ღ Finding Cinderella- Special Chapter ღ

-Tristan-

Senior year was over. Four years of hell had finally ended. No more homework. No more books. No more teachers' dirty looks. Some of my friends were out on road trips, visiting their college campuses, and looking for summer jobs. I had applied to a construction company in the next town last week and would start my internship mid-June. Kylie would be off to her college interview at that time, so before we got busy with our personal matters, we decided to spend time together as much as we could this week.

The TV screen flashed the words, Sub-Zero wins, Fatality, and explosive background music followed. Kylie bounced on the bed, screaming, "Booyah! Another win!" while waving the controller in the air.

"How?" I said in disbelief. I stared at Johnny Cage, my character, all mutilated with his blood and insides scattered on the ground. Sub-Zero was one of the strongest characters, I knew, but I had been confident that I would've had an advantage over her because I'd been playing this game since forever and this was her first time. At least, that's what she had claimed. When I had handed her the controller two hours ago, she was all, "I might be really bad at this, so don't laugh." I had defeated her in the first two rounds, but in the succeeding rounds, I was the one being laughed at.

Maybe this was her way of revenge. The highlight of our graduation program hadn't been us finally receiving our diplomas. Not at all. Instead, it had been Kylie tripping on her heels while she climbed up on the stage. It must have been because of her jittery excitement or some wardrobe malfunction. Whatever the cause had been, her little stunt had made the crowd crack a laugh. Yes, including me. And I hadn't been able to stop myself from bringing that topic up during our nice dinner at a seafood restaurant.

Our families had found it amusing. She hadn't.

"I told you I was just clicking random buttons," she said, giving me an exaggerated pout.

"Nah, there's no way you could make that complicated move just by clicking random buttons. It's either you've made your research on this or someone has taught you." I narrowed my eyes at her. "It was Ryo, wasn't it?" He was a gaming expert in the group. He'd been holding the longest winning streak (27 wins) in Super Smash Bros. since last year when he and the other guys had come over.

"Hmm... he may have given me a tip or two," Kylie said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling to avoid my scrutiny.

"You tricked me!" I said with a little hurt in my voice.

"No. I prefer to call it advanced strategic thinking."

I poked her in the side and she poked me back, and we ended up tickling each other. She fell on the bed and tried to shove my hands away, giggles erupting from her mouth.

"Enough, enough. I'm sorry," she said. "But that doesn't change the fact that I won, though."

Realizing that I was on top of her in a very intimate way, I moved away as casually as I could. "Fine, you win," I said and collapsed on the bed.

Giving me a victorious smile, Kylie lay down beside me, dropped her arm over me, and put her head on my chest. I smiled.

My mind wound back to those times when we'd always argued about our heights, and she'd constantly bragged about her being taller. Now, she looked small against me. Small. Beautiful. Fierce. Resilient. Like a wildflower. I twisted the short strands of her hair around my fingers. She closed her eyes, and I watched as a tiny smile formed on her face.

The main menu soundtrack of the game that was blaring from the speakers didn't fit the mood we were in, so I tried to tune it out and closed my eyes. I didn't mind staying like this with her for the rest of the night. Just cuddling and listening to each other's heartbeats in the darkness until sleep found us. I committed every detail of this moment to memory.

Then, my eyes flashed open.

My parents were away on a trip and wouldn't be back tomorrow at noon. We had the whole house to ourselves. We could do whatever we wanted. We could—

Kylie huddled closer until her forehead was buried in the crook of my neck. Her long, strong legs that were tangled around mine, and her vanilla scent that filled the air should relax me, but they, instead, awoken a sensation in me that greatly disturbed something... in my pants.

Ah, shit.

"You make a very nice pillow," she murmured. Her soft, sleepy voice intensified the feeling more than I would have liked. Oh God, why now?

Okay, as long as neither of us moved, it was all safe.

"G-glad you think so!" I said.

"Do you think I've changed, T?"

"What?"

"It's something that Julianne and Lacey said," she explained, her eyes still closed. Good. "I've become different since I started dating you. Not in a way that I've begun ghosting on them. It's... I don't know, I can't explain it myself. But I do feel like something about me has changed. Just a little bit. I hope that doesn't make you feel weird like how it made them feel weird."

