I frowned, more for the gone comment than the sexually charged thing. “Gone where? What do you mean?”
“Pick your book. I can’t stay here, Ty. I was never going to stay here.”
“What about us? We’re soul flames.”
“Twin flames, and so what? If we’re supposed to be together, it’ll happen. I can only stay here fourteen days. You know that. Aren’t you going to look at any other ones? That’s not the only blue one.”
“This one’s fine. You said we were destined to be together.”
Tristan’s eyes left mine for Tobias, her lips moving to his little head. “Go with me.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest, the thoughts running rapidly through my mind. “Where?”
“I don’t know. Wherever we want.”
“What about school? I’m still in school.”
Tristan shrugged, looked up to me, and turned back to the notebooks. “Okay.”
“Okay? Wait. What? That’s it?”
“What else is there? I want to go over here and see if they have a certain book.”
Dumfounded, I followed Tristan to a bin full of books, my tail feathers between my legs. Just like that, a blink of an eye and I was forgotten. Story of my life. “You’re just going to leave?”
“Well, yes. This is my life. This is what I do.”
“Tristan, you can’t raise Tobias in a van.”
She frowned back at me, her face portraying amusement, like I was the one being silly. “Watch me. Help me find a book by Teal Swan.”
I felt like the glass walls were cracking around me and she was worried about a book. “Who?”
“Teal Swan. You should look her up on YouTube. I’ll let you borrow the book when I’m done.”
“I don’t read. You can’t just leave.”
Tristan walked around the bin, digging through used hardback books like we weren’t even having this conversation. Jesus. She was hard. “I have to. I’ve been reminded of the fourteen day dispersed camping rule by two different game wardens now. Don’t worry. I’ll come back in a couple weeks. I tend to navigate to the mountains in the summer. I’ll probably stay in that spot three or four times before I head out west for the winter. We’ll see each other.”
“I don’t want to see you every few weeks.”
Tristan once again caught me off guard, a quick spin and her lips were on mine. “Irritation is a week, left brained reaction. You’re acting like a big baby. I’m going to Virginia next weekend for a rally. Come with me for the weekend,” she requested, her words ending with a kiss.
Of course I wrapped my arm around her, knowing I was going to be in that van come hell or high water. “Okay, I will.”
“Good. Do you want a book?”
I chuckled and leaned in for a kiss, a trick to steel Baby-T back. With my lips on hers, I carefully wrapped my fingers around his body, my thumbs holding his bobbly head. “No, I want Baby-T.”
“Ty, give him back.”
My stiff arm locked at the elbow, holding her back, protesting, happy to move on. Very happy. “No, I had him first.”
“Ahh, that’s so cute. What an adorable family. Every dad should fight for their baby like that. I love it. You keep doing that,” a store employee charmed, her arms full of used books and a contagious smile.
I smiled at the older lady, proud like a lion, my arms holding Baby-T tight to my chest. “Thank you. I will.”
Tristan held a thin smile, her eyes unreadable. She nodded at the lady, but didn’t speak, a daze and thoughts I wish I could hear, covering her face. When she blinked and walked away, I followed, unsure of her mood once again.
“Now what are you doing?”
“I want to find a book for Baby-T. A long one that I can read to him every night, something that will help him remember who he is, you know?”
No, I didn’t know. He was a newborn baby, but she didn’t seem to be aware of that fact. “Um, he’s probably not going to even know you’re reading it to him.”
“He’ll know. Babies come into this world knowing who they are and where they come from. You don’t forget that until you’re given a couple parents and a messed up society to brain wash you. But…” she added, her feet spinning and a straight finger to my nose. “You can remember again if you want to, if you let it. You’re being guided, Ty. You know you’ve got it. I know you do. You’re just too afraid to explore it. None of this was an accident. Follow the elevens. They’ll take you to the best you. I promise.”
Yeah, I wasn’t ready to go there yet. To be honest. It sort of scared the hell out of me. It started two years before. Nine-one-one at first, and now the elevens. Everywhere I looked. There hadn’t been a day in over two years that the number eleven wasn’t a part of my life. I didn’t believe in Tristan’s make believe world, but a part of me felt different since I’d met her. Denying this connection going on between me, this tiny baby, and a girl from another planet was nearly impossible. However…admitting to myself that I was being spiritually guided by some coincidental numbers, seemed a little weird and farfetched to me. Silly even.
“Do you want to get ice-cream or something?” I questioned for something to keep her out as long as I could.
“Let’s get married.”
“What?”
“Come on. Let’s do it. I’ll show you summer for our honeymoon.”
I’d been telling people that I was eighteen for the past two years, but for this, I told the truth a little taken back. “I’m seventeen.”
“I don’t mean today, stupid. When you turn eighteen.”
“Tristan, what the hell is wrong with you? I know absolutely nothing about you. For all I know you’re a fugitive wanted by the FBI or something. I don’t even know where you come from. Not even a week ago, you—.” I stopped right there, mid-sentence. A loud ding from someone’s cellphone caused me to shift my eyes to the right. Right to the digital clock hanging over a horror section sign. One-eleven in neon green. I looked back to Tristan and held her gaze. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“What?” she questioned, shock overtaking her expression and shaky words.
