Alex walked out of Elizabeth Hall without many purposes beyond getting away from those scared and angry faces. Talking with Eloise had been nice, but it was clear she was an outlier from her peers. Jack would like her. She seemed very similar to the way he always described Miranda Singh. Whether Eloise would care much for him was something Alex couldn't be sure about. His gut said probably not.
Alex decided he would head to the stables to visit the likely lonely horses, but hesitated about which way to go. The quickest route was by cutting through Alder Hall, but that was where the library was, its entrance on the first floor. Where Eloise said Matthew Montoya had gone. Maybe he should take the long way around instead.
Are you going to let that arse make you walk an extra ten minutes to pet some ponies? His inner voice asked. For once, it had a valid point. The two lived together, avoiding him entirely would be impossible. Alex couldn't let Matthew's animosity influence everything he did. Besides, it was a big building. The odds that they would run into each other were small anyways. That last realization was his main reason for choosing the shortcut.
Halfway to Alder, Alex noticed someone standing in the middle of the walkway, spinning around slowly as they looked up at the tall buildings around them. When he got closer, Alex realized he was the same blonde boy that had been with Matthew before. Baptiste, he was pretty sure Eloise had called him.
The boy noticed Alex and stopped spinning, giving him a nervous smile when he approached. " Bonjour ," he said.
" Bonjour," Alex replied automatically. Before Alex could decide whether or not he should continue in French, or even if the boy wanted him to continue talking at all, the boy spoke again.
"Eh, sorry to bother you, but I, um." His smile turned sheepish. "I seem to be a little lost."
"Oh." That explains the circles.
"Yes, I was in that building with the library, and I had to use the restroom. I could not find one in there, so I found one in another, but now I cannot seem to find my way back."
"Oh."
"I know, it must seem silly, getting lost so easily."
"No, no. It's not. The campus is big and a little confusing. I understand."
"Would you mind pointing me in the right direction, if you can?"
"I was heading that way anyways. Just follow me."
The boy looked unsure. "Okay," he said after a pause. " Merci ."
" De rien ."
The boy grinned and followed Alex, keeping a bit of distance between them. "Your pronunciation is good," he said. "Do you speak French fluently?"
"I do," Alex said. "I haven't had much practical practice lately, though. Your name is Baptiste, right?"
"It is." Baptiste blinked in surprise. "How did you know that?"
"Eloise mentioned your name when she said Matthew had gone."
"And you are Alexander Conrad, yes? Matthew was not joking with us?"
"I am."
"You are different than I was expecting."
"I get that a lot." Alex hadn't meant for that to come out bitter, but he couldn't help it. Usually when people said that they meant it in a bad way. He immediately covered his mouth and tried to keep himself from heating up. Before he could apologize for sounding rude, Baptiste beat him to it.
"No, no," he said quickly, waving his hands around. "I did not mean it as an insult, I promise. I have just heard that... Well, the stories about old family wyverns, and the Conrads- Not that I would say anything, I have never even met anyone from an old family before today. Well, no that is not true. There was this one, that looked at my mother for a florist for her wedding last year. She was a-" Baptiste stopped suddenly as if realizing he probably shouldn't say what he wanted to about her. "She was perfectly nice. A... lovely woman."
Alex felt his mouth starting to twitch into a smile. "Do you remember her name?"
Baptiste tugged on his ear and looked up. "Camilla... Belmont?"
Alex couldn't stop himself from smiling. "I've met Camilla too. I also think she's a... lovely woman."
Baptiste stared at him with wide eyes for a few seconds. Alex hadn't been able to tell earlier, but he was very pretty. His eyes were a clear blue. He had freckles splattered across his cheeks. His nose was a little crooked. He had paint drops decorating his jeans and plain white shirt. When he grinned, he revealed the slight gap in his front teeth he had.
"The loveliest," Baptiste agreed. "The way she found something wrong with every bouquet my mother presented was especially lovely."
"I imagine she took up hours of your mother's time and then took her business elsewhere?"
"That is exactly what she did."
"Lovely."
Baptiste giggled in a way Alex didn't think anyone above the age of three was capable of. At least no one over the age of three that he knew. "Matthew was wrong, you do have a sense of humor," he said. "Maybe he was just observing you not appreciating being the butt of his jokes, huh?"
