Sparks

Chapter 9

         My anxiety heightened with every ring that sounded through my ear. The midday pedestrian traffic milled around me, a small blessing considering I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was going. Gryphon had agreed with me that calling home would be a good idea, and had also stated that we should go visit, so he could do some explaining. Explain what, I didn’t know. He had just said he would take care it. He had said to put a lot of faith in things just existing as they were, but I had yet to put a lot of faith in him.
         Here’s hoping that letting them know I would be alright was enough for now. If anything, it might make the upcoming lecture easier. I was still trying to decide what to say when the other end clicked my sister said, “Common Grounds, what can we help you with today?” I had decided to just call the cafe counter, since calling home would get my mother, and I was hoping my sister would give me a calmer reception.
         “Hey Tanya. It’s, um. It’s Leo.” I muttered. I heard something shatter in the background, as if a plate or dish had been dropped. Whoops.
         There was some shuffling around on the other end, what sounded like a door swinging, and then my sister screaming, “What the hell Leo!? We’ve been worried sick! Where the hell have you been!?” So much for calmer reception.
         After the ringing in my ears died down, I managed, “Um, it’s a long story…?”
         “Long story my ass. If it was so long, how did you not find time to call here? You know, like a decent human being?” My sister was quickly shifting from screaming into snarling. Rather than make the upcoming lecture easier, this call would probably have the opposite effect.
         “Listen, Tanya. Last night was… kind of crazy. But I can tell you I’m coming home soon, and I can explain everything then.” I looked over shoulder at Gryphon, hoping for some kind of affirmation. All I got was a shrug in return.
         “You’d better. Because you owe me a shift. And a night out. Preferably with a date.”
         I blinked, “Um, what?”
         “Nevermind. I’d expected you to pull this vanishing crap with your band of misfits back down south, but up here- who do you even know up here?”
         I could say one, but now that I thought about it, I wouldn’t quite qualify Gryphon as “someone I know”. “Tanya. I’ll be there soon. I can explain then. I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to wait until then.”
         I heard her take some deep breaths through her nose. “Do you want Mom there? Or should I distract her with something else?” I was honestly touched by that. Even after all this, sis was still willing to cover for me. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned towards Gryphon who gave me a quick nod.
         “Uh, Mom can be there. Shouldn’t be a problem.” I hoped.
         “All right then.” A heavy sigh. “Okay. Fine. But it had better be a really good story. With things like aliens and stuff.” It took every ounce of my willpower to not burst out laughing at that. The irony was sickening.
         “Oh yeah. Sure.” I’m sure she’ll find it entertaining. As soon as I came up with a story.
         “Well then. See you soon.” I could’ve sworn I heard her mutter “I’d better” before the line cut out.
         I looked at the phone in my hand, then pocketed it. That had gone better than I thought. Gryphon sidled up next to me as we strode up to a bus stop. Gryphon’s flat was a bit more uptown than the cafe, and we both would rather avoid the walk. “Everything okay?” he asked.
         I nodded slowly. “I’m decently certain my head won’t be chewed off the moment I step through the door.”
         Gryphon bobbed his head, “Well, that’s always a good step.”
         I thought over the events of the last few hours, trying to think of a viable story when I suddenly thought of something. “Hey, what does Vision have to do with any of this?”
         Gryphon looked genuinely surprised by that, “How did you know those guys were from Vision?”
         “I’d seen the uniform before. On the docks one night.”
         I’d never seen anyone with that amount of intensity in their eyes. “First thing: Vision is not our friend. They don’t help people like us. But when did-”
         “Leo?” Gryphon’s sentence was cut short by a slender young lady dressed in a clean sundress. Why does the universe hate me so much? I thought as I looked at Serah and what I assumed was her family coming out of the restaurant next to us.

         Tanya had to restrain herself from slamming the phone back into its cradle. She had never claimed that Leo was particularly bright; clever, but not bright. But this still definitely topped some of his past idiotic moments. Some thought, not all. There was that one encounter he and Aaron had with a rickshaw…
She shook her head. No, don’t get distracted. She was mad at him. That’s right. Stay mad. She growled some choice words under her breath as she left the kitchen to clean up the dish she had dropped. Some of the customers were looking at her with concern, and she waved them down with a smile to reassure them. The cafe was finally seeing a substantial improvement in business. No reason to ruin that with a reputation that the waitress was crazy.
