The Birthday Party
1505 Words
Jonathan POV
Even though we had a lot we needed to figure out, I knew we needed to get back home. Birthday party preparation would soon be in full swing and we needed to help. I knew that, as usual, Mom would insist there was no need to help with our own party, that she and Dad and Sarah had everything under control, but, as usual, Jameson and I would find something to do to help out. We both felt bad leaving the prep to everyone else. It was the same when their birthdays rolled around - the rest of us would insist we had party prep under control, but the birthday boy or girl would always find something to do to help. Call it a family tradition, I suppose. Last year Jameson and I wound up airing up pool floats and making homemade ice cream (peach, because peach ice cream is the bomb).
"So, about this whole shared mate thing," Jameson began.
"Kinda sounds a little weird for my tastes," I said, shaking my head. "Like, who wants to share a partner with their brother? No offense.
He laughed. "None taken. But, I wonder why twins have to share a mate?"
'I can explain that,' Damien spoke up.
I lifted a finger to let Jameson know to hold on for a second.
'Explain away,' I told Damien.
'Essentially, mates are assigned before conception even happens,' he told me. 'When identical multiples are conceived, they're basically like one soul that split into two or three or whatever. However, that soul still just one mate assigned to them. Unless it so happens that soul splits into more than one as well. It's rare, but there have been cases where twins were mated to twins. Anyhow, basically it's because twins are naturally occurring clones and like one soul occupying multiple bodies. Since it's the soul and not the physical body the person is mated to, well, you get it. One mate to share.'
'Weirdly, that makes sense,' I told him. I then turned and explained it to Jameson. His reaction was basically the same as mine.
I pulled out of the gas station and turned back towards home, still deep in thought.
"When and what do you think we should tell Mom, Dad, and Sarah?" I asked hesitantly.
Jameson sighed. "I've been trying to figure that out myself. They're going to freak."
"Should we tell them after the party, or should we wait a couple of days?" I asked him. "You know once they get past the initial freak out and the disbelief, they'll help however they can."
He nodded. "I know. Maybe Sarah would be able to do some research at the library on the campus. They probably have some information we don't."
I smiled. "You're probably right. Plus Mom always has great ideas, plus Damien told me I should ask Dad about Lycans. Said he knows more than we think, and he's never told Mom."
Jameson looked surprised. I understood why - our family didn't keep secrets, to our knowledge. "If that's true, I wonder why he never told anyone?" he wondered aloud.
I shrugged. "If that's true, I'm sure he had his reasons. We can ask him."
We drove the rest of the way home in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts - or, in my case, listening to a certain annoying voice in my head, yammering from everything from Dad knowing about Lycans to the ocean views we were passing. Man, this was going to take some getting used to.
Jameson POV
When we got back to the house, party prep was in full swing. Mom and Sarah were chopping veggies, grating cheese, rolling out dough, mixing sauce, etc., all the stuff that goes along with homemade pizzas. One was already in the oven, making the house smell deliciously like an Italian restaurant. My mouth immediately started watering when we walked in the door. Dad had the grill fired up out by the pool and was pulling the meat out of the refrigerator in the garage, where he'd thawed it overnight. In no time, the outside of the house was smelling as good as the inside. As usual, we asked where we could help and were told we were the birthdays and they had it under control. So, also as usual, we went and found ways to help. We checked pool floats to make sure they were aired up, put drinks on ice, dragged coolers where they needed to be, set out napkins and stacks of paper plates and plastic utensils, etc., until Mom shooed us off and told us we'd helped enough with our own birthday party. So we both went upstairs, got our showers, and changed into swim trunks. Neither of us bothered with a shirt since we'd be taking them off to swim anyway. Then we grabbed a couple stacks of towels and carried out to the pool deck - someone always forgot to bring a towel so we made sure there were always extras beside the pool.
By then, it was time for our friends to start arriving. The first to arrive was Tom Kade, our best friend since we were kids. In typical Tom fashion, he came in like a wrecking ball.
"Yo yo yo yo!" he exclaimed when he walked through the door.
Mom turned her head to smile at him. "Hey, Tom! The boys are - "
" - right here," I finished for her as we walked in the back door. "Tom, my dude! What's up?"
We all exchanged fist bumps, and he wished us both a happy birthday. Then he turned to Mom and Sarah. "Hey, Mrs. C! Hey Sarah! Man, it smells like I've died and got to Italian heaven in here!"
He went over and kissed Mom on the cheek, and gave Sarah a quickly brotherly hug.
"Where's Mr. C?" he asked.
"Right here!" Dad yelled from the backyard. We had the back door still open, so he'd heard the question.
"Yo, Mr. C!" Tom exclaimed, walking out to where Dad stood at the grill and exchanging fist bumps with him.
"What's up Thomas?" Dad asked. Thomas had been around since we were about five, so he was pretty much part of the family.
While the two of them chatted, others started arriving. Soon, the pool deck was filled with friends talking, laughing, eating, and just in general enjoying themselves.
After eating half of a pizza, a steak, and who knows how many sides, Jonathan spent most of the time in the pool, as usual. (Well, after waiting a few minutes, to placate Mom - she always insisted we wait a little while after eating to swim because "you'll get cramps.")
I swam a little, but spent most of the party sitting around in the chairs beside the pool, cracking jokes with some of our friends and watching the girls. I wondered what they would think if I suddenly announced that, "Oh, hey, guys, we're pretty sure Jonathan and I aren't actually human. What ya think of that?" But of course I didn't.
Sarah had invited a couple of her friends to the party - two girls and a guy - and they were sitting off to the side, deeply involved their own conversation. I noticed the guy kept watching us warily, and I also noticed there was a weird scent coming off of him.
'Donovan?' I called to him. He'd been quiet all night, but I could feel that he was there, just below the surface, quietly observing.
'I already know what you're wondering about,' he replied. 'It's because he's a werewolf. And he's staring at us because he knows you're a Lycan. Werewolves are naturally leery of us because we're stronger than them, bigger than them. They also know that if a Lycan goes crazy for some reason, a single insane Lycan can wipe out entire towns. So they're naturally cautious when they're around Lycans they don't know.'
'Wow, interesting!' I said. 'So we can tell by scent when we're near other supernatural creatures?'
'Most of the time, yes,' he responded.
'Most of the time?' I said questioningly.
'Witches can make a scent disguising spray that supernaturals will sometimes use to disguise their identities,' he told me. 'But not all of us have access to any of that.'
'Oh,' I replied. 'Ok. He's not going to hurt Sarah, is he?"
'I don't think so, but I'm not sure,' he said honestly.
Before I even realized I knew how to, I was speaking telepathically to Jonathan. 'Sarah is sitting with a werewolf and I'm not sure if he'll hurt her or not.'
Jonathan's head flipped around from the pool. He locked eyes with the werewolf, who went as white as a sheet and his eyes went wide. The werewolf pushed himself back in his chair, moving closer to Sarah. Sarah turned to look and saw the two of us striding towards her friend with murder on our faces.
- Writer
