by Geri Watson
"You realize now he's going to think that's why you're with me," Tristan answered in a clipped tone.
"Why do you care what Zack thinks?" Star made a face.
"Because he already thought I was up to no good, he told me at dinner that night that he thought I was hiding something. People draw up all sorts of false conclusions about people who have money, Star. That's precisely why I don't go around announcing who exactly my parents are in Seattle or dress like I could afford to." his face scrunched up.
"Ugh, Tristan. Don't assume things when it comes to Zack. You're so oversensitive," she said exasperatedly.
"I am not," he shot back. "I don't want what we have together made to look ugly."
Star closed her eyes and shook her head then looked back up at him. "We're fine. Relax...please?" she begged.
Tristan still looked tense and didn't show any signs of attempting to chill out. Why does he have to be such a pain? After running several possible scenarios through her mind, Star took his hands in hers lightly and pulled him closer to her. Tristan licked his lips but still said nothing in response. She could tell he was thinking, but he wasn't going to say what about. She wished that she could read his mind right now. If he wasn't going to calm himself down, she was going to have to take things into her own hands.
After taking a steady breath, she maneuvered Tristan so that he was facing the opposite direction and pushed him in the center of his chest, making him lose his balance and fall backward onto the bed. He looked up at her surprised and opened his mouth to say something, but she covered his mouth and climbed up straddling his waist.
"If we're going to be together, I think we need to go over some ground rules," Star said seriously, still covering his mouth as he blinked and raised an eyebrow. "So listen for a minute alright?"
He nodded, and she released her hand.
"I know you think you already know everything about me, but there's still a lot you need to learn."
"Okay," Tristan said softly.
"First off, you need to quit being so uptight, because if you continue with this Type A personality it's not only going to shorten your life, but I might end it early for you because you'll drive me insane," she squinted down at him.
He chortled. "Alright. I'll try."
"That includes worrying about everything and what everyone thinks," she added as an afterthought.
"Duly noted," he responded.
"Don't assume you know what I'm thinking or what I'm doing. Odds are you're going to be wrong and make me mad in the end."
"But what if I'm right?" he asked. "I mean, I sent you that package knowing you'd follow the directions asked of you in it. Isn't that knowing you?"
Star pondered his question for a minute, looking up at the ceiling. When she looked back down at him, he smiled up at her waiting for her answer. His dimples distracted her. "Don't assume you're always right when it comes to what I'm thinking." she rephrased.
"Anything else?"
"Always be honest with me. I can't stand liars. When I had to lie to people about us, I felt like slime." Her face fell.
His hands slid up her legs. "That shouldn't be a problem."
"One more thing and I'll let you up." She was losing her focus with his hands being on her like they were.
"What?" Tristan rested his hands on her hips.
"Don't ever leave me alone again." She looked into his eyes and saw his expression falter.
Then he reached up and took her face in his hands and pulled her down into what started off as a chaste kiss. Once his mouth was on hers; however, she wasn't in a hurry to have it removed again. She started to question her position on top of him as their kiss intensified and her body temperature rose. Originally it had been to get his attention, and now it felt like she had more than made her point.
Tristan's hands rested on the small of her back, holding her to him as he ran his teeth over her bottom lip and kissed her again. She allowed herself to let go and be immersed in his kisses and forget that she was still in her parents’ house. His breath was sweet against her own, and she could feel him getting hotter beneath her.
"Ya know, if you two are going to be doing that, you should consider locking the door." Zack cleared his throat from the doorway.
Star shot up and blushed a deep scarlet, wiping her mouth and sliding off Tristan.
Tristan let his hands drop heavily onto the bed from where he held Star a second before. "Way to ruin a moment, Zack," he said with irritation in his voice.
"Be glad it was me and not one of her parents, man. That would have been more embarrassing," Zack retorted. "And here I thought you two were arguing in here. Boy was I off."
Both Star and Tristan laughed at the intonation in his voice. Tristan ran his hand over his face and then sat up. Star felt him take her hand and pull her in front of him. She sat back down on the bed, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Well to be fair, she was reading me the riot act when she first pulled me in here."
"Oh, and smothering you was your punishment?" Zack smiled, obviously amused by her humiliation of being caught in the act.
Star shot Zack a look that could kill and felt the heat still present on her cheeks. "Haha. Very funny."
"Does this mean I'm going to have to witness you two being all over each other at the apartment now? I may have to find a new roommate." Zack shot a wicked smile her way.
"I do have my own room. It just means you need to learn how to knock first," Star coyly shot back. "Which you could have done just now, by the way."
"I'll keep that in mind." Zack leaned against the door frame. "Are you guys gonna join us for present opening or not?"
