The Youngest Hawthorne

9. Distraction

“You came to the right person,” Xander says, smiling. Getting a distraction from Xander Hawthorne could be fun, or dangerous and fun. Either way, you’re distracted from whatever you’re worried about. But whether it’s because you’re trying to decide if you like the dark chocolate raspberry fondue better than the white chocolate one, or because you’re trying not to fall from fifty feet in the air while climbing the side of the House, is a gamble. I’m banking on my ankle to convince him to choose something not dangerous. “I know exactly what we’re doing.”

“What?” I ask. Everyone else is already in bed.

“Just wait and see.” We keep walking for another three minutes, and end up in the kitchen. “Distraction order 25, please.” Xander says to the head chef. She looks at a list and nods.

“It’ll be out in fifteen minutes,” she responds.

“You have 25 distraction orders?” I ask.

“Closer to fifty, actually. And those are just the food related ones.” I laugh.

“So what do you need distracting from?”
“Life. Feelings. Monsters and demigods. Everything.” I say vaguely.

“Fair enough. It’s all a lot to take in. Like ‘oh the gods in the myths are all real, and still here, and there’s a secret community of their children living in New York. Also, even though you don’t get any new powers, you have to deal with the monsters and stuff.’ That’s a lot to take in.”

“Yeah. And I keep wondering what will happen now that I know it’s all real. Like will I keep seeing monsters everywhere? Will they attack me? What will other people who can’t see through the Mist see?”

“I don’t know. But we’ll get it figured out.” He grabs my hand. HE’S HOLDING MY HAND. I DIDN’T PREPARE FOR THIS. I give it a quick squeeze, reminding myself that he’s probably only doing it as a friend, to reassure me.

“Your distraction is ready,” the chef says. We stand up, and walk to the dining room next to the kitchen where the distraction is waiting for us.

“I present to you: cakepops!” He dramatically throws open the doors, revealing trays upon trays of cake pops, in all shapes, colors, and sizes. “We’ve got everything, from vanilla and chocolate to pecan sandies. Take whatever suits your fancy,” he says, making a beeline for the chocolate peanut butter ones. These are the best cake pops I’ve had in my entire life.
Twenty minutes later, we’re both covered in cake and chocolate, laying on the ground laughing.

“So which ones were your favorite?” Xander asks.

“I loved the triple chocolate ones.”

“Nothing wrong with the classics.”

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Which was your favorite?”

“I must remain true to the strawberry white chocolate ones, though the chocolate salted caramel ones were a close second.”

“Those were good too,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I need to tell you something.” We sit up, and scoot against the wall.

“What is it? You know you can tell me anything.”

“I… well… ugh. I haven’t told anyone about this for so long. It feels weird to say it out loud.” I let out a little laugh.

“Take as long as you need to. I’ll wait.”

“I’ve liked you for quite a while now.” Am I talking too fast? “Like, like-liked you. Like, as more than a friend, and I was scared to say it because I thought you might get weirded out or something, and I didn’t want to risk what we had, then you started dating Max. And I sorta accepted that she beat me to it, then there was the monster and she broke up with you and I kept thinking that it was too soon, then last night I decided to tell you today, and that’s what I was going to tell you during the break, but I chickened out and… I guess I’m just rambling now. Please say something.”

“You actually like me?”

“Yeah. Like, a lot. I’ll understand if you don’t like me back, but it felt wrong lying to you about it.”

“I don’t know. I never really thought of you in that way, but…”

“But what?”

“We can still give it a try,” he says, smiling at me.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. We are officially dating.”

“Yay!” I throw my arms around him, almost crying from happiness. “I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. You never do.”

“We should probably go to bed now though. It’s,” I check my watch, “two in the morning. And I’ll have to be up at seven for school.”

“I didn’t realize our cake war lasted that long.”

“Me neither. Looks like an energy drink will be my friend.”

“And mine. Let’s go.” He helps me up and hands me the crutches. Back in his room, we each step into the shower, separately, so we can wash the cake out of our hair. When we’re both in bed, I don’t even try to stay on ‘my side’ of the bed. We just cuddle in the middle. I take a while to fall asleep. I’m thinking of how amazing Xander is for saying yes. And what dates I could ask him on. When I finally drift off, I have dreams of us, together. Now, everyone sharing a bed is a couple. I’m so happy.

:)