![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrFinished ^_^ I wish all my stories worked this well. Then again, I wrote it so fast, maybe it'll wind up sucking. Who knows?
In two parts.
"You've always said you prefer honesty, no matter how painful the truth is, so I'm going to be honest. Mother, I hate you."
"Yes, dear, that's nice," his mother said absently. She looked up from the glossy guide book that had become her bible from the moment she'd decided upon Operation Get to Know Each Other.
Personally, he wanted to know why he couldn't have gotten to know his new stepfather and stepbrother at the beach. At least there, if he wound up hating the stepbrother, he could have consoled himself by molesting a well-tanned surfer boy.
But, no. High school history teacher mother decided to drag them – kicking and screaming, he had definitely kicked and screamed the entire way – to the historical spot she'd always loved but never been able to visit.
He glared at her. "You are so totally the reason I'm gay, mother."
"Oh, now I know that isn't true. I've had six gay men tell me I almost turned them straight." She sighed. "Those were the days."
"Mom! What have I told you about telling me things like that?" Gene shuddered. "I so wish I'd taken summer classes after all."
Rolling her eyes, his mom closed her guide book and tucked it into her tote bag. "Honestly, Gene. This grouchiness needs to go away. David is used to you, but I don't want you making a bad impression on Teddy. Just because you can be an ass doesn't mean you should be one all the time."
Gene shrugged. "Best to begin as I mean to go on?"
"You are so much like your father," she replied, rolling her eyes again. "Sadly, the methods that worked on him won't work on you."
"I'd ask, but I totally don't want to know," Gene said. His mother smirked, and he held up his hands to ward her off. "Seriously, mom, shut up. I really don’t want to know. Parents aren't allowed to admit they have sex. That's just gross."
"Men," his mother said. "Come on, Mr. Prude. David sent me a text while you were trying and failing to flirt with the straight boy at the counter. He's meeting us at the little coffee shop we passed on the way here."
"I really do hate you," Gene said, glaring at her. Mothers were totally not supposed to notice their sons flirting, and they definitely weren't supposed to point out when they failed. At least he'd never have to deal with a girlfriend; from what he'd seen, those were even worse than mothers.
Obediently taking the bags of stuff she'd already managed to purchase – he could hear the Visa crying already – he trailed along behind her as they hiked back to the coffee shop. "Let me go put this stuff in the car, mom."
"That's fine, dear," his mother said, her tone distracted, and Gene didn't even have to look to know she must have spotted David inside. Hiding a smile, he took the car keys from her hand and went to put all her purchases in their car, whistling as he made his way back to the coffee shop.
He supposed there were worse things in life than putting up with Ye Olde Tourist Spot if it made his mom so happy, and she could do a hell of a lot worse than David.
Even if, between the two of them, he spent an awful lot of time feeling like he was stuck in the never ending high school history class from hell.
Not that he had much room to talk – being an English major didn't really do much to get him out of the dork department. Still.
Double checking the car was locked, he stuffed the keys into a pocket of his cargo shorts and high-tailed it back to the coffee shop. He saw his mother and David – and stopped short as he drew close enough to see his new stepbrother.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.
Theodore North, a rattlesnake in human guise. Pretty as fuck, but venomous and snotty. He bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. "Eugene, what an unpleasant surprise."
"Please do not tell me I'm related to you now. And if you call me that again, asshole, we're going to repeat Theta Chi all over again and this time the cops won't put a stop to it."
"Oh, dear," he heard his mother said.
"Of all…" David said at the same time.
Gene barely heard them, his attention only for the asshole across from him. There was no fucking way goddamn Theodore North was his stepbrother. How the hell had he not figured this out sooner?
He could see Theodore was wondering the same thing. Man, those green eyes looked like they were about to burst into flame. Gene hoped the bastard spontaneously combusted.
"The only reason you're still alive, Eugene, is because those cops came."
Gene braced his hands on the table. "Yeah, you wanna put your money where your mouth is, slu—"
"Eugene Thomason!"
The unhappiness, more than the anger, in his mom's voice made him shut up. Glaring furiously at Theodore, he sat down and folded his arms across his chest.
"Teddy, that's enough," David said sternly.
He snorted in amusement that Theodore went by 'Teddy.' A warning look from his mother, however, forced him to keep his mouth shut – though he could see from the nasty look he got that his amusement had been noted.
"I cannot believe…it was the two of you who got into that ugly fight?"
"Yeah," Gene said bitterly.
He glared at the coffee table, wishing he could just get up and leave. Damn it, he'd finally mostly stopped thinking about that night. It was over a year ago. He should be over it.
Except, you know, not. Theodore – Teddy, hahaha – had been visiting his campus for the photography competition. Gene worked for the campus paper; he'd been doing interviews of the competitors.
They'd hit it off as friends immediately. Back then, he'd stupidly thought Theodore was a good guy. Hell, he probably would have made a few moves except he'd been utterly gone on his boyfriend, Robert. Theodore had taken third place, and left, but had come back to take a special summer course. Man, that'd been an awesome summer.
Until the party at the Theta Chi house, when he'd caught his boyfriend fucking his friend like the world was going to end in five more minutes.
After that, he didn't really remember much. He'd smashed Robert's stupid cheating face in, then he'd gone after Theodore. After that, he really only remembered the cops pulling them apart.
Luckily, they'd just gotten off with being read the riot act and ordered to keep their heads down the rest of the summer. A week later, Theodore had left. Gene hadn't seen or heard from the bastard since.
His mother had fallen for David nine months ago.
How in the hell had he managed to miss Theodore was his stepbrother? Man, talk about a bad movie. "What a fine comedy of errors this is," he said bitterly.
"That's enough, Gene," his mother said, sounding tired and sad.
David cleared his throat. "I think you boys should learn to put things behind you."
Gene started to speak, but a swift kick to his shin made him stop. He glared at his mother, but kept his mouth shut.
"You're brothers now, so you can't keep on like this. I wish we'd figured it out sooner, but what's done is done."
No one said anything.
His mother sighed. "I agree with David. What's done is done – I know, sweetie, don't give me that look – and nothing good will come of fighting like this."
Personally he thought they were both crackers. Would they handle it any better to know they were suddenly related to the slut who'd pretended to be his friend and had been messing around with his boyfriend the entire time?
Survey said no.
Sometimes, parents were just a little bit stupid.
"Here," his mother continued. "I purchased these for the two of you, in hopes it would give you a chance to get to know one another…" She sighed again.
Gene frowned and picked up the sheet of paper she'd set down on the table.
Historical Scavenger Hunt
Despite his best effort, Gene found himself interested. It was such a stupid, cheesy tourist trap type thing, but he'd always liked scavenger hunts. Especially big ones like this, where you had to trek fuck everywhere.
And, double plus easy because they only had to take photos of stuff, rather than lug around a bunch of crap.
He'd probably have a blast, even if it was a history lesson tourist trap, except he obviously was supposed to do it with fucking Theodore. They were signed up as a team – and the whole thing started in thirty minutes.
"I'd rather shoo—" Theodore was cut off as David abruptly stood and yanked him up, then dragged him out of the coffee shop.
"Sweetheart, I had no idea," his mother said softly, forcing Gene to look away from the pleasing sight of Theodore getting yelled at – complete with angrily waving arms.
