It all started with a game

Chapter 12.1

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.
~Alfred Tennyson

A/N
Has anyone else heard of a quokka? Because I always thought they were so cute but no one I know hasn't seemed to have heard of them.

Chapter 12.1
Beatrice's POV
I sighed, flopping into the car seat, my adventures with Tenshi had completely exhausted all of my energy. Ryder got into the driver seat, pausing a moment.

I slowly glanced over as I realized he hadn't started the car only to find him already staring back. "Hi," I greeted.

"Hi," he answered back quietly.

I smiled. "Hi." I knew the joke was originally in a point to mock me but we'd become so adjusted to greeting each other like this that it had become simply natural. An inside joke of sorts. It confused people endlessly but I guess that was half the fun. "What are you doing?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I did not believe him.

He gave me a guilty smile. "Trying to stall you from actually meeting my sister," he admitted.

I had been trying to calm my nerves all day but it finally sunk in that I was actually going to have to meet his sister. "Why didn't you tell me you had a twin?"

He shrugged. "It didn't come up."

I sat up straight. "You never talk about yourself, we always talk about me. I don't even know your favorite animal."

His eyebrows drew together. "Do you usually know people's favorite animals?"

"Of course." It was an essential question to know. "Klaus's is a penguin, Sonny's is a swan, Marley's is a dolphin, Tenshi's is a snake, Nila's is a polar bear, the girl's in my math class is a giraffe."

"What's yours?"

"A quokka." I answered almost immediately.

"A what?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "You don't know what a quokka is?" How could he not know? It's a quokka, the cute little fur balls who like selfies. "They're so cute and they have the most adorable little smiles and—"

Wait....

He did it again! I couldn't believe I fell for that so quickly. He did it again. He's good. "No! Don't change the subject. We're supposed to be talking about you." He always did this, he always avoids the questions and finds some way to turn it back around on me. That girl from the mall told me that if I wanted to get his attention I needed to stroke his ego, let him talk about himself, but that doesn't really work when he refuses to talk about himself.

"I'm not an interesting person." He backed out of the driveway. He may not have been excited for me to meet his sister but he was clearly less excited to talk about himself, or even tell me his favorite animal.

"I highly doubt that." Everyone has a backstory, some are just more hidden than others.

He changed the subject. "Have you ever been to the fish shack before?"

I shook my head.

"Goodluck, and hold your breath." He grinned as he pulled into the parking lot.

That's not a good sign.

I took a long glance at the rundown building shaped like a barrel with pipes sticking out of all sorts of directions. You would have thought it was one of those horror attractions where they scare you half to death while you try to eat the world's grossest food.