”

“Aaah! He called me beautiful!” she squealed in slightly-drunk delight. Maybe if I’d had more than half a can, I would’ve kissed her there and then. Consequences be damned.

Bao took the sofa, and Zahid set up some bedding on the floor. Dakota, face still flushed red, accompanied me to my room. An amazing day with my amazing friends came to a sluggish, hazy end as I snuggled down in bed.

… as for how long I resisted? I think I’ll keep that to myself.