Honestly, the only thing that was making me feel weird was me being diamonds while my girlfriend was sharing her worries with me. I might have my brain's circuitry messed up. Or this might be a sign for me to finally go to church to cleanse my mind.

"I think maybe it was your mask that fell off," I said. I should be giving her a comforting hug or something, but my condition was in the way. Literally. "Fear not, Kyles. I'm still gonna love you for whatever you are and whatever you will become."

"What if I turn into a wild boar tomorrow?"

"Aren't you already one?"

She playfully slapped my stomach and started to get up. "Anyway, what time is it?"

I quickly pulled myself up without missing to throw a pillow on my, uh, lap, and she sat there frowning at me.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

A hard one. "Nothing. Just cramps," I said.

Her frown deepened. "Am I that heavy?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. I just, uh, I just get random cramps now and then. It always happens with boys." I swallowed and picked up my phone that was resting on the nightstand. "It's nine o'clock," I announced. Relax, relax, relax. Think about boats, basketball, lamps, anything ordinary.

"Nine o'clock," Kylie repeated and then stared at me, the corners of her mouth twisting into a mischievous smile. "You know what it means, right?" she said in a sluggish voice as if she was trying to be sexy.

It was working.

I couldn't relax no matter my attempts. Not when she was sitting cross-legged on my bed, looking so beautiful in her jumbled hair and large shirt. She seemed like she was thinking about what I was not trying to think. Were we seriously going to do it? Wait, wait, wait, what the fuck was I thinking? She could only be teasing me because she loved to see me all confused and flustered. Yeah, maybe that's—hooooly shit, she just crawled closer to me. So she was serious about this? Hell yes. She was still wearing that sexy expression that made my heart pump like mad. I tried to match her smile, but I was in too much awe of her making the first move.

"All righty, there, tiger. I see how it is," I said, hoping that didn't sound lame. I could smell victory only a few bats of eyelashes away.

"Oh yeah?" She tilted her head a little to the side, her smile widening. "So... what horror movie are we gonna watch?"

Wait, what?

"Uh... huh?"

"Isn't this a perfect time to watch a horror movie?"

"Oh."

She stared at me, perhaps taking in my disappointed face. She then let out a snort of laughter, got on her knees so her face hovered above mine, and put her arms on my shoulders. I was caught off guard when she gave me a hard kiss on the mouth. Just as I was about to lose myself in it, she pulled away, looked into my eyes, and said, "You're silly." She then proceeded to turn off the console and surf the TV channels.

I collapsed on the bed again and stared at the ceiling, wondering how the hell she was so good at keeping me thrilled with her little ways.

After about five minutes' worth of debate, we mutually agreed to pick a movie that we'd never seen and never known of its premise so it would be fair for both of us. We settled on an old movie called The Descent.

"Let's see who can make it till the end," Kylie said as the credits began to display.

Halfway into the movie, we both visibly felt sick and claustrophobic, but we continued to put on a brave face and even teased each other for being scared. Well, she teased me the most. However, her tough-girl facade disintegrated when a jump scare came, which made her shriek so loudly I worried for a second that her family might hear her and think that there was trouble going on. I couldn't deny that the scene scared me shitless, too, but at the same time, I found our situation hilarious. I started laughing, and she pinched my shoulder to shut me up.

"Oh, relax. I'm not laughing at you," I said.

She sighed and went out of the room for a toilet break. Two seconds after the door shut close, she bounced back into the room and asked me to go with her.

"All the lights are on. What are you scared of?" I teased. We were walking through the hall where, at the end of it, was the bathroom.

"I don't remember your house being this terrifying." She hissed, looking at the walls and the family pictures as if she were expecting them to move. "It's like walking into a different dimension."

"Doesn't this look like the scene in The Shining where the twins appeared?" I said.

She elbowed me. "Shut up."

I stood outside the bathroom while she did her thing inside. The house was eerily quiet. It did feel like a different dimension at night. Maybe it was because the house was large, and it had a Victorian interior design that most haunted houses had. I was sure it hadn't been like this before.

Damn that movie.

