by J. E. Cluney
So there was more to Skip than I thought. That laid-back, easygoing nature hid an interesting man.
“Is his grandmother still here?” I asked.
“Nah, she died three years ago. Thankfully, Lucas was in need of housemates, so Skip got in early. Marcus was next, he’s in his second year of study too. I moved in way before the other two. Lucas inherited the place when he was just sixteen. I moved in with him at his request, he didn’t want to be alone in this big ‘ole house,” he chuckled.
“So you would’ve been, what, fourteen?” I did the quick maths.
“Yeah, I finished high school while living here with him. He started uni almost immediately out of school.”
“Your parents didn’t mind you moving in?” I frowned. He’d not mentioned his family at all.
“Nah,” he murmured, shifting uneasily. I recognized those walls slamming up. I’d done it so many times myself.
There was more to this sweet little shifter than I thought. Something he was hiding. Something about his family.
“Hey, you two hungry?”
I snapped my head round to spy Marcus slouched against the doorframe like a heavenly God. Lucifer reincarnated with his divine godly looks.
Yep, that was his personality. I mentally slapped myself. What the hell was up with me? I’d only known these guys for a day and I was already swooning over all of them. Even the arseholey vampire.
“Not if it’s what you’re sharing,” Ollie retorted.
Marcus just rolled his eyes and smirked.
“Red’s making burgers, figured you and VB would want some for a late lunch,” he said as he crossed his arms.
“What’s the time?” I asked. How long had I slept for? When I’d last looked at my iPod before falling asleep, it was a little after eleven in the morning.
“Two,” was the blunt reply.
“You know, I’m not a beer, VB isn’t my name,” I growled.
“No, but you are vampire bait, little pixie halfling,” Marcus smirked, those icy eyes trailing over me and making me warm up. Too bad he was a prick. I just scowled at him in return.
“Well, if you want them, you better head down now and let him know,” Marcus sighed, as if it had been such a pain for him to relay the message.
He pushed off the doorframe, disappearing silently down the hall. I heard his bedroom door open and close, the only sound of his movements.
“I could go for burgers,” Oliver said as he stood and offered me his hand. “What about you?”
“Sounds good, I’m starving.”
Turned out that Skip was a pretty good cook. Oliver informed me that he and Lucas were the main cooks of the house, with Skip specializing in meats.
“He works as a chippy while he studies, bet you didn’t know that!” Oliver declared as he rested his elbows on the table as we dug in to our burgers.
Skip was sitting with us, finally wearing some form of clothing, although the singlet left little to the imagination considering how tight it was and how much it dipped under his arms.
“Huh, that I did not know,” I nodded as I bit into the mouth-watering burger.
“Homemade rissoles, I make them every fortnight,” Skip said proudly. “I freeze some of them to use throughout the week.”
“They’re amazing,” I said through a mouthful of burger. Mine had the standard salad filling, the rissole, and I’d gone with barbecue sauce, while Skip and Ollie had chosen tomato sauce.
“The homemade rissoles were mixed with an assortment of herbs and spices, and it was delicious. You should do a roast tonight, she’d love that,” Ollie said, flicking his head my way as he spoke to Skip.
“I think Lucas wants to do pizza since Richo and Issac are coming over. What kind of pizza do you like?” he focused back on me as he took a hefty bite from his burger and downed it with some coke. How he was still ripped despite his love of coke was beyond me.
“Pepperoni, but don’t worry about me, I can make myself something for dinner,” I shook my head.
“Nah, it’s on us, consider it our official welcome dinner,” Skip grinned, the dimples in his cheeks making my stomach flip. Damn, he was a yummy sight.
“I can put some money in at least,” I offered, but Skip shot it down.
“We like to head into Maleny for our pizzas, there’s this fucking awesome wood-fired pizza place,” Skip emphasized with his hands as he leaned back in his chair at the table.
“Hey, language, there’s a lady present,” Oliver scolded him.
