Don't Stop Now [Finding My Path Sequel]

Chapter 10

"I've been living on my own for the last year," Andi started to explain. "Well, not on my own, but without Mom."

"Then who do you live with?" I wondered. We were in one of the worse parts of town now. I could tell because the stench was getting worse.

"Oh, I'm staying with my boyfriend, Jaxon," she told us casually.

Lina and I exchanged a look. "Your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's eighteen and has his own place, so I crash there," Andi said lightly.

"Jaxon, as in the guy from the restaurant?" Lina asked, taking the wrong details from her explanation.

"The guy from the restaraunt is his dad," Andi corrected. "I give him updates about how Jaxon is doing."

"Oh, nice," Lina responded, though I knew her well enough to know when she was really feeling it. "And he won't mind us staying?"

"Nah, his friends are over all the time." As she continued telling us about him, she unlocked the door of a row home. "He stays upstairs." She walked up a narrow set of stairs, barely stopping to wave to an old woman knitting on the first floor. The lady smiled at all of us.

"That's Mrs. H. Jaxon rents the attic from her," she explained. Lina smiled at her as I followed Andi, stilling pondering the whole situation.

We faced another door after that. Andi opened this one without a key. Once we made it in, we entered small kitchen with a slanted, awkward roof. This definitely used to be an attic. I was surprised to find people gathered around a wooden kitchen table.

"Where's Jaxon?" Andi asked, unfazed by the crowd of almost all teenage guys.

"Who are these people?" Lina asked me quietly.

"Jaxon's friends?" I replied unsurely.

"In his room," one of the guys said. Though he only glanced up for a moment, there was something familiar about him.

"Wait, you're the clothing stand guy!" I said, remembering the boy that looked at the photo for an extra long moment yesterday.

Instead of defending himself, he laughed. "Yeah. I take it you found the lady."

"You told Andi about her mom?" Lina demanded like she had a personal grudge with this guy.

"Cut him a break," Andi said. "You wouldn't be here without him. Now come with me."

The rest of the room ignored us. They all seemed too into whatever they were drinking to reply.

I followed Andi down the hall until she walked into a bedroom. I stopped at the doorway while Andi walked inside.

"Jax?" she called. "Hey." She must've found him.

I studied the hall, trying not to eavesdrop.

"Hey, babe," a husky voice greeted her. "Where've ya been?"

"I met someone," she began. The voice laughed. "Not like that. This kid, he's...my brother. Tomi! Get in here! Jax, can you put on a shirt?"

I walked into a room mostly taken up by a bed and covered in clothes. A guy slipping on a shirt grinned at me as the fabric came over his head. "You're the brother? Weird," he said way too calmly.

"What's weird?" I asked nervously. Jaxon studied my with cloudy gray eyes. From where he was sitting, he didn't look like much. Thin, but tall, with a crooked smile that didn't say much. Almost-black hair was buzzed on the sides and gelled in the middle.

"You two look alike. A lot alike," Jaxon said, his glance falling from Andi to me. I looked at Andi, but I couldn't see it.

"Yeah, well he's my twin so," Andi said, leaving the sentence hanging there. Again, no reaction from Jaxon. "Anyway, he needs a place to crash until my mom gets back."

"Alright, we've got an extra room," Jaxon agreed without further questioing.

"And his girlfriend," she added. "Where is she?" she asked me.

I forgot my argument about her being my girlfriend when I realized she hadn't followed me into the room. I looked around the hallway, but she wasn't there.

"I'll go find her," Jaxon offered. "She's probably with my friends."

"I swear to god if they did anything to her...," Andi was saying to Jaxon. She didn't sound like she would really do anything, but it was enough to make me nervous.

"What would they do?" I demanded, about to charge after Jaxon, but he was already out of the room.

"Nothing. They're fine," Andi reassured me. "Jaxon's got it under control."

I thought about this for a minute. "You trust him?"

"More than I trust you," she sneered, but gave up the act quickly. "I'd trust Jax with my life. He was the only person that was there for me when--"

"When what?" I continued.

"Nothing. But he was there, and he's letting me stay with him. He's also letting you stay with him," she reminded me.

"Okay, I won't doubt him," I agreed. Not outloud anyway. "So you're an earthbender?" I asked, changing the subject. "Is Mom one too?"

"Nope, just me. My grandma could bend though, so that must be where I got it from."

I nodded, thinking about what Dad said. There was other breeding in my blood. That's why I can't bloodbend. "How long have you been bending?"

"Since I was like, three. You?" Andi asked. "I know you said you just found out."

"Only two years."

"Mom would be proud of you," she said all of a sudden. "Being brave enough to come here. A part of me always wondered about my father, but Mom said she hardly even knew his name..."

"Maybe you can meet him sometime," I suggested. "I bet he'd want to meet his daughter."

Andi shrugged vaguely, like meeting him wouldn't be too great anyway. I was beginning to see past her act, though. "Maybe someday. Look, I'm sorry you can't meet Mom right away. She works in the Upper Ring, spends most weekdays there and sometimes nights."

"What does she do?"

"Well, ya know--"

"TOMI!" It was Lina, shouting my name. I was out of the room in a flash, heading towards the sound. Something was off in her voice. I could feel it.