Blue Plaid

Hero

In which Tyson learns that Stella St. Clare is a superhero.

“Hurry the hell up, Stella!” I shouted from my perch on the couch. “At this rate, we’re never going to actually leave.”

“I would have been ready fifteen minutes ago if someone hadn’t decided to spill orange juice all over me,” she yelled from inside her bedroom.

I snickered to myself. It had been accident, but the sight of Stella glaring at me whilst covered in juice was really amusing. Turning my head, I looked thoughtfully at Cooper, who was seated on the couch beside me, tugging on the shoelaces of the tiniest pair of Converse I had ever seen.

“Same, bro,” I nodded as I watched his tiny fingers, “I don’t know how they make them that small either.”

“What are you two talking about?”

I looked up to find Stella standing in the den, wearing a loose denim shirt over a black leather skirt and her favorite worn out black biker boots. At first I was confused as to why she had the biggest smirk ever on her face before remember that she had an extremely dirty mind and came in at the completely wrong part of the conversation.

I rolled my eyes and pointed at Cooper’s shoes. “We’re wondering how you possibly managed to find Converse that miniscule.”

Shrugging, she beamed, apparently quite proud of herself. “I have connections.”

That I knew. And sometimes it was hard to believe that the same girl who was speechless (a wondrous feat in itself) for ten minutes after meeting Donatella Versace last week also casually texted Cindy Crawford. Stella’s world was one I wasn’t sure I would ever comprehend.

“You good to go?” I asked as I lifted myself from the couch and reached down to pick up Cooper.

“Yep,” Stella replied, turning on her heel to grab the pram from a nearby closet.

I settled Cooper in and buckled him up as Stella retrieved her purse and we were on our way. Keeping our promise to each other, we had decided to begin going on what I had called ‘friend dates’. Basically, Stella and I wanted to get to the point where we could behave like normal human beings with each other.

So far, it had been going well. Minimal bickering had occurred and we’d only lost track of Cooper in the park once.

Today, we were going grocery shopping. The kitchen was running appallingly low on pretty much all the necessities and Stella was absolutely hopeless at buying…well, anything, so she’d decided she wanted to come with me in an attempt to learn.

A noble cause. I prayed it didn’t end in disaster.

“So how exactly does this work?” Stella asked as we walked along the sidewalk, me slowly pushing Cooper’s pram and Stella doing her best to occupy her hands because she never really knew what to do with them. “Do you have like a process for how you buy food?”

It was an interesting question. One I didn’t exactly know how to answer. The truth was that it was all a feeling. Half the time, I had no idea what I wanted to make until I got to the shop. Once there, I just kind of knew what to buy. But that seemed too vague to explain, so I just shrugged and said, “Not really. I just go with the flow.”

“Nice, Kingsley,” she laughed, “Way to make everything more confusing.”

I shrugged as we slowed down in front of the shop. “You’ll see what I mean when we get inside.”

She nodded and bent down to unstrap Cooper. Although we were probably allowed to push him around inside, the aisles were small and he liked walking better anyway. In fact, if Cooper had his way, he’d probably walk all the time.

Stella helped him to the ground and held out a hand for him to grab on to. He gave her a stern look and shook his head briskly before toddling through the front door.

Laughing she hurried behind him, giving him enough distance to explore as I securely stored the pram in the designated spot at the front. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I walked through the front doors to find Stella scrambling to rearrange some apples in a display in the front.

“What happened?” I asked, laughing, but making sure I could still see Cooper toddling around the apple display.

“For someone with tiny legs, he’s super quick,” she panted as she stood up straight.

Holding in a laugh, I darted around the apple display and quickly scooped Cooper into my arms before he could pummel his way through a nearby magazine stand. I shot him a look of mock sternness. “You’re quite full of energy today, aren’t you, bro?”

Stella finally finished placing the apples in their correct places and came to join me just as I came to a realization.

“Cooper’s not even tall enough to reach any of that fruit,” I quirked an eyebrow at Stella. “How did he manage to knock them over?”

“He didn’t,” she crossed her arms over her chest and sent me a glare, daring me to laugh, “I tripped into it when I was chasing after him.”

Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing as she rolled her eyes and grabbed a cart before dragging me further into the produce section. I situated Cooper in the small plastic seat in the front and he pouted cutely, which absolutely broke my heart, so I immediately took him out and placed him on the floor once more. The smile he gave me was so wide that I wondered if anything could ever top the happiness I felt at that moment.

