Circling Stars

🌟Chapter 14🌟

    "J7," Sean said with confidence.

    "Hit." Jasper confirmed diplomatically while Brandon face palmed and mumbled. Sean and I high fived to our first hit. The other team began whispering together. So far they had sunk our submarine and aircraft carrier and we were getting worried that we might lose this game.

    We'd beaten them at Clue, lost poker, and had come to several draws during connect four. Brandon and Jasper would be staying with us for the remainder of the month. This served two purposes. First it would allow my parents and Sean to get to know Jasper. Secondly and more importantly Brandon wouldn't be lonely. Shirl wasn't going to be back until after New Years and with Riley doing, whatever he was doing, I thought it would be best if Brandon wasn't sitting alone during the holidays.

    Neither of us had spoken of Riley since the other day. Whether or not that was helping his depressed state wasn't clear to me. I would have asked Jasper but that felt a bit like a privacy violation so I left my boyfriend out of it. Jasper had of course noticed our twin dark moods but hadn't had a chance to ask me about it yet. Between my parents and Sean he was always occupied. Which was good because I honestly didn't know what to tell him.

    I knew that he probably hadn't forgiven Riley for his treatment of me on Thanksgiving. Neither had I. If I admitted that Riley supposedly knew who had thrown that brick what would happen? I knew he wouldn't kill Riley but I could see Jasper interrogating the guy which probably wouldn't end well. Then again I knew that keeping these types of secrets from your partner wasn't good.

    "D9." Brandon looked right in my eyes with cocky confidence.

    Which was why it gave me great pleasure to say, "Miss." My brother and I squealed and hugged. Brandon pouted. A loud knock at the front door disturbed our play. Mom called out that she would get it. A high lyrical voice could be heard along with a deeper tone that definitely wasn't a native English speaker. Before my mom showed them to the foyer I knew exactly who it would be.

    "Jasper, your sister Alice and a friend of hers has come to visit." My mom asked if any of us would like anything, we were all fine so she went back to her paperwork. Jasper hugged his sister, who then introduced Sven as her fiancé. We went around and introduced ourselves.

    "I know you've been wanting to talk to Sven," Alice said, "so why don't I take your place and you two can go talk?" I agreed and Alice sat in my chair before whispering something to Sean in Spanish that made him laugh.

    "Let me get my coat," I told Sven who nodded. I didn't want to be overheard and since the present company included vampires we'd have to go a ways away. I led Sven down a trail that wasn't completely buried in snow thanks to the tree canopy overhead. The day was fairly warm for winter so it wasn't uncomfortable. There was a small wooden bench that had been here long before I'd been born. It groaned a bit under our combined weight but held.

    Sven was tall, twenty-eight and had albinism. Now knowing that vampires who fed on humans also had red eyes made me feel strange sitting next to him. We made small talk for a while. He was an electrical engineer that consulted for NASA and other companies, and had a fondness for Thai cuisine that bordered on obsession. He played hockey and stayed fit swimming in the icy lakes near his home. I answered all the questions he asked about me and then broached the topic I wanted to talk about.

    "How did you and Alice meet?"

    He smiled fondly at the memory. "My friend Xander is going to school for fashion design. He invited me as a guest to a runway show the school was putting on. All of the students who had designed clothes had to double as models for each other. The first time I saw Alice she was walking down the runway in a black dress that reached the floor and trailed behind her like a cape. The fabric sparkled white and blue so it was as if she wore a dark night. My seat was at the end of the runway. Her eyes went directly to me as she walked out.