"How could you?" he said with a sigh. "Shit, none of us figured it out. But I don't see how you expect me to get along with the bastard, not after what he did to me."
His mom bit her lip, fiddling restlessly with her iced latte. "Well, you could always try talking about it. Maybe there are things you don't know. I'd imagine a couple of drunk, angry men didn't bother to discuss things."
"He was fucking my boyfriend," Gene said flatly. "There was nothing to discuss."
"Will you at least try not to kill each other, then?" she asked. "David and I…damn it, I was so excited about the two of you meeting. David's told me so much about him, I just knew you two would get along."
It was the 'damn it' which did. His mother never cussed, except when she was really upset. The last time she'd said the f-word, they'd been standing over dad's grave, and she'd taken the lord's name in vain quite creatively.
"I'll try mom," Gene said. "I'm sorry I started acting like an ass."
"That's all right, sweetie," she said, and patted his hand. "To be honest, I would have taken it with about the same amount of grace." She gave him a Look. "Though, I'm serious about the talking about it. Men would fight a lot less if they learned to talk instead of throwing punches."
"Mom," Gene said.
"Oh, stop whining. You're twenty one, whining isn't cute anymore." She reached into her purse and pulled out a ten. "Go get something to drink, and when you get back I expect you to act civilized, all right?'
"Yeah, mom," Gene replied, and kissed her cheek before accepting the peace offering and going to order his own iced latte.
When he sat down again, he ignored Theodore, who proved his own civilized nature by ignoring Gene.
See, they could act mature.
Emphasis on the 'act' cause all he wanted to do was finish what the cops started.
"Do you have a camera?" Theodore asked suddenly.
"Huh?" Gene asked.
"A camera," Theodore repeated, and Gene could just hear the unspoken 'dumbass' at the end of it.
He nodded, figuring telling Theodore to shut the fuck up would not please his mother. "Yeah." He reached automatically to touch the digital camera tucked into another pocket of his shorts, and recalled abruptly that Theodore had helped him pick it out. They'd poured over cameras for like two hours; the shop clerk had been ready to commit murder or suicide by the time Theodore had finally given him permission to buy one.
That had been the first week of summer; he'd dragged Theodore with him because he and Robert had been arguing again and he'd wanted to have fun instead of brooding. It was when he'd first accused Theodore of being fussy.
He'd almost thrown it out, after the fight, except even he wasn't stupid enough to destroy a four hundred dollar camera.
"I've got one on me, but it's not digital," Theodore said. "I left that one back at the hotel."
"Okay," Gene replied, not really caring.
Theodore looked at him like he was an idiot. "So, you know, we'll probably need your camera for the fu—the scavenger hunt."
"Oh," Gene said, finally getting it. He looked at the piece of paper, then back at Theodore. "Okay." Catching a warning look from his mother, he finished his latte and stood. "We'd better go, if we're going to be there on time."
"Yeah," Theodore said, and Gene wondered if that same look of pending execution was on his own face.
Dropping a kiss on his mother's cheek, he waved farewell to David and led the way outside.
They walked in silence along the streets, and Gene was briefly distracted from imagining all the lovely ways he could kill Theodore by a group of period actors. Man, he was glad they didn't have to dress that way anymore, though the boots were kinda cool.
"So what's the big deal with this place?"
"I thought David was a history buff too," Gene replied. "Shouldn't you already know?"
Theodore rolled his eyes. "My dad studies ancient history, asshole."
"Fuck you," Gene snapped.
They fell back into silence.
Theodore sighed. "Look – I know you hate me."
"You think?"
"Shut up!" Theodore snapped. "Look, I'm just trying to say – we're never going to get along again, obviously. But my dad has vowed to cut off my balls if I upset your mom again, and she seems cool, I don't want to upset her. So I told him we'd try to get along, and I think we should in front of them. Otherwise, I don't give a fuck. Okay?"
Gene shrugged irritably, biting down on an urge to tell Theodore to go to hell. It wasn't fair to make their parents miserable, just because he and Theodore hated each other. He knew that. He didn't like it, but he knew it. "Okay."
Theodore sighed, and if Gene didn't know better he might have thought it sounded like relief. "Um, and call me Teddy – if you keep calling me Theodore, my dad will know something is up." He rolled his eyes.
"Sure," Gene said, and started to smile in sympathy – then realized what he was doing, and silently cursed.
Another silence fell as they walked along.
A few yards from the place where they were supposed to start the scavenger hunt, Teddy finally spoke again. "So what is the reason this town is so famous? You know, other than it being about the American Revolution."
"Well, it took place then, and it happened between the colonials and the redcoats, but it wasn't so much about the war – just a massive personal tragedy." Gene frowned in thought. He'd heard the story a bajillion times growing up, but had managed to avoid his mother and her history obsession since graduating. "The mayor of the town, Thomas Northfield, was staunchly against the rebellion. His son John however, was for it. He worked secretly against the redcoats, passing messages along, stuff like that. His best friend, a man named William Brown, was a redcoat. One night William found out about his friend's deception, and they apparently had a huge fight in the mayor's house. The mayor wasn't there, it's mostly his journals and all that tell us what happened – he was in the village when an alarm went up about a fire. When they got to it, however, the house was beyond saving."
Gene drifted off, eyes moving to the old wooden tower just visible above the tops of the trees a little ways off. "They said they found the bodies in the tower; the only part of the place that didn't burn down. Northfield's journals say it looked like they died of gunshot wounds, and he bemoaned that if not for the fire, it's possible they could have been saved."
"Depressing," Teddy said. "Sounds like a movie my cousin likes to watch."
"Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure my mom watches the same damn one," Gene said with a snort.
Then he realized he and Teddy had just gotten along, and scowled. "Come on," he snapped. "Let's fucking get this over with." Not bothering to wait, he bolted for the tourist center where the hunt would begin.
*~*~*
"Dude, would you slow down?"
"Who the hell says 'dude' anymore?" Gene asked.
"Me," Teddy snapped. "Now stop moving for two goddamn seconds so I can get a few pictures."
Gene heaved an aggravated sigh, somewhat mollified when he saw a tick in Teddy's cheek. "We're supposed to be hunting. There are exactly twenty five pictures we have to take. You're on what, number six hundred and twelve?"
"Shut the fuck up," Teddy said, and turned away to snap several pictures of some stupid purple flowers. "You never could hold still."
"Just take your damn pictures so we can finish this before next week." Gene kicked irritably at a rock, rolled his eyes, then turned and continued up the path. The dumb purple flowers lined it, and he kicked a snapped off bundle of them.
When they refused to go as far as he wanted, Gene bent and picked the bundle up.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"Fuck!" Gene dropped the flowers as if burned. "What the hell was that?"
"What's your problem?" Teddy asked, coming up behind him, making Gene jump again.
Gene shook his head. "Nothing. Let's just get to the damn tower."
The tower didn't look nearly as old as he thought it should, but a sign just inside said it had recently undergone restoration. It smelled like dust and rock, and also like too many people had tramped through.
Oddly, at the moment, it was totally empty.
A flash of purple caught his eye, and Gene looked up reflexively – a small bundle of the purple flowers, dried, hung from the top of the archway.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"What in the hell?"
