Aspect Of Winter Page 15

  The theater only showed like four films at a time, since it was a local business, but it had what we wanted to see tonight. We pulled into the parking lot for the pizza place, and I hopped out, meeting Tyler by the entrance. He held the door open for me, quirking his eyebrows a bit as I shifted my weight from foot to foot continuously. I went in, and he followed right after.

  “What are you in the mood for?”

  “Anything with meat on it is good. Just not Hawaiian, pineapples are weird.”

  “Pepperoni sound alright?”

  “Classics are definitely the way to go sometimes.”

  “…Is that a yes?”

  “Oh. Um, yes. Pepperoni sounds great.”

  “Cool.” He turned to the server at the counter. “Hey, can we get a large pepperoni, please?” I pulled out my wallet to help pay, but Tyler shook his head.

  “I’ve got this one.”

  “But I want to help pay!”

  He smiled softly. “And I want to pay for the first date, okay? If you’ll let me take you out again, you can help pay for the next one.”

  I blushed. “Oh. Okay, then.”

  We slid into one of the booths in the back of the diner, sitting across from each other. I fidgeted nervously, looking pretty much everywhere except at Tyler.

  “Hey. I’m not making you do something you don’t want to, right?” Tyler said uncertainly.

  “Oh, shoot, I’m sorry.” I looked at him apologetically. “I just don’t know how to act; I’ve never been on a date before.”

  “And you wouldn’t believe how hard it is for me to believe that I’m the first person to ask you out.”

  I turned bright red, and Tyler gave a satisfied smile.

  “I’m never going to get tired of getting you to blush, that’s for sure.”

  “Shut up,” I muttered. “I have pale skin and low tolerance for flattery.”

  “And I just like the way you duck your head when you’re embarrassed.”

  I squirmed a bit under the attention, but met his eyes. They were crinkled slightly at the edges from amusement as he grinned at me. I smiled shyly back. The server came over with the pizza a moment later, and we broke eye contact. Tyler grabbed the plates and handed one to me.

  “Do you want anything to drink? They’ve only got lukewarm soda from tap, but it tastes okay if you’re willing to ignore that.”

  “Sure, sounds good to me. Can I have some Sprite?”

  “Can do.” Tyler walked off and returned a minute later with two plastic cups filled with Sprite, passing one over to me. I took a sip. Lukewarm, as promised.

  “Tyler, pass your cup over for a second. I’ll fix the temperature problem.”

  “Oh, right. Cool.”

  I held the two cups in my hands, and let out a puff of cold air as I made the drinks cold, and made a couple of ice cubes floating at the top. That trick remained my favorite, even with all the other stuff I’d done recently. It was… practical, and made me feel strangely useful. Tyler took his drink back, and I fell back into my seat.

  With that, we dug in. The pizza was greasy, and really not all that great, but we both had fun seeing how far we could stretch the cheesy strings out before they snapped. My face got covered in pizza sauce at one point, and we both laughed for a solid minute before Tyler went over and got me some napkins. Thankfully, my alarmingly expensive new clothes didn’t get hit. We spent a while talking about school (he had AP government as a course too, just at a different time), Tyler’s sports, and whether or not the new Bethesda game was going to be any good. He maintained that it would be, and I said it was just too expensive. Most of the time, though, was spent trading smiles, as though neither of us had quite wrapped our heads around the fact that we were actually on a date together.

  “I’ve never actually gone on a date with a guy before,” Tyler confessed. “It’s… different.”

  “Well, I’ve never gone on a date before at all, though I think I said that already. Is it good different, or bad different?”

  “Good different. Definitely. I mean, I knew I was bi before this, but that was through, you know, the internet?” he said awkwardly, ducking his head a little.

  I nodded quietly. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

  “I’d never actually liked a guy in real life before though,” he continued hesitantly. “Just a couple awkward moments in the locker room, but that’s different.”

  “I can imagine.” In fact, I was imagining. And, cutting that line of thought off right there. My jeans were tight enough as it was.

  “Anyway, I’m sorry if… this ends up being really crappy for you. I don’t want your first date to be awful.” He gave me the soulful puppy-eyes look. That should be illegal.