“I’ve heard it all before,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, shithead, she’s used to it. Living with us, you’ll get used to the swearing. Hate to say it, but we’re a little bogan,” Skip winked as he clasped his hands behind his head. The small move only made his biceps flex, making me nearly bite my lip at the sight.
“What he’s trying to say, is that he’s bogan,” Oliver rectified.
“Whatever,” Skip grumbled as he closed his eyes, having polished off his burger and almost all his glass of coke.
I sipped my orange juice, watching Oliver mirror me unknowingly with his own glass of juice.
“So, you play pool?” Skip asked, not bothering to open his eyes as he cleared his throat.
“Here and there, I guess,” I shrugged.
My aunt’s second boyfriend had a pool table in his house, which we’d all moved into not too long after they got together. It was only five minutes from our old place, but a bit of an upgrade.
I’d played pool with him a few times, but I pushed those memories down. I didn’t want to remember my aunt, or him. Especially him.
“Lucas and his two mates tend to put money down, so if you’re good, you should try your hand at it,” Skip suggested.
“They’re all witches though, so I’d butt out,” Oliver warned me.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” I frowned.
“Tricksters, Lucas and his mates are big tricksters. Using magic to warp the game, although if you were to play, they’d use no magic,” Skip said as he finally opened his sweet blue eyes and gave Oliver a look.
“I’d be more inclined to watch, I’m quite curious now,” I chuckled. Tricksters. I’d enjoyed seeing Lucas’s magic in action, and I was quite intrigued by it.
“I’m sure you can do that,” Oliver shrugged as he demolished the last bite of his burger.
As if he’d heard us talking about him, Lucas appeared in the doorway from the living room to the joint kitchen and dining area.
“Where’s mine?” he pouted as he stared at the measly crumbs left on our plates.
“I asked, you said you didn’t want one,” Skip groaned.
“I’m just kidding,” Lucas grinned and waved him off. The movement made me do a double take. The way he said it, I was starting to suspect maybe he was batting for the other team.
“Huh,” I murmured, wondering if my suspicions were correct.
“What?” Oliver glanced at me.
“Nothing,” I shrugged. I wouldn’t say anything, I couldn’t jump to conclusions. But Lucas and Skip had seemed close while we were watching Game of Thrones, and there was definitely a different vibe in the air between them than with the other guys.
And yet, Skip seemed very… straight. Well, I was being very stereotypical there. Lucas had seemed straight until this moment, and I’d been a little curious with how he laid with Skip on the lounge.
I might ask Ollie later. Although, to be honest, it wasn’t any of my business. No, I wouldn’t ask. They were my housemates, their sexual orientation wasn’t something I needed to worry about. Although, it was a bit of a bummer. I had liked them. And God knows I’d been single long enough.
Ah, Ally. I mentally sighed. These were my housemates, getting into anything with any one of them was a bad idea. We could only be friends. With benefits, my mind whispered.
Lucas pulled out of the fridge with a platter of fresh fruit. I had not seen that there earlier.
“Using magic to co
njure up food is unfair,” Oliver pouted, eyeing the array of fresh fruits. Kiwi fruit, mango, strawberries, pineapple, passionfruit, melon. Damn, it did look yummy.
“I need the fruits there first. Most of it is kept in the bottom drawer, you’re all welcome to the fruit, some of it’s grown right outside, we’ve got fruit trees, so go pick it yourself,” Lucas carefully walked past holding his plate out of reach as Oliver looked longingly at it.
“What kinds of fruit trees?” I asked.
“Mandarin, grapefruit, lime, lemon, mango,” Skip listed them off.
“Help yourself to them, Cupcake,” Lucas grinned before striding out of the dining area and into the living room.
“Why are you all giving me nicknames?” I gaped. “At least Ollie just uses Ally, is that so hard?”
“Nah, Bee Sting, it’s so much more fun to give you a name that suits. We all have different names for each other, it’s just tradition,” Skip chuckled.
“You’ve only called Lucas Luke and Oliver Ollie,” I said blatantly.