Teddy just looked at him, then turned away to snap pictures.
Gene put a hand to his forehead, willing away the headache that had come up out of nowhere. Maybe he just needed more caffeine; he hadn't had that much in the way of coffee or pop, and normally he drank a great deal.
Shrugging it off, he shot a disgusted look at Teddy's camera happy back, then started climbing the stairs to get a picture of the plaque hung where the bodies of William and John had been found.
At the top, he shivered. Fuck, wasn't heat supposed to rise? Why was it so damn cold? Still shivering, Gene moved across the small space to the plaque. The room wasn't big, maybe…well, a lot longer than he was tall, and he was five foot eight. Big enough to be an okay bedroom, he guessed. One big room, with the plaque and display opposite the door. The plaque was actually on a stand which was set in front of a roped up area behind which mannequins or dolls or whatever they were called had been arranged in an attempt to recreate how the bodies had been found.
Morbid, but he supposed it wasn't much worse than what he saw in the million and one museums to which he'd been dragged as a child.
Shaking his head, Gene snapped the necessary picture, then wandered around. Near the fake people was a stand. Beneath heavy glass was the journal of Thomas Northfield. Gene couldn't read the worn chicken scratch – well, he didn't feel like trying – but a handy little plaque nearby provided a transcription.
It described finding the bodies long after the fire had finally stopped, the grief that came with knowing if not for the fire, they might have been able to save them. Gene frowned. If he recalled correctly, it was only later on that they figured out John had been a traitor – or, he supposed, a true American. It all depended on which side of the fence you called home.
Jeez, was he losing his mind or was it getting a hell of a lot colder?
He could see his damn breath. And was he crazy or did it suddenly smell awful flowery?
Man, it was so past time to go.
Wrapping his arms around himself, Gene turned to go – and screamed.
Stumbling back, he cracked his head against the wall. "Fuck!" His eyes watered with pain, and he swore he saw stars.
Of course, he'd take stars over ghosts any day of the year. Not that he'd seen ghosts, 'cause he hadn't. No way. He was not a crazy person.
When he opened his eyes again, everything seemed normal. The room was still cold, but his breath wasn't visible – and there were no ghosts.
Not that there had been before. Deny deny deny.
Shaking his head, making a note to hunt down some damn aspirin when they got back, he strode to the door – and ran smack into Teddy.
This time his head cracked the floor, and Gene half wished it had knocked him unconscious cause his head really fucking hurt now. Sitting up with a groan, he gingerly touched the back of his head and glared at Teddy. "Watch where you're going."
"You watch—dude, why is it so cold up here?"
Gene groaned and carefully did not think about the ghosts he had not seen. Instead, he kept glaring at Teddy for good measure.
So far he'd been too busy trying not to kill the bastard to really look at him. Now, though – now he was remembering that he really had always thought Teddy was too goddamn pretty. He'd always liked the pretty ones.
More than once that summer, he'd guiltily thought that if not for the fact he and Robert were the real deal, he would so have been hitting on Teddy. Strawberry blonde curls and a face not quite girly, but not super masculine either. If David was anything to go by, he'd acquire a distinguished look about him as he got older – assuming his prissiness didn't turn him into a wrinkly sourpuss.
They'd gone swimming once; god he hadn’t been dumb enough to repeat that. He was not a fan of torture – or pissed off boyfriends, and Robert had been pissy that whole evening after.
"It is really cold up here," Teddy said. "Are we done? Can we go?"
"Who the hell was just getting on me for impatience?"
Teddy sent him a withering look.
Returning the glare full measure, he started to finally stand up. He paused as Teddy held out a hand, and reached out to knock it away – and just as the backs of their hands collided, he could abruptly see his breath.
I give you fair warning, sir. If you kiss me, I shall know you love me.
Well, there is no help for it, because I fully intend to kiss you.
Jerking back, Gene struggled to his feet and then moved further away from Teddy. "What the fuck—"
Teddy was white. Like, turned into a snowman white. The hand holding his camera was trembling alarmingly. He lifted his other hand, shaking just as badly, to point at Gene.
Or rather, Gene suspected, pointed behind him.
He didn't bother to turn around and look. The fact he could see his breath was more than enough for him. "Run."
Teddy turned and fled, and Gene was hot on his heels. They bolted from the tower and ran down the lilac-strewn path, down the hill and across the field that led back to the city proper.
Bracing his hands on his knees, Gene gasped and panted for breath.
"What. The. Fuck." Teddy said between gulping down air.
Gene shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "I didn't see a goddamn thing."
Teddy looked at him, then nodded. "Yeah, fuck it. Let's go get a beer or something."
Part of him started to protest, because this was, after all, the asshole who'd taken his boyfriend – but then he remembered seeing his breath, and the ghosts, and Teddy's white face--- "Fuck beer, I'm going straight for the tequila."
"Gene! Teddy!"
Groaning, Gene turned and waved to his mother, who was walking along the sidewalk toward them, arm in arm with David. "Hey, mom."
"Hey, Mrs. Thoma—" Teddy blinked. "No, I guess you'd be Mrs. Northfield, huh?" He grinned.
Gene scowled and looked away. Assholes were not allowed to be pretty and have nice smiles, god damn it. Totally against the rules.
His mother laughed. "Sweetie, you can call me Anna."
Now his mom was calling someone else sweetie? What the hell? Not fair. If Teddy didn't knock it the fuck off with his sheep's clothing, Gene was going to beat him until it was obvious Teddy was really a wolf.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Gene waited sullenly for his mother to stop being nice to Teddy.
"Did you boys have fun on the scavenger hunt?" Anna asked.
Gene looked up from staring a hole in the ground, eyes catching Teddy's. "We, uh, forgot about it, mom."
"Really?" His mother said, and oh jeez she had that smug little smile that always meant she wasn't saying 'I told you so.'
God, he hated parents. He was twenty-one, didn't that mean he was too old for this shit?
He was so entirely doing tequila shots tonight. Until he forgot about stepbrothers, asshole boyfriends, and ghosts. "Look, can we go get dinner or something?"
Anna rolled her eyes. "I miss the days where I could give you a beating. Honestly, Gene, where are those manners I know I gave you?"
"Left them in my other pants," Gene said, but with a smile so she knew he was joking and wouldn't knock him upside the head.
The look she gave him said he wasn't fooling anyway, but she'd let it go for now. Great, that meant a talking to once they were alone. Note to self: do not be alone with mom.
"We made reservations at a nice steakhouse up the hill," David said. "It's walking distance, unless you boys are worn out from tramping around the forest all day. Did you get any good pictures, Teddy?"
"Lots," Teddy said, face brightening, and he started talking a mile a minute about everything he'd seen and photographed to death.
Gene listened with half an ear. Teddy had been busy with his photos the day they'd met; Gene had gone with him to the darkroom to interview him while Teddy worked. He'd never been in a darkroom before – it had been weird, dark and chemically, the different students working silently except to quietly consult one another on things Gene didn't even remotely understand. A corner of the world he'd never seen, weird but cool.
Scowling at himself for remembering something positive in regards to Teddy, he kicked at a stray rock and wished the evening were over already so he could get to consoling himself with agave juice.