  “I promise I’ll tell you if it starts being awful, okay? Because right now? It’s, um,” I bit my lip a little before continuing, gathering my nerves, “It’s really great.” I smiled at Tyler softly.

  Tyler’s face went a really bright red as he ducked his head again. I could see his smile, though.

  “Well, I’m happy then. You wanna head over to the theater now?” Tyler asked.

  “Definitely. I can’t wait to ogle Andrew Garfield in a skintight suit.”

  I smacked myself mentally for saying that out loud. Who the hell said that? Especially on a first date?

  Tyler looked a bit taken aback, and then smirked. “And I can’t wait to ogle him and Emma Stone. Best of both worlds, Fay.”

  I narrowed my eyes. He had a point.

  We went back outside, and opted to just walk across the street instead of going through the trouble of moving his car. Inside the theater, Tyler paid for me again, and handed over a ticket and a large popcorn for me to carry.

  “Hey, if you’re still in your generous mood, feel like buying me some Junior Mints too? It’s like a movie tradition for me to get those every time I go.”

  “Depends. Do I get some too?”

  I put on a fake thoughtful face. “Hmm… no. I don’t think so.” I grinned wickedly at him. He pouted. My brain screamed at me to surrender. I did, and shrugged at him. He turned back, rolling his eyes, and bought them.

  Tyler led me into the theater we were in for the movie, and directed me to the far back row. We settled down on the far left side, and I placed the popcorn between us. The previews had already started, and Tyler wasted no time in taking a big handful of popcorn.

  “Are you the sort who eats all the popcorn during the previews?” I asked.

  “Hey, I bought it,” Tyler said defensively. “It’s not my fault they only show the action scenes in the trailers. I stress eat, okay?”

  I just stared at him. That really shouldn’t have been adorable. I turned back to the big screen, watching the explosions that apparently summarized some new movie go off. A few minutes later, the film started. Tyler and I shared an excited look, and I leaned forward in my seat slightly with anticipation. I might have understated my fondness for Spider-man with Sam earlier. A teenager forced to hide his superpowers, eventually becoming a (hot) superhero? Frankly, I couldn’t think of a better role model for me.

  A half hour had passed before I chanced a glance over at Tyler. There was a flash of movement, and then he appeared riveted by the film. I think I had just caught him staring at me. I definitely owed Sam for the clothes. I reached into the popcorn bag, and jerked in surprise when my fingers brushed against Tyler’s, also reaching in. I looked at him cautiously, and he showed no reaction. Then I felt his hand curl gently around my own, though he was still determinedly only looking at the movie.

  Heart beating fast, I entwined my fingers slowly with his. His hand was warm. I looked back at the movie, but as much as I liked the movie, there was no way I could pay more than half of my attention to it when I was holding hands with Tyler.

  When the big fight scene came around, Tyler’s hand tightened around me. I let out a small noise, and he looked quickly at me for a moment, startled. I could see in his eyes that he was just as nervous as m
e. The moment seemed almost surreal. Part of my brain, while ridiculously nervous, was also insanely happy with what was going on. Another part, which I was desperately ignoring, seemed to be in the process of listing every possible thing that could go wrong with the date. I glanced down for a moment at Tyler’s mouth. His lips were slightly parted, and they looked really soft. I looked back up at his eyes, and we held gazes for a second before turning back to the screen. The moment had passed.

  I watched as Spider-man beat up all the villains, got the girl, and somehow managed to maintain a good humor and amazing hair all the way to the end. And I thought my life seemed unrealistic.

  The credits were starting to roll, and I was about to get up when I heard Tyler mutter “Screw it,” and turned to look at him. He moved his face towards me slowly, giving me plenty of time to back out. I was panicking, but I managed to hold it together, and moved forward a little too. Slowly, carefully, Tyler kissed me, his lips pressed softly against my own.

  A shock ran through my body, supercharging my every cell. My eyes, which were half-lidded before, snapped wide open, and Tyler’s did the same. We broke the kiss immediately, but kept our hands together. It was like someone was running a current of power through me. I was instantaneously aware of every inch of myself completely, and all of Tyler as well. It was like some part of my mind woke up and firmly labeled itself as Tyler.