“Come on. Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”
“For real?”
I’d always been good at making a scene. Being the center of attention seemed to come natural to me and I saw no reason not to use it. I glanced around the store, contemplating my options, and handed over Tobias, stopping him midair. “Hey, you little trickster. I didn’t know you were awake.”
“What are you doing, Ty?”
“Here take him. I’ve got it,” I said, my eyes going to the perfect symbol. My fingers glided over the hanging key chains by the register, choosing one with a blue ring; both our favorite colors. Even though I was going off of chance, I chose the whale. She had a whale blanket, a whale stuffed animal, and a whale air-freshener hanging from her rearview mirror.
“Tobias.”
I got down on one knee, right between, An Otter Adventure, and Sam Saves a Seal, ignoring her wide eyes, screaming for me to get off one knee. Indeed, that wasn’t what I did. Holding the circular part of the key ring, I asked for her hand. Sort of. “Give me your hand, you stubborn girl.”
“You’re crazy,” she accused, her fingers held out, accepting my love.
We both had stupid smiles stuck to our faces, our eyes were locked, and T-Man was a part of it all, right smack dab in the middle, wide awake. “Tristan, whatever your last name is, will you accept this whale as a token of my undying love and be my wife?”
“You’re a dork.”
“Say yes,” I coaxed, the little whale dangling from her hand.
“Yes, but only because I love this ring.”
I stood and kissed her, crazy-stupid, in love.
The same lady who had commented before clapped her hands, our only audience besides Tobias, and I was okay with that. There wasn’t anyone else when I was with them, and it didn’t take long for me to realize, I didn’t want to be anywhere else. Irration
al? Hell yes, but I didn’t care. I would have went to the justice of the peace right that second if I could have just to make her mine forever.
We spent another hour in a park where I showed off to my girl. A five-dollar bill bought me a ride on a radical skateboard with a Zero deck, the best money could buy in my opinion. Tristan stood off to the side, watching me with a huge smile while I boasted and showed off my skills.
“Thanks, a lot,” I said to the boy, maybe nine or ten years old.
“Wow. Dude that was awesome. Can you show me how you did that slide thing? That was way cool.”
My eyes weren’t on the fascinated kid and my mind wasn’t interested in what he had to say. Every single ounce of my attention was focused on the radiant mother and baby in front of me. “Maybe another time. Thanks again. Keep practicing, you’ll get there.”
“That’s pretty damn good. I’m a little impressed,” Tristan admitted, her lips meeting mine as our bodies came together, something they just seemed to do on their own. Same way with our lips. They just seemed to be gravitationally pulled together. Every single time.
“Thanks, want me to hold him now?”
Tristan laughed, a flat hand on my chest, keeping me from taking Baby T from her. “No, I’m going to go right over there on that bench and feed him before we go. But…You could go spend a little time with that kid, you know, teach him how to do that trick.”
I glanced back at the kid on the board, trying like hell to do a feather-flip or at least that’s what I thought he was trying to do. He sort of sucked at it. With a thumb toward the kid and a frown back to Tristan, I protested. “That kid? No way. I don’t even know him.”
“It’ll make you feel good. What if you’re the only one that pays any attention to him today?”
“I mean, he’s got a radical board so I don’t think he’s neglected.”
Tristan shoved me in his direction anyway. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Money doesn’t buy attention. Go show him that you care.”
“But I don’t.”
“Then go show him I care. Geesh.”
With that, I walked away, back to the kid I didn’t even know, but I did wonder one thing. Whether or not she spoke from experience. Was she a rich kid out rebelling against a couple of well to do parents? Tristan and I talked about a lot of things, but never her. I’d just given my life to her and her baby, yet I still knew so little about her. Nonetheless, I did as she ordered, and truth be told, it did make me feel a little gooey inside. The kid appreciated the hell out of the thirty minutes I spent with him. He even offered to give my five back, but of course I didn’t take it.
Tristan and I talked the entire way back to the mountains, we laughed, and we held hands, sneaking kisses every chance we got. Even though it was totally outlandish, there was no doubt in my mind that I was in love with her. I would have followed her anywhere she told me to go. Hands down. In a heartbeat. Anywhere.
Naturally, we didn’t just talk like a normal couple out on a date. We discussed things I never thought about. And honestly, I didn’t want to. It was one thing to be an activist for something, sure, I got that, but she was a little overbearing sometimes, an activist for everything it seemed. I only meant to tell her she was right about the little boy. “I’m glad you made me help that kid. I would have never done something like that.”
“You ever just sit and watch people, Ty,?” she questioned, her eyes gazing out to the winding road and her tone faraway. “I do all the time. Sometimes when I’m at a park it makes me sad.”
I touched her leg, wiggling my fingers for her hand. “Why?”
