~Achilles~
"Have you ever had a...Aâuhâ partner?" I fumbled not too badly. We'd been on the road for an hour and Xander had barely said a word to me so far on the drive. It was infuriating.
When I came to pick him up he declared that we were taking his car, instead of mine. When I argued he'd muttered something under his breath in French and then snapped at me in English about how my car wasn't travel-ready.
He'd already packed his things into the sleek red Range Rover. I had to be honest in thinking that he had a really nice car. And it was better than mine for long distance travel. He even had two extra tires, an extensive first aid kit, and he'd packed two coolers along with two suitcases. He had a Supreme fanny pack strung across his shoulder, wearing a baseball cap that hid the most of his luxurious curls. He was dressed casually in pants and a long sleeve top with a windbreaker. Xander had snapped at me all morning, telling me to hurry up, and complaining that I'd been late âwhich I admittedly wasâ until falling eerily silent.
And now we were in the car at 9:15am stuck bumper to bumper on the freeway. The silence was actually becoming defeaning. I fidgeted in my seat terribly aware of the fact I was in a car with my totally-not soulmate. Xander had sheafs of sheet music propped up on the dash that he was scribbling furiously on. He was also humming and tapping his foot.
I wanted to be annoyed, but I really did love the sound of his voice. That rasp would never get old on me. Suddenly, he stopped humming and turned to me, fixing those stunning green eyes on me. "Did you say something?" Xander said, tapping his pencil lightly on the dash.
"Uhâ" I stammered, feeling my cheeks grow hot. "Have you ever had a partner?"
Xander blinked, his face softening slightly. "A boyfriend?" He chewed his full lower lip. "Yeah, of course. I'm gay, not a monk." His voice soured on the end. "What about you? Any nice girls?"
I thought about the few women I'd dated and the one I'd felt a real connection to had been Vivian. Sexy, intelligent Vivian. I think she was the first woman I loved. Her moving to Canada to attend medical school was when I knew we'd outgrown each other. She'd been perfect, just not perfect for me. That was around the time I noticed that although I was bi, I was far more attracted to men. So, Xander was a nightmare come to life.
I had to remember to answer. "No one who was the love of my life."
Xander hummed thoughtfully. "Being single definitely has its perks. I have more time to spend composing, and to spend with my family."
"Your family?" Did vampires even have family?
Xander answered in a dry voice. "I popped out of a womb the same way as you. My people are born like all mammals. Some of our scientists just think we have a few different genes that" he made an odd gesture with his hands, showing me the empty palms "make us have certain needs."
"So the sunlight thing is a myth?" I asked.
It was only for a moment, but Xander stilled, before eliciting a laugh that seemed forced. "In a way. Let's not talk about this. Tell me, Achilles, why do you have a Greek name?"
"My mom and dad met in Greece and my dad was Greek. She said he always liked the name." I said slowly, trying to see when the traffic would ease. "This fucking traffic."
Xander's voice became cool. "Well, if someone was on time we would've beat this traffic."
"Seriously?!" I raised my voice. "Can you just get off my case with that shit?! Like, fuck. I wasn't late on purpose."
Xander scrunched up his face, hand flying to his chest like he was annoyed. "Wow, and now you're yelling at me. The person who's accompanying you on your stupid plan to stupid Connecticut to get rid of your stupid bracelet."
"My plan isn't stupid!" I continued yelling, hating that even like this I couldn't take my eyes off Xander's face. "What's stupid is being forced to be attracted to someone I don't even like! You're not even my type, for Christ's sake."
Xander raised his chin defiantly. "What? Am I too male? Too gay? Too black?" He grated the words out. "What is it?"
And then I realized what the problem was. He looked angry but he almost sounded sad. "Are you... upset?"
He huffed. "Of course I'm upset. You're going on and on about how you could never see your future with a man, especially not someone like me. How do you think that makes me feel? Do you think it makes me feel good? Every time you look at me I can tell you find me attractive and then I see discomfort because you don't even like finding me attractive. I just find it pathetic."
"Pathetic?"
He ignored me and slipped out a small laptop and plugged in his earphones, beginning to transcribe whatever sheet music he'd written into the software.
I glared at him, finding it unfair that he thought it was okay to just block me out like that.
"It's not just about the fact you're a guy." I said, gripping the wheel too hard. "I just hate feeling forced. Feeling trapped." My vision tunnelled and my chest throbbed. "I don't like being forced to do anything."