"Did he tell you about his jokes?"
"Just the music."
"That's all it's been so far."
"He did not sleep at all these past two nights, either. He is too jet-lagged. Still on Los Angeles time. He slept from ten in the morning until supper at six yesterday. And he is probably sleeping in the library right now. Once he gets adjusted to the time difference that will probably stop."
"That's a relief."
"Unfortunately, he was asking the table for ideas on other things he could do to anger you. Most of us," he added quickly, "were not encouraging him. But Emilio seemed like he gave him some ideas. They were speaking in Spanish though, so I do not know about what."
"Perfect."
"I will talk with him. He just wants to bunk with Eloise, that is not a good reason to act like... Well, a lovely person."
Alex surprised himself by chuckling. Baptiste stared at him with an odd expression. "What is it?"
"Eloise called you a cutie this morning," Baptiste said, "when she spotted you in the dining hall. She asked Matthew, 'Why are you staring at that cutie over there?'."
"She did?" Alex couldn't stop himself from heating up. He was sure Baptiste could feel it, but he didn't comment.
"I do not think that is the right word for you."
"Oh."
"I think I know what is, though."
"What is it?" Do I want to know?
" Étourdissante ."
Alex felt all the heat in his body concentrate suddenly at a single point in the center of his head. Before he could stop it, it manifested as a single flame, making him look like a walking candle. He quickly brought his hands up to his hair to put it out, but he could tell Baptiste saw it.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I'm so sorry. I have it under control, I promise." He knew despite all the jokes about free heating he heard, a lot of wyverns were extremely uncomfortable with fire wyverns. Especially if they were an old family fire wyvern. "I'm sorry."
"It is okay, Alexander. Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes." Alex removed his hand to show his undamaged head.
"Ah, fireproof. Of course. Even your hair?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. Does that happen often?"
"It only happens on accident when... I'm embarrassed."
Baptiste grinned. "Are you saying that me giving you a compliment made you so bashful you caught fire?"
"I... yes."
"Maybe cutie is a fitting word for you after all."
"God, please don't make me do that again."
"Sorry," he said with another giggle. "I forgot the Conrads are fire wyverns. That must be gratifying."
"Gratifying?"
"I remember once at my old school when I was very young, I got into an argument with a human girl because we were playing a game with a dragon and a knight and a princess, and she wanted me to pretend to breathe fire. I insisted dragons didn't have to breathe fire, she insisted I was wrong. I was so tempted to change just to prove her wrong."
"I imagine that would've created a whole new problem for you.'"
"Ultimately why I chose not to."
"You're right though, the lack of non-fire-breathing dragon representation and public awareness is a shame."
"Thank you for your support, it means a lot."
"Can I ask what type you are?"
"Empathic," Baptiste said with a sigh. "I know, it's the worst one, you can say it."
"I think empaths are admirable. It can't be easy, being in tune with everyone's emotions if you're not careful."
Baptiste frowned for the first time. "It has been. . . a lot at times. But," he quickly turned his frown into a small smile. It seemed genuine, if a little timid, "I have gotten fairly good at keeping it in check. In control. Mostly."
"Congratulations," Alex said, hoping he sounded sincere.
"To you as well. You do that around the wrong people and you have a lot more to explain, no?"
"There have been close calls before." Alex felt himself smile at a memory. "My nanny used to carry a spray bottle filled with water whenever we went out, just in case."
Baptiste giggled, his loudest one yet. He covered his mouth and blushed slightly. "Sorry, I should not have laughed so hard at that."
"Don't be, your laugh sounds nice."
Baptiste blushed even harder. Alex had a feeling if he could catch fire he would have. " Merci," he muttered without looking Alex in the eye. "Are we, um, close to that building? I feel like I did not wander that far."
"It's right over here," Alex said, leading Baptiste around a corner and towards a stone staircase that went up to the building with Alder Hall displayed on a metal plaque next to the door.
"How long does it take the average person to figure out the campus, huh? All these buildings look the same."
"Most get it down by December."
" Fantastique," he muttered sarcastically. "Just in time to forget while we go home for the holiday."
"Exactly."
