The Many Faces of Tully

I meet Jace at the elevator at 11 o’clock. He begs me to let him drive and I comply. I haven’t been in the passenger seat in a long time and I miss it. We have to drive to the next town over to get to a Wal-Mart and its fifteen minutes away. Once we get into town I tell him to find somewhere to eat.

“What?” He looks over at me from the driver’s side. My window is down and my arm is hanging out, feeling the warm wind.

“I always go to a restaurant first for lunch. I do more stuff so I can stay out longer…” I admit sheepishly. He just smiles at me.

“I know exactly where to go.” Five minutes later we are walking into a small but crowded diner. “They have the best steak and potatoes here,” Jace tells me, smiling.

The waitress sits us down at a booth and asks for our drinks. He gets a Coke and I get a Root Beer. He also orders us two steak and potatoes right then.

After the waitress leaves I look at him. “What if I don’t like steak and potatoes?”

“Seriously?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I do believe almost two weeks ago, at our bi-monthly group dinner, we had steak and potatoes and I swear you were going to choke because you were eating it so fast. You were inhaling it.”

“No I wasn’t,” I try to defend myself. Did he really pay that much attention to me?

“Yes. You were. It would have been disturbing if I didn’t already know you ate like an animal.” The waitress comes back with our drinks then and he takes a drink of his right away.

“I don’t eat like an animal!” I protest.

“Yes you do. I swear. You devour everything you eat. It’s like you think you’re never going to see food again!” He laughs. “Oddly enough though I think everyone finds it attractive. You just never see it from a girl.”

“Oh really? I eat like an animal but it’s okay because I look cute while doing it? Thanks.” I roll my eyes.

“You’re welcome.” He smiles. I just roll my eyes again. “Why do girls do that so much?” he asks me.

“It’s because our eyes sting from all the bull crap that guys spread,” I retort.

Jace laughs. “Is that so?” He just shakes his head and continues to laugh.

“Can I ask you something?” I say to him.

“Sure, what’s that?” He stops laughing finally.

“How come you don’t look at me like everyone else does?”

“I wasn’t aware that I looked at you any different from everyone else?” he says, almost defensively.

“Well, you don’t seem confused or scared whenever you see me. It always takes everyone a second or two to remember that I change appearances, but you never bat an eye. The twins look at me like I’m going to murder them in their sleep, but you look at me like, I don’t know, like I’m not capable of what I have done. Like I’m normal or whatever.” I shrug and frown slightly at my utensils.

He doesn’t answer for a while, so I peek up at him. He almost looks sad, but also angry. I don’t understand. Then he finally answers me.

“I don’t have problems with your appearance change because to me, you still look the same. You still have the diamond earring and the shark tooth necklace. The snake tattoos, the ring, and the watch. The belly button ring and the panther tattoo. You still have the same facial expressions and your words come out of your mouth. You still have the ridiculously full cup of coffee and the overflowing bowl of Captain Crunch in the mornings.

“And the twins are ridiculous. I know what you’re capable of but I know you’re not malicious. I know how much you hate it and how much you want to control it. I’m not afraid of you because I know you’re not going to hurt me. I mean, I know I’ll heal from it if you do explode on me, but I don’t think you will. On accident that is. I still think you’re going to cave and let me go up against you.” He finishes his little speech and takes a drink of his soda again, smirking.

I can’t look away from him. I can feel my mouth hanging open slightly, but I can’t close it. He is saying the impossible, but I believe him. I always believe him. He never lies, and he’s always right. I need his kind of stability in my life. But he doesn’t need my kind of destruction in his. Do polar opposites attract? Can they? Are they just completely destructive or do they equal each other out? I want to find out. But at the same time I don’t.

“What?” he asks me. I snap my mouth shut.

“It’s nothing sorry. I just, didn’t think that was possible. I mean, knowing me and my powers, and still seeing me.” I know the look I’m giving him, but I can’t help it. I’m giving him the 'I really like you. Like really really like you', look.

“Like I’ve said before, the power isn’t who you are. I am seeing you.” Could I be imagining it or is he giving me the look back? I feel myself starting to blush. I take a sip of my drink to hide it.

“So you like to spend as much time away from there also?” he asks after a moment.

“Yeah…” I admit.

“Then maybe we should start going on the shopping trips together. It would get both of us out there twice as often. It would be a nice break,” he suggests casually.

Did he want to spend more time out of there, or more time with me? I know which one I want. I smile at him. “Sure. That sounds good,” I hope I’m not being transparent.

Our food arrives then and we both start eating. It is delicious. After a few bites I say, “Oh my God! This is so good!”

“I told you so. You should never doubt me Tully. I’m always right.” He looks up from his plate. I know he’s always right. He’s trustworthy and smart.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time. So how did you discover this place?” I cut off another piece of steak and plop it in my mouth.

“Veronica showed me it. I think she took me here on our third date. We came here every month after that.” His tone is conversational, but I can see how hard it is for him to say it by the way he clenches his jaw.

The steak slides dryly down my throat, almost getting stuck. He took me to his and his ex-girlfriends place. They probably ate steak and potatoes right where we are sitting. I don’t know whether to feel honored or sad.

“She always had the strawberry salad though. She was a vegetarian. She made me try tofu once.” He shudders. “That was the most repulsive thing I have ever tried.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I don’t know why he keeps talking about her. I don’t know if he thinks I want to know, or if he just feels the need to talk about her since we were in their diner.

“I mean, I guess it probably wouldn’t have worked out in the long run. Looking back now, I don’t think I could have lived with a vegetarian. I hated the way she looked at me every time I ordered the steak. And how she lectured me when I would buy hotdogs. She tried as hard as she could to turn me vegetarian, but I love chicken, steak and hamburgers too much.” He laughs.

I smile at him. I’m still confused as to why he was telling me all of this. I don’t mind it at all. I love listening to him talk. I love watching his mouth form certain words or how his nose wrinkles when he talked about things he didn’t like.

“Guess it’s a good thing I’m not a vegetarian,” I say. Then I freeze. I didn’t mean to say that. It was the first thing that popped up into my head. I didn’t even think about it. Jace is raising his eyebrows at me.

“I mean, uh, that it’s a good thing because, uh, that means I don’t remind you about her. Er, not that I would. I don’t know why I would. I don’t know why I said that. Uh, I mean that it’s good cause that means we are… or we can… or that we… that we get along so well. Yeah. I’m going to shut up now.” I shovel some potatoes in my mouth and look anywhere but him. My cheeks are burning with embarrassment. I’m definitely being transparent. I can see him smiling from the corner of my eye.

“Yeah,” he says, and I can hear his smile too. “It’s a good thing because that means we get along so well. I don’t think I would like you as much if you were a vegetarian. I’d much rather watch you tear up a steak than a salad.” He’s still smiling.

“I’d much rather eat a steak than a salad,” I say, trying to make our conversation go back to normal. I’m still not looking at him. He’s the one who started it.

“I’ve never seen you so frazzled.” He laughs slightly. “It was quite entertaining watching you search for the right words. Maybe I should make you say embarrassing things more often.”

I finally look at him and make a face. He just smiles wider. “Are you done?” he asks me. I nod. He calls for the waitress and pays for the bill before I can dig out my wallet.

“Let’s go shopping,” he says and stands up.