  Judging by his face, Tyler felt the same thing.

  “What… the hell… was that?” Tyler breathed.

  “I’m, um, guessing that most kisses aren’t like that?” I asked meekly. He shook his head dazedly.

  “Definitely not. Fay, what just happened?”

  “I have no idea. Can you still…?”

  “Yeah, it’s still there.” Tyler definitely looked a little uncomfortable at the notion. I crumpled.

  “I’m sorry, Tyler. I shouldn’t have been so stupid as to try to be normal. I should have known that something would have gone wrong, though I wasn’t expecting whatever that was. I’m just going to leave now.”

  “Fay, wait!” Tyler said, grasping my arm. “I don’t know what the hell just happened, but it definitely seemed to be a two-way street. And whatever happened, it’s done now. I don’t know about you, but I really, really liked this date. Even with the freaky magic stuff.” He was breathing hard at this point. “And Fay, I really, really like you as well. So please don’t just go.”

  Oh. Well then.

  “I, um, really like you too. And the date. And the kiss. All of the above were good.”

  Tyler’s eyes brightened. “So you’ll go out with me again?”

  I smiled. “Definitely. Hopefully our next kiss won’t shock both of us, but I’m willing to risk it.”

  “Oh?” Tyler murmured. “Why don’t we test that out when we get back to the car, then?"

  Tyler took my hand, and we filed out of the theater. I saw one of Logan’s friends, the smelly one I’d run into back when this all started. He was staring at the two of us while he waited for his friends to come out of the theater. I saw the sneer begin to form on his face, the cruel words on the tip of his tongue, and I’d had it. Not on my first date. I met his eyes and shook my head slowly. His face grew panicked as he felt his lips grow cold, and unable to separate as a layer of frost grew over them.

  “Something wrong?” Tyler asked me curiously. “You seem kinda distracted.”

  I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “Everything’s fine. I’m just really happy.”

  The smile that crept over his face then was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. The car ride back was pretty high up there too.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I woke up from what was by far the most restful sleep I’d had in months. I didn’t wake up blearily, but instead refreshed. If I had known that kissing a person you liked was such a cure-all, I’d have done it ages ago. Unfortunately, the restful sleep, it seemed, had made me wake up late. I dashed to the bathroom, dunked my head in the sink quickly to make my hair manageable, and ran downstairs.

  I glanced out the window to see Sam’s Jeep come screeching to a halt, and saw her step out and walk toward the house with purpose.

  “You have five seconds to fill me in on the essentials,” she growled.

  I grinned, remembering last night in vivid detail. “It might take a little longer than that,” I said dreamily.

  Sam huffed and looked at me seriously. “Okay, so you had fun? I don’t need the unmarked grave for Tyler?”

  “What? No!”

  “Bummer. I spent all night digging that thing. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll have a use for it eventually. Now, tell me all about it on the way.”

  I nodded and popped back inside just long enough to scrawl a quick note to my parents about breakfast, and then joined Sam in the Jeep. We headed off to Owl’s Head Coffee. It was pretty empty on Sundays, which is why Sam and I only ever ate there on Sundays. That, and the special they had on pancakes. We dug in as I told her all about last night. She frowned at the mention of the kiss feeling weird, but dismissed it as probably nothing. I was happy to go along with that. I wanted to cling to every scrap of normal happiness that I could get.

  My phone buzzed with an incoming text from Tyler. I read it and grinned fondly at his penchant for putting smiley faces in every message.

  Sam frowned and snapped her fingers in my face. “Oy! No zoning out unless it’s from pancake overload!”

  “What? Oh, sorry. Tyler says he can come at around one or so.”

  “Ah. That’s fine, then. Also, I’m officially dubbing your new dopey expression ‘The Tyler Face.’ I expect I’ll be seeing it rather often.”

  “Probably.” I blushed a bit, and Sam’s eyes warmed.

  “Oh, Fay… you really do like him, don’t you.”

  “Yeah, I guess I really do.”