The two of them wandered into the living room where they made themselves comfortable on the couch next to one another. Zack was sitting cross-legged on the floor sifting through the packages under the tree. He snatched one and shook it by his ear curiously, then carried it over to the couch and squished himself next to the end of the sofa and Star, forcing Tristan to scoot further down.
He reached over the side of the couch and procured a sadly wrapped misshapen gift then sat it on Star’s lap with a grin. Recognizing the package in his lap was her gift to him, and seeing that the one in her lap was obviously from him to her, Star laughed.
"Go ahead. I know it's killing you to wait any longer."
"Nah, I want you to open yours first." Zack shook his head.
"You sure?" Star asked, looking over at him.
"Oh yeah." Zack smiled widely. "I hope you like it."
She looked over at Tristan who had his head resting on one of his hands, watching their exchange quietly. He nodded for her to open it. "He's got me curious now."
"Okay." she turned her eyes back to the gift and tore the paper from where it was taped together. Inside was a set of cashmere gloves that she had been looking at for the past few months. She happily put them on and gave Zack a big hug, practically hopping in his lap and knocking him over in the process. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now my hands won't freeze!"
"Oof!" Zack laughed as he hugged her back. "You're very welcome. They were the last pair, and I had to fight off some woman for them. She hit me with her purse!"
"Aw. You suffered injury for me? That makes them even more special." Star kissed his cheek.
"Uh huh. You're lucky I love ya so much, Missy."
"Yeah, yeah...Open yours now!" she said excitedly.
As he opened his present, Star slid the gloves back off her hands and showed them to Tristan, who looked impressed by the material. She turned back to watch Zack open the box once he got the wrapping paper off. His face lit up as he saw that it was a grey, black, and white striped wool scarf. The scarf that Zack had now was ragged and full of holes made from run-ins with corners and being slammed in car doors over the years. She figured he needed a new one.
"Hey!" he slung it around his neck. "How's it look?" he turned to model it for them.
"It looks great! Just like I thought it would." Star appraised him.
"What do you think?" Zack asked Tristan.
"It does look pretty good. Looks warm too," he replied.
Zack smiled and got up. "I'm gonna go look in the mirror. Be right back!" he bounded out of the room and into the hallway.
"You sure made him happy," Tristan laughed.
"Eh. We take care of each other." Star smiled and took her gloves back, examining them more closely.
"Must be nice to have a good friend like that," Tristan said quietly.
The tone in his voice made Star turn back toward him. His face looked pinched, and she could tell he was trying not to show his emotions. From what she knew about Tristan, he didn't have many friends. His loner mentality didn't give people a chance to know him very well.
It struck her then that one of the reasons why she thought it was so odd that he and Zack were getting along so well was due to the more relaxed state of comfort he seemed to be in. Somehow in the past seven weeks, he'd altered his personality. She wondered what had brought that change on. He certainly seemed to be better at being social. Zack came back in then and sat on the couch between the two of them and wrapped his arms around their shoulders.
"I love Christmas!" he beamed. "Thanks for sharing it with me guys."
Tristan eyed Zack and grabbed the Santa hat abandoned on the back of the couch and set it on Zack's head, laughing. "You're welcome."
He leaned over and kissed Star's cheek then whispered in her ear that he'd be back in a while.
She had been distracted since Zack had begun handing out the gifts to her and her parents, playing Santa since he was wearing the hat. It hadn't crossed her mind that Tristan would be uncomfortable with the gift giving and she felt a little guilty that they had nothing for him. It felt vain of her to think that having her was enough of a present. She heard the front door close a short while later and looked over at Zack who was gushing over the Fitbit he'd gotten from her parents. Leave it to Zack to go nuts over exercise equipment.
Star's mother loved the book, and her father was surprised that she'd managed to track down some World War II paraphernalia that was used by her grandfather. Star got some new sweaters and sweatshirts and some new jeans. They also bought her some books that she'd mentioned in passing. They were all in the Christmas spirit, and Zack kept trying to stick bows on Star when she wasn't looking. He truly was as much of a pain in the butt as any brother would be.
Noticing that Tristan still hadn't returned, Star got up and gave her parents one more hug for the last gift and stuck a bow on Zack's head as she walked out of the room and into the hallway. Tristan's jacket wasn't on the hall bench, so Star grabbed hers and walked outside to find him.
CHAPTER 22
Tristan watched the misty cloud his breath formed dissipate before his eyes. His hands were in the pockets of his black wool overcoat, and he enjoyed hearing the muffled laughter from inside the house behind him.
The snow was falling softly, covering the world around him. He'd started to feel a little claustrophobic once the tenderness of their gift exchange was about to go into full swing. If he were honest with himself, he'd felt like he was intruding. He didn't want Star to know that though, if she did, he was sure she'd chastise him for thinking that way.
