Seventeen Ain't So Sweet

“Fricking…crap!”

I was trying not to cuss, because my mom had just given me a big lecture about how only people with small vocabularies cuss all the time and I’d been doing it a lot lately. But who could blame me?

“What is it?” asked Kaz in a completely uninterested voice. I was lucky enough to have him sitting next to me on the plane.

It took all my willpower not to look up at snarl at him, but I had to keep my head down. Surely in my huge hoodie I looked like the Unabomber, but there was no other option. I was still quite freakish to look at, so I had to walk around with my head down and my hands in my pockets. The guard who frisked me had been about to freak out when Kaz calmly convinced him I was dressed up for a convention. Pfft.

“I’m starving.” I growled into my lap with a bit of a lisp, a metallic wrapper clenched in my fist. “And I just tried to eat a peanut and almost bit my tongue off.”

Kaz was quiet for a moment. “You can’t eat something as small as a peanut like this. I thought you would realize that.”

“Since I’ve had such a good idea of what’s been going on up ‘til now!” I threw the wrapper at the floor and crushed the remaining peanuts under my foot. There was a very loud crunch, and I was satisfied with the fact that they were ground into dust.

“You’re very violent. Even for a Former.” mumbled Kaz, and I could feel the disapproving expression on his face.

I glared daggers at his knee, the only thing I could see with my head down. “What is that? Some sort of Night of the Freaks slang?”

“It means you’re newly transformed.” he said it to me like I was stupid as hell. I couldn’t stand the uppity way he spoke to me.

So I did the only rational thing and stomped on his foot just like I’d done to the peanuts. He grunted in pain, causing a satisfied smirk to grow on my lips.

“Very mature.” mumbled Kaz, and I could see him wiggling his toes inside his black sneaker.

“Are we almost there?” I barked at him.

He sighed deeply. “I told you twenty minutes ago it would be fifteen minutes. So in five minutes we will be there.”

“You are the world’s snobbiest know-it-all, you gigantic winged loser.” I hissed at him under my breath, and it came out sounding like a teapot going off. But I knew he heard me.

Kaz shifted, irritated at me insulting our race again. But screw him, I had a right to be angry. Even if it was getting ridiculous how hostile I was to everyone. Suddenly I noticed something and scowled.

“Get your arm off my side of the armrest.”

There was another moment of silence, where Kaz didn’t move. “This is my side, Halle. You’re on your side, I’m on mine.”

“No, your arm is definitely encroaching my arm’s space!” I dug my elbow sharply into his forearm, getting another pained noise that made me quite happy.

He pushed me back in a rare physical show of his impatience with me. “Stop it!” he snarled quietly.

We shoved our arms together in the same moment, both of us grunting at the effort. Kaz was just as strong as me if not stronger, even though I was still in ‘combat mode’. There was a very real growl building in my chest, and I had to swallow hard to keep it from coming out as I wrestled Kaz for my arm space.

Abruptly he stopped fighting me, my arm shooting between us and ramming into his ribs. His breath shot out in a big whoosh and I smiled to myself, crossing my arms pointedly so he had all of the armrest to himself. It had been more about pissing him off than actually wanting the armrest. Though I really didn’t like it when his arm was touching mine. He was grumbling to himself so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him.

“--unbelievable…infantile…petty…”

“Careful now. Give a girl compliments like that she might think you like her.” I grumbled, beginning to tap my foot with impatience.

Kaz exhaled slowly. I guessed he was trying to remain calm. “People are staring at us now. Are you satisfied? All you have to do is remain anonymous, and even that seems to be a struggle for you.”

“They just think we’re cousins or siblings bickering.” I came to my defense, though I did feel a tiny bit guilty. “Happens all the time on planes.”

I was sure Kaz was going to reply with something bitingly sarcastic, but a tinny voice overhead cut him off promptly. “We will be landing in Ljubljana in two minutes.” and then it was repeated in four other languages.

“Don’t speak to anyone when we get out.” instructed Kaz in a whisper. “Stay close to me and keep your head down. The only thing you might have to say is excuse me, which is elnézést.”

