Gifted Connections: Book 2(16)

Gavin offered to pay for my meal since I didn’t have any money. I promised I would pay him back. He waved it off and informed me that his parents were ‘loaded’ and that the shelter he worked at was a tax write off for them. He got a huge breakfast pizza and an order of home fries. I chose to get an egg white wrap with spinach, fried onions, mushroom, and green peppers. I made sure to get a handful of Texas Pete hot sauce. Jaxson had a thing with putting hot sauce on his eggs, and I had to eat my eggs with hot sauce ever since he insisted I try it.

“Is that all you want? Want a coffee too?” Gavin asked.

“Mmm yes, coffee,” I smiled.

We waited in the next line, and I ordered a coffee with a shot of hazelnut, cream, and sugar.

“Would you like any coffee with all that sweetness?” Gavin joked as he got his tall coffee, black.

I stuck my tongue out at him playfully. “You sound like the guys.” Which instantly made me sad. Troy and Remy took their coffee black. Jace took his with a splash of cream, mainly to cool it down for immediate consumption. Noah liked his with one sugar, one cream. Drake, Jaxson, Jemmy, and I liked our coffee flavored, sweet, and light. You never realized how much you picked up on another person’s habits until they were gone…or you were. The simplest, most mundane things, like getting coffee, made you miss them.

Gavin seemed to notice my moroseness and led me to a secluded tree outside of the quad. We both took a seat on the ground and promptly dug into our food.

“Story time,” Gavin gently prodded with a smile.

I smiled, resisting the urge to tell him he had a connection out there and how similar they were in the way they said and did things. One surprise at a time. I would tell him…soon.

I finished the food in my mouth. “Okay, so since I know you’re going to be around for a while and you’ll be practically family,” I told him mysteriously. “I will give it to you straight. Which if you knew me, you would realize is a rare thing and you should feel privileged.” I explained, trying to make light of the situation.

“Privileged, huh? I feel like you’re just going to fully blow my mind, as if you hadn’t effed with it enough as it is,” he said jokingly.

I jokingly rolled my eyes. “I guess I can start at the beginning, with a few details omitted for time’s sake” I began. “I had a crappy childhood. My dad was murdered when I was ten. I was left in the care of my step mom and she developed a drug and alcohol problem. She moved my half-sister and I to a crappy trailer park where things went from bad to worse. I was abused in every way imaginable. Almost a year ago I was taking a music class and I had a teacher that took an interest in me.”

“He didn’t try to touch you, did he?” Gavin asked grimly, but working with the shelter, I’m sure he had heard plenty of ugly stories.

“How much do you know about connections?” I asked him instead of answering him.

He shook his head frowning. “Connections?”

“In the gifted community, some of us are marked, most of the time around the same time we come into our gifts. It is believed that we should find and make connections with our…other half so we don’t lose our gifts.” I explained to him.

His eyes widened. “Like my mark on my shoulder.”

I nodded, still battling with telling him the truth about his connection. “Most of us are born with no connections, but generally it’s the people with the weaker gifts. Some of us are born with a single connection out there. Then in rare instances some of us have more than one connection. Those well-versed with the gifts say that we can only have a max of two.

He blinked slowly. “When you say connections, how are we to connect to the other person?” I had a feeling he knew exactly what I implied, but he wanted to make sure of it.

“We have to have an intimate bond with our connected,” I clarified.

He seemed stunned and overwhelmed by the knowledge. “What happens if we have no interest in the other person? I’ve been known to be…picky,” he blushed. Then hurried on. “Before I hit puberty, I enjoyed sports. I did well in school. I had friends. Then I got my gift. I was thought of as the weird kid for a while there. I had no clue I was gifted, and my parents had me in and out of hospitals. By the time I started getting interested in girls, I found out most of them wanted me for my money…” his voice trailed off.

“From my understanding,” I elucidated slowly. “We are naturally drawn to our connections, and the bond we feel for them is undeniable. That’s not to say it’s easy.” I frowned thinking about the fact I had never made my connections with Noah and Troy, although I had been attracted to them and cared for them. “In fact, it can be slightly difficult. It’s almost like an arranged marriage. We should be a perfect match, but for people like me, since my father died I struggled with the littlest things. Trusting and touching being a few of my hang ups. I never had a real boyfriend either. I was out of my league when I found out about my connections.”

His eyes widened, and he said almost in shock, “So, you have more than one connection. How can that even work?” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you have a strong gift…?” Then as delicately as he could, he said slowly, “You seem so weak.” He shrugged apologetically. “I’m sorry, but like I said before, your aura is faint, sometimes it’s not even there.”