EVERMORE ─ marvel

IV. Air Hockey Wisdom

Chapter Four
Liam

I woke up in bed with Stevie curled up against my chest, our bodies still facing each other. Having him this close to me made me feel like I was touching a live wire, like electrical shocks were coursing through my veins. I didn't want to move, partly because I didn't want to wake him up, but mostly because I didn't want to move away from him. Unfortunately he woke up shortly after I did, and immediately moved away from me, looking a little embarrassed. We got dressed and headed downstairs, finding my mother outside taking photos with a client and my father nowhere to be seen. He's probably at the store or something.

We left a note for my mother telling her we would be out for the day and be back for dinner. I'm not in the mood to spend time with either of my parents right now, instead, I'm going to show Stevie around. He's never been to California before, so there's lots I could show him, like LA or Hollywood, but those places are filled with too many people. I'd much rather show him some of my favorite places growing up, when I had a good relationship with my parents, when I was happy.

The first place I took him was the park five minutes from my house. I used to come here all the time to use my powers, I even had a tree that I carved my name into. It was the tree I'd always come to because it was far enough away from everyone that I could have some time to myself. The letters 'LHK' are still in the trunk.

"What's the 'h' for?" Stevie asked me.

"Haaris." I said in response.

This made Stevie chuckle. "Liam Haaris Knight. I like it. Sounds cool."

"Liam is my mom's father's name and Haaris was my dad's father's name. It's kind of pretentious; 'Liam' means 'guardian', Haaris means 'vigilant', and with my last name being 'Knight'..."

"I know how you feel. 'Steven' means honor, 'Julian' means 'young at heart', and 'Barnes' means 'young warrior'. I looked it up once for a school project, but obviously I used my fake name when I actually turned in the paper. 'Branson' means 'son of raven', which doesn't have the same rhythm to it as 'Barnes' does. It ruins the pretentiousness all together."

I certainly felt my name was less pretentious after hearing his. His name literally means 'honorable young warrior'.

We left shortly after that. The next place I took him was the mall, which I went to pretty much everyday after school with my best friend Gwen, someone I haven't seen since I ran away. I took Stevie to all the stores I used to go to, Hot Topic was a particular favorite of Stevie's, as well as American Eagle and Nike. Stevie spent the most money when we got to Auntie Anne's, he bought five big pretzels and another tub of tiny pretzels. We're sitting at the food court now, and Stevie is eating the pretzels like a ravenous animal, though that isn't entirely figurative when it comes to him.

"I'm sorry," He says with his mouth completely full. "We didn't eat breakfast and I gotta have food or else bad things will happen."

"Like?"

"My powers go a little nuts when I'm hungry, it's possible I could shift and go kill a squirrel or something. My animal side demands food or else there will be hell to pay."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"Let's just say Chip and Dale don't frequent my backyard."