The Secret

Chapter 25: Hometown Homies

We get in the car and my heart starts pounding. Jason's parents stay quiet and Jason looks at me with an insuring smile.
Everything is fine. Just stay with Jason and be yourself .
"So Shadow, how's school going?" Jason's dad asks.
"Pretty good, thank you."
"So I got us the rooms you were talking about Jason. Shadow, are you okay with sharing a room with Jason or would you rather your own room. I'm sure I can book another room," Jason's mom says.
"Thank you for the offer but I'm sure the one room will be fine."
"Okay darling."
Before I know it, we park in the hotel parking lot. I start looking through my bag for my phone to text my mom that we're here. Then a bang like something hitting the hood of the car makes me jump and my head shoots up. I see a guy with short blond hair standing there laughing.
"Shit Darian! We literally just got here," Jason says as he opens the window a crack before the car shuts completely off. "I'm sorry Shade. I'm sure he didn't mean to scare you..."
"Ya, I just meant to scare him," the guy named Darian says between laughs. I exam the guy outside a little closer than I did when I was panicked. He's tall and slim, something like Jason. His blond hair is cut in a way to make it look uneven also like Jason. Just it sits just above his hair and Jason's is just under his ears, thicker, waiver, and of course darker since Jason's hair is a medium ash brown as Kayla would say. Darian's eyes are bright with a dark blue but seems to be squinting whenever he's looking at something. As I get out of the car with Jason, I see he's wearing a white shirt with some sort of logo on it with a leather jacket draped over top. He has black jeans on with black and white high top sneakers. I stop thinking for a moment as I'm set back from how observant I can be. I don't think I have ever done something like that before. Either I for some reason feel threatened by him, or I'm curious on who he actually is. Probably a mixture of both.
"Shade, this is my friend Darian."
"Friend? When did I move down the bro chain?"
"Don't call it that. Just... no," Jason says trying not to smile but ends up failing. Darian steps back, his face in shock. I can tell he's playfully pretending to fall like if he's trying not to faint.
"Dude! Who the hell are you and where's my brother?" He asks then looks at me, "non blood, just to clarify."
"What?" Jason laughs.
"You laugh too? Whoa this is a dream isn't it... when did this happen?" Darian suddenly asks in a proper voice. I see in the corner of my eye that Jason looks at me for a split second. Darians gaze goes straight to me. He grabs both my hands and starts shaking them, "I thank you. I don't know how you did it but you did. You boosted his confidence to smile and laugh without him being embarrassed."
"Okay Darian, your probably overwhelming her."
"Oh sorry. You will end up getting use to me soon. Don't worry."
"Darian..."
"Your pretty confident aren't ya," I say without thinking. What is wrong with me? He looks at me without any expression on his face and I start panicking inside.
"I like her. I'm glad you brought her. She even makes you laugh without trying. I see why you like her..." his eyes widen and seems to panic, "as a friend! Like her as a friend. Anyways, what's your name? I want to hear it from that angle voice."
"First I'm far from an angel. And I'm Shadow."
"I like that. It's unique. Oh and Shade is you nickname because shadows create shade. That's so clever! Here, I'll help you two with the bags. We better get your parents bags in first or they might start getting impatient. And Shadow, I'm glad we met. I'm excited to get to know you more."