Taylor opened the dishwasher, disposing of the evidence that said she had taken the effort to eat breakfast. As she rose, her father walked into the kitchen, patting his pockets, scanning the counters.

"Taylor have you seen my glasses?" he asked.

Taylor fought down a smile as the light got caught on the lens perched on his head. Without waiting for an answer, he moved towards the opposite end of the room. As he passed by, Taylor plucked the glasses off his head and collapsed them.

"I know I put them somewhere," her father said, lifting a stack of mail and checking under it.

"Here you go."

He spun around and sighed, relieved.

"Thank you." He twisted about, brows furrowing. "Now for my tie."

Taylor reached forward and snatched the rolled up silk from his sport coat pocket.

"Here."

"Great."

Her father draped it around his neck, tucking it under his collar. Satisfied that he had everything, he kissed his daughter on the head.

"Have a good day at school," he said.

"Have a good lecture."

As her father dashed off, Taylor grabbed the bag of lunch she had spent all of three minutes on and stuffed it into her backpack. Sliding on her straps, she headed for the door. Halfway there, her mother appeared, stopping her.

"How did you sleep last night?" her mother asked, cupping Taylor's face as if she could decipher the answer from her features.

"Pretty good."

The night had ended closer to one o'clock than two and in Taylor's mind, that was a good improvement.

"You get all your homework done?" her mother asked.

A knot of guilt formed in Taylor's stomach. "I'm going to get help over lunch today. You won't have to worry, my grades will get better."

Taylor watched as the worry diminished in her mother's eyes.

"Good. If you ever need help, your father and I are always here, okay?"

The guilt grew, climbing into her chest, seeping into the cavity that held her secret and toying with it. When her mother smiled, her wrinkles stretched.

"Got it."

"Have a good day, I'll see you when you get home."

Taylor slipped away, hating how she was eager to leave. At the door, she opened it and glanced back. Her mother wasn't in sight and she closed it, popping back into her room. Taking out her phone, she plopped onto her mattress.

She wandered through activities, periodically checking the time. When the clock flipped to 7:15, she stood, pocketing her phone. With a thought, she replaced her room with another.

It was a match to the photo Dominic had sent her. The color scheme was slate-gray, charcoal, and black. One wall was completely symmetrical. Below a wide window an unmade, twin bed jutted out.

On either side were identical nightstands and nestled next to those were bookshelves crammed with books and trophies. Behind Taylor was an entertainment unit that held a TV, gaming console, and dozens of framed photographs.

She barely had time to take it all in before one of the two doors on the other side of the room opened and steam rolled out followed by Dominic wearing only pants and tugging on a shirt. Seeing Taylor, he stumbled back, hitting the door frame.

On her end, Taylor was completely unfazed. A small part of her knew she should be embarrassed or even flustered about walking in on a well-built boy finishing dressing but she couldn't manage it. That girlish part of her lay dormant and it would take a month of sleeping through the night to ever bring it back.

"You said 7:15," she said as a matter of explanation.

Dominic opened his mouth but another male voice filled the air.

"Dominic?"

Trailing after the question mark was a rap of knuckles on the door. In a breath, Dominic stood in front of Taylor. She started at the closeness of him. He took hold of her arms and the world stilled.

"Look, I need you to hide in my closet and not say anything, understand?"

Taylor faltered as Dominic guided her backward into a cramped closet.

"Your father not used to you having girls in your room?" she asked as a hanger prodded her shoulder.

Dominic pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes hard.

"No."

He shut the door, trapping her in almost total darkness. The scent of his cologne hung in the air around her, a strangely pleasant smell, like a forest in the middle of autumn. Taylor shifted, making the line of shirts behind her swing and nudge each other. The door to Dominic's room opening made her pause to listen.

"What's up, Pops?" Dominic said.

"I thought I heard someone talking?" a deep, smooth voice said.

Taylor tried to picture the owner of the voice. A taller, older version of Dominic was all she could conjure.

"I know the rules, Pops."

Even without knowing Dominic or seeing his face, Taylor knew the reply for what it was, a sidestep of a lie. It was apparent that his father wasn't accustomed to discovering girls in his son's bedroom.

"I know you do and I get that it's not what any guy-"

"It's fine."

The cut off response wasn't harsh, but clear that Dominic didn't want to go further down the line of conversation. Taylor was only half certain it was due to her hidden presence.

"Okay. Well, look I have to stay late to receive a last-minute shipment for the site, but I figured when I get home we could watch the game, have a beer and give Julia the night off. Unless you have a party planned?"

In one sentence Taylor was handed puzzle pieces of Dominic's life. But without a framework, they were meaningless and so she stored them away, not sure they would ever make sense.

"I don't have a party tonight so that sounds good."

"All right. I'll let you know when I'm on my way home, maybe I'll pick us up some burgers on the way."

"I'm good with anything."

"Got it. See you then. Love you."

There was a pause and Taylor could feel Dominic mentally glancing back at the closet overly aware of her. The lowered volume of his reply confirmed her suspicion.

"Yeah, love you too, Pops."

Footsteps faded and the door clicked shut. When Dominic opened the closet, Taylor had one shoulder leaning against the wall, her arms and ankles crossed.

They stared at each other, Dominic's closed off expression challenging her to comment on or question anything that she had just overheard. Taylor had no desire to know anything. His life was his own to share as he wished.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

The bypass of any form of probing made Dominic relax, his green eyes losing their angry spark.

"Just give me a second."

True to his word, it was only a second later in which the bed was made, the stray clothes discarded and jacket, shoes, and backpack on. Taylor stepped out from the confines of the cologne infused closet. Dominic rolled his shoulders like he was gearing up for something big but then settled.