Baptiste smiled, his blush mostly gone. The two walked up the stairs and down the hall inside until they reached the doors to the library on their right. When Baptiste opened them, Alex noticed that his earlier guess was right. Matthew was lying down on two chairs he had pushed together, an open book lying pages down on his chest. His quiet snores sounded louder than they should because of the acoustics of the room and the fact that it was otherwise silent.
" Regarde," Baptiste whispered, his smile now mischievous. He tiptoed toward Matthew and grabbed a hardcover book that was on the table. He raised it over the table as high as he could and then dropped it. It landed with a bang that echoed like a shotgun. Matthew's eyes flew open and he jerked awake so hard he caused both of his chairs to tip backward. He landed on the floor with a crash and an expletive.
"Dude!" Matthew said when he saw Baptiste laughing. "Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry, you were too hard to wake up."
"Liar, I bet you didn't even try."
"Hmm, that is between me and Alexander."
Matthew frowned and looked around at the mention of Alex's name. His expression hardened when he spotted him standing in the doorway. "Are you following me?" he asked.
Alex wanted to say no, but he had a feeling Matthew wouldn't believe that either. Baptiste noticed his hesitation and stepped in.
"No, he came here to help me," he explained as Matthew stood up. "I got lost coming back from the bathroom, he helped me find my way back."
"Lost? Dude, it was across the hall."
"Really? How did I miss that?"
"I'll be going, then," Alex said, backing out of the doorway. "It was nice talking with you, Baptiste."
"Goodbye, Alexander," Baptiste said. And then in French, " Don't let this stubborn fool get you down too much ."
Alex nodded and turned to leave as Matthew jumped up to take a seat at the table. "What did you just say to him?" Alex heard him ask as the door slowly swung shut.
"Get good at French and you will find out ."
"Ha ha, very funny."
Baptiste giggled again so loudly that Alex heard him even when the door shut. He had a feeling there was some joke between them he didn't get. He managed to make it to the stables without running into anyone else. Parsnip was not there anymore; she had passed away a couple of years before. The horse Julia replaced her with was now a two-year-old palomino mare named Popcorn. She wasn't as in need of affection like Parsnip had been, but she did like to con as many people as she could into giving her too many apples. Alex didn't keep a horse at the school, but he had a soft spot for a stallion that belonged to a girl the year below him named Murphy. He was a white and brown pinto that was dumb as rocks and scared of his own shadow, something that made him very difficult to ride with him if you weren't patient and careful. Lucky for him his owner was both, with him at least. Otherwise, he probably would have been sold off a long time ago.
Popcorn was sleeping when Alex got there, but Murphy and a few other horses started snorting loudly when he walked in. She woke up and started wildly gesturing with her head to a barrel she knew was filled with apples.
"Yeah, how many of those have you suckered yourself into already?" Alex said, though he still opened it up and grabbed some. He gave one to Popcorn, careful to keep the others he got out of her reach. Then he walked over toward Murphy, giving one apple to a white horse named Fiona as he passed her. Then he let Murphy take the last two in his hand.
"You get two because you're my favorite," he said, ignoring what sounded like Popcorn's huff of complaint. "Calm down, I'm sure you'll sucker someone else into giving you more later."
Murphy tried to eat Alex's hand once the apples were gone, so Alex pulled his hand away from his mouth and up to his forehead. Once he was bored with the petting, Murphy turned his attention to some hay left in his stall. Alex got a bucket and filled it up with apples to give to some of the horses he usually didn't have the time to visit.
He was in the middle of handing one to a chestnut horse named, creatively, Chestnut when he heard voices approaching the stable. He couldn't see them and they couldn't see him, but he recognized the voices as soon as they were close enough to distinguish. Matthew and Baptiste.
"Seriously?" Matthew was saying. "You don't care about keeping me awake, you just want to see a party trick."
"First of all, my intentions are completely selfless," Baptiste answered. "You need to adjust before classes start on Monday. The library was too tempting of a nap location for you. Secondly, I did not even know this was out here until I spotted it. Thirdly, yes. Yes, I would very much like you to tell me what these horses are saying."
Matthew chuckled. "Fine."
"And I would hardly call it a party trick. It is amazing, what you can do."