My eyebrows raised. “You speak Slovenian?”

“No, I speak Hungarian, but it’s close enough. Are you paying attention?”

I sent him another dig with my elbow for good measure. “Stop treating me like I’m a kid. I heard you. Elnézést.”

“If you stop acting like a child I’ll stop treating you like one.” retorted Kaz, and what he did next was really unfair considering I couldn’t see it coming.

I yelped in pain and cringed into the window, my head throbbing. After a moment I clenched my hands into fists.

“Did you seriously just box my ear?”

Kaz was quiet for a moment, and if I didn’t know better I would have sworn he was laughing. “Yes. Now be quiet. We’re touching down.”

My ear hurt the entire time we waited to get off the plane, but by the time we were actually off I was so happy to be on solid ground that it didn’t matter. The sun was nice and warm, but it wasn’t hot out. I wished I could raise my head enough to get a good look at Slovenia. After all, it wasn’t every day I got to go to Europe.

I was waiting for Kaz to guide me in the right direction, which he did out of nowhere as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I could hear people all around me talking the way I’d heard a few people on the plane talk, with some English and various other languages thrown in here and there. I tried to think about that rather than how I really didn’t want to be holding Kaz’s hand.

“Don’t we have any luggage?” I asked, sulking a bit. The trip had been sprung on me the day after I found out I was…well, whatever I was. I had no say in the matter. Out of the blue my mom was throwing a big hoodie on me, saying she and Grandpa had things to do, and putting me on a plane with my bestest buddy Kaz.

Kaz’s voice came from ahead of me, muted by the noisy crowd. “Your mother and grandfather have it with them. We’re meeting them in the mountains.”

“Mountains?” my voice came out more excited than I intended.

“Yes. If you knew anything about geography you’d know we are very close to the Alps.”

I scowled at that damn condescending tone he reserved only for me. “Jerk.”

He ignored me, as usual. “As soon as I can find a rental car…” he was talking more to himself than me.

“I have to pee.” I announced just as suddenly as the urge hit me. And boy was it strong.

We stopped, and I was still looking firmly at the floor but the way Kaz was quiet told me he was glaring. “Now?”

“Yes, now!” I bit my lip and resisted doing the potty dance like a five-year-old in the middle of a Slovenian airport.

Kaz groaned exasperatedly. “Fine! Come on.”

He tugged me even less gently through the crowd, more than once making me think my arm had been removed from its socket. He wordlessly thrust me into a door that thankfully swung open under my weight, and I grumbled as I felt my way into a stall. Once on the toilet I realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom since I changed. That might have explained a bit of my bad mood.

And just as I was beginning to feel relieved and all-around better, a shiver went down my spine and my shirt tore easy as a piece of tissue. My eyes widened as my wings exploded out of me like someone had opened a parachute indoors.

I could only be thankful that it wasn’t strong enough to knock apart the walls of the stall I sat in. Trying to remain calm, I made sure I was decent before I cleared my throat and reluctantly called for my traveling companion. The door opened with a soft creak.

“What?” came an irritated hiss that was becoming quite familiar.

“I have a problem. It’s really big and rhymes with ‘by zings’.”

A second later the door to the bathroom locked, and I reached out with a wince to unlock the door to my stall. It was much too small to be containing my gigantic wings, which were pressed to the walls hard enough to be painful. Kaz saw me and cursed, then glanced up into the corner of the room.

“Shit. There’s a camera.” he snarled. He deliberated for a moment, then gave me a steely look. “Can you fold them back in?”

“No, that’s why I called you.” I had to clarify, because apparently he didn’t get it. “If you don’t remember, it took the combined efforts of my mom and grandpa to get them in before.”

A strangely uncomfortable look came over his face, and he ran a hand through his black curls. “I…er, are you positive you can’t?”

My wings tried to flutter in irritation, nearly tearing the stall apart. “Yes! Now help me!”

With that I clenched my eyes shut and sucked in a breath, using all my willpower to bring my wings in just enough so I could turn around in the tight space. When I let my breath out they slung back open with a loud crack, making me flinch at the soreness in my new appendages. I braced my hands on the back of the toilet, ready for the weird sensation of someone forcing my wings to cling to my back because I couldn’t yet.