"Look about what you heard-"

Taylor cut him off. "It's your life. I'm merely your chauffeur."

Before he could reply, Taylor placed a hand on his arm, feeling him tense beneath her touch.

"Try not to throw up on me."

Dominic's eyes widened. "Wait?!"

The exclamation was left behind as the world was washed away and repainted as a dim, grimy alley. Soaking trash clogged the space with a pungent perfume. Dominic spun away from Taylor and pressed one hand to the wall, trying to keep his breakfast in. Shoving her hands into her jeans, she watched him.

"You okay?" she asked, her tone lacking all traces of a good bedside manner.

Dominic nodded, but that seemed to be all he could do. After waiting another few seconds, Taylor took a step towards the street.

"Well, the school is just over there," she said, pointing in the general direction of the sidewalk. "Deep breaths should help."

As Taylor raised a foot in another process of retreat, Dominic straightened and faced her. There was no sign that he had ever felt nauseous at all, he was completely fine.

"I'm fine," he said, back in control.

Taylor cocked her head at him, frowning. "Stop time to get a handle on yourself?"

"I recover fast."

"Yeah, sure."

Taylor spun on her heel and headed for the rush of cars and the fresher air. Dominic jogged up to her side. A gray blanket muted the sky and dulled the colors of the world. The street was clogged with morning employees taking their frustration of their tardiness out on their horns and other drivers.

The pair darted across the road and skipped up onto the curb. There their paths diverged as Dominic cut towards the school and Taylor directed her path to the Starbucks. She was a few feet away when Dominic called out to her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

"To the only thing that sustains me."

Glancing back once, Dominic changed course joining Taylor as she entered the life support establishment. The shriek of scolding milk against metal acted as a counterbalance to the melodic murmur of voices that floated about. Taylor fell in line with the other chain gang members and Dominic took the spot beside her.

"Do you usually get coffee?" she asked.

"No, but I figured I would join you."

Taylor cut a glance at him. He surveyed the tables crowded with college students cramming in last-minute papers, office workers stealing gossip before they clocked in, and writers that weren't aware of anything other than the world in their head.

"You understand that what we have isn't a friendship, right?" This captured Dominic's attention. "You have no obligation to hang out with me. To each other, we're a means to an end. You avoid biking, I don't fail senior year."

Dominic studied her, brows drawn together as if she were some sort of exotic creature and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to approach it, or if he should at all. If Taylor was honest with herself she didn't know either.

Friends had become a commodity that she couldn't afford anymore. After the previous summer, everything had altered and those she had known didn't know the person she had become. So like dreams, they had slipped away.

"You're strange," Dominic said.

Taylor scowled at him like this was the most obvious thing he could have said.

"Of course I'm strange. My main form of transportation is teleporting."

As she said it, there was something relieving about letting the secret escape just once. Especially when someone was looking into her eyes and not a shadowed face.

Dominic smiled and Taylor realized it was the first time she had seen it and there weren't concealed thoughts behind it. It managed to soften his looks from intimidating to approachable.

The single call of names accompanied them as they inched their way closer to the source of lucidity. Or in Taylor's case achieving being 3/4s of a normal human. When they moved up to the counter, the barista behind the register nodded at her in greeting.

"The usual?" the barista asked.

"Yeah."

Taylor stuck out a five and it was whisked away. A second later the spare change found it's way clinking into the glass jar. She left Dominic to his order, finding a spot in which she could pass the moment before warmth and caffeine were deposited into her hand. Leaning against a bit of wall that she could call her own for a minute, she closed her eyes. She knew Dominic had joined her when she caught the scent of an autumn forest.

"The barista knows your order," he said. "I guess that means your in here a lot."

"Everyday."

"That's a lot of coffee."

Taylor shrugged. "Classes have to be attended, right?"

"Bad nights?"

The answer wasn't immediate. On the whole, whenever Taylor collapsed into bed she was asleep before she could pull the covers up. It was the hours of moving about the city and preventing crime that was the hindrance to morning wakefulness.

"Late nights, but I'm guessing you know something about that."

It was Dominic's time to hesitate before responding.

"On occasion, sure."

In that single statement, Taylor saw a hundred things to dissect but knew the hour was too early to get out her scalpel. Her name was called and she gratefully took the coffee, bearing the heat to get at the caffeine within.

As she pushed through to the world outside, Dominic slipped out with her. They crossed the distance to the school in silence. Taylor wasn't sure it was one of comfortable companionship but didn't have the brainpower to analyze what it was.

Dominic's name cut through the air as they entered the grounds and his friends noticed his arrival. Figuring this was where the tether between them was cut, Taylor headed away. Before she was out of earshot, Dominic called to her. She spun around the only acknowledgment of his attention.

"Library at lunch?" he asked.

She nodded and left him to be encapsulated in his friends' loud chatter.

**********************************************************************

"Holy buckets Batman!"

Before we dive into the topic and thoughts of the chapter I have a question for: did you ever see what Robin's (Batman's sidekick) outfit was? WHO WOULD DESIGN THAT?!!? It's the worst thing ever!

Seriously, it makes Batman a bad friend because he let Robin walk around in that hideous outfit and never told him. So much for a strong partnership!

Okay, back to the important things at hand: what report on the progression of Dominic and Talyor's relationship do you have for me? 🦹🏻🦸🏾‍♀️🦸🏼‍♂️

मजेदार सत्य (Hindi): Thor's line 'He's a friend from work' was not scripted in Thor: Ragnarok. It was suggested during takes by a kid from a Make a Wish foundation and Chris put it in.

Vote, comment, follow but only if you stand with ice cream in your hand.

See what did I tell you! That's an awful outfit! I feel embarrassed for Robin just looking at it.

🤦🏽‍♀️ It's so bad I can't take it.