Chapter 16: Party Favors

I hated coming back home empty, but I’d just have to be patient. After I had left the sub floors, I took a long detour just in case I’d been followed before reaching my ward. It was late, quarter to seven, my nose picking up a heavenly aroma outside the front door. Dinner? I sure as hell hoped so. I was starving, ready to dig into whatever the girls had cooked up for tonight.

As soon as I opened the door, I picked up on the light mood music, the open floor plan as bright as ever. I was getting party vibes, from Rynn on the kitchen island garnishing a platter to Aster on the stove, pulling out a pasta dish from the oven.

“Hey there, delicious,” Aster sang, that flirty look on her as devious as ever.

“I should take that as a compliment, but I know the type of person you are,” I teased.

“Liam!” Dessi cheered, rushing over to me with an iced glass of clear bubbly liquid. “You’re finally home. Where have you been?”

“Eheh, exploring,” I said. “The vast mazes of Serva’s base campus.”

“Then you must be thirsty! Try this!” she said, offering me the tall glass. I took a sip, immediately realizing she’d served me cream soda.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” I looked over to her and the child-like wonder in her eyes, her face absolutely priceless.

“Dessi, you never had cream soda before?”

“No, I haven’t, and it’s amazing!”

“It’s good, yeah, but I wouldn’t call it amazing,” Aster said. “Not unless we spiked it with some fine alcohol.”

“You’re a bad influence, you know that?” I grinned.

“Sticks and stones, my dear Liam. I know deep down that you adore me. And now, you will adore my cooking too. Ta-da!” she said, placing the hot dish on the kitchen island mat right next to Rynn’s Japanese inspired dish. “I call it lasagna casserole,” she said, followed by a chef’s kiss. “Simply amazing.”

“Pfft, that tub of fat is nothing compared to my dish,” Rynn retorted. “I made Katsudon. It’s deep fried pork cutlets over my special rice. I’m half Japanese. My sisters loved this back at home. And I… wanted to share it here. I also made Kushikatsu on the side, as a treat. It’s skewered variety-meats and vegetables, also deep fried to perfection.”

“Two deep fried dishes? And you call my perfection fatty?” Aster bitterly insulted. “Just admit it, you’re trying to fatten Liam up, too.” She chuckled.

“Or maybe stuff your big mouth with enough food so that I won’t have to hear you talking all day,” Rynn countered, the two girls bickering again as per usual.

“No, wait, I misspoke.” Aster scratched her chin, facing Rynn with a shifty glare and a sneaky smile. “I should have known better. I see what you’re doing now. But I will stop you now and save you the trouble. You won’t be able to outshine me in the kitchen. I am a natural.”

“I saw you cooking with those nasty spider arms. Probably got fur all over the casserole.”

“Why, yes, you got me.”

Rynn’s eyes grew wide.

“It’s part of my charm. That way, Liam will be bound to me and me alone. Sucks for you, doesn’t it?”

“Wait, is there really spider hair in that casserole?” Dessi said, her face churning with disgust. “I helped you make that dish.”

“What’s the matter, Aster? Not confident enough that Liam could stomach your crusty lips on him again? You had to concoct a trap to bait him?” Rynn bit back.

“Better than flashing him my goodies so that he could pay me a slither of attention.”

-Triggered-

I already knew what was next, noticing Rynn reaching over for the hot casserole, ready to toss it over Aster’s head. I intercepted, lunging over to the counter stools to stop this fight from blowing up. “Hey, quit it! We just got this place going!” I cried out. “And I don’t want Pamela nipping at me again about another blown up ward.”

I then looked down at the dish, raising my eyebrows at Aster. “You didn’t really shed in this thing though, right?”

“Of course not.” Aster chuckled. “I don’t even do charms. I just love getting underneath Rynn’s skin, because she can’t seem to stop herself from getting underneath mine.”

Rynn glared at her, reaching over for a Kushikatsu stick, and shoving it right inside my mouth! “Here Liam, try it!” she angrily insisted, and I had no other choice but to comically go along with it.

“Sure, you can give him the first taste, but he’ll have my taste lingering on his tongue when he wakes up tomorrow morning.”

Rynn curled up her firsts. “Fucking har—”

“Guys, please!” Dessi interjected, standing between the two. “Let’s not fight. We are celebrating, remember? Not only did we have our first flawless mission, but all of us won our Take-Down exercises! What a rare feat!”

“Holy shit, that Kushikatsu was spicy!” I said, my eyes getting misty while I chugged down Dessi’s cream soda. I caught Rynn looking at me stunned, then reassured her. “But it was delicious, nonetheless. You have a real knack for cooking.”

“That’s not all she’s good at. Not following directions, sabotaging training sims—”

“Hey, enabler, keep it friendly,” I retorted, shutting Aster up quickly.

“Fine. I need a hard drink, anyway.”

“We have some chilled in the cooler,” Dessi proudly beamed.

“Then join me, pinky pie. You can drop your good girl customs for one night, can’t you?”