“Sometimes I call Ollie Cat, and Luke has other names, while Marcus can be Arses, it passes,” he grinned and then slapped his thigh. “Hah, that rhymed.”
I just rolled my eyes, but I did crack a grin as Ollie chuckled.
“So, what’s your plans for the afternoon?” Skip asked as he downed the last of his coke.
“I’m not sure, with this rain, I’m not too keen on heading out into town, since I would’ve liked to see my new place of work, Dingo Diner,” I said as I pondered it. “I did tell them I’d try to pop in before I started uni to pick up an apron and to speak with them about when I can work. Definitely weekends, but they’re flexible with my other days, whether it be just short afternoon or morning shifts around uni.”
“You know, Maleny used to have a Dingo Diner, wonder if there’s any relation,” Oliver mused as he gathered up the plates for us and loaded them into the dishwasher.
I cringed at how he didn’t rinse them first, something I’d always done.
“That sucks that you’ll be working weekends, we won’t be able to do any fun stuff,” Skip sighed.
“I didn’t realize that you wanted to,” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re living with us, we need to be friends. Which means doing stuff. Sometimes I take that old girl out there for some four-wheel-driving out in the forestry down at Beerwah and Glasshouse, or finding some other tracks,” Skip grinned. “Would’ve been fun to have you tag along.”
“I’ve never been four-wheel-driving before,” I said, interested in the idea.
“I’ll take you sometime, it’ll be fun!” Skip lit up at the prospect.
“Usually he gets one of his mates to come along too, as you aren’t meant to go alone, but if Lucas tags along, then it’s fine. He can magic us out of any situation,” Oliver gave me his trademark boyish grin.
It made my chest squeeze when he did it. He was so freaking cute, in an attractive way.
Ugh.
“Do you play PlayStation?” Skip asked excitedly.
“No, sorry,” I gave him a sheepish smile. “I used to play a bit with my cousin as kids on the old PlayStation 2, but I haven’t played in a long time.”
“Oh man, you are soooo missing out,” Skip laughed.
“We’re taking turns playing through Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain. It’s epic!” Oliver said as he bounced on his toes by the counter.
“Come watch, you can even have a go if you want,” Skip offered.
Well, I didn’t really have any afternoon plans anyway, and spending it sitting around with these two sounded good.
“Isn’t Lucas in there?” I asked as Skip leaped up and led the way.
“Nah, he’ll be in the library studying or outside practicing his magic,” Skip shrugged.
If he was practicing magic, I’d definitely be up for watching that. What exactly could a witch do? I’d seen him make things do as he wished, and he didn’t need a wand like in Harry Potter.
“I think she’d rather see what magic Lucas is up to if he’s practicing,” Oliver noted when he saw my face with a look of intrigue. He gave me a tender smile, and I bit my lip. Damn, he was cute. Shorter than the other guys, with Lucas and Marcus being almost the same, and Skip the tallest. “Well, we can go watch him for a bit before we play PlayStation? We’ve got all afternoon free,” Skip said, those bright blue eyes falling back on me after he looked over his shoulder.
“I think that’d be awesome,” I grinned. I really did want to see more magic, I’d never known much about it, hell, I knew very little about the supe community than what I would’ve liked. My aunt and her need to send me to mainstream school and dampen all my magic with that pendant had shut me off from the world I was meant to be a part of.
I knew so little, I just hoped that the university would open it up for me.
“You said your aunt had a pendant made so you couldn’t use your own mischief magic. Did that mean you also didn’t know much in general about supes? I remember you saying something like that with vampires bursting into flames,” Oliver cocked his head as we all now stood just before the doorway into the kitchen.
It was like he’d read my mind. "Well, I knew about faes, as my aunt was my mother’s sister, so she was a fae. Half sister. My mother’s father was a pixie apparently, hence my mischief magic. And vampires, since my cousin dated an older vampire when she was fifteen. He was nineteen, like Marcus, although I think he was technically older than that, but he only ever told us his turning age. She’s a year younger than me. I left pretty soon after he moved in as well,” I shrugged.