"T, are you still there?" Kylie's wavering voice rang from the bathroom.

I didn't answer. Only smiled.

"Tristan!"

"Yes, I'm here, alive and all," I said. "You okay there?"

"No," she whimpered. Then the toilet flushed.

I looked at the door. "What's wrong?"

"There's..." She paused. "There's a spider. It just jumped on the doorknob. It freakin' jumped!"

I chuckled in relief. I was expecting something bad. "How big is it?"

"Um, small. A house spider, I think. It's so ugly."

"Just kill it with a slipper."

"But what if I try to kill it, and it dodges? T-then it crawls on my foot?"

"Oh, c'mon. What's gonna happen if it crawls on you?"

"I'll die."

"You're exaggerating."

"I don't want to risk being bitten again!"

I sighed. "Okay. I'm gonna open the door from the outside, then."

"You can't. I locked it."

"Well, damn. See if you can fit through the window." I laughed.

"Or why don't you just kick the door down? Get rid of it. Damn spider babies must be living inside."

"I think there's Lysol in the cupboard. Try spraying it on the spider," I suggested. Then, I added as a joke: "If it doesn't go away, you might as well just throw the can at it."

"Okay." The sound of the cupboard door opening ensued. Then it shut close. "I'm gonna... do it in a while. I'm still scared it might jump on me so I'm gonna wait for it to crawl away by itself."

"Well, don't fret too much there. It can possibly smell fear."

"I'm trying to stay calm." Her heavy breathing was as loud as that of a snoring large man. "Um... keep me entertained."

"What?"

"Just keep talking. Tell me a story. I want to think of something else."

Man, she was cute. I could imagine her holding the spray bottle like a sword in front of her. The thought of it made me laugh again. I decided to scare her more to make her move. Evil, I knew, but that might be the only way. Otherwise, she might get stuck in there the whole night.

So, leaning my back against the wall, I told her this gem of a story. "I came across this one on the internet," I began. "There was a guy who moved into his new house. Old Victorian. Beautiful. But it had a lot of dust and cobwebs and was in dire need of a paint job. His friend came over to help him with the fixing. While they were arranging the living room, his friend mentioned some... large cobwebs in the corner of the room. This was surprising because they had cleaned and painted the room just a few days ago. The guy didn't think more about it and just swept it up. That night was when his nightmares began."

"T... I don't like where this is going," she interjected.

"No, this is where the exciting stuff starts happening," I said, applying a more whispery, ominous effect on my voice. "His nightmares intensified night after night. In them, he watched as thousands of spiders crawled out of the cracks of his house, getting closer to him, surrounding him. He jolted awake and noticed cobwebs stretching and crisscrossing each other across the room."

"Stop it."

I tried to keep myself from laughing. "Even the exterminator who visited the house the next day couldn't do anything to stop the problem. The guy... started to feel something moving beneath his skin. Once he saw some sort of white string coming from a bite on his cheek. He tried to pull the string off, wincing as pain exploded all over his face. It was as if he was pulling his veins—"

I heard the Lysol can hit the doorknob, its sharp metallic sound made me immediately brace myself for the upcoming onslaught. The door clicked and flew wide open. Kylie stood there with her hands at her sides and her hair covering half of her face.

"You jerk!" She stomped toward me and slapped my arm. "I told you to stop!"

"Was it not entertaining enough?" I said. My arm hurt from the impact, but I couldn't stop wheezing at her expression.

"I hate it! It's disgusting! God, T, one word of that story again, and I swear my fist will go through your chest to pull your heart out."

"I don't have a heart, Kylie. You already have it since a long time ago." I wiggled my eyebrows.

She scowled. "You should get a part-time job at a greeting card company. Ugh"— she waved her hands dramatically—"first, that movie jumpscare. Now, your freaking spider story. And it's not even Halloween yet! I've had enough. I'm going home."

Her slippers made a loud squeaky sound against the wooden floor as she marched downstairs. I followed her.

"Fine. I'll walk you home."

"You don't have to. My house is just within spitting distance," she said, slipping on her hoodie that she'd grabbed from the couch.

"I don't want you walking the streets alone at night regardless of the distance between your destinations. It's dangerous. Psychos are on the loose these days," I said, opening the door for her.