“I can have a sip, but I can’t promise more.”

“I’m sure you’ll chug down a whole glass if I mixed cream soda with it.” Aster chuckled. “So nice of TBC to give us a huge food spending allowance.”

“All right, we can do all that, but how about we have dinner first on the nook? I’m fucking starving,” I said.

It was safe to say at this point that Aster was some type of alcoholic, even enticing Dessi to partake in her addiction as well. Dessi was strong-willed, but the girl had a lot of pressure on her, Aster putting her under the spotlight until she caved in. She was a lightweight and it showed, her innocence never ceasing to amaze me. As for Rynn, she kept quiet for the majority of our conversation, and made it her business not to touch Aster’s dish.

I wasn’t oblivious. That being said, I knew now that Rynn had a serious thing for me, even though she refused to admit it. Which was, if I could be honest, a bit… strange. Heh, on second thought, strange might not be the right word for it. From the start, Rynn was bitter toward me. She even tried to undermine me and disregard my orders on more than one occasion. Not sure if that was her odd way of showing her interest before, but this display over the best dish sure won it. Whenever she felt threatened by Aster’s advances, she jumped, thinking that Aster would win my heart or something. It was territorial between the two, and call me selfish, but I enjoyed the idea of both of them seeing me in a certain light. And truthfully, I could see the both of them as more than teammates.

The only obstacle in my way was my own strength and power. I stuck with my motto; no close relationships. That way, I wouldn’t risk breaking people. I didn’t think I’d be that great of a boyfriend anyway. I had no experience as far as I could remember, and I was a real pain in the ass temper wise. They hadn’t seen it yet, and I’d like to keep it that way, holding a platonic standpoint for as long as I could while serving The Brother’s Code.

A bit of wishful thinking, but as long as I didn’t tempt myself, then I should be fine, right?

Right…

I committed myself to only using my manly charm to break fights and boost spirits. After dinner, Dessi, Aster and I tried a round of dancing, and I was terrible at it. Aster joyfully volunteered to show me, and surprisingly enough, it was clean. For all of five minutes. Once the beat got friskier, so did she, grinding on me to get my blood going, telling Dessi to take my backside while they sandwiched me in the middle. Timid Dessi felt like she was violating my space, but Aster reeled her in anyway, tossing her hands over my hips, where I could feel poor Dessi trembling.

“This is unprofessional!” she bellowed, snatching her arms back and taking two steps away from the dance floor.

“Who said it had to be?” Aster followed, her sly grin stretched from ear to ear. “Come on and celebrate with us! It isn’t a crime to get down and dirty every once in a while. Break loose!”

“N-no, no, no, I’m okay! Yup, really! I’ll just sit this one out for now. You two have fun!”

“Actually, I’ll sit this one out too. Dance on for the both of us,” I said, noticing Rynn alone in the balcony.

Surprisingly enough, Aster didn’t stop me, but I could hear her spilling something witty under her breath, clearly against me approaching the party pooper.

Rynn’s stance said I wanted to be alone, but I opened the sliding door anyway.

“Hey, what are you doing alone on the balcony? The party is inside,” I said with a grin. “Are you sick of us already?”

Rynn gave me a quick glance, then a half excuse of a convincing smile.

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I left the sliding door open, letting the cool breeze waft through before joining Rynn by the rails. I looked down and noticed a pack of Newports in her hoodie pocket, squinted my eyes skeptically, and then took it for myself.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” she said, her eyes growing huge as I pulled a cigarette out.

“Same could be said for you,” I snorted. “Actually, I had quit months ago. Rach—I mean, a friend of mine was adamant about me dropping the habit, and did everything she could to stop me from breathing this shit inside my lungs. Yeah, I remember her soaking packs like these in water just to tick me off.”

“Then why bother now?”

“Figured I could cheat for one night, seeing as we are celebrating.” I brought my thumb to the butt of the cigarette and it started heating up, enough heat to light up my once relentless addiction.

“You should listen to your friend,” Rynn said, before snatching the cigarette from my lips, pinching the fumes out, and flicking it over the balcony. “I don’t want to be the reason you start up again.” She smiled. “Actually, I had quit too. But my mother was such a heavy smoker that it stuck. I find myself running to it when I start thinking too much.”

“Mind if I ask what about?”

“It’s… a lot.”

“I hope it’s not about the fight. I noticed you trying to take care of shit on your own again. I remember telling you that you don’t have to always do things for yourself. We are a team, remember?”

“I’m not used to that, you know, doing things with a team. For as long as I could remember, I’ve always been on my own, providing for my lame excuse of a mother, and my sisters… Always trying to do above and beyond. Always worried about the future, preparing for the worst. At one point, I thought about ending it all, but the thought of leaving my little sisters alone was too much to bear.”

“Times have changed, though. While they aren’t under your care, they are still being cared for.”