Xander's phone started to ring and he held up a hand, signalling me to be quiet. "Good morning, Aya." He laughed at something, one hand touching his throat curiously. "Yes, I see you've received my message. Andâ Oh? You won't be able to see me until Saturday evening." He frowned. "Oh, it's your granddaughter's birthday. That's nice Emi, right? ...Is she adapting to blood well? Mhmm...Yes. Okay. Well, I'll see you then. Thanks again, Aya, I'll see you in a couple days. Okay. Bye."
I sighed. "What do you mean she can't see us till Saturday evening?"
Xander turned to me, dazzling me with those fucking green eyes. He pursed his lips together. "She's been out of the country, visiting Japan. And tomorrow morning is her granddaughter's birthday party. She said by tomorrow evening she can see us. It's no big deal." He stopped looking at me, looking out the window instead. "It should be fine."
"Okay...but, what do we do with all this free time?" I said, a bit relieved that traffic was so slow since we didn't need to be anywhere.
Xander looked at me again giving me a smile. "I have an idea."
#
Xander clasped his hands together in the line up for tickets. "Oh, I'm so excited! I've never been to an amusement park before."
The sun was high in the sky, and beating down on the both of us. Xander had told me I better put on sunscreen if I didn't want to age like cottage cheese, giving me a pair of dark sunglasses and packing a small backpack. Somehow, he had convinced me that it would be nice to go to an amusement park to spend the day. He assured me it wasn't a date but I suspected he thought it was. It felt like he was getting back at me for cancelling on him. But, there wasn't really any other way to spend the day...So, here we were in line.
The sight of tall, looping, colourful roller coasters took up space in the sky, and I saw little bodies with their arms spread high as the ride whisked them every which way. There were a large number of people dressed in shorts, flip flops and tanks even though it was a bit cool for that. The park also had that smell of the sheer number of people. I remembered I didn't like these parks as a kid because I was sensitive to all the different smells.
I realized Xander was talking and I responded belatedly. "How have you never been to an amusement park?"
He was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking around the family in front of us. Xander turned to me, leaning in close enough that I could smell the scent of his aftershave, a bit minty. "I've just never been super interested. When they started to get big, they didn't feel super inclusionary and Elle hates roller coasters."
"Elle?" I said, trying to examine why the name of someone else made me feel...not great. I wanted him to focus on me. Needed it somehow. The sight of his sunglasses suddenly annoyed me. I wanted to see his eyes, and to know he was looking at me. I reached up and took them off, surprised that he let me.
He blinked. "My best-friend. She just had a baby. The baby looks like an old person what with all those wrinkles. I don't know how to tell her I'm worried her baby will turn out ugly." He stepped closer to me, touching my wrist, fingers slipping under the band, and caressing my skin. "Can I have my sunglasses back?"
"I like your eyes." I said quietly.
Xander's eyes widened and his lips parted. It almost looked like he stopped breathing. His mouth was shaped into a perfect o.
"Next please." A young woman said from the the ticket booth.
We walked up to the booth and Xander talked quickly to the ticket seller, getting all inclusive passes for the rides and the water park. I pulled out my credit card before he did and he didn't stop me from paying.
The park was still pretty empty considering it was mid morning. There were families, couples, groups and friends milling about, holding maps and eating common fair food liike corn on the cob, cotton candy and corn dogs.
Xander got me to sit on a bench, while he pulled a pen out of his fanny pack. "Alright so first off, let's go on an the intense coasters before the older crowd gets here. I hate waiting in lines." His face was lighting up and he was just radiating excitement. "Then, we'll stop for lunch. What do you want to eat? You like meat, right? We can stop at this grill-"
"But, you said you're vegan, right?" I gently interjected, not wanting the brightness to end.
He nodded while numbering our path through the amusement park. "Yeah, I'll have some corn on the cob or something." Xander neatly put in a dotted line thourgh the park. "So, after lunch. We'll see this little acrobatic show and then we can go to the water park. Okay, you're not afraid of water, or anything?"
I started thinking of Xander in swim shorts and lost my train of thought. I don't know if I was ready for that. "Do we have to go to the water park?"
He looked up, scrunching his nose. "Am I supposed to go on my own? I'll look like a loser. Is that what this is? You want me to look like a loser, Achilles?"
I looked away from his pouting mouth. "You're ridiculous."
He shrugged. "I know, but, humour me?"
I sighed. "Fine."
He beamed at me, touching and squeezing my arm. "We'll have a wonderful time, don't worry."
#
Overall thoughts?
Achilles needs to loosen up, lol.
Also Chapter is split into two parts, continuing from Achilles' POV.