He jumped as his arm received a hard pinch, and started to snarl a protest – then saw the gleam in his mother's eye and made a face. "Did you buy out all the stores yet, mom?"
"Not quite," David said, breaking away from talking with Teddy. "They closed before she could finish."
"Hahaha," Anna replied. "Knock it off or I'll buy each of you the ugliest t-shirts I can find and make you wear them."
"Yes, ma'am," David and Gene chorused, while Teddy only laughed at them.
Gene resisted an urge to kick another rock. Damn it, he didn't want Teddy acting like he actually fit or something. He'd fallen for the 'I'm a nice pretty boy' act once. He wasn't going to fall for it a second time.
Even now he could still remember how they'd looked. He'd gone to find them to see if they wanted to go home and play video games or something – and instead found Robert fucking Teddy into the mattress.
He balled his fists up against an urge to hit something. One year later, it still felt like it had happened yesterday.
"Sweetie, get your head out of the clouds before you fall on your face," Anna said sharply.
"Huh? Uh, yeah, mom. Sorry." Gene shook his head and tried to stop thinking about it.
He sighed in relief when they finally reached the steakhouse. All he had to do was get through the next two hours or so and then he could slink off to be by himself. No stupid backstabbing friend turned stepbrother, no glaring mother – and no ghosts.
Oh, gods, he wasn't thinking about the ghosts he hadn't seen and how had he managed to almost forget about them? He shuddered and wished they'd stayed forgotten.
"Are you all right, sweetie?"
"What?" Gene blinked at his mom, then shook his head. "Yeah, fine. I felt a chill."
He trailed along behind his mother and David as the host guided them through the restaurant to a table in the back that had an awesome view of the forest – including the damned tower, and it figured he got the seat that put him in the perfect place to stare at it all night.
Making a face, he turned away – and caught Teddy's eyes, and he could see that Teddy knew why he was upset.
Jerking his gaze away, he looked at the menu until their waiter appeared to take their drink orders.
"Margarita," he said. "Plenty of salt, and an extra shot of tequila with it, please."
Teddy chuckled. "You and your tequila."
"What can I say? Viva la Mexico. Real men drink tequila."
David laughed. "I'll stick with the beer. I haven't touched tequila since my college days. There's a good two, three days of my life I don't remember, and tequila is to blame for it."
Gene scoffed. "You're all wusses." He looked down his nose at his mom. "Especially wine drinkers."
Anna rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Stop heckling us and figure out what you want to eat."
"Steak, duh," Gene replied. "What sort of man orders anything else in a steakhouse?"
"The same kind of man who orders a margarita?" Teddy teased.
"Hahaha, it is to laugh," Gene said loftily. "You be quiet."
He realized a minute later he'd just joked with Teddy.
Damn it. What the hell was his problem?
Glaring at his menu, Gene sat in silence until the waiter returned with their drinks and took their food orders. Ordering onion rings for his appetizer, and a prime rib for dinner, he then slammed back his extra shot of tequila. Usually he dumped it in the margarita, since restaurants never put enough in, but right now he wanted to feel the tequila with no interference.
He ignored his mom, whom he knew was giving him a worried look.
In fact, he was pretty certain the silence around the table was his fault. Damn it. Why was he the bad guy? Didn't David care at all that his fucking son had spread his legs for Gene's boyfriend?
He drank his margarita and stifled a sigh. He'd agreed to a truce, so he should probably act like it. "So are we getting dessert here, or did you scope out a better place while you cleaned out the stores, mom?"
"I saw an ice cream parlor, but it didn't look terribly promising," Anna replied, some of her tension easing. "I say we eat here, assuming we have room by the time we finish the main course."
"Oh, I'll have room," Gene said.
Teddy grinned. "Especially if there's something chocolate on the menu."
Anna rolled her eyes as David chimed his agreement. "If any one of you whines about a sore stomach later, I'm going to laugh at you."
Gene snickered and drank more of his margarita, content to sit back and listen with half an ear. Soon he'd be back at school; all he had to do was get through the next few days, and damned if he'd let stupid Teddy ruin it all.
He was jerked from his thoughts by Teddy.
"So, Mrs.—um, Anna—Do you know of any ghost stories about the tower and stuff?"
Anna laughed. "Why," she teased, "did you boys see a ghost?"
"Hahaha," Gene replied, and gulped his tequila.
"Just curious," Teddy said. "It's, um, sort of a creepy tower."
Laughing again, Anna toyed with the stem of her wine glass. "As a matter of fact, and Gene should know this story, my brother – Uncle Thomas, dear – swore up and down he saw a ghost."
"I don't remember that story," Gene said.
"You were probably ignoring me, then," Anna said, sighing and shaking her head.
Gene shrugged. "Probably. So tell us now."
Anna pursed her lips in thought. "He visited this place, oh, thirty or so years ago now. It was one of his research things, you know how your uncle is, dear."
"Yeah, crazy," Gene said. He flapped his hand at Teddy and David. "He's more obsessed than mom about the American Revolution."
"Especially after he came here and purportedly saw ghosts," Anna said with a sigh. "From then on, he'd have nothing to do with this place."
Gene snorted. "I sure as hell wouldn't blame him."
Ann sipped her wine. "Gene, sweetheart, are you certain you don't remember this?"
Gene drank the last of his margarita and signaled the waiter to bring him another. "Trust me, mom, I'd remember. I know he's crazy, and I sort of remember now that you said he came here before, but I don't remember him seeing ghosts."
"You didn't mention that before," Teddy said.
"I prefer not to discuss crazy relatives unless forced, and it's not like it makes a difference," Gene said, thanking the waiter as his drink was brought with the appetizers. He attacked his onion rings with a vengeance, hoping they'd drop the stupid ghost talk.
No such luck. His mother resumed the moment her wine had been refilled and the waiter vanished.
"He swore up and down he saw their ghosts," she said. "William and John. They 'stood there plain as day, John with a nosegay of lilacs. He said they acted in unspeakable fashion – though he never bothered to tell me what the heck unspeakable meant – and then he ran away."
Teddy frowned. "Lilacs? That's those purple flowers all over the place up there, right?"
"Yes," Anna replied. "The settlers planted them shortly after arriving, including the woman who eventually became Thomas' wife – and John's mother. Her name was Elizabeth. There's an old story about Thomas and his wife, actually, and those flowers. He recorded it in his journal. Apparently when they were both young, Thomas was rather a poor man, and Elizabeth's father didn't approve of Thomas courting his daughter."
She paused to sip more of her wine, and Gene realized with dismay he was hooked. All he could remember was that single stupid sentence. God, he really hoped it wasn't the ghosts invading his brain. No, he wasn't thinking about it. Ghosts bad.
"Obviously, parental approval was never a requirement for young people," Anna continued. "Elizabeth's father was often away on business – he was mayor, back then. Thomas would sneak over to see her whenever her father was gone. To let him know it was same to come, Elizabeth would hang a sprig of lilacs over the door."
Gene suddenly felt extremely cold and supremely freaked out.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"Sweetie."
He jumped at the sound of his mother's voice. "W-what?"
"Are you all right?" Anna said, frowning in concern. She smiled faintly. "You look as though you've seen a ghost."
"Haha," Gene replied, and drained his margarita.
In two parts.
