Page 73 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
This would be an even tougher sell.
But… whatever. Miles wanted to spoil the kids, and I supported that wholeheartedly. I was also pretty sure he wanted to impress my sister and Nash, though I didn’t understand why. They were the ones who needed to impress us after what she’d done.
But I was trying to forgive her for that. Or maybe not forgive exactly, because I wasn’t sure that was possible, but I definitely wanted to set it aside and move on from there. I wanted to build a relationship with her, and hopefully, over time, I’d be able to trust her again.
Lyric distracted Miles from his nerves for a few minutes, but as soon as there was a knock, I could tell my boyfriend’s anxiety came rushing back. I ran my hand down his arm, then went to answer the door.
The twins stood on the other side with Clucky riding Chaos’s shoulders, and I saw a random car pull away from the curb, but I didn’t see their car. They looked awkward as hell, but when I said, “Hey, guys,” Aeson’s typical smile came back. “Did you get dropped off?”
Ace nodded. “Yeah, our car’s being finicky and wouldn’t start.”
“Oh, crap. Do you want me to come take a look at it?”
“No. It’s at the mechanic’s already, but thanks.”
For some reason, I wasn’t sure if that was true or not. Aeson didn’t usually lie, at least not that I knew of, but I wasn’t sure he was being truthful now. Still, there wasn’t really anything I could do about it right now, so… I waved them inside.
Chaos still looked grumpy, but what was new? He was dressed in all black—no surprise there—but he had his hair styled a little differently than before so it was brushed forward and covering half his face in a spikey and cool-looking do. Or at least, I assumed it was supposed to be cool-looking. To me, it looked uncomfortable since there was no way he could see out of his eye like that.
“Hey. Thanks for having us,” Aeson said as they stepped awkwardly and cautiously into the house, and Miles moved over to greet them.
“I’m glad you could make it.” He offered them a small smile, then, for reasons unknown to me, he bent over, picked up Odin, and thrust his cat out to them. “This is Odin. He’s really friendly and loves meeting new people.”
Chaos looked like he didn’t know what to do, but Aeson didn’t hesitate to take the cat from Miles’s outstretched arms and cuddle him to his chest. It made me smile when the teen started cooing at him.
Goliath nosed Miles out of the way, making Chaos jump and Clucky chirp in surprise.
“Holy shit, that’s a big dog.”
With a laugh, I stopped the dog from jumping on the teenager. “It’s okay. This is Goliath. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Oh. Hey. Sorry, big guy. You startled me,” Chaos said quietly as he held the back of his hand up to Goliath, letting him smell it.
Goliath sniffed for a few seconds, then gave Chaos’s hand a big lick.
The teen laughed—actually laughed—then surprised me by burying both hands in Goliath’s fur and giving him some huge scratches while he kissed the top of his head, baby-talking to him.
Goliath sniffed at Clucky, and she lifted her head like a proud monarch for a long time before giving him a tiny rub of the cheek to the top of his head. He wagged his tail harder, and Chaos laughed.Again.
My eyes went wide—Chaos never acted like that around us—and I twisted around to meet Miles’s gaze. His face looked as shocked as I felt, but then he slowly smiled, and I couldn’t help but match the expression.
The kids had been here for less than two minutes, and they already seemed to be relaxing. That was… amazing. The power of pets, at your service.
Sola let out an angry chirp as she swooped over to us and landed on Miles’s shoulder.
Immediately, Clucky began clucking back at her angrily.
Sola responded with more angry clicks, and then Clucky went again.
“What the hell? Are they arguing?” Lyric asked.
I shook my head. “Don’t know, but it sure sounds like it.”
Miles sighed and gave Sola some pets. “Come on, girl. Be nice.”
She trilled at him, then gave one final angry click at Clucky.
Clucky turned away, ignoring Sola as she rubbed her face on Chaos’s cheek and chin, cooing at him.