“They’re not very crowded anymore. Parents don’t really take their kids to the playground anymore. The ones that do usually spend an hour on their phone. An order to look and smile for a Facebook photo is about all the attention the kids get. Moms sit on a bench on their phones, glancing up at their kid every now and then. I’m never doing that with Tobias. I’m going to be right there every single time. I will never ignore one of his look moms, for a Facebook post. Last week I stopped at a park in PA that I’d been wanting to revisit. It was crazy, people everywhere and the majority of them not kids. When I first got there I was happy, thinking maybe I’d picked a good day. You know, like something in the community, a ballgame or some kind of festival. But No! Guess what it was? Pokémon hunting? For real? This is what I’m talking about, Tobias. This is why I keep referring to humans as sheeples. People just do whatever everyone else is doing. I mean everything. What the hell is wrong with people?”
The only reason I even commented on it was because I’d just deleted that app from my phone. I didn’t get into it like Avery and her friends, but I had gone out with her a couple times, and it was harmless. Besides, Tristan didn’t even have a smart phone, she didn’t know everything. “It’s not like that, Tristan. It’s just something fun to get kids up and out of the house and big kids like to have fun, too,” I added without disclosing my involvement in hunting Pokémon’s.
“The height of ignorance.”
“What?”
“I mean it’s creepy without doing any research.”
“There’s no research, Tristan. Not everything is a conspiracy.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. You’re one of them. You just go along with whatever everyone else does. Never mind the fact that you’re giving Pokémon Go access to your location and camera, you’re also giving it full access to your Google account, assuming you use that to sign in with of course. It’s the sketchy privacy policy I’d be more worried about. We may disclose any information about you or your authorized child that is in our possession or control to government or law enforcement officials or private parties. Who invented the game, Ty?”
I shrugged one shoulder with zero cards to throw. How would I know any of that? “I don’t know.”
“A CIA-funded software front group. You’re giving them immediate video documentation of millions of places and they didn’t even have to pay you. Just saying.”
“How the hell do you know this stuff?”
“You have the Internet now. You have the means to look for the truth and do the research yourself, yet you don’t. You trust the mainstream media. People just go along with whatever because they’re following the heard. It’s just frustrating to me. Hunting little monsters all over the place. Come on. You know?”
“Yeah, stupid,” I agreed with nothing to argue. She knew more about it than I did, but in all honesty, I didn’t really care about that. It wasn’t like I was into the stupid game anyway. “Tell me about this rally thing.”
“How about you just wait and see. You’ll love it. I promise.”
“Are you in trouble, Tristan? Are you running? You can tell me. I’m not going to go anywhere.”
Tristan’s head turned to me, her eyes narrowed and focused. “What if I am, Ty? What if this is what I do? What if I’ve been driving across the country for three years, killing good-looking boys? What then, Tobias? Huh?”
“I watched you move a worm from the sidewalk to the dirt. I’m not afraid of you, so try again. At least tell me where you came from.”
“Hartford Connecticut. I’ve been there with my mom since my dad died. I was three, so pretty much my whole life.”
“Really? I lived there for a while. I think I was nine.”
“Hmm, I would have been twelve. I wonder if we met before. Where’d you live?”
“I have no idea. We only lived there for like two months. One of my mom’s John’s. Thank God that one didn’t last. He was an OCD dentist. Floss three times a day, brush four.”
“Explains why you have such an amazing smile.”
“Flirt.”
“Right. What did you live by?”
“Hmmm,” I thought, my fingers lacing with hers. “I remember being able to see the port. Maybe Maine Street.”
“I bet we met before, Ty. Maybe we sat beside each other on a bus or a movie or something.”
“I bet we did, too. Do
you believe in love at first sight?”
Her lips twisted to the side in thought and her eyes shifted to the side window. “I believe in twin-flames. I believe that.”
That didn’t really answer my question, but it did satisfy me. If she believed I was her twin flame, then she believed in love at first sight. At least I thought so anyway. “Then I believe it, too.”
“I had fun today. Thank you.”
“Thank you? I give you the most amazing engagement ring, ask for your hand in marriage in front of a store clerk, and lug your kid around all day and I get a thank you?”
“I could give you a blowjob.”
Well that wasn’t what I was expecting. The twitch behind my shorts and my face turning five shades of red assured my off-guardness. Tobias Sheffield didn’t even get embarrassed. “Jesus, girl. You’re insane.”
Tristan laughed, leaning in for a quick kiss. “I mean if you don’t want one. I just thought since I was going to be your wife an all.”
“How long does this thing last? Like before you’re free to…you know.”
“Fuck?”
“You’re crazy.”
“I know, and I don’t know. I’ll let you know when my body tells me I’m good to go.”
“Okay, as long as I can kiss you.”
“So you don’t want the BJ?”
“I didn’t say that,” I happily smiled, in love for the first time in my life. Not just puppy love like it was with Jan Bright in the seventh grade, Anna Lang in the ninth, and Avery since the eleventh. This wasn’t like them, Tristan wasn’t like them, and this thing between us wasn’t like them. Nothing else mattered when I was with her. Nothing.
Chapter Ten
“Go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you. Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.”
~Miguel Ruiz
I pulled into my driveway just before five in the evening, my demeanor light and happy. Kota of course met me at the door, but I didn’t ignore him this time. A quick pat on the head, and a hey boy, before I jumped the three steps. My day kept getting better, noticing my dad’s truck wasn’t home, and then the note stuck to the fridge. Be back soon.