Shock radiates through my entire being, rippling in waves I can't believe what I'm seeing. I've never seen Dastan be this affectionate with anyone outside of his family and myself and Emma. I feel a gentle smile breaking across my face as I watch them. I'm grateful that he has someone that he cares about and that he clearly feels comfortable with. They break apart and a look of absolute wonder paints Dastan's face. "What are you doing here?" he asks his voice thick with emotion. He's missed his friend. The man goes to say something but then Dastan pulls him in for another hug, "I don't care."
"I missed you too, Hon." They're adorable. When they finally break apart again, the man turns his attention to the rest of the room. Everyone's drifted in from the kitchen to see what the commotion was about. "Oh, how rude of me." He exclaims, and I realize he's British. Dastan clears his throat, and I can tell he does it so the rest of us don't hear how emotional he really is about seeing his friend again.
"Guys, this is Theo. Theo, those are my parents, my little sister, Emma and her friend Connor." He introduces each one in turn; it doesn't escapee my attention that he introduced Connor as Emma's friend. Or that he didn't introduce me at all, though Theo seems to already know who I am. Theo gives a little nod of acknowledgment. "Sorry to intrude."
"Oh, it's no problem at all." Haider says from the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, he's watching the scene with interested eyes; everyone is. Seeing Dastan this way with anyone that isn't one of us is new.
It seems as though everyone's waiting for something, I'm not sure what, and maybe they don't know either. It's Zahra who breaks the awkward tension settling over the room. She steps past Haider who's taking up most of the space in the doorway, and beams at Theo and Dastan. "Any friend of Dastan's is always welcome. Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"That's very kind of you, thank you." Theo gives a grateful smile, and I think I might just like him. He seems nice; I wonder why Dastan's never mentioned him before now. Then I remember that he and I really haven't spoken much since he got back, what with all that animosity and hatred business between us, we hadn't really gotten a chance.
We all make our way back into the kitchen. The conversation is stilted and it's obvious that no one knows how to react to Theo's presence. We all seat ourselves at the table and Dastan goes back to the stove to finish up dinner. "So, how did you meet Dastan?" Emma asks, taking it upon herself to tackle the awkwardness as usual.
"We had a few classes together when he first transferred."
"He hit on me, and the rest is history." Dastan pipes in, while he stirs his rice. Theo chuckles and I can't help but admire the soothing sound of it. Everything about him seems designed to put you at ease. From the charmingly messy hair, to the calm blue irises lined with black eyeliner; he's got an aristocratic sort of beauty to him that's not very common. He notices my attention after a moment and the smile falls from his face, I get the feeling he doesn't like me too much. The thought makes me uncomfortable, I'm pretty sure I've never met or spoken to him before. Hell, I hadn't heard of him before I answered the door so I don't get what his problem with me is.
Leaning closer into Connors side, I try to make myself as small as possible. Theo doesn't seem like my biggest fan, for whatever reason, and judging by how it went the last time I met one of Dastan's friends from London I'd rather stay out of the spotlight for as long as I can. Haider and Zahra seem excited to find out more about Theo, they ask him questions about his trip and where he's staying and about college, and he seems amicable enough toward them but every time his eyes brush over me I practically feel hostility vibrating off of him. Each time I shrink further into the solace of Connor's shadow.
After a few minutes, Dastan places a dish piled high with seeming rice, veggies, and chicken in the middle of the dinner table. It smells divine. "Bon Appétit!" he says to the table before shuffling around in his pocket and producing a bottle of Tylenol. He places it onto the plate in front of me, "For the lady."
"Oh, my God! I love you!" I gasp, grabbing the bottle and holding it to my chest like it's a precious little baby. Emma snorts loudly across the table, and I feel Connor's entire frame go stiff as a sheet of marble next to me. Crap.
"You talking to me or the drugs?" Dastan asks, playfully rolling his eyes. When I look up to meet his gaze, his eyes tell me exactly what I need to know. That was not the right thing to say after what everyone just witnessed in the kitchen. I try to convey my apology wordlessly; it seems I've developed a habit for making uncomfortable situations worse. He seems to get it because he gives the slightest tilt of the head that lets me know it's okay.
"Would you like me to lie to you?" at this he snorts, throws the dish towel he'd draped over his shoulder at me and then walks back to the kitchen. Is being his friend always going to be this toss up between being comfortable with Dastan and keeping the peace with Connor. It's already exhausting, I hate this uncertainty. My relationship with Dastan has always just been what it is; it's never been questioned or excessively scrutinized so I don't understand this new fascination everyone has with watching us.