Lilacs
"You've always said you prefer honesty, no matter how painful the truth is, so I'm going to be honest. Mother, I hate you."
"Yes, dear, that's nice," his mother said absently. She looked up from the glossy guide book that had become her bible from the moment she'd decided upon Operation Get to Know Each Other.
Personally, he wanted to know why he couldn't have gotten to know his new stepfather and stepbrother at the beach. At least there, if he wound up hating the stepbrother, he could have consoled himself by molesting a well-tanned surfer boy.
But, no. High school history teacher mother decided to drag them – kicking and screaming, he had definitely kicked and screamed the entire way – to the historical spot she'd always loved but never been able to visit.
He glared at her. "You are so totally the reason I'm gay, mother."
"Oh, now I know that isn't true. I've had six gay men tell me I almost turned them straight." She sighed. "Those were the days."
"Mom! What have I told you about telling me things like that?" Gene shuddered. "I so wish I'd taken summer classes after all."
Rolling her eyes, his mom closed her guide book and tucked it into her tote bag. "Honestly, Gene. This grouchiness needs to go away. David is used to you, but I don't want you making a bad impression on Teddy. Just because you can be an ass doesn't mean you should be one all the time."
Gene shrugged. "Best to begin as I mean to go on?"
"You are so much like your father," she replied, rolling her eyes again. "Sadly, the methods that worked on him won't work on you."
"I'd ask, but I totally don't want to know," Gene said. His mother smirked, and he held up his hands to ward her off. "Seriously, mom, shut up. I really don’t want to know. Parents aren't allowed to admit they have sex. That's just gross."
"Men," his mother said. "Come on, Mr. Prude. David sent me a text while you were trying and failing to flirt with the straight boy at the counter. He's meeting us at the little coffee shop we passed on the way here."
"I really do hate you," Gene said, glaring at her. Mothers were totally not supposed to notice their sons flirting, and they definitely weren't supposed to point out when they failed. At least he'd never have to deal with a girlfriend; from what he'd seen, those were even worse than mothers.
Obediently taking the bags of stuff she'd already managed to purchase – he could hear the Visa crying already – he trailed along behind her as they hiked back to the coffee shop. "Let me go put this stuff in the car, mom."
"That's fine, dear," his mother said, her tone distracted, and Gene didn't even have to look to know she must have spotted David inside. Hiding a smile, he took the car keys from her hand and went to put all her purchases in their car, whistling as he made his way back to the coffee shop.
He supposed there were worse things in life than putting up with Ye Olde Tourist Spot if it made his mom so happy, and she could do a hell of a lot worse than David.
Even if, between the two of them, he spent an awful lot of time feeling like he was stuck in the never ending high school history class from hell.
Not that he had much room to talk – being an English major didn't really do much to get him out of the dork department. Still.
Double checking the car was locked, he stuffed the keys into a pocket of his cargo shorts and high-tailed it back to the coffee shop. He saw his mother and David – and stopped short as he drew close enough to see his new stepbrother.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.
Theodore North, a rattlesnake in human guise. Pretty as fuck, but venomous and snotty. He bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. "Eugene, what an unpleasant surprise."
"Please do not tell me I'm related to you now. And if you call me that again, asshole, we're going to repeat Theta Chi all over again and this time the cops won't put a stop to it."
"Oh, dear," he heard his mother said.
"Of all…" David said at the same time.
Gene barely heard them, his attention only for the asshole across from him. There was no fucking way goddamn Theodore North was his stepbrother. How the hell had he not figured this out sooner?
He could see Theodore was wondering the same thing. Man, those green eyes looked like they were about to burst into flame. Gene hoped the bastard spontaneously combusted.
"The only reason you're still alive, Eugene, is because those cops came."
Gene braced his hands on the table. "Yeah, you wanna put your money where your mouth is, slu—"
"Eugene Thomason!"
The unhappiness, more than the anger, in his mom's voice made him shut up. Glaring furiously at Theodore, he sat down and folded his arms across his chest.
"Teddy, that's enough," David said sternly.
He snorted in amusement that Theodore went by 'Teddy.' A warning look from his mother, however, forced him to keep his mouth shut – though he could see from the nasty look he got that his amusement had been noted.
"I cannot believe…it was the two of you who got into that ugly fight?"
"Yeah," Gene said bitterly.
He glared at the coffee table, wishing he could just get up and leave. Damn it, he'd finally mostly stopped thinking about that night. It was over a year ago. He should be over it.
Except, you know, not. Theodore – Teddy, hahaha – had been visiting his campus for the photography competition. Gene worked for the campus paper; he'd been doing interviews of the competitors.
They'd hit it off as friends immediately. Back then, he'd stupidly thought Theodore was a good guy. Hell, he probably would have made a few moves except he'd been utterly gone on his boyfriend, Robert. Theodore had taken third place, and left, but had come back to take a special summer course. Man, that'd been an awesome summer.
Until the party at the Theta Chi house, when he'd caught his boyfriend fucking his friend like the world was going to end in five more minutes.
After that, he didn't really remember much. He'd smashed Robert's stupid cheating face in, then he'd gone after Theodore. After that, he really only remembered the cops pulling them apart.
Luckily, they'd just gotten off with being read the riot act and ordered to keep their heads down the rest of the summer. A week later, Theodore had left. Gene hadn't seen or heard from the bastard since.
His mother had fallen for David nine months ago.
How in the hell had he managed to miss Theodore was his stepbrother? Man, talk about a bad movie. "What a fine comedy of errors this is," he said bitterly.
"That's enough, Gene," his mother said, sounding tired and sad.
David cleared his throat. "I think you boys should learn to put things behind you."
Gene started to speak, but a swift kick to his shin made him stop. He glared at his mother, but kept his mouth shut.
"You're brothers now, so you can't keep on like this. I wish we'd figured it out sooner, but what's done is done."
No one said anything.
His mother sighed. "I agree with David. What's done is done – I know, sweetie, don't give me that look – and nothing good will come of fighting like this."
Personally he thought they were both crackers. Would they handle it any better to know they were suddenly related to the slut who'd pretended to be his friend and had been messing around with his boyfriend the entire time?
Survey said no.
Sometimes, parents were just a little bit stupid.
"Here," his mother continued. "I purchased these for the two of you, in hopes it would give you a chance to get to know one another…" She sighed again.
Gene frowned and picked up the sheet of paper she'd set down on the table.
Historical Scavenger Hunt
Despite his best effort, Gene found himself interested. It was such a stupid, cheesy tourist trap type thing, but he'd always liked scavenger hunts. Especially big ones like this, where you had to trek fuck everywhere.
And, double plus easy because they only had to take photos of stuff, rather than lug around a bunch of crap.
He'd probably have a blast, even if it was a history lesson tourist trap, except he obviously was supposed to do it with fucking Theodore. They were signed up as a team – and the whole thing started in thirty minutes.
"I'd rather shoo—" Theodore was cut off as David abruptly stood and yanked him up, then dragged him out of the coffee shop.
"Sweetheart, I had no idea," his mother said softly, forcing Gene to look away from the pleasing sight of Theodore getting yelled at – complete with angrily waving arms.
"How could you?" he said with a sigh. "Shit, none of us figured it out. But I don't see how you expect me to get along with the bastard, not after what he did to me."