I glanced up at Stella, knowing I’d have to ask her to keep a sharp eye on him for the remainder of our trip. She shrugged and shot me a knowing smile before squatting down beside Cooper.

“Alright, Coop,” she said seriously, smoothing out his miniature t-shirt, “Our mission today is to get food for the rest of the week. Think you’re up for the job?”

Apparently he understood what she was saying because he nodded and giggled. Stella smiled up at me. “We’re good to go.”

I grinned at them proudly and nodded towards the produce. “Let’s go.”

We walked slowly through the aisles because Cooper’s legs could only carry him quickly for so long. Stella and I didn’t talk much; she mostly just watched as I picked out my spices and types of meat and grinned excitedly when I placed something in the cart that she particularly enjoyed.

Cooper got tired after about fifteen minutes, so Stella scooped him into her arms and held him firmly at the hip as we entered the aisle with the paper products. Stella looked as though she’d had an epiphany.

“I’ll be right back,” she promised, taking Cooper with her as she disappeared.

I shrugged and loaded up on paper towels and napkins and she returned about five minutes later, her fingers stretched over two boxes. It wasn’t until she tossed them in the cart that I realized what they were.

Condoms.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s the brand you use, right?” she replied, ignoring my question.

I glanced down to confirm that the box she’d gotten was in fact of the brand I used and was surprised that she had been correct. But then again, we had been sharing a bathroom, so maybe it wasn’t all that surprising that she knew my condom of choice.

“Yeah, but…”

“I was out,” she explained, shifting Cooper to her other arm, “So I figured I’d get you some as well.”

Stella and I didn’t talk about each other’s s*x lives; a fact for which I was grateful, but as far as I could remember, Stella hadn’t had any male visitors since we’d begun to live together. Or maybe she was just really good at hiding them.

“Out?” I smirked, not even trying to hide my amusement. “Apparently you’ve been busy when I’m not around.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that. Jenna’s in town, so I gave Alex my box because he didn’t have time to go to the store.”

“Gotcha,” I nodded, still entirely too entertained by this situation. “Good cover story.”

Sticking her tongue out at me, she rolled her eyes again and sighed. “By the way, Alex wants you to come with us when I meet Jenna.”

“What do you mean?” I furrowed my brow and began pushing the cart towards the end of the aisle.

“He invited me over to his place for dinner so that I can get to know his girlfriend and he wants you to come too.”

“But I don’t even know him,” I replied slowly. I’d only met Alex that one time when he and Stella and Cooper came to the restaurant. The guy with the disarmingly green eyes.

“Exactly,” she nodded, as if though that clarified everything. “Alex and I are becoming good friends and if he’s going to be in my life, it makes sense that you should get to know him too. I don’t want you hating my friends. I don’t need that kind of drama in my life.”

“Alright,” I laughed quietly, a little freaked because it kind of sounded like a double date, but I decided not to put that idea in Stella’s mind.

“Thanks,” she smiled genuinely, reaching out and ruffling my hair.

I shot her a glare and she laughed and I couldn’t help but join in because it felt like a true moment of camaraderie.

Which was interrupted when emerged at the end of an aisle and a young girl recognized Stella. She was dressed in a school uniform and looked to be about sixteen. I noticed her staring at Stella as we walked towards the checkout counters, her eyes wide and her cheeks a little flushed. She looked nervous, as though she wanted to come and speak to Stella, but wasn’t entirely sure how to go about doing that.

So I figured I’d make things easier for her and I waved her over, giving her a reassuring smile that talking to Stella would not be a traumatic experience at all.

Stella noticed my gestures and followed my gaze in confusion, her expression immediately breaking out into a warm smile when she noticed the girl approaching.

“Hello,” Stella spoke, using her free arm to pull the girl into a side hug.

“Hi, Stella,” the girl replied, her tone hushed and her eyes wide with awe. “I’m Hannah. I’m a huge fan of your work.”

“I’m flattered,” Stella grinned, noticing the girl’s eyes shift to the toddler in Stella’s arms. “This is Cooper.”

“Your son, right?” Hannah gushed, raising a hand to wave at Cooper, who immediately grinned in response. “I’d read that you’d adopted a child with…”

She trailed off, her gaze shifting to me as though she’d just registered my presence. “You must be the boyfriend.”

She said it with so much conviction that I almost agreed before realizing that she was wrong.

“No,” I shook my head and smiled softly, “Stella and I just raise Cooper together. We’re not a couple.”