         As she set about sweeping up the shards, Tanya’s mind was at work figuring out what her brother could be hiding. What would warrant such odd behavior from him? More so than usual anyways. “Normal” wasn’t a word that Tanya commonly gave to Leonidas. She immediately dismissed trouble with the law. Leo wasn’t the type to do criminal activity. If anything, skirting the edges of the law was one of the things he found fun. Blatantly disobeying it wasn’t as exciting. Trouble with the family wasn’t likely either. This escapade was causing problems, but she couldn’t remember anything between the three of them that he would want to avoid. If anything, there wasn’t anything outside of work, since Mom was always out of the house.
         Serah disposed of the shards while simultaneously working down the list, gradually moving from the most likely into the realm of is-it-even-possible. “Is it actually possible that Leo… found a girlfriend?” The very idea was ludicrous. As far as Tanya could remember, Leo had never had any luck with women. There was that rumor she had heard about someone named Kaity back south, but nothing seemed to come out of that. Still, despite being this far down the list, it was one of the more likely answers. That or he was drafted into an FBI operation and was working undercover. But Leo hated authority. So Tanya settled for the girlfriend theory.
         As she continued taking orders and refilling the oven with pastries, Tanya wondered where Leo would find the time to meet a woman. Obviously, he went to school. And he did spend an awful lot of time out late at night, although she never saw him around as she was running from club to club. So whatever he was doing, it could involve romantic escapades.
         Shuffling plates around absentmindedly, Tanya’s thoughts shifted from her brother’s romance life to her own. How could Leo find someone before her? She was well aware of how every guy reacted when she passed, and she was also aware that Leo spent more time finding loopholes in rules than finding love, but somehow he had ended up in a relationship first.
         Tanya leaned back against the kitchen island and sighed, watching the last two minutes tick away on the oven. She was Tanya Cayle. Why was she still spending every day alone, while her brother had apparently found someone to run around with?
         She slid the fresh pastries onto a plate and started brewing some coffee. She tapped her fingers on the lid of couple of times thoughtfully, then shrugged and started busying herself again. No point in worrying about it. When the time comes, it’ll happen. Until then, she could make do without any man in her life. It wasn’t like she needed someone there.
         With that settled, Tanya pushed through the double doors with a smile and began calling orders up with a cheerful manner. Besides, now that Leo had someone to take up his time, maybe she could keep him out of trouble. Tanya was very curious to find out who she was. She remembered that blonde girl from a while back she had interrupted. Was it possible…?

         Aunt Wendy’s birthday was the most awkward event Serah had ever been to. Or it had been, before this lunch with Cameron.
         It’s okay Serah. Just breath. In. And out. Slowly. She repeated this to herself, as she wiped sweat from beneath her arms and mopped her brow. She looked terrible. She’d hoped that the mirror was exaggerating, but she had a feeling it wasn’t.
         The bathroom door opened with a sharp squeak, and Ashley Tristan swept into the room, her focus intent on Serah. “What in the world are you doing? Don’t think you can hide in here.”
         Serah glared back. “I haven’t even been in here for two minutes! I just needed to get some space.”
         Ashley brushed her hair to the side. Unlike Serah’s straight, dirty blonde hair, Ashley curled hers and dyed it to a golden sheen. Said golden curls bounced around as Ashley shook her head in disapproval. “You shouldn’t be hiding in here at all!” she said. “What’s so bad about that guy? He seems alright. Not great, but not bad.”
         Serah turned on the sink to splash water on her face, only to remember her makeup and turn it off again. “Yes, he’s average. That’s the problem! I don’t know what to talk to him about! At school I could bring up sports, or food, or places to go around town. With him, there’s nothing! He is incredibly dull!” Serah ground her teeth against each other. She had tried to start conversations to get to know Cameron better, but he just responded to everything with, “That’s nice.” or “Interesting.” Anytime she tried to direct the conversation towards him, he merely shrugged. “I doubt the guy has any personality at all.” Serah muttered.
