Price Check On Monogamy

"Tiger, where were you all weekend?"

I winced. Right after breakfast, Tandem had taken me to go pick up food from a a restaurant that, apparently, he'd loved since he was a little kid; a tiny little bistro in the backroads of town. After that, we'd gotten on the jet, but we hadn't come straight back home. Instead, he took me to the house he'd grown up in... his mother's house. His mom hadn't been there, but, after meeting his father, I wasn't all that ready to meet any more family members.

We spent the entire day, or at least up until an house ago, at a lake up the road from the house. I was still in my bathing suit, under the jacket I'd thrown on to get onto the plane. It had... well, it had been an amazing day.

Until, of course, I'd decided that I was going to try and sneak back into the house. It wasn't that late; just around nine. I'd figured that Caleb would be either out with Heather or out with his friends.

I was wrong. Like a true creeper, Caleb was sitting in the living room, all the other lights in the house off, waiting for me.

"I don't owe you any explanations," I mumbled, heading for the stairs.

"Tiger. Where were you?" There was something... wrong with his tone. It was calm, just suspicious. Caleb didn't talk like that. He made all his conclusions before hand, and yelled when he was upset; not just when he was angry, either. He yelled when our grandfather died. He yelled when our mother first started to travel. Caleb was a child of extremes; he either didn't care at all, or he yelled to get across the point that he cared way too much.

He did not wait in an empty house with all the lights off and then talk rationally.

He came up behind me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a stop. "Tiger, just answer the question. Where have you been all weekend?"

I turned around and yanked my wrist out of his hand. "I was at Eli's house all weekend, alright? Satisfied? Can I go now?"

Caleb narrowed his eyes. Finally, a real sign that he was... well, he was still Caleb. "Tiger, dammit--" But he bit his tongue and closed his eyes. Instead of yelling, Caleb opted instead to grab my shoulder again. Leaning in close, Caleb looked me straight in the eyes. "Tiger... I want you to be careful." He looked like there was more he wanted to say-- and, in all honesty, I wanted to hear him say it-- but he just stopped. Eyes still on mine, Caleb let me go and walked away.

"Caleb?" It wasn't supposed to be quiet, but it came out softly in the empty house. Shaking my head fast and following him, I called again, "Caleb? What's going on?"

Caleb turned around and eyed me up, like he was trying to decide if I was ready for whatever had to say. in the end, however, I apparently wasn't; he turned back around and headed out the door, off to whatever party there was on a Sunday night.

Most of me said to follow him; but the sane part said that it wouldn't help.

I sighed and shouldered my backpack, climbing heavily up the stairs.

- - -

"Tiger? Tiger, I'm really sorry--"

"It's okay, Tawny," I sighed heavily. "It's alright. It wasn't all that important--"

"You need to tell me what happened over the weekend!" I had to laugh at that; this time, Tawny had been the one to pick up, and Lexy had been on a date with Jason. Not that I could begrudge her that; Lexy and Jason almost never went out without someone else tagging along. "Don't laugh!" Tawny scolded dragging me back into reality. "Tell me what happened!"

"Well..." I, for the first time in ages, actually debated on what to tell her. Tawny and Lexy were my best friends; what I told one, I had to tell the other. And, well... I wasn't sure what I wanted to let them know about the weekend.

So I told her everything-- everything, that is, except what happened with Tandem's father. It just... it didn't seem right. Family matters, almost.

"Wow..." Tawny said at the end of it all. "That's... well, that's interesting. I kind of want to call him an asshole for being... well, an asshole, but he talked to you about it?"

"Yeah."

"That's more than Tyler did," I could hear the smile in her voice. But I could also hear her mumble, "More than Adam ever did."

Adam. Fucking Adam. "Adam?" I asked. "What happened, by the way?"

There was a long pause. "I... we worked it out," I could hear her shaking.

"Tawny, what--"

"Tiger, I have to go. I'm... I'm sorry. Bye." And she hung up before I could ask what was going on.

Of course.

Flopping back onto the bed, I sighed and closed my eyes. I'd get her to tell me what the hell had happened. And I'd kill Adam the second I knew.