Vanity Teens

Chapter Twenty-Three

A.N. MEET THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE VAN DER GORZ COVEN, UNCLE SPENCER! Played by the gloriously gorgeous, Zachary Quinto. I love all of my characters, I just fall for my own creations. It's sad really... oh well.

Chapter Twenty-Three:

For once in my life, my mouth faltered. I just stood there like the biggest idiot in the room, mouth wide and gaping, eyes even wider, staring at the German beast before me. I could see how similar she was to Sam, she had his eyes.

"Oh my god. This isn't happening," I preached, turning away from them all. My throat clutched, but I forced my words out. "What the fuck?"

"Language, Ariel!" Mother cursed. She didn't seem at all stunned.

"It's Ari, you stupid fucking bitch!" I screamed. "We aren't related," I heard myself saying. "We aren't." I kept repeating it, but I wasn't very convincing. I couldn't even convince myself. I just felt completely stiff, the only thing going through my mind was that simple fact. I didn't even know how to comprehend this situation, I probably should have seen it coming. But he blinded me.

"There's no problem, Ari. We're European, and if there is one thing we Europeans know how to do is keep it in the family. There is no problem. Last I checked, cousins worldwide were fiddling the fluff."

"Doing what to the what?"

"You know, boffing, getting a bit of jiffy stiffy, as you youths say." Mother seemed proud of herself for some reason.

"Shut up. They aren't things. No one fiddles the fluff anymore. In fact, I don't think any one has ever fiddled the fluff. Don't try to be a cool mum because they don't exist."

"But they do jiffy the stiffy," Sam said suddenly.

I soon realised how close he was to me, right beside me. His shoulder brushed lightly against mine, and it sent shivers across my body.

"And boffing is still... a thing." He wasn't looking at me, his eyes kept diverting to the floor or the ceiling, or the faces of everyone else but mine, like I was too sickeningly boring to even look at.

"Sämünd?" his mother began. I watched her silently, her lips trembling as her eyes flashed between us. "Sämünd," she repeated, her face lighting in sudden realisation. "And Ari? Wait, no, Viktoria? Ari, is your son?"

"Ariel is my son, yes."

"Ari... Ariel... a nickname? I should have pieced that together before."

"He prefers Ari, although I can't say why. I didn't call you Ariel for you to twist it into something vile, but whatever, I'm over it."

"So, you're the reason my son has been smiling so much lately?"

I turned to face Sam. He'd removed his blazer and rolled the arms of his shirt up, so fucking classy. And his auburn hair was quiffed over his head. I couldn't describe him and do him justice, he was simply perfect. And he was mine.

And my cousin.

"Did you know?" I asked him.

"He did not," his mother sweetly interjected. "Lief, my hubby, decided long ago to keep him away from the van der Gorz family. That is why we moved to Oslo, to get as far from the Gorzs as possible. When it didn't work, we fled to London. I hadn't the foggiest that Viktoria was in the city too! And when we received our invites, we had to come, or else we'd be cut off."

Something suddenly struck me. All this time, Sam had learned so much about me, and I hadn't even been to his house once. I hadn't learned of his family, or anything really. And then there was that simple fact that I couldn't hide from.