Tristan's High School Life - 29. Chapter 29

I quickly threw on some sweats and shoes, grabbed my keys, and headed up to Grandma's apartment. It must have been severe since Mack met me at the door.

"Tristan, Xander is having a nightmare, and we can't wake him. He mentioned he had the best sleep with you and thought maybe you could cuddle him," Mack said in a rush.
"I guess," I replied, unsure how I could help.
Mack lead me to Grandma's guest rooms, and I could hear the noise coming from one of the rooms; Dom, Grandma, and Rory were in the hall. I entered the room to see Xander covered in sweat thrashing around. I knew I needed help to calm him, and that's when Hunter appeared.
"What can I do to help," a sleepy Hunter said
"I need to calm him down," I said
Hunter grabbed Xander's hand, and he stopped moving.
"Get in the big spoon position Tristan," Hunter said. "Cuddle close." I moved into position and put my arms around him, and Hunter let go of his hand. I felt this warm sensation run between us, and Xander was instantly calm and snoring.
"What did you do?" Dom asked curiously
"I calmed him down, telling his spirit he was ok, but my fix was temporary; he needed Tristan for it to work," Hunter said
The adults were looking at each other.
"Thanks for the help Hunter," I said
"Yes, Hunter, this is a time when your help was needed and came to the rescue," Grandma said, pulling Hunter into a hug.
"Thanks, Grandma. Can I go back to sleep now," Hunter asked
"Yes, you can," Grandma said
"Hunter, I'm sorry I called you a pipsqueak. Thanks for helping my brother," Dom said
"You're welcome," Hunter said and vanished.
"I'm still weird out by them being able to teleport," Dom said
"Takes some getting used to," Grandma replied. "Now get some rest Tristan, I'll let TJ know where you are.
I fell asleep within a few minutes and held Xander close. I felt him squirm a couple of times, but he didn't attempt to get out of bed. When I finally woke, Xander was staring into my eyes.
"You're here," Xander said
"I am, and good morning," I replied
"I had a nightmare, and you saved me," Xander said, and a few tears escaped from his eyes.
"I'm glad I saved you," I said and smiled. I reached up and wiped away the tears.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Xander said
"Good morning boys, I wanted to see how you were doing," Rory asked out of concern.
"It was the same nightmare, but this time Tristan saved me," Xander said
"Ok, you have a therapy appointment this afternoon, and I already called you out of school. Tristan, TJ said he alerted Gavin that you'd be out today," Rory said
"Thanks, Rory," I replied. "Would you mind if I go home and shower? I'm rank," I said.
"I kind of like it," Xander said, then blushed.
"Alrighty then," Rory said with a laugh. "You both hit the showers SEPARATELY, and then we can regroup."
We both agreed, and I went home and took a nice hot shower. When I finished getting dressed, I found Mack and Jackson sitting in the living room.
"Sorry to barge in here," Jackson said apologetically.
"It's ok; how are you today?" I asked
"Doing better and getting my walking in," Jackson replied. "I wanted to check on you after last night."
"Everything is fine," I said, taking a seat in the recliner.
"He seems to be comfortable with you, and I think that could be an excellent thing," Mack said.
"We kissed," I said, looking at them for a reaction.
"I had a feeling that would happen," Mack said, chuckling
"Yeah, I knew, as TJ told me," Jackson replied
"I told him I wanted to talk things as slowly as he wants. I don't want to hurt him," I said, trailing off.
"Somebody is in love," Jackson said with a huge smile.
"I agreed," Mack said, matching his smile
"I'm just nervous," I softly replied
"That is understandable, and it's emotions you've never dealt with before, and love can be a scary thing sometimes," Jackson said
"While you both had parental issues, they are not the same. Xander doesn't have the powers like you and siblings do, so things are rough for him," Mack said
"I just want to hug him and keep him safe," I said and watched them both smile again.
"Definitely in love," Jackson said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Look, Tristan, Rory, and I trust you. If we didn't, we wouldn't have called you up to CC's last night," Mack said
"I get it, but what do I do?" I asked
"Simple, take your time and be gentle, be there for him, and just love the heck out of him," Mack said
"I can do that," I replied.

After talking a bit about other stuff, Mack and Jackson left, and I sat there in the apartment pondering about life and other things. Was I even capable of love, given my situation? I surely miss having Grandpas Ron and Tony around as they always had the best advice. I went into the game room and decided to play pinball to pass the time and think about things. I was so into the game I jumped a mile then someone touched my arm.

"Here you are," TJ said breathlessly.
"What?" I asked, a bit miffed
"We've been calling and texting you for hours, and you haven't answered, and we were worried," TJ said
"I've only been here playing pinball for an hour or so," I replied
"You do realize it's 9 pm, right?" TJ asked
"What?" I shrieked
"Where is your phone?" TJ asked as I was panicking.
"I must have left it in the living room," I said as I ran out of the room straight to the living room and found my phone with a bunch of missed calls and texts.
"You must have been distracted," TJ said
"Yeah," I said, sitting in my recliner
"Look, we aren't mad at you; we were worried about you," TJ said
"I'm sorry, brudder," I replied with my lip quivering.
"Tristan, it is ok, honestly. We thought something happened," TJ said
"I have missed texts and calls from Xander," I said
"Well, tell him the truth, and I can verify if he needs me too. Also, come with me; you need to eat, and I saved you a plate," TJ motioned for me to follow.

We went to TJ's, and I ate what they made for dinner and then went up to my room, texted Xander, apologized, and told him what happened. He replied that he knew something had to have distracted me, and I wasn't ignoring him. I was lying in bed when I felt it dip and saw Xander beside me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked
"Hunter told me you might need a friend, so he snuck me in," Xander replied with a devilish smile.
"For once, my brother got it right," I said, and Xander laughed.

We cuddled together and fell asleep. I slept well, and I think Xander did, too, as he had a massive smile on his face. When he woke up, we just stayed there looking at each other. We were interrupted by someone pounding on the door.