         Ashley sighed, “Did it occur to you that maybe he’s just as nervous as you? I mean, here he is, and you’re the only one close to his age here. It’s probably overwhelming.” That did make Serah pause. All the parents, along with Thomas, had been too preoccupied in some talk about business opportunities to notice the plight of the younger ones at the table. With that thought, Serah felt worse. It had never occurred to her how Cameron might have been seeing this.
         “All right then,” she sighed. “Let’s go back.” Ashley smiled and nodded in response, and they stepped out of the restroom together. The restaurant itself was well furnished, with tall Greek-style columns to support the roof, and a simple palette of muted browns, black, and white. The lighting was dimmed down, and the interior was even darker that Seattle sunlight. Of course, there were no windows on the façade, to prevent both the sun and passersby from looking in. Serah was used to this. Her family frequented establishments like this one often. She didn’t have much experience with more common venues, outside of the one trip to that coffee shop downtown. Serah lingered a bit on what that experience was like, before pushing out of mind. That was a distraction, and she had to focus right now.
         The sisters weaved through the aisles until they reached the back table, where five of them were still energetically discussing something or other in lowered voices, and one young man sat stiffly. Serah looked at the back of his brown hair, cropped short to his head, and briefly entertained the thought of turning back around. Ashley must have felt something, because she nudged Serah forward into her seat before returning to her own. With an inward sigh of resignation, Serah gracefully sat down on Cameron’s right. He turned to acknowledge and greet her with a straight-faced, “Hello.”
         Serah returned the greeting with a smile, which she hoped didn’t appear too strained. He hadn’t smiled once the entire lunch, and it was beginning to get on her nerves. She squirmed a bit in her seat before picking at what was left of her lunch. An agonizing ten minutes later, and the group was standing up to leave. The sunlight was harsh as they exited the building, but that didn’t mean Serah couldn’t see who was standing in front of them. “Leo?” she blurted out, before she had a chance to think about who she was with.
         He didn’t turn immediately. Serah could have sworn she saw a flicker of panic cross his face before he whirled to his left and greeted her with, “Oh, hey Serah. What’s up?”
         Serah could feel the tension from behind her. She heard a couple of rapid footfalls before her father stood next to her. “And who is this, Serah?”
         Leo could not have looked worse. He had on the black jacket that Serah was starting to think he never took off, but it looked even more frayed than normal, the random holes in it seeming larger than she remembered. His faded red shirt and dark cargo pants were a mess of wrinkles, as if he had slept in them recently, and his hair was a nest of spikes. The men in Serah’s group, all dressed in impeccable suits, were a stark contrast.
         Serah cleared her throat quietly, before answering, “Well Dad, this is Leonidas, someone I know from school.” Serah’s father regarded Leo with a cool expression, judging him from head to toe. From behind her, Serah could already hear her mother and sister whispering harshly about Leo’s manner of dress, posture, expression, the like. Leo, on his part, seemed unfazed. He looked at everyone with a mild expression on his face, turned to look at the sky, and stood there with a hand in his pocket and the other rubbing the back of his neck.
         Serah’s father stepped forward, instantly establishing his presence to Leo, who in turn snapped his eyes over to regard him. He didn’t move in any other fashion though. Serah’s father assumed a cool business-like posture, but didn’t extend his hand to shake. “You don’t really seem to belong in these parts, Leo,” he said.
         At the mention of his nickname, Serah saw something flicker in Leonidas’ eyes. As he opened his mouth, Serah was afraid of what was going to come out. So was someone else apparently, as there was suddenly a body between Leonidas and Mr. Tristan. “Ah yes. That would be because of me, you see.” Serah blinked once, then again. There was suddenly a tall blonde man with a worn military jacket standing there, hand extended forward. “The name is Veral. Johnathan Veral. But please, call me John.” A very sincere-looking smile.
         Where did he come from? Serah vaguely remembered someone like this standing behind Leo, but she didn’t think he was an acquaintance, just someone passing by. She looked between the semi-neatly trimmed man with a wide grin and the scowling teen with a shock of dark hair behind him. Quite an odd pair. Was this Leo’s father? They didn’t look much alike.