“So you never knew about witches? Shifters? Other supes?” Skip now turned fully around, frowning as he searched my face for answers.
“No, not really. I knew a bit about shifters too, since I knew one. As for the others, I heard them mentioned here and there, but I didn’t go to supe school, had no supe friends, and I wasn’t allowed to talk about them. I could google at the library though, but I doubt what’s out there on the internet is actually true. The vampire stuff wasn’t, and it’s all so conflicting,” I sighed, my shoulders slumping. I’d accepted I may never know much about the world I was a mere shadow of. How I’d desperately wanted to know about it, but my Aunt forbade me from asking too much.
“Damn, that’s so sad. Why was your Aunt such an arse to you? What a bitch, keeping you from the truth like that,” Skip growled. “You’re a supe, you need to know these things.”
“Hey, that’s her Aunt you’re talking about,” Oliver chided him.
“No, he’s right, Ollie. My Aunt wasn’t a nice woman, and I have no good feelings for her. She didn’t like me because I was simply my mother’s daughter, and they never got along. My mother was apparently the spoiled child, the better woman, blah blah blah. The only reason she took me in was because of the money she’d get taking me in,” I explained as I waved off Ollie’s sad look. I didn’t want them feeling sorry for me.
“Well, you’re better off here, far away from that cunt,” Skip spat.
“Skip!” Ollie threw his arms up.
“Swearing is fine, I attended a public school and worked in both retail and as a barista. You hear it everywhere, it’s part of the Aussie language now,” I chuckled as I patted Ollie’s arm, grateful he was trying to protect me from such language. He was years too late though.
“We should teach you. How about you ask us anything you want while we go see if Lucas is practicing magic?” Skip suggested.
“I’d love that!” I grinned. Finally, some answers to all the questions I’d stored in my head for when I started here at uni. I’d doubted I could just ask them in my magic classes, but at least now I had friends to ask.
“He’s so lucky, being able to shield himself from the weather,” I remarked as we sat out on the verandah. The rain hammered down on the roof, but there was nothing out before us where Lucas stood, shielded by an invisible bubble.
He was conjuring fire and water on
the spot, hurling them and honing his attacks.
It made me wonder why he needed to know this. Was he expecting an attack? Or was it customary? God, what I wouldn’t give to just know the basics of supes.
“Yeah, bloody warlocks,” Skip muttered as he slouched into the cushioned wicker chair.
“Wait, I thought he was a witch?” I frowned.
“A warlock is the highest type of witch, we just say witch to most people as warlocks are quite rare, and some are still scared of them,” Oliver explained as he sat beside me on the wicker lounge. He was bouncing his leg as he watched Lucas wield his elemental powers, his amber eyes watching the magic intently.
“What’s so different between them?” I said as I watched Lucas create a mini tornado. Damn, that was some epic power to have. I could only imagine just what he was capable of.
He flung it forward, the small tornado tearing up the lawn as he focused on it, flicking his hands to make it change direction.
“When it comes to elements like what he’s doing now, witches can only harness one, whatever their affinity is, and they need the element available in order to use it. Say you have a fire witch, they need an open flame in order to wield it. They can’t just conjure it up like a warlock,” Skip said.
“Although, there are elementals too, usually of another supe species. Having supernatural blood can sometimes contain a gene for the elemental ability. So during the magic classes at uni, you’ll be tested to see if you have an elemental ability. It’s like a witch, you have to have the element there, like water in a bottle or an open flame, but you can be of any species,” Oliver elaborated.
“So what’s different between a witch and an elemental?” I shook my head. God, how I wanted to jot all this stuff down.
“Witches have other abilities, depending on their bloodlines and specialties. Some are psychics, others can create potions infused with magic, others can wield their magic. Some can do all of the above. There’s more to it, whereas an elemental can only wield one element and then they have the abilities of whatever species they are,” Oliver explained.
