“The first dream you had here; the dream you had at your sister’s house on your birthday, and now this dream, they were all visions, love. I think that is your special gift. Only this time, in this last dream, you got caught, which should be impossible. You stumbled upon a very powerful caster.” I cut him off. “Evan, no. I don't have a special gift because I don't have power. Can’t you please just understand that?” I didn't mean to sound so harsh. But I’ve spent the last few years drilling it into myself, and now I'm happy with just being mortal. It’s not fair.
“I'm sorry, Scarlet. I didn't mean to upset you. Why don't we talk about this another time?” He sweetly suggests. I feel crumby for making it seem like he upset me when he didn't. I'm upset from the dream. I'm upset with myself. I'm upset because part of me knows that Evan might be right. I nod my head, agreeing with him, and I move closer to his warm body. He holds me until I'm fast asleep again.
***
After Charlie and I had our art history class this morning, we came back home to wait for Mack and the guys. I decide not to go with them to the warehouse because I'm sure I don't want to see or know what this process consists of. Besides, after the night I had, I was happy to have some time alone. Evan says, depending on how they handle it, it could be longer than usual. They left an hour ago, and all of their phones are off. I knew this would happen, but I can’t help but worry. So I make my way into the kitchen, knowing the only thing that is going to help keep me calm is to bake something.
The first thing I head for are the headphones Mack left on the counter. They're those really expensive ones that go over your ears entirely. I hop up on the counter and look through my phone for my playlist. But as I scroll down, I see a new list, titled “EVAN.” I didn't know he made a playlist in my phone! I put his playlist on shuffle, and the first song to play is “We Are Young” by FUN. This is a good start to lift my spirits. Turning the headphones all the way up, I put my phone in my back pocket and make a vow not to skip any songs.
I'm humming along to the song and prepping for what I'm going to bake. Oven is on; ingredients are out, and the appliances are ready. Now I have to mix them all together. Dimitri always told me, no matter what I'm feeling, whether I'm stressed or bored, always bake with all of the love in my heart. I felt the mixing part was where my love for baking comes in. It’s fascinating seeing different ingredients and textures mix together to a smooth deliciousness.
That’s my second favorite part about baking. My absolute favorite is seeing the reactions of the people eating it, their moment of bliss on their faces from the first taste. There are so many different emotions heard. It’s the reward a true chef looks for. And the first time Evan tried my baking was the best I’ve ever witnessed. The way his deep voice moaned his approval, followed by his eyes closing. It just made me want to bake for him that much more. I would love to see him react that way over my desserts every time I bake. I'm making two batches of brownies. One with peanut butter chips, and the other one s’mores, a personal favorite of mine.
I prepare to put them in the pans, when Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen blasts its way through the headphones. I haven't heard this song in a very long time. I instantly perk up, and a mischievous smile forms on my face. This has been dad’s favorite song since I can remember. Whenever he played it, he was in an amazing mood. Bringing back memories, I internally squeal and prepare myself for this feel-good rock session I'm about to dive into. I know every word, and no one’s here. So I belt out the lyrics right along with the song, a karaoke night all to myself.
If this song didn't come on, the brownies would already be in the oven. But there’s no standing still when this song plays. I'm twirling around the kitchen, using the spatula as a microphone when I crash into something hard. The headphones go flying off, and I hear multiple chuckles. Still in shock, I can’t take my eyes off of Evan’s. I know he’s laughing at me, but it’s an appreciative laughter that he caught me in such a candid moment. The song got me in such an upbeat mood that not even this little embarrassment can bring me out of my happy frame of mind. I feel little pelts hit my head, and I swing around to face everyone else. They're all here. And they're all red-faced from laughter. Okay. It’s not a little but a big embarrassment.
“Who threw that?” I ask them, with my arms crossed and a smirk on my face, ready to retaliate. Charlie twitches for a second and looks at Derek. It was him. I look down at the floor to see peanut butter chips splayed around my feet. I slowly bring my eyes to meet Derek's and threaten him. “Game on,” I thought I sounded tough, but I was wrong. That caused Derek to fall to the ground, laughing harder than before. But I know he didn't see what was coming next.
I spin around, grabbing the flour, and I run over as quiet as I can behind him, waiting for him to get up. And when he does, the flour smacks him dead in the face, leaving him as white as a ghost. Everyone is hunched over, grabbing at their stomachs from laughing so hard. Even I can’t hold it back. Derek shakes his head like a dog, filling up the room with a rain of flour. It leaves us all with a coat of white powder on our heads. With his eyes squinted, he lifts his arm and reaches into the bag of marshmallows. My eyes get wide as I watch his arm come up to throw them at me, but he doesn't get the chance. A loud crack sounds in the kitchen. Derek slowly turns his head in Evan’s direction as we all see what the noise was. A broken egg is splattered all on the side of Derek’s head, mixing with the flour and turning into a lumpy and sticky mess.