  “Well, then I couldn’t be happier for you. You have my support. And I need to give the talk to Tyler now.” She smirked. “That, I’m looking forward to. I’ve been practicing my ‘Hurt Fay and I’ll end you’ speech for years now.”

  I buried my face in my hands and sighed deeply. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of me talking you out of doing that?”

  “Not a snowball’s chance in hell, not even one of yours,” Sam said cheerfully.

  “Ugh. Fine, just make it quick.”

  “I make no promises. And, Fay… there is the other matter that you two are going to have to deal with eventually.”

  I sighed. “Don’t make me dwell on that any longer than I have to, Sam. I don’t like having to think about it.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. But you know it’s true all the same. Even in lovely liberal New England, you’re still not going to have it easy as a couple if you make it known.”

  “Yeah… I’m going to leave the decision up to Tyler. I don’t want to have to hide, but I’m already sort of immune to school popularity games. Tyler isn’t. He’s on sports teams with people he has to deal with every day, and he’s pretty well-liked. He might lose some or all of that if people know he’s dating a guy.”

  “Okay, but don’t settle for something that makes you unhappy.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  With that, Sam patted my cheek, and we paid the bill. Sam drove us back to my house, and we said a quick “hello” to my parents before going upstairs. I re-read Aiden’s email to me, and it seemed to confirm what I had assumed, that he was willing to answer questions, at least. With Sam helping to dictate, I drafted a quick email to him.

  Aiden, you said you were willing to help us. In that case, I have a question about the whole “Familiar” thing. At this time, all Sam and I are really doing is going through the list of summoning spells you’ve provided us with to see if any of the creatures seem to match, or whatever. It’s not exactly the safest process, however, and so we were wondering if there was any other method for determining if you have a familiar at all, and if so, what it is. Do you have an answer for us?

&nbs
p; Thanks,

  Fay and Sam (Those people you attacked, remember us?)

  “Think that’ll do?” I asked.

  “High five for the ending.”

  With nothing left to do but wait, we headed out to the backyard again, to go on a quick walk around Field Pond before Tyler showed up. There was a lot I had to end up talking about with him, but that could wait. Right now was Sam time. I stuffed the journal in my pocket in case we needed it, and we headed out.

  A few minutes after Sam and I finished our walk around Field Pond, Aiden sent a brief text to Sam’s phone, telling us that he’d used Synchrony to update the journal again. I didn’t even know he had her number. Judging by Sam’s confused expression, she hadn’t known either. At around the same time, Tyler arrived. In a suit jacket. With… nice clothes on. Tie, white collared shirt, dress pants, the works. I could get used to that.

  “Hey, you two,” Tyler said cheerily as he walked over to us, shoulders flexing beneath the crisp ironed shirt. “Sorry I’m late, church dragged on a bit. Did I miss anything?”

  “Uhh…” I was having a difficult time speaking past all the drool.

  Sam smacked me on the head and answered. “No, we just went for a walk. Ready to begin the familiar summons? Aiden just sent us what we needed.”

  Tyler nodded, eyes bright with amusement at Sam’s antics. “Absolutely. Mind if I just talk to Fay really quickly? Um… alone?”

  Sam smirked and grabbed the journal from me. “Just be quick. The clothes have to stay on, Tyler. Fay,” she turned towards me, “it looks like there’s a summoning circle involved. I’m going to go get started in the woods back there. Meet me when you’re done.” With that, she strode off, leaving both of us blushing furiously.

  “So,” Tyler began awkwardly, “I really liked last night. Um… and I’d like to be able to do that sort of thing with you again.”

  I nodded, blushing furiously. “I’d, um, like that too.”

  Tyler beamed at me. “So, boyfriends, then?”

  “It feels so awkward when you say it out loud,” I moaned. “But yeah, definitely.”

  We stood there smiling dopily at each other for another minute, and then I cringed, thinking about what Sam would do if we took too long. Tyler’s face showed he was thinking the same thing. We walked into the backyard, and watched as Sam consulted the journal while tracing a circle in a cleared patch of earth. It was done a few minutes later, and looked similar to the other time we’d drawn a summoning circle. There was a larger circle, and a smaller circle inside it at one side, where the summoner has to stay.