The idea seemed to confuse her, but she didn’t say anything more about it. “Gotcha. That’s cool.”

The line of questioning probably would have turned to an entirely different topic, thereby making everyone’s lives easier, had Hannah’s eyes not strayed to our cart. Or more particularly, the two boxes of condoms sitting on top.

My eyes widened as my brain instantly ran through every dirty thought Hannah could be having and I stared at Stella, wondering if she was going to say anything. She looked like she was about burst out laughing, so I ended up blurting out words instead.

“They’re not ours.”

Hannah looked confused. And right she was to be confused because why the hell would we have them in our cart if they weren’t ours?

“I mean,” I stammered, reaching up to rake my fingers through my hair in an attempt to occupy my hands, “They’re ours, but we don’t use them.”

That only confused her even more. I was on a roll.

“That’s not what I meant,” I shook my head, wishing someone would stop me from speaking, “We use them. It’s important to use them. You should always use protection.”

By this time Hannah was bright red and I wanted to burrow a hole in the ground and never come out, but I couldn’t stop the words from dropping from my lips.

“My point,” I breathed deeply, “Is that we don’t use them with each other. We’re not sleeping together.”

Shit. It was a really good thing that I’d have years to practice before I had to give Cooper the talk about the birds and bees.

“There’s no need to explain,” Hannah laughed uncomfortably, reaching up to tug on the end of her ponytail and avoiding making eye contact with me. “I get it. You guys are just friends raising a kid together.”

I breathed a sigh of relief because the conversation seemed to be veering in a different direction. Hopefully I hadn’t scarred her too much. Judging by the s**t eating grin on Stella’s face, this entire conversation had been the most riveting thing she’d ever witnessed in her life. I ignored her. “That probably seems strange, but it seems to be working for us so far.”

“A little bit,” she admitted, smiling shyly. “But I think it’s really cool that you guys are good enough friends for that to work.”

My lips parted, wondering if I should tell her how ‘good’ of friends Stella and I really were, but I bit it back and shot her a smile.

She nodded once and turned her attention to Stella, asking for a picture. Stella handed me Cooper and Hannah handed me her phone and I took the picture before showing it to Hannah for her approval. She sent me a grateful smile and accepted another enveloping embrace from Stella. When she pulled away, I could have sworn I heard her whisper, “He’s cute. You should be more than friends.”

I wouldn’t have believed it had it not been for the fact that Stella’s cheeks tinted with color. Her gaze slid to me for a moment before she scrunched her nose in mock disgust and shook her head, whispering, “I’m way out of his league.”

“Hey!” I blurted out before realizing I wasn’t supposed to be hearing this part of their interaction.

Stella dropped one eye in a wink and squeezed Hannah one more time before sending her on her way and directing me and the cart towards the checkout counter with the shortest line.

“Nice job, Kingsley,” Stella smirked as we waited for the lady in front of us to finish placing her items on the conveyer belt. “That wasn’t uncomfortable at all.”

“Sorry,” I sighed. “I got flustered.”

“I couldn’t tell,” she deadpanned.

I rolled my eyes as she began to unload the contents of our cart. Holding Cooper expertly in the crook of one arm, I dug my wallet out of my pocket and slid my credit card through the reader as I shot the cashier a friendly smile. He returned it and quickly bagged our groceries. Stella carried the bags and I carried Cooper.

“Maybe next time you’re around a fan, you should refrain from giving them a lecture about having protected s*x,” Stella advised as we walked towards the exit.

I glared at her. “I was just trying to explain the situation.”

“There wasn’t any need to, though,” Stella laughed. “Honestly, if you hadn’t said anything, she probably wouldn’t have even mentioned the fact that she noticed the condoms.”

“But she might have gotten the wrong idea about us,” I protested.

Stella’s eyebrows shot up as we stepped out of the shop and found our pram once more.

“What?” she said, “She would have thought we’re sleeping together?”

I nodded as I got it ready with one hand before lowering Cooper down and strapping him in. “Yeah. I’m sure you don’t want that rumor spreading.”

She shrugged as we began to walk back home. “I mean, it’s kind of inevitable.”

“How do you mean?” I asked, genuinely curious. Stella and I never really had conversations about her celebrity. Probably because it was quite easy to forget that she was a celebrity.

She paused for a moment and looked at me seriously. “I’m about to compliment you, so you have to promise you won’t take it the wrong way.”

I let out a small laugh. “I promise.”