His mom bit her lip, fiddling restlessly with her iced latte. "Well, you could always try talking about it. Maybe there are things you don't know. I'd imagine a couple of drunk, angry men didn't bother to discuss things."
"He was fucking my boyfriend," Gene said flatly. "There was nothing to discuss."
"Will you at least try not to kill each other, then?" she asked. "David and I…damn it, I was so excited about the two of you meeting. David's told me so much about him, I just knew you two would get along."
It was the 'damn it' which did. His mother never cussed, except when she was really upset. The last time she'd said the f-word, they'd been standing over dad's grave, and she'd taken the lord's name in vain quite creatively.
"I'll try mom," Gene said. "I'm sorry I started acting like an ass."
"That's all right, sweetie," she said, and patted his hand. "To be honest, I would have taken it with about the same amount of grace." She gave him a Look. "Though, I'm serious about the talking about it. Men would fight a lot less if they learned to talk instead of throwing punches."
"Mom," Gene said.
"Oh, stop whining. You're twenty one, whining isn't cute anymore." She reached into her purse and pulled out a ten. "Go get something to drink, and when you get back I expect you to act civilized, all right?'
"Yeah, mom," Gene replied, and kissed her cheek before accepting the peace offering and going to order his own iced latte.
When he sat down again, he ignored Theodore, who proved his own civilized nature by ignoring Gene.
See, they could act mature.
Emphasis on the 'act' cause all he wanted to do was finish what the cops started.
"Do you have a camera?" Theodore asked suddenly.
"Huh?" Gene asked.
"A camera," Theodore repeated, and Gene could just hear the unspoken 'dumbass' at the end of it.
He nodded, figuring telling Theodore to shut the fuck up would not please his mother. "Yeah." He reached automatically to touch the digital camera tucked into another pocket of his shorts, and recalled abruptly that Theodore had helped him pick it out. They'd poured over cameras for like two hours; the shop clerk had been ready to commit murder or suicide by the time Theodore had finally given him permission to buy one.
That had been the first week of summer; he'd dragged Theodore with him because he and Robert had been arguing again and he'd wanted to have fun instead of brooding. It was when he'd first accused Theodore of being fussy.
He'd almost thrown it out, after the fight, except even he wasn't stupid enough to destroy a four hundred dollar camera.
"I've got one on me, but it's not digital," Theodore said. "I left that one back at the hotel."
"Okay," Gene replied, not really caring.
Theodore looked at him like he was an idiot. "So, you know, we'll probably need your camera for the fu—the scavenger hunt."
"Oh," Gene said, finally getting it. He looked at the piece of paper, then back at Theodore. "Okay." Catching a warning look from his mother, he finished his latte and stood. "We'd better go, if we're going to be there on time."
"Yeah," Theodore said, and Gene wondered if that same look of pending execution was on his own face.
Dropping a kiss on his mother's cheek, he waved farewell to David and led the way outside.
They walked in silence along the streets, and Gene was briefly distracted from imagining all the lovely ways he could kill Theodore by a group of period actors. Man, he was glad they didn't have to dress that way anymore, though the boots were kinda cool.
"So what's the big deal with this place?"
"I thought David was a history buff too," Gene replied. "Shouldn't you already know?"
Theodore rolled his eyes. "My dad studies ancient history, asshole."
"Fuck you," Gene snapped.
They fell back into silence.
Theodore sighed. "Look – I know you hate me."
"You think?"
"Shut up!" Theodore snapped. "Look, I'm just trying to say – we're never going to get along again, obviously. But my dad has vowed to cut off my balls if I upset your mom again, and she seems cool, I don't want to upset her. So I told him we'd try to get along, and I think we should in front of them. Otherwise, I don't give a fuck. Okay?"
Gene shrugged irritably, biting down on an urge to tell Theodore to go to hell. It wasn't fair to make their parents miserable, just because he and Theodore hated each other. He knew that. He didn't like it, but he knew it. "Okay."
Theodore sighed, and if Gene didn't know better he might have thought it sounded like relief. "Um, and call me Teddy – if you keep calling me Theodore, my dad will know something is up." He rolled his eyes.
"Sure," Gene said, and started to smile in sympathy – then realized what he was doing, and silently cursed.
Another silence fell as they walked along.
A few yards from the place where they were supposed to start the scavenger hunt, Teddy finally spoke again. "So what is the reason this town is so famous? You know, other than it being about the American Revolution."
"Well, it took place then, and it happened between the colonials and the redcoats, but it wasn't so much about the war – just a massive personal tragedy." Gene frowned in thought. He'd heard the story a bajillion times growing up, but had managed to avoid his mother and her history obsession since graduating. "The mayor of the town, Thomas Northfield, was staunchly against the rebellion. His son John however, was for it. He worked secretly against the redcoats, passing messages along, stuff like that. His best friend, a man named William Brown, was a redcoat. One night William found out about his friend's deception, and they apparently had a huge fight in the mayor's house. The mayor wasn't there, it's mostly his journals and all that tell us what happened – he was in the village when an alarm went up about a fire. When they got to it, however, the house was beyond saving."
Gene drifted off, eyes moving to the old wooden tower just visible above the tops of the trees a little ways off. "They said they found the bodies in the tower; the only part of the place that didn't burn down. Northfield's journals say it looked like they died of gunshot wounds, and he bemoaned that if not for the fire, it's possible they could have been saved."
"Depressing," Teddy said. "Sounds like a movie my cousin likes to watch."
"Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure my mom watches the same damn one," Gene said with a snort.
Then he realized he and Teddy had just gotten along, and scowled. "Come on," he snapped. "Let's fucking get this over with." Not bothering to wait, he bolted for the tourist center where the hunt would begin.
"Dude, would you slow down?"
"Who the hell says 'dude' anymore?" Gene asked.
"Me," Teddy snapped. "Now stop moving for two goddamn seconds so I can get a few pictures."
Gene heaved an aggravated sigh, somewhat mollified when he saw a tick in Teddy's cheek. "We're supposed to be hunting. There are exactly twenty five pictures we have to take. You're on what, number six hundred and twelve?"
"Shut the fuck up," Teddy said, and turned away to snap several pictures of some stupid purple flowers. "You never could hold still."
"Just take your damn pictures so we can finish this before next week." Gene kicked irritably at a rock, rolled his eyes, then turned and continued up the path. The dumb purple flowers lined it, and he kicked a snapped off bundle of them.
When they refused to go as far as he wanted, Gene bent and picked the bundle up.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"Fuck!" Gene dropped the flowers as if burned. "What the hell was that?"
"What's your problem?" Teddy asked, coming up behind him, making Gene jump again.
Gene shook his head. "Nothing. Let's just get to the damn tower."
The tower didn't look nearly as old as he thought it should, but a sign just inside said it had recently undergone restoration. It smelled like dust and rock, and also like too many people had tramped through.
Oddly, at the moment, it was totally empty.
A flash of purple caught his eye, and Gene looked up reflexively – a small bundle of the purple flowers, dried, hung from the top of the archway.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"What in the hell?"
Teddy just looked at him, then turned away to snap pictures.
Gene put a hand to his forehead, willing away the headache that had come up out of nowhere. Maybe he just needed more caffeine; he hadn't had that much in the way of coffee or pop, and normally he drank a great deal.
