Burning Desire

14

"You're in a bad mood today," Kayden said, looking up from his book when Tristan stomped down the hallways from his and Winston's room.

Tristan shot him a nasty look as he pulled one of Gale's energy drinks out of the fridge. He and the others didn't see her a lot, because Gale spent most of her time at the bakery-restaurant that she owned, but he'd seen her on a couple of occasions and knew she was kind enough not to be upset of he borrowed one of her energy drinks.

"What's wrong?" Kayden asked as Tristan cracked open the lid and took a long drink from it.

"Well, Winston left and I'm used to him exhausting me since he never shuts up but since he had to leave for his damn meeting with your stupid lord of Hell, I haven't been tired enough to sleep well!" Tristan said, and Kayden could see how exhausted his poor friend was.

Kayden knew that no matter how much Tristan denied it, he'd been getting more comfortable with Winston and enjoyed being in the demon's presence. He knew that Tristan had been reliant on Winston to comfort him lately and he'd definitely been less snappy and sarcastic.

Except for this morning.

Tristan was back to his angry self, and Kayden was sure it rooted from the lack of comfort he'd received from Winston because the demon was gone.

"He's coming back today, isn't he?" Kayden asked, hoping to calm Tristan down with his gentle voice.

Tristan huffed and slammed his can down on the counter. "Yes, but he's been gone for two days so I don't even want to see that bitch!"

Kayden watched Tristan sadly, seeing how angry Tristan was, but there was a dark and deep sadness behind his eyes that he refused to acknowledge, but Kayden could see it.

"Someone needs to be held," Kayden said, putting down his book. "Come here, I got you."

Tristan would've made a rude joke, but his heart melted when he saw how serious and sweet his friend looked.

Kayden, who was nearly four inches shorter than him and much smaller due to his age and just who he was as a person, looked so serious .

He sulked as he walked over to Kayden and dropped down onto the couch, laying on top of Kayden and letting his friend hug him and rub his back.

"You're wise even though you're so young," Tristan mumbled, closing his eyes as Kayden combed his hair with his fingers. "You're a forty year old inside of a nineteen year old's body."

"I'll be twenty in October!" Kayden argued. "I'm closer to being twenty than I am to being nineteen!"

"You're currently nineteen." Tristan smiled up at him. "The baby of the house is gonna be able to drink soon! Aw!"

Kayden rolled his eyes, but he had a small smile on his face. "You remind me so much of my friend."

"The one who died?" Tristan asked, making Kayden nod, though he seemed confused that Tristan knew who he was thinking of. "I've been told that he was sarcastic and rebellious, almost as much as I am, so I assumed that's who you were talking about."

"Well, you're right. You're a lot like him... it almost feels like he's still here."

Tristan could see that he was bringing back good memories, and after being convinced that he was a mistake his whole life, it was nice to know that he was making a good friend happy.

"Kayden... how did Indigo die?"

Tears sprung to Kayden's eyes.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Tristan apologized, feeling really guilty for upsetting the boy who he'd just made happy.