She bounced outside and spun around to stick her tongue out at me, her hair whipping around her face. "Yeah, that's correct. In fact, one of them is walking me home right now. Thanks for the warning, T."

She's evil.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for telling you that story," I relented.

The night was warm, but we walked close to each other as if there was a nip in the air. The neighborhood was quiet except for the barking dogs in the distance and the noise from the crickets. I'd definitely miss this peacefulness when I moved out. I'd definitely miss walking with her.

So, I wrapped my hands around hers, and she looked at me with a dampened smile on her lips. Before our hands warmed up, we reached her house, much to my dismay. Her shy smile turned into a furtive one as she turned toward their fence gate.

"Well, see you tomorrow, T."

"No goodnight kiss for me?" I teased her with a lift of my eyebrow.

"None for tonight. After what you did..."

Shit. It looked like I was the one being teased. And the bad thing was: I couldn't resist her.

"And you know," she added, giving me a stern look. "I still haven't forgiven you for one thing."

I felt my life flash before my eyes.

"What thing?" I asked.

"You... ate the pudding that my mom bought for me."

"What—oh. That." I breathed out a laugh as I recalled the memory. "I promise I'll buy you the entire shipment someday, babe."

Kylie glowered at me. "Did you just call me babe?"

I grinned and said, "Yeah, babe."

"Ew. Gross! Don't call me that. I hate that word."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just hate the sound of it as much as I hate the words... pus and ointment," she said slowly as if she were tasting the words on her tongue. She shuddered. "So no, don't call me that. It's super weird."

"Honey?"

"What—no!"

"Sugar?"

"T!"

"Butter."

She cracked up. "Who thought calling people after food is a good idea?"

"You don't like to be called after food? Then Stir."

"What?"

"Pour into pan? Preheat to 140 degrees?" I said and shrugged. "Choose."

Her laughter grew louder, and she put her hand on her mouth to sober herself up. My cheeks had begun to hurt from all the smiling at this point. "What's with all the endearments? What's the point of them? I'm sorry if this is an ignorant question, but I just don't get it," she asked.

"It's like a nickname, see. You give nicknames to people that are special to you, right? And this is just one of my ways of showing you how I'm completely enamored of you," I said.

"Oh God." She had her mouth puckered as if she was biting the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from smiling giddily. "You totally should hand in your resume tomorrow."

"You like it, though. I can see it. Sweet things are your thing."

"Well, that's true. But I prefer to stick to the less-sweet-and-more-boyish nickname you gave me. The one that I've grown used to despite my initial protests. Kyles." She drew closer and put her arms on my shoulders, her eyes and smile full of mischief. "As for you, since you're adamant on having an endearment, I'll call you... hmm... Stir."

"Stir?" I deadpanned.

"Yeah. You presented that as one of the options, right?"

"Of all names?"

"Can't help it. It sounds unique." She lifted on her toes, and I finally got my goodnight kiss. It wasn't full on the lips, though, just at the corner, which was kinda frustrating. I wanted to kiss her so much that she wouldn't be able to get the taste of me out of her mouth. But she didn't want me to. She just wanted to keep me hanging with her little kisses as my punishment for pranking her.

Ah, she's definitely evil.

Giving me another crooked smile, she pulled away and opened the fence gate.

"See you tomorrow, Stir," she said, climbing their porch stairs.

"Really, Kyles?" I should've known saying those options as a joke was a bad idea.

"Yes! Don't you like it? We sound like hipsters."

I chuckled. "Go to sleep. You're making me crazy."

"And you stir my heart, T." She grinned and closed the door behind her.

I stood immobilized as her words plunged into my chest like Cupid's arrow. Ow, my heart. Really, how was she so good at this? I would have trouble sleeping again, thanks to her. Master of teasing and the love of my life now and my life in the future, Kylie Harris.

My stubborn, fierce, mischievous, brave, beautiful girl.

Yeah, see you tomorrow.

Maybe I should bring her to the Escape Rooms in Orange where my parents had their first date.

author's note:

sorry, kids. we'll keep it PG.

to read more about tristan's spider story, click the external link.