“What are you waiting for?” I snapped, looking over my shoulder.

Kaz was staring at my wings stiffly, and when he saw me looking he actually blushed. “This is actually a lot more…intimate than I think you realize.”

“Intimate?” my voice came out in an incredulous squeak. I was hunched over, beginning to sweat at the irritation in my wings, and in a growing amount of pain. All he had to do was grab them and push. What the hell was intimate about it?

He cleared his throat. “Well, when it isn’t family touching them…um, wings are sort of an…erogenous zone.”

“Why is everything sexual now?” I spoke to the wall in frustration. “Just do it, okay? I promise I won’t take it that way. Like really. Ew. Please, I’m dying here!”

There was another moment of hesitation, then Kaz inhaled deeply. “Alright. Just…hold still, please.”

Then his hands tentatively grabbed the edge of my wings and started drawing them in, and I knew what he was talking about. Holy crap.

It definitely hadn’t felt that way when my grandpa and mother folded them into my back, and not even when my mom was massaging them for me. His hands were warm and rough, and just…just wow. A violent tingle started in my wings and passed through the rest of me, making me shudder as Kaz used all his weight to force the resisting limbs back where they belonged. I had to gulp and remind myself that I hated this guy to keep from moaning. Actually moaning.

When my world turned upside down, it really turned upside down. Not only did I have wings, but when a guy touched them it was like…well, I could only compare it to touching my boobs. Maybe that was my body making up for my newfound lack of nipples.

Kaz grunted with exertion as they resisted him, twitching against his bulk and attempting to wiggle free from his hands. I yelled at them internally to quit rebelling. They were just making my life harder. His fingers were digging into the sensitive skin, using every ounce of strength he had and making slow progress. I bit into my lip and squinted at the wall, hoping I wasn’t making it harder by clenching all my muscles. But it felt good and bad all at the same time, and having my senses overloaded like that when I was all volatile anyway was confusing. My head was spinning, my knees beginning to wobble.

Kaz abruptly backed up a bit, but before I could yell at him he was planting his feet and throwing himself back into it. My wings gave, being compliant for the first time since they popped out of me, relaxing against my back with an almost imperceptible shiver.

“Ungh!” the sound came out of my mouth before I could stop it, and I blushed furiously.

His hands rested on where my lower back used to be, palms sweating and his breath coming in pants. I realized that I’d arched my back and straightened up, letting out a trembling huff and clutching the remains of my shirt to my chest. It had ripped clean up to my shoulders, but the hood was still on my head. Kaz removed his hands and I turned around, for some reason embarrassed to let him see my wings any longer.

His nostrils were flared as he tried to catch his breath, wiping the sleeve of his navy blue sweater over his forehead. After a moment his vibrant blue eyes turned to me, and we both blushed and looked away at the same time.

“Thanks.” I forced myself to say. When I talked I whimpered, realizing my teeth were sunk pretty deep into the flesh. A hot drop of blood rolled down my chin and I reached to catch it, but by the time it was on my finger the skin of my lip had closed. The liquid on my hand was pure onyx, but I just wiped it on my also black sweater and tried not to freak out about it. I’d seen Kaz’s blood, and it was black. I should have expected it.

“You’re welcome.” his voice was gruff. He glanced surreptitiously at my shirt. “I’ll help you with that.”

Before I could ask what he was going to do he grabbed the hem of his sweater and yanked up. My eyes (acting on their own, of course) slipped down to watch as most of his stomach was revealed, including a six pack beneath his pale skin that looked airbrushed, and a fine trail of black hair from his bellybutton disappearing under his belt and jeans. Why did he have to be so hot and a complete asshole?

Kaz straightened the white t-shirt he had on underneath, hiding his stomach again and handing me the sweater. I started to take off the ripped hoodie but thought better of it, slipping Kaz’s sweater on over so I still had the hood. I looked bulky and weird, but I could still hide my face. Kaz nodded at me in approval, turning on his heel and exiting the bathroom.

I had no choice but to follow.