His overcoat was keeping him warm enough that he didn't feel the chill of the evening air, and her parents lived far enough away from the main road that the imagery around him was more serene then he'd ever laid eyes on. It was like panoramic photographs he'd seen, but being from the city, he'd never really experienced it himself. He'd started to walk away from the house a bit, but once he stepped out into the snow himself, he felt like he was desecrating the beauty and stayed put. Tristan raised his face up to the sky and closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of the tiny snowflakes landing against his skin and melting a second later. His lips turned up into a smile. It had been a good Christmas.
"I wish I had a camera so you could see yourself right now."
He opened his eyes and turned his head to the sound of Star's voice behind him. "What?"
She smiled and walked over to him. Once she was up close, he took in her features and wanted to run his fingers over her face, just so he could touch her. He refrained and instead used his eyes to caress her cheeks, the way the loose strands of hair framed her face, and her full lips as they parted to say something to him.
"You looked so tranquil standing out here in the snow." Star looked down and back into his eyes. The green in her irises shone brightly against her emerald sweater, overpowering the warm brown they usually were. God, she was gorgeous. He took his hands out of his pockets and collected her into his arms, holding her against him.
"I was thinking about things," Tristan murmured, breathing her in.
"Like what?" she asked.
"You," he warmly beamed at her.
"What about me?" Star asked suspiciously.
"That being with you has made this the best Christmas I've ever had, that your family welcoming me like they did made me feel like a part of the family, that I don't have the vocabulary to really tell you how badly I missed you..." he trailed off and brought his hands up, cupping her face. "And that you look like an angel right now with the snow in your hair."
Star blushed beneath his hands and looked down, breaking their eye contact with one another. "I missed you too."
He could feel the warmth from her blush under his hands and thought it was adorable that he made her flustered like this. Sliding his one hand around her waist and guiding her chin up to his lips with the other, he kissed her and drank in the sweetness her lips left on his.
In the back of his mind, he idly wondered if Zack was going to make an appearance and break them up like he'd made a habit of doing since arriving last night. Tristan strained his hearing, trying to detect if the front door had opened or if someone was walking toward them. Concluding that they were alone this time, he slid his hands down her thighs and hoisted her up into his arms, deepening their kiss in the process.
This earned a small squeak from Star, and he smiled as she squeezed her legs around his waist. It felt idyllic with her as absorbed in him as he was with her in these moments. After a while, he noticed that her angelic appearance was starting to look more like she'd been caught in the rain and set her down.
"We should go in." He ran his hand through her wet hair. "You're going to get sick from me indulging you out in the snowfall."
Star looked at his hair and ran her fingers through it. The sensation made him close his eyes as she did it, but Tristan took her hand and led her back toward the house before they could get caught up in one another again. He didn't want everyone inside to think that he'd wandered off with her somewhere. Although it had been nice to be alone with her.
Once they were back inside the house, Tristan helped Star out of her coat and hung it up on the pegs above the bench in the hallway. Then he pulled off his jacket and hung it beside hers. He felt her fingers entwine with his and she pulled him toward the family room down the hall. When they arrived, he saw Zack sitting on the floor leaning against the couch reading and a roaring fire going in the fireplace. He heard her parents talking in the kitchen down the hall preparing another meal.
"I'm going to go get a towel for my hair, want one?" Star asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah, sure," Tristan answered, seating himself on the couch.
The heat from the fire felt good against his cooled skin. He watched Star exit the room and looked down at Zack, who hadn't acknowledged his presence yet. Zack's eyebrows were pulled together as he read a passage in the book. Then he looked up and into the fire for a moment with a dazed expression on his face. Tristan sneezed from the temperature difference, and Zack bolted up as if someone had shocked him.
"When the hell did you come in?" he asked wild-eyed.
"A few minutes ago." Tristan laughed at the startled look on his face. "I guess you were really into that book."
Zack sat back down on the floor and shook his head. "Yeah, the stuff in this book is crazy. I can see why Star read it in only three days."
Star walked in and handed Tristan a towel, and he rubbed it against his hair, knowing it would probably be left spiky. She settled herself against his side, making it hard to dry his hair off, but he didn't complain. He folded the towel up and set it on the table next to the couch. Star reached up and started playing with the spikes in his hair, and Tristan shot her an amused look and looked back at Zack. He was back to reading the book with an intense gaze taking over his facial features. Tristan tilted his head to read the title of the book in Zack's hands, and his eyes went wide when he saw what it was.
"You read 'Cases of Reincarnation?'" he asked Star stunned, taking her hand from his hair.