“You’re hot and you’re around my age,” she explained. “Any time we’re seen in public together, people are going to assume there’s something going on between us. And the fact that we have Cooper with us just adds to that.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded. I felt badly for her. It was pretty sad that Stella couldn’t live a normal life without people jumping to all kinds of conclusions about things that weren’t even really their business.

She lifted one side of her mouth into a rueful smile and we walked in silence for another block until I noticed her visibly stiffen beside me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, frowning in concern.

Her eyes darted across the street and I followed her gaze to see a small cluster of men with cameras held to their faces, furiously snapping away.

“Paparazzi,” she explained, her tone lowered and trembling slightly.

Her eyes were shifting from side to side and her fingers had tightened around the handles of the grocery bags. Stella greatly disliked paparazzi. She didn’t mind being photographed when she was modelling, but the whole invasion of her personal time stressed her out.

At least, that’s what she had told me one day when she came home severely pissed off because paparazzi had followed her for five blocks. This was the first time I was seeing her interact with them in person.

I didn’t really know what to say, so I shot her what I hoped was a reassuring look. She took a beat, allowing me to push ahead before coming to walk on the side of me which was closer to the street.

“What are you doing?” I asked, confused by her actions.

“I don’t care if they get shots of me, but I don’t want them getting any of Cooper. There’s no need to expose him to that.”

Her lips were pressed in a thin line and her facial expression suggested she was angry, but the dilating of her pupils confirmed that she was actually terrified.

I wanted to be able to comfort her, but for the life of me, I couldn’t come up with any calming words to say. So we walked in quietly, keeping our heads down for the next block, only to be cut off by paparazzi who dared to cross the street and were now walking backwards to take pictures of Stella approaching our building.

“Hey, Stella, is this your boyfriend?”

“Is he the baby daddy?”

“How old is your son?”

She ignored the questions. Her expression had shifted to something more neutral, more blank; no doubt an expression her publicist had ordered her to make in these types of situations in order to prevent her from seeming rude.

She managed to keep them at bay for the block leading up to our building, sending them friendly smiles and ignoring most of their questions. To be honest, the entire situation was scary as hell and I understood why Stella disliked it so much. My heart was racing and my throat was dry and all I wanted was to be anywhere but here.

It was when we reached the front door of our building that Stella was beyond incredible.

One of the paparazzi squatted down to Cooper’s level and before I could even open my mouth to protest, Stella had stepped in front of the toddler and blocked him from view.

“Hey, dickwad,” Stella seethed, glaring down at the paparazzi, “Get away from my kid.”

Caught off guard by her burst of anger, he stood and backed away.

“I don’t give a s**t how much you torment me, but you stay the hell away from my family,” she called out, her knuckles white from how hard her fingers were clenching the bags. “Are we clear?”

Still dazed by the interaction, he nodded and backed away more. The other paparazzi followed his lead and with a triumphant nod, Stella turned and pointed towards the door. “Can you get that, Ty? My hands are full.”

I was a little in awe, so I didn’t respond verbally, instead reaching out and pulling the door open to let her through. Once we were inside the lobby, I stared at her profile, wondering if I would ever be able to figure her out. 

Apparently Stella St. Clare was destined to be full of surprises.

“Stel,” I said quietly as we waited for the elevator. “That was amazing.”

I had always known Stella was strong willed and able to stand her ground. I guess it was just impressive to see her channel that fierceness towards someone other than me.

She glanced at me and shrugged. “We’re a team, remember? You don’t let people mess with your team.”

“Well, you’re my hero,” I grinned when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

We stepped inside and she pressed the button for our floor. Her lips stretched into a wide smile and it almost looked like she was blushing. Almost.

“Thanks, Kingsley.”

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. “All in all, I think this went well.”

“Agreed,” I nodded as we came to a stop on our floor. “Before you know it, we’ll be besties.”

Stella snorted and held out a hand to keep the door open while I pushed Cooper out of the elevator. “Slow down there, cowboy. Let’s take it slow, ok?”

“I get it,” I teased as I shoved my hand in my pocket to pull out my key and stick it in the lock. “You’re just afraid that you’re going to end up wanting more.”

“You wish,” she rolled her eyes and walked through the door.

As I squatted down to unstrap Cooper and sent him toddling off towards his toys, I felt a knot tighten in the pit of my stomach at her words.

You wish.

And then I began to wonder if maybe she was right.

Maybe her wanting more was exactly what I wanted as well.