We arrived at his house after cycling for about twenty minutes. It was in the complete opposite direction from my house, so I reluctantly thought about my return trip while we cycled. Breathing heavily, I closed the door behind me.
"Sorry if I went a little too fast."
"It's fine, don't worry about me."
The anxious feelings had subsided when I arrived at his house. It was calmer than I had expected, for someone famous. Thundergirl has her own team too, but Autumn's house wasn't the base of operations, at least from how it looked. It would never fit in here.
"Take off your shoes please, you can leave them there."
He pointed at a corner in the small hallway we were standing in. I put my shoes there and followed him to the living room. It had a couch, a coffee table, some chairs, multiple closets, a dinner table with more chairs, and a kitchen that was connected to the left of the room, with a counter with bar stools next to the dinner table.
"My mom will be home soon, but she doesn't know about it. Don't tell her."
I nodded to him before I sat down on the couch. Autumn went to the kitchen to make lemonade and returned to me with two glasses of pink coloured water. It has been a while since I had lemonade and tasting that sweetness once more felt amazing.
Autumn placed his half-empty glass on the coffee table and addressed me.
"So, what are you gonna do?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"With the newly acquired knowledge from today."
"Nothing."
When I said it, it only took a second to realise that sounded untrustworthy. But, at the time, I really had no plans with his secret.
"Wait, I mean, I will keep it to myself."
I tried to laugh it off and evaded my eyes, but Autumn was staring at me deeply. It went on for seconds, but it felt like minutes of pure silence. I thought to myself, that he would try to do something to me. Right here, right now. The angst that previously went away returned, and I had no idea what to respond.
"Okay, promise me."
Autumn held out his pinky at a reasonable distance from me. Without saying anything, I intertwined my pinky with his, and he started shaking his hand up and down.
"Zero one two, talking about 't is taboo. If you ever talk about it prepare to face a grue."
I had no idea what he was saying. He let go of my finger and took another sip from his drink, and I did the same without giving it much thought.
"I thought of that myself."
He had a small but proud smile on his face when he said that.
"What does grue mean?"
"Oh, it's a short version of something gruesome. I couldn't think of anything else that would fit. Well if you don't tell anyone, nothing gruesome will happen."
"Today was already pretty gruesome..."
"You think so?"
I thought I whispered it or said it in my thoughts, but apparently he heard it. After that, he chuckled for a moment.
"It must have been tough, yeah."
"What?"
"Being 'friends' with those two."
The emphasis he put on the word ''friends' made it clear he didn't see them as such.
"I've been friends with them for years, this stuff happens all the time. It's not your problem."
"So you cry all the time because of them?"
"Wha-? That's not what I-"
He was right. And, I knew, but I didn't want to accept it. They have been my friends, for over three years. We met each other at the beginning of the second year in this school, and have always been together since. But his words struck something within me. Never before has anyone been so direct about it, and it shut me down. What snapped me out of it, was the sound of the front door opening.
"Well, if you say so, you'll make up with them eventually. Just don't force yourself."
I looked at my glass of lemonade, not noticing Autumn leaving the room and heading to the hallway.
"I'm home!"
A bright, feminine voice yelled in the hallway. I assumed it to be Autumn's sister. After a while, she entered the living room.
"Hmm? Autumn where are you?"
"Here."
I heard Autumn's voice coming from the restroom in the hallway. His sister turned around and jolted when she saw me. I gave a subtle wave.
"Uhm, hello."
"Hey, Autumn! You could've told me that you had a girlfriend!"
She hastily walked up to me and sat down on the couch.
"Wait! I'm not-"
"She's not my girlfriend, mom."
I was startled to hear that last word coming out of his mouth. I thought he was pulling some kind of weird joke, as that would fit his style, just like that odd pinky promise rhyme.
"Don't be shy, Autumn. When was the last time you actually brought a girl with you?"
Autumn walked into the living room and approached us. I didn't even hear the toilet being flushed.
"Two weeks, when I brought Heather-"
"Okay, okay, but I mean a new girl. Someone you-"
"What does it matter?"
Autumn sighs and sits down on the couch with us. His mother put her hand through my hair and caressed my head, which was an odd yet calming feeling.
"Mom-"
"Sorry, but her chestnut-like hair is just so smooth. Do you mind?"
"No, uh, I don't really mind."
I did mind a little bit, but it wasn't the worst feeling in the world. I hadn't felt this feeling ever before in my life.
"You're scaring her."
"No, I'm not, she likes it."
"I really don't mind, Autumn."
Autumn sighed profoundly, a little too profound for my liking, as if he was going to tell something he had already told five times. His mother smiled and gazed all over my head and hair.
"Anyway, you could introduce yourself."
"I'm Caroline, Autumn's mother."
"Larissa."
"Larissa, what a beautiful name..."
The way she said it creeped me out. It was quiet but menacing. She clenched onto my hair ever so slightly more than before, as if she didn't want to let me go. Autumn stood up and moved towards us.
"Okay, that's enough mom."
He grabbed her hand and pulled it out of my hair.
"Aw, why'd you do that?"
"Because you always creep people like this, except for a select few. And, I don't believe Larissa really liked it."
I kept my mouth shut, as this was a mother-son conflict that I believed I wasn't a part of, even though it was about me. Autumn held me at my lower arm and pulled me up, while his mother still sat on the couch, staring at us with pleading eyes.
"No, I have already told you that you shouldn't do this."
"Hmph!"
"And pouting won't help you."
Caroline sighed, smiled, chuckled, and went to the kitchen.
"Will Larissa have dinner with us?"
"No. We are heading upstairs now."
"Have fun!"
Autumn sighed at his mother's comment, and I kept silent for a little longer. When he closed the door to the living room, I finally let out some air.
"Thanks, for getting me out of there."
"Sorry, my mom is a bit weird sometimes. She's a good person, but touching someone's hair is a bad habit of her."
"So, why are we heading upstairs?"
"We're going to my room."
I had a bad feeling about it. A boy that suddenly invited me to his house, and then to his own room, when we had met only a few hours earlier. My gut was telling me that I should excuse myself and leave, but there was just something intriguing about a boy's room. About Thundergirl's room.
"Why?"
"Because I want to show you a few things, to give you more clearance."
My mind filled up with questions about what he could show me, but I placed those thoughts aside quickly. Whatever he was going to show me in just a few moments, had to do with his secret. I was diving even further into the rabbit hole, without even realising it myself.