Shrugging it off, he shot a disgusted look at Teddy's camera happy back, then started climbing the stairs to get a picture of the plaque hung where the bodies of William and John had been found.
At the top, he shivered. Fuck, wasn't heat supposed to rise? Why was it so damn cold? Still shivering, Gene moved across the small space to the plaque. The room wasn't big, maybe…well, a lot longer than he was tall, and he was five foot eight. Big enough to be an okay bedroom, he guessed. One big room, with the plaque and display opposite the door. The plaque was actually on a stand which was set in front of a roped up area behind which mannequins or dolls or whatever they were called had been arranged in an attempt to recreate how the bodies had been found.
Morbid, but he supposed it wasn't much worse than what he saw in the million and one museums to which he'd been dragged as a child.
Shaking his head, Gene snapped the necessary picture, then wandered around. Near the fake people was a stand. Beneath heavy glass was the journal of Thomas Northfield. Gene couldn't read the worn chicken scratch – well, he didn't feel like trying – but a handy little plaque nearby provided a transcription.
It described finding the bodies long after the fire had finally stopped, the grief that came with knowing if not for the fire, they might have been able to save them. Gene frowned. If he recalled correctly, it was only later on that they figured out John had been a traitor – or, he supposed, a true American. It all depended on which side of the fence you called home.
Jeez, was he losing his mind or was it getting a hell of a lot colder?
He could see his damn breath. And was he crazy or did it suddenly smell awful flowery?
Man, it was so past time to go.
Wrapping his arms around himself, Gene turned to go – and screamed.
Stumbling back, he cracked his head against the wall. "Fuck!" His eyes watered with pain, and he swore he saw stars.
Of course, he'd take stars over ghosts any day of the year. Not that he'd seen ghosts, 'cause he hadn't. No way. He was not a crazy person.
When he opened his eyes again, everything seemed normal. The room was still cold, but his breath wasn't visible – and there were no ghosts.
Not that there had been before. Deny deny deny.
Shaking his head, making a note to hunt down some damn aspirin when they got back, he strode to the door – and ran smack into Teddy.
This time his head cracked the floor, and Gene half wished it had knocked him unconscious cause his head really fucking hurt now. Sitting up with a groan, he gingerly touched the back of his head and glared at Teddy. "Watch where you're going."
"You watch—dude, why is it so cold up here?"
Gene groaned and carefully did not think about the ghosts he had not seen. Instead, he kept glaring at Teddy for good measure.
So far he'd been too busy trying not to kill the bastard to really look at him. Now, though – now he was remembering that he really had always thought Teddy was too goddamn pretty. He'd always liked the pretty ones.
More than once that summer, he'd guiltily thought that if not for the fact he and Robert were the real deal, he would so have been hitting on Teddy. Strawberry blonde curls and a face not quite girly, but not super masculine either. If David was anything to go by, he'd acquire a distinguished look about him as he got older – assuming his prissiness didn't turn him into a wrinkly sourpuss.
They'd gone swimming once; god he hadn’t been dumb enough to repeat that. He was not a fan of torture – or pissed off boyfriends, and Robert had been pissy that whole evening after.
"It is really cold up here," Teddy said. "Are we done? Can we go?"
"Who the hell was just getting on me for impatience?"
Teddy sent him a withering look.
Returning the glare full measure, he started to finally stand up. He paused as Teddy held out a hand, and reached out to knock it away – and just as the backs of their hands collided, he could abruptly see his breath.
I give you fair warning, sir. If you kiss me, I shall know you love me.
Well, there is no help for it, because I fully intend to kiss you.
Jerking back, Gene struggled to his feet and then moved further away from Teddy. "What the fuck—"
Teddy was white. Like, turned into a snowman white. The hand holding his camera was trembling alarmingly. He lifted his other hand, shaking just as badly, to point at Gene.
Or rather, Gene suspected, pointed behind him.
He didn't bother to turn around and look. The fact he could see his breath was more than enough for him. "Run."
Teddy turned and fled, and Gene was hot on his heels. They bolted from the tower and ran down the lilac-strewn path, down the hill and across the field that led back to the city proper.
Bracing his hands on his knees, Gene gasped and panted for breath.
"What. The. Fuck." Teddy said between gulping down air.
Gene shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "I didn't see a goddamn thing."
Teddy looked at him, then nodded. "Yeah, fuck it. Let's go get a beer or something."
Part of him started to protest, because this was, after all, the asshole who'd taken his boyfriend – but then he remembered seeing his breath, and the ghosts, and Teddy's white face--- "Fuck beer, I'm going straight for the tequila."
"Gene! Teddy!"
Groaning, Gene turned and waved to his mother, who was walking along the sidewalk toward them, arm in arm with David. "Hey, mom."
"Hey, Mrs. Thoma—" Teddy blinked. "No, I guess you'd be Mrs. Northfield, huh?" He grinned.
Gene scowled and looked away. Assholes were not allowed to be pretty and have nice smiles, god damn it. Totally against the rules.
His mother laughed. "Sweetie, you can call me Anna."
Now his mom was calling someone else sweetie? What the hell? Not fair. If Teddy didn't knock it the fuck off with his sheep's clothing, Gene was going to beat him until it was obvious Teddy was really a wolf.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Gene waited sullenly for his mother to stop being nice to Teddy.
"Did you boys have fun on the scavenger hunt?" Anna asked.
Gene looked up from staring a hole in the ground, eyes catching Teddy's. "We, uh, forgot about it, mom."
"Really?" His mother said, and oh jeez she had that smug little smile that always meant she wasn't saying 'I told you so.'
God, he hated parents. He was twenty-one, didn't that mean he was too old for this shit?
He was so entirely doing tequila shots tonight. Until he forgot about stepbrothers, asshole boyfriends, and ghosts. "Look, can we go get dinner or something?"
Anna rolled her eyes. "I miss the days where I could give you a beating. Honestly, Gene, where are those manners I know I gave you?"
"Left them in my other pants," Gene said, but with a smile so she knew he was joking and wouldn't knock him upside the head.
The look she gave him said he wasn't fooling anyway, but she'd let it go for now. Great, that meant a talking to once they were alone. Note to self: do not be alone with mom.
"We made reservations at a nice steakhouse up the hill," David said. "It's walking distance, unless you boys are worn out from tramping around the forest all day. Did you get any good pictures, Teddy?"
"Lots," Teddy said, face brightening, and he started talking a mile a minute about everything he'd seen and photographed to death.
Gene listened with half an ear. Teddy had been busy with his photos the day they'd met; Gene had gone with him to the darkroom to interview him while Teddy worked. He'd never been in a darkroom before – it had been weird, dark and chemically, the different students working silently except to quietly consult one another on things Gene didn't even remotely understand. A corner of the world he'd never seen, weird but cool.
Scowling at himself for remembering something positive in regards to Teddy, he kicked at a stray rock and wished the evening were over already so he could get to consoling himself with agave juice.
He jumped as his arm received a hard pinch, and started to snarl a protest – then saw the gleam in his mother's eye and made a face. "Did you buy out all the stores yet, mom?"
"Not quite," David said, breaking away from talking with Teddy. "They closed before she could finish."