When he gets back to the table we've all already begun eating and I hate to admit it but he's actually a pretty good cook. So, there's another thing he's perfect at; it's fricking annoying. I try to keep my head down for as much of dinner as I can, I don't really participate in the conversation and thankfully nobody comments on it. That is until Emma gets my attention from the seat on Connor's other side. She doesn't say anything; she just leans forward and makes eye contact with me, raising her brows and scrunching her nose.
She wants to know what's wrong; I give a half shrug, scrunching my nose right back so as to say it's nothing. She tilts her head, like she doesn't quite believe me, and I watch as her eyebrow raises by a fraction more. Then I feel a kick under the table; Dastan. I turn my eyes to him and his gaze is darting between Emma and me. How long has he been watching us? Before I have the chance to wonder, he makes the same gesture as Emma, communicating with his eyes asking us what's wrong. What's with the two of them today? I shake my head a fraction at him and Emma gives him a look as if to say 'I told you so.' That makes me curious, what are they talking about.
"Do that often, do they?" Theo's heavily accented voice cuts through our silent conversation. We all turn our eyes to him, but he's looking directly at Connor, a secretive smirk in place.
"You'll get used to it," comes Connor's reply, barely missing a beat. His voice vibrates right next to me, causing me to look at him. He's smirking back at Theo, playful and the most open I've seen him all night.
"Do you really?"
"No," he admits. Then he shrugs a nonchalant, easy gesture. "You just accept that you'll never communicate on that wavelength." They're talking about us, I realize rather belatedly. About the conversation Emma, Dastan and I just had without saying a single word. I hadn't realized Connor noticed it before. He's never said anything at least. So I just assumed, it'd never been something he picked up on. Most people don't, we've always done this. A side effect of knowing people your entire life is being able to know exactly what they're thinking from one look.
"Sounds annoying." Theo chimes in with an eye roll and a pointed look at Dastan, who raises a heavy brow at him.
"It can be," Connor nods along in agreement. "But they do make weird faces without realizing it." He chuckles. We do not, do we? I go to voice my concerns about our supposed weird faces, joining the conversation for the first time tonight but Theo beats me to it.
"So. Kiera," the tone of his voice instantly alerts me that I'm probably not going to like what comes next. His posture is deceivingly casual but he's radiating contempt and his expression is nothing short of scornful. "You've been rather quiet tonight."
"Headache," I say by way of explanation and shrug self-consciously. He knows. I can tell from the slight tick of his lips, he sees my discomfort.
"I have to tell you," he begins leaning forward in his seat. His forearms rest against the edge of the table and I catch the stiffening of Dastan's shoulders in my periphery. I know that look, that's the look he gets right before Emma decides to make trouble. He clearly knows what Theo is going to say and he doesn't think it's going to go over well. I steel myself for whatever that could be. "I haven't heard good things about you."
The way he says you, as if it's a dirty word. There's haughtiness to his voice that tells me even though I don't know much about him he's clearly been informed on all the sordid details about me. My eyes drift to Dastan for a moment and there's a clear apology in his expression. So, he's been complaining to his friend about me. I guess that's fair considering our history, I can't really blame him. "I'm not surprised."
"You aren't?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm awful." I nod, taking a drink from my glass. I feel Dastan's eyes on me but I don't look at him. I don't need that type of distraction and this isn't about him anyway. We've buried our issues, now I've got to convince Theo that I'm not going to hurt Dastan again. After all, that's what this whole thing is about. That's why he doesn't like me, and I can understand that. I'd do the same if someone had hurt Emma the way I've hurt Dastan. "I'm sure he" I emphasize the last word and jerk my head in Dastan's direction, "Has told you all about how I kick puppies and light orphanages on fire in my spare time."
That earns me a chuckle from Emma, Dastan snorts and we lock eyes for barely a moment but I see the relief and I'm glad. "He might have mentioned it." Theo says with a small smile. It's barely there but it's genuine, it's a step in the right direction and I'll take it.
Theo warms up a little after that. All in all, I think it's going a lot better than the time I met Anne. For one thing, Dastan and I haven't gotten into it or insulted each other once tonight. We've, thus far, avoided any family arguments and I haven't had a full blown mental breakdown. I'd say I'm making a good impression or salvaging the bad one he had of me before. Either way, it feels like success and I spend the rest of the night feeling a lot more relaxed. Even Connor seems to loosen up the longer we spend at Haider's and by the end of the night he and Theo are on the way to being fast friends. Maybe it's because they're both the new kids but it's nice to see him enjoying himself and fitting in with my friends. It makes me feel like maybe we could do this for real, maybe a relationship with Connor won't crash and burn like I used to think. Only time will tell…