"Amazing until every other wyvern is asking you to talk their dog into taking their meds or tell their cat to stop pooping outside the litter box. And there is nothing more demeaning than a bunny calling you a racial slur."
"Bunnies can be racist?"
"That one was. Aggressively so."
" Aïe ."
"Something tells me some of these bastards will be too."
"No, they all look so friendly. Viens ici, what does this one have to say?"
Matthew was silent for a few seconds. Alex poked his head around the corner he was behind to see the both of them standing by a stall that had a gray mare named Pip in it. Matthew was staring her down, and she was looking at him with an intensity Alex had never seen in her eyes before. After a few more seconds of silence, Matthew broke eye contact and looked back at Baptiste. "She's bored," he said. "And has to poop."
Baptiste grinned and shoved Matthew slightly. "You are lying."
"She also thinks your hair is hay and she wants to eat it."
"Liar."
"Shut up, I can prove it." Matthew grabbed Baptiste by the shoulders and moved him so that he was standing within reach of Pip. Sure enough, as soon as she could she was pulling back her lips to try to take a chunk of his hair away from him. He yelped and jumped away while Matthew laughed at him. He continued to laugh as Baptiste came at him with some playful punches. "Hey, I warned you!"
"What about that one?" Baptiste pointed to Popcorn. "She looks wise."
"She looks like every other horse in here, dude."
"Just tell me."
Matthew rolled his eyes and walked over to Popcorn's stall. He did the same stare-down routine for a minute before looking back at Baptiste with a big grin. "Okay, you are right, she had things to say."
"What did she say?"
Matthew pointed to Murphy. "She said he's a kiss-ass bitch who stole her apple."
"Who taught you that language?" Baptiste asked Popcorn as Matthew walked over to Murphy's stall.
"Let's get his side of the story," Matthew said, staring down Murphy next. "Now this guy here says he did not steal, he was given an extra apple by the tall boy."
"Can you tell who is telling the truth?"
"I'm not a lie detector, Baptiste."
"Murphy is," Alex chimed in, not wanting to eavesdrop any longer. They were bound to see him eventually, and he would rather reveal himself lest he looks overly suspicious. "Popcorn is trying to get you to give her more treats."
"You have got to be kidding me," Matthew muttered. "Not following me my ass."
"He was here first, Matthew," Baptiste pointed out.
"Fine, then we'll leave."
"No, you don't have to," Alex said quickly. "You just reminded me how difficult it is for my friend to get adjusted to the schedule as well. I should go wake him so he can be ready by Monday morning."
"Are you sure? This place is big enough for the three of us, no?"
"He's being nice, Baptiste," Matthew said, as if nice was the worst thing a person could be. "He doesn't want to be around us either."
"That's not- I didn't mean- Never mind."
"No, go ahead, tell me what you want to tell me."
"You're a fauna wyvern, aren't you? Can't you just listen in for yourself?"
Matthew's face twitched with annoyance. "It doesn't work like that," he said in a way that made it clear he had to explain that a lot.
Fantastic, then you can't hear me telling you to go fuck yourself, Alex's inner voice said while he just sighed. "Sorry," he said without meaning it. "I didn't mean to offend you." I am a little pleased that I did, though.
"Uh-huh." Matthew either could tell his heart wasn't in that apology or he really could hear his thoughts. The only thing that convinced Alex he couldn't was that he most certainly would have let him know if he could. "Forget it, I got a feeling I don't want to know what's going on in your head anyways."
Join the club, mate. Alex had to bite his tongue to keep himself from actually saying that. He doubted Matthew Montoya knew the kind of nerve he struck with that one. Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked towards the exit while keeping his eyes cast down. Baptiste said goodbye again, but Alex felt his eyes stinging and his throat tightening, so he didn't trust himself to speak back. So, he just waved without looking up.
"That was mean, Matthew," Alex heard Baptiste say once he must have thought Alex was out of earshot. "Unjustly so."
"Christ, not you too," Matthew answered, his tone flippant.
"You do not need to be cruel just because you feel like you have a point to prove. Especially since cruel is not something you are."
Matthew argued something back, but Alex quickened his pace to get away from their conversation sooner. He didn't slow down until he was back at his dorm.