“No one messes with my girl,” Evan says with a western accent. They look like they're in a duel from those old country movies. We’re all choking from the laughter that we let our guards down. Crack after crack Derek casted a broken egg on each of our heads except Evan. Evan had five of them falling off of him. He shakes his head like Derek did before, and all the shells fall to the floor. Evan flicks his wrist, and milk flies out straight at Derek like a hose. When Evan stopped the cast, Lucas jumped in and flicked his own wrist. Chocolate powder piled all over his brother’s body, making him look like a muddy monster.
“That’s it,” says the monster, about to wreak havoc. I straighten up and yell, “Take cover!” Charlie and Mack squeal and run behind the counter. I follow behind, knowing Lucas and Evan won’t run. Derek's playful voice comes out at us, “You girls should know by now, no hiding place is going to stop me.” He warns. We all look at each other with terrified looks on our faces. “The hell with it,” Mack says aloud. She leans in closer to us and whispers, “What do y’all say we make this a girls against guys fight?”
Charlie and I nod and ready ourselves as we stand up and run to the first thing we see. Hitting each of our guys at the same time, Lucas gasps; Derek curses, and Evan smirks. We’re screwed. I look over at Mack, “Gee, Mack, great plan.” I say nervously. Evan laughs evilly. “Oh, we don’t need magic to get you guys,” he says with a wink. And quite literally, all hell breaks loose. There was food everywhere. At this point we were now picking up food from the floor to throw at whoever was closest to us. Mack was throwing Twizzlers at Charlie, while Lucas was hitting me with globs of peanut butter. Out of breath and covered in who knows what, we all find ourselves on the floor, laughing and slipping. “Look at this kitchen. Dimitri would have a heart attack if he saw this,” I say, calming the mood down. We must have forgotten what the cleanup would be like. “Damn,” says Derek, looking around. Evan stands up wobbly. “I have an idea. But everyone has to agree.”
“Let’s hear it,” replies Mack. “I will cast to clean us up,” he begins and we all perk up. “But we clean up the kitchen ourselves,” he finishes, and we all slouch down again. No one moves or talks, so Evan snaps his fingers and cleans himself up. “Much better,” he says, looking spotless. His hair looks freshly washed, and he smells of fresh apples. I stand up and instinctively move towards him. I lift my arm to touch his face, but he takes a step back away from me. “Not until you're clean,” he says, with a more dramatic display of disgust. He winks at me, and I fall for his plan. “Fine. D
o it,” sticking my tongue out and standing straight for him to work his magic. He claps his hands, and not a second later, his fingers are running through my now loose and clean hair.
He comes in close to my ear, “I love it when your hair’s down,” he whispers as I make a silent vow to wear it down more often for him. Charlie stands up and slides up to us. “Okay, lovebirds. I’d like to be that clean without ruining our shower.” Evan turns me around and hugs me from behind. We’re both facing a very milky and a very smelly Charlie. Giggling, I wait for Evan to cast his spell. He snaps his fingers, and I can see Charlie's adorable face again. Her hair is up in a high ponytail. I see Lucas straighten up and stare at Charlie like he wants to devour her.
Evan leans down and whispers in my ear. “That’s his favorite way to see her,” he says with a chuckle. Lucas snaps his own fingers and cleans himself up, having a hard time keeping his hands off of Charlie. Mack runs up to Evan, “Me, me, me,” she says with her country twang. Evan snickers and snaps his fingers, putting her in a baby doll top and short cotton shorts. Derek stood up and ran over to stand in front of Mack, snapping his own fingers and cleaning himself. I cross my arms over my chest and look Evan in the face. “What? I'm just trying to make the cleanup a little more tempting. But I still think we can add something else,” he says, with that same gorgeous smirk.
He walks away in search of something. While he is doing that, I remember the whole reason I was in here was because of the brownies I was making. Slowly stepping over mounds of goo, I make my way over to where the brownies are sitting still uncooked. And they are a mess. There are so many different ingredients mixed in them from the food fight. But even though the brownies look chaotic, I still place them in the oven.