“That may be true, but I don’t have any information on how. TBC not only refuses to let me get close, but they refuse to disclose any information on their whereabouts. I only have word of mouth to go by that they’re safe and that’s not good enough. I want proof. Where I left them wasn’t safe. In a place a step above the slums, minus the nasty hobo smell. I couldn’t break free from my mother’s loan shark. She got into some shitty deals back in her popular days, which left me still begging for scraps.”

I gave Rynn a subtle hint that I was curious and wanted her to go further, and she did with a depressing sigh. “She was a prostitute, among other things. Didn’t take long for her to get the itch for the fast life, stuffing all sorts of crap up her nose, probably her ass, too. She started forgetting about us quickly, and then I broke ties with her completely. I had to, there was only so much of her shit I could take. There was a point where she’d even steal from me, and the little money I’d give my sisters for weekend trips to the candy shop. That woman was vile. But even after all of that, I felt deep pity for her. I have no idea where she is now, but I hope she found herself some help. And I pray that my sisters don’t get swept into the lifestyle…”

“They won’t.” I smiled. “They have a great older sister. A bit of an overachiever, but I can see why now.” I placed my hand on her shoulder. “There’s no doubt that you’ve steered them in the right direction.”

A sweet smile found her beautiful face. “You did good, Liam. You know, for a walking nuke and all. I can see why Pamela made you the leader. It was a good first mission.”

“Oh? Are we paying each other compliments now?” I chuckled. “Because I seriously wouldn’t mind having some of that deep fried pork again.”

She giggled.

“Something tells me I shouldn’t get used to you being nice to me.”

“You should listen to those little voices in your head. They are right.”

We laughed.

“But really, Rynn. It’s okay to take it easy every once in a while. You look exhausted.”

“Yeah, from the extra voluntary training sessions no doubt. I’m a perfectionist. It’s in my blood.”

“Would you call it a weakness or a strength?”

“A little bit of both, I think.”

“Would it be so bad if you’d let me carry some of that weakness for you?”

She froze, looking back at me stunned.

“If it’ll keep your mind off of all of this stress, I’d be more than happy to share this burden with you.”

“Liam…”

“While being a perfectionist is in your blood, helping those I care about is in mine. I wouldn’t call it a weakness, though. I just want you to stop carrying that heavy ass armor around all of the time, especially around me. Because frankly, you don’t need i—”

Rynn caught me off guard, shutting me up with a soft kiss. I couldn’t help but kiss her back, the tough as nails weapons forger finally putting her guard down for me. I wouldn’t let her regret it, pulling her close to me with my arm around her waist, until Aster had to ruin the moment.

“Why, hello you two love birds,” she sang deviously. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Rynn jumped and made a quick dash out, the last expression on her face both confused and embarrassed. Almost like she hadn’t wanted to kiss me, like I had left her feeling vulnerable. I couldn’t tell, but figured it was best not to chase her out.

Not that I could, anyway. Aster made sure I got all of her attention as she stood right in front of me. “Well I’ll be damned, I didn’t even know she was your type. I thought you were being nice because you felt bad for her, so she wouldn’t feel so left out.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. “I don’t know what made you come up with that conclusion.”

“Her tight and offish attitude? Her constant insults against your name? The girl walks around like she has a hate boner for you, and something far up her ass that’s been lodged there for an eternity.”

I smiled. “That’s oddly specific.”

“I knew she was into you. I mean, look at you. You’re irresistible,” she said flatteringly, curling herself up against my chest. “But I was hoping it was one-sided.”

“So I guess slinging insults against my name was her way of showing me some appreciation.”

“I wouldn’t get too close, Liam.”

“Why not? Afraid of a little competition?”

She grinned. “Don’t insult me, Liam. She is nowhere near my league.”

“Well, if you’re so confident, then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, right?”

That smile of hers waned down a little, Aster giving me a serious tone. “Perhaps I am a bit territorial. I have every reason to be. I’d hate to let a good thing go away. I’ve never met a guy like you, Liam. And you’re the first who hadn’t jumped on the opportunity to use me. It’s… refreshing. So very refreshing… I can see so much good in you; you can say that it’s a special super power of mine. I’ve always been really good at reading people, and despite your flaws, I can tell you have a good heart. While still being the hot alpha dog that you are.” She winked.

“Aster, I’m not going anywhere. I am for the team. Not to mention, you girls are quickly rubbing off on me,” I confessed with a snicker.  

“I’m glad that we aren’t scaring you away. You’ve seen my ugly and didn’t run off. Which makes me think that you really care for me.”

“It takes more than an insatiable bloodlust and some spider legs to make me run for cover.”

“Speaking of which, I have a rather odd request…”

“Hmm? What is it?”

She paused, looking down in thought. Then Aster looked up to me with a shy smile. “Never mind. Forget I ever mentioned it.”

“Aster?”

“Really, it’s fine,” she said, wrapping her arms around mine and leading me back inside.

“Hey, where is Dessi?”

“She got a buzz from the headmistress. She left about a minute ago.”

“Pamela?” Hmm, I wondered what she needed her for after hours…

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