"Hahaha," Anna replied. "Knock it off or I'll buy each of you the ugliest t-shirts I can find and make you wear them."
"Yes, ma'am," David and Gene chorused, while Teddy only laughed at them.
Gene resisted an urge to kick another rock. Damn it, he didn't want Teddy acting like he actually fit or something. He'd fallen for the 'I'm a nice pretty boy' act once. He wasn't going to fall for it a second time.
Even now he could still remember how they'd looked. He'd gone to find them to see if they wanted to go home and play video games or something – and instead found Robert fucking Teddy into the mattress.
He balled his fists up against an urge to hit something. One year later, it still felt like it had happened yesterday.
"Sweetie, get your head out of the clouds before you fall on your face," Anna said sharply.
"Huh? Uh, yeah, mom. Sorry." Gene shook his head and tried to stop thinking about it.
He sighed in relief when they finally reached the steakhouse. All he had to do was get through the next two hours or so and then he could slink off to be by himself. No stupid backstabbing friend turned stepbrother, no glaring mother – and no ghosts.
Oh, gods, he wasn't thinking about the ghosts he hadn't seen and how had he managed to almost forget about them? He shuddered and wished they'd stayed forgotten.
"Are you all right, sweetie?"
"What?" Gene blinked at his mom, then shook his head. "Yeah, fine. I felt a chill."
He trailed along behind his mother and David as the host guided them through the restaurant to a table in the back that had an awesome view of the forest – including the damned tower, and it figured he got the seat that put him in the perfect place to stare at it all night.
Making a face, he turned away – and caught Teddy's eyes, and he could see that Teddy knew why he was upset.
Jerking his gaze away, he looked at the menu until their waiter appeared to take their drink orders.
"Margarita," he said. "Plenty of salt, and an extra shot of tequila with it, please."
Teddy chuckled. "You and your tequila."
"What can I say? Viva la Mexico. Real men drink tequila."
David laughed. "I'll stick with the beer. I haven't touched tequila since my college days. There's a good two, three days of my life I don't remember, and tequila is to blame for it."
Gene scoffed. "You're all wusses." He looked down his nose at his mom. "Especially wine drinkers."
Anna rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Stop heckling us and figure out what you want to eat."
"Steak, duh," Gene replied. "What sort of man orders anything else in a steakhouse?"
"The same kind of man who orders a margarita?" Teddy teased.
"Hahaha, it is to laugh," Gene said loftily. "You be quiet."
He realized a minute later he'd just joked with Teddy.
Damn it. What the hell was his problem?
Glaring at his menu, Gene sat in silence until the waiter returned with their drinks and took their food orders. Ordering onion rings for his appetizer, and a prime rib for dinner, he then slammed back his extra shot of tequila. Usually he dumped it in the margarita, since restaurants never put enough in, but right now he wanted to feel the tequila with no interference.
He ignored his mom, whom he knew was giving him a worried look.
In fact, he was pretty certain the silence around the table was his fault. Damn it. Why was he the bad guy? Didn't David care at all that his fucking son had spread his legs for Gene's boyfriend?
He drank his margarita and stifled a sigh. He'd agreed to a truce, so he should probably act like it. "So are we getting dessert here, or did you scope out a better place while you cleaned out the stores, mom?"
"I saw an ice cream parlor, but it didn't look terribly promising," Anna replied, some of her tension easing. "I say we eat here, assuming we have room by the time we finish the main course."
"Oh, I'll have room," Gene said.
Teddy grinned. "Especially if there's something chocolate on the menu."
Anna rolled her eyes as David chimed his agreement. "If any one of you whines about a sore stomach later, I'm going to laugh at you."
Gene snickered and drank more of his margarita, content to sit back and listen with half an ear. Soon he'd be back at school; all he had to do was get through the next few days, and damned if he'd let stupid Teddy ruin it all.
He was jerked from his thoughts by Teddy.
"So, Mrs.—um, Anna—Do you know of any ghost stories about the tower and stuff?"
Anna laughed. "Why," she teased, "did you boys see a ghost?"
"Hahaha," Gene replied, and gulped his tequila.
"Just curious," Teddy said. "It's, um, sort of a creepy tower."
Laughing again, Anna toyed with the stem of her wine glass. "As a matter of fact, and Gene should know this story, my brother – Uncle Thomas, dear – swore up and down he saw a ghost."
"I don't remember that story," Gene said.
"You were probably ignoring me, then," Anna said, sighing and shaking her head.
Gene shrugged. "Probably. So tell us now."
Anna pursed her lips in thought. "He visited this place, oh, thirty or so years ago now. It was one of his research things, you know how your uncle is, dear."
"Yeah, crazy," Gene said. He flapped his hand at Teddy and David. "He's more obsessed than mom about the American Revolution."
"Especially after he came here and purportedly saw ghosts," Anna said with a sigh. "From then on, he'd have nothing to do with this place."
Gene snorted. "I sure as hell wouldn't blame him."
Ann sipped her wine. "Gene, sweetheart, are you certain you don't remember this?"
Gene drank the last of his margarita and signaled the waiter to bring him another. "Trust me, mom, I'd remember. I know he's crazy, and I sort of remember now that you said he came here before, but I don't remember him seeing ghosts."
"You didn't mention that before," Teddy said.
"I prefer not to discuss crazy relatives unless forced, and it's not like it makes a difference," Gene said, thanking the waiter as his drink was brought with the appetizers. He attacked his onion rings with a vengeance, hoping they'd drop the stupid ghost talk.
No such luck. His mother resumed the moment her wine had been refilled and the waiter vanished.
"He swore up and down he saw their ghosts," she said. "William and John. They 'stood there plain as day, John with a nosegay of lilacs. He said they acted in unspeakable fashion – though he never bothered to tell me what the heck unspeakable meant – and then he ran away."
Teddy frowned. "Lilacs? That's those purple flowers all over the place up there, right?"
"Yes," Anna replied. "The settlers planted them shortly after arriving, including the woman who eventually became Thomas' wife – and John's mother. Her name was Elizabeth. There's an old story about Thomas and his wife, actually, and those flowers. He recorded it in his journal. Apparently when they were both young, Thomas was rather a poor man, and Elizabeth's father didn't approve of Thomas courting his daughter."
She paused to sip more of her wine, and Gene realized with dismay he was hooked. All he could remember was that single stupid sentence. God, he really hoped it wasn't the ghosts invading his brain. No, he wasn't thinking about it. Ghosts bad.
"Obviously, parental approval was never a requirement for young people," Anna continued. "Elizabeth's father was often away on business – he was mayor, back then. Thomas would sneak over to see her whenever her father was gone. To let him know it was same to come, Elizabeth would hang a sprig of lilacs over the door."
Gene suddenly felt extremely cold and supremely freaked out.
Lilacs mean it's safe to come.
"Sweetie."
He jumped at the sound of his mother's voice. "W-what?"
"Are you all right?" Anna said, frowning in concern. She smiled faintly. "You look as though you've seen a ghost."
"Haha," Gene replied, and drained his margarita.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-17 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-18 11:38 pm (UTC)There was one thing that kind of bothered me - chemically as opposed to chemical-y. I was looking for the verb described, and I had to reread the sentence to figure out what you meant.
Otherwise, love.