         Serah’s father was surprised. She knew him well enough to notice the signs. But to the rest of the world he appeared unfazed. He merely looked John in the eye, then accepted the handshake with practiced timing. “A pleasure to meet you then, ah, John.” A slight pause. “My, that’s quite a grip you have there.”
         John laughed in response, “Well, it pays to have a strong grip. Let’s you keep a good handle on things, eh?”
         Mr Tristan nodded, “I couldn’t agree more.” His eyes moved slowly from John to Leonidas, then back again. He was obviously trying to work out the relationship on his own, which would be another piece of information he had over the other side. To Mr. Tristan, every conversation was a business transaction, where something could be won or lost.
         “So, then, Serah, what are you doing here?” Serah turned, startled with the sudden address. Leo stood there, seemingly calm again, hands in pockets and head tilted ever so slightly.
         Serah graced Leo with a small smile, previous crisis averted. “Oh, you know. Lunch.” Leo nodded slowly, as if this was some revolutionary information that had to be absorbed slowly. As the atmosphere eased, the rest of the group began moving. Thomas explained to their father that he would go fetch the car, then left at a brisk stroll. The other family joined Mr. Tristan and John, to engage them both in meaningful chatter. Serah’s mother gave her a long thoughtful look, then went to join them. And Ashley swayed over to introduce herself.
         “Hello there! Leonidas, was it? It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ashley, Serah’s sister.” Leo gave her a smile back and exchanged introductions. Serah took another breath, then chided herself. Why was she so shaken? Just because Leo showed up unexpectedly didn’t mean she had to react so extremely. Did she really care what her father thought of Leo that much?
         Her train of thought was interrupted by Ashley leaning in to whisper, “Come on Serah, don’t stand there like that. You’re looking kind of grim. Come introduce me to your friend better.” Serah smiled and laughed a bit to herself. Ashley would have no trouble introducing herself, but it was nice of her sister to include her like this. She swapped a grateful expression with Ashley before taking the few steps over to Leo. As she stopped some steps away, someone followed up behind her.
         Serah cringed inwardly as Cameron took a bold step towards Leonidas and stated, “I’m Cameron,” followed by a nod.
Leo raised a single eyebrow and said, “Kay.” He stood there like that, obviously waiting for more.
         Serah came close to burying her face in her hands. Of course Cameron could create an awkward situation with his mere presence. And she wasn’t even sure if he was aware of it. Leo and Cameron stood there, sizing each other up. Or at least, Cameron was. Leo just looked moderately uncomfortable. Cameron eventually came to some conclusion, as he asked, in that flat manner of his, “So, what do you do for a living?”
         Leo seemed to jump on the opportunity to say something, quickly responding, “Eh? Nothing special. I just work at the family business is all.” He accompanied this with a full body shrug, his whole body swaying a bit with the motion.
         “Oh? And what kind of business is that?”
         Leo looked back a the skyscrapers, foot scraping the ground as he idly swung it back and forth. “Nothing special, just a coffee shop. Nothing as grand compared to what you do, I’m sure.”
         He said it in a non-complacent manner, but everyone could practically taste the sarcasm in the air. There was a slight twitch under Cameron’s right eye. Serah thought at first that she had imagined it, since he hadn’t shown any trace of emotion all day. But she was quite certain that just there, he had let something slip. But as Cameron began to respond, a sleek black SUV pulled up to the curb and Thomas stepped out of the driver’s seat. Cameron’s father called his son over, and Cameron begrudgingly obeyed. Or as close as begrudging as Cameron could seem to get.
         Mr. Tristan, Cameron’s father, and the strange man accompanying Leo all exchanged pleasant handshakes, said their goodbye, and departed. Cameron’s family went off down the street, with no looks back. Serah’s mother called for her and her sister to get into the car after their father. And Leo ambled on over to John who began muttering something to him urgently.
         As the car pulled away onto the street, Serah’s father mused, “What an interesting man. I wonder it is he does, exactly.” Serah craned her neck to look back, where two figures were rapidly dwindling into the distance. She wasn’t quite sure what Leo was doing these days, but she was even more unsure of why she actually cared at all.