GOLDRIC

Chapter 8

It was late when the Blight siblings reached their home. The light in the front entry was still glowing, and they entered the house as quietly as they could, but were greeted by an angry Odalia.
"And what exactly do you think you've been doing all night?" She asked sternly, eyebrows high and arched.
They should have used a spell.
Amity cowered in her mother's presence. "We were... just..."
"Just what?" Odalia snapped. "Edric, Emira, you're being absolutely disgusting influences for your little sister. You should be ashamed. And on a school night?"
Amity's eyes darkened. "MOM! We were all seeing our FRIENDS! That's not being bad at all! And Sunday is still the weekend!"
Odalia crossed her arms. "I don't like your attitude, Mittens. Was the human there?" She looked at Amity with disgust.
"That human happens to be my girlfriend." Amity countered.
Emira spoke up, putting a gentle hand in front of Amity. "Mom, we'll come home sooner next time."
Odalia scanned her children up and down, her silence piercing the room, and finally continued.
"Just go to bed, all of you. I don't want to look at you right now. You're all... too distracted."
She looked back for a moment, threat and anger in her eyes, then stormed out of the entryway.
Amity fought back tears, and Emira hugged her little sister.
"I'm sorry, Am. You're not distracted. You're doing great. I'm proud of you," she cooed, and Ed joined them. He didn't know what to say.
He felt completely useless.
A simple miscommunication didn't deserve such horrible treatment.

Edric went up to his room and sat on the edge of his bed, face in his hands.
Ed didn't cry a lot, but this was one of those nights where nothing else could keep him from it, not even going to talk to his sisters or sneaking out to prank the night market. He felt his eyes sting and tears stream down his face.
Amity was probably in her bed, sobbing and ignoring Luz and shutting herself out from the world.
Emira was probably sitting on her floor, staring at the wall, blocking out every thought that dared cross her mind while she tried to imagine little shapes in the stones she faced.
And tonight, Edric sobbed, unsure of how to process what was happening.
There wasn't much to unpack from that interaction: All Odalia did was confront them.
So why was he feeling like absolute shit?
He didn't let himself wallow in his sadness. There was a scroll next to him, and someone that he could talk to.
He didn't want to be overbearing, but he couldn't help it: he reached over and started to type.

--

Hunter tossed and turned in his bed, desperately waiting for his exhaustion from the day to finally overtake him. But the past few days had been difficult: he didn't know how to let himself sleep. Too much was going on: first, being basically mauled at school, and then the overwhelming excitement of his day at the lake.
His scroll lit up and shook slightly, and he smiled at the shape of Edric's name on the screen. Maybe a distraction is what he needed.
All he had thought about since they left the lake was Edric, anyway.

EDRIC:Tonight was the worst, mom was mean as usual. Leave it to her to ruin a perfectly good day.

Oh, it wasn't a very happy message.

HUNTER: I'm sorry... is there anything i can do for you?
EDRIC: I wish you were here. You're good company.
HUNTER: Oh I bet ;) see you in 10.
EDRIC: stfu you dork

Hunter knew that Edric thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious.
No amount of sleepiness could keep him from going to see Edric that night. The lake had answered any lingering questions Hunter had about their feelings for one another, and their kisses made it painfully obvious if it wasn't already. This was the right thing to do.

Hunter put on a sweatshirt and crept down the stairs to go find his shoes. It was dark, but he heard Eda clear her throat. Caught.

"Hey, tough guy, where do you think you're going?"

Hunter didn't know how to respond. He simply froze in his tracks.
Oh, no big deal, just sneaking out to comfort a boy. Also, I'm gay, in case you didn't know.
"I'm... uh... I'm... " he stammered.