Evan lifts up my phone from the messy floor and magically cleans it up, hitting the back button. Clapping his hands, he casts the music to blast throughout the kitchen. Everyone shouts their approval and moves to their cleaning stations, singing along exactly how I was when they caught me in here. The best part of the song starts to come on as it slows down, then speeds up, and everyone takes a position, on the verge of rocking out. Air guitars, drum solos, and head banging are happening all around the kitchen. Dizzy with happiness and high on love from everyone in the room, the rocking dies down. We’re all laughing and just genuinely happy. The rest of the time cleaning up goes by fast, but I think that’s because of Derek. I caught him flicking his wrist here and there, casting to clean something up faster.
The oven sings its song, letting me know the brownies are done, and I run over to pull them out. The whole kitchen fills with the smell of fresh brownies. I place them on the island, and everyone has stopped what they're doing to join me there. “Okay. So these were planned to be something else, but now it’s just a product of our fun time together. I pulled out the Twizzlers but everything else stayed. So hopefully they taste good,” I say through a laugh. Evan snaps his fingers, and the rest of the kitchen is cleaned.
“Those actually look really good,” Evan says, thinking the same thing I thought when I saw them. I cut the brownies and hand them out as we all take a bite. Several moans sound throughout the group, and I chuckle nodding my head approvingly. “We’re gonna have to do this more often if we want brownies like this again.” I joke as we devour the first pan. The second is cut up and divided, half for the guys to take and half to keep here. This is now a normal routine. “Tonight was a lot of fun,” Charlie says, as she picks at her brownie, eating it in small pieces. “Definitely.” Mack and I say at the same time.
An hour later, after sitting in the kitchen and talking about the events that occurred during their caster swear-in, I was glad I made the choice of staying behind. Surprisingly, Mack's process went much smoother than Charlie's. They kept getting thrown out of the cast when it was Charlie's turn, and they don't understand why. But after the fifth attempt, it worked. She said it was excruciating, like her head was going to blow off. I probably would have tried to stop them if I saw her in pain.
Exhaustion kicks in as we all say our good nights. Evan and I didn't get great sleep the night before, so sleeping came easy tonight as I went to bed with a smile on my face, again. Evan and I have our first date tomorrow. And I can't wait!
Charter 20
Date One
Why am I so nervous? I’ve had dinner with Evan so many times before. And yet, I can’t stop the butterflies from spreading their electric fluttering throughout my body. He should be here soon, so I stop my pacing to give myself another look in the mirror and can’t help but smile. Mack did a great job on my outfit and makeup. This morning when I woke up there was a box on my bed. I assumed it was from Evan. But as soon as I saw the whimsy handwriting, I knew it was from Demi.
Little sister,
It pains me that I can’t be there to see how beautiful you're going to look tonight. I wanted to contribute a little something from the girls and I. I’ve had this dress in the back of my closet for a very long time. I was shopping one day in Eden, and something pulled me to it. But I knew it wasn't meant for me. The second I touched it, I saw your face, so I had to get it. I knew that when the day came, I would know when to gift it to you. And this morning, when Dad told me about your date tonight, I knew this was the day. Something special is going to happen tonight. I can feel it.
I love you, Scarlet. Have fun!
Demi
P.S. Don’t screw this up. Evan is perfect! (don’t tell Silas I said that!)
P.S.S. Call me in the morning…I want to know EVERYTHING!
Nothing in the world could ruin this moment. I couldn't wait to see what was in the box. I untie the red silk ribbon and lift the top off. The first thing I see is lace, light gray lace. It looks very old and delicate. I'm almost afraid to touch it. The lace is in the pattern of leaves. And at the end of each stem, the gray turns to a silver. It almost looks as if the dress is slightly shimmering. It’s so beautiful. I have never seen a dress like it. It’s short, coming out at the waist into a flowing flare. The sleeves are capped. And under the dress, in the same light gray color, is a silk tank top dress that reaches to the bottom of the lace over it. Warmth fills my heart, as I suddenly get emotional thinking about how grateful I am to have such a loving family. I pull my phone out to call Demi, but a knock at my door stops me. “Scar? Are you in there?” Mackenzie says.
“Yes, I'm here. Come see this.” I reply, still staring at the dress. Both Mack and Charlie come through and race to my bed. Mack stares with her mouth wide open as Charlie comes up behind her, raising her hand to cover her mouth. “Oh, my gosh. Wait right here!” Mack jumps up and shouts as she runs out of my room. She comes back with a small plastic bag in her hands. Emptying it out on the bed, I unfold them to see knee high socks that are beautiful, white, lacy, and feather-light. They ironically look like they match the dress perfectly. I pull her in for a hug, and she pushes me away just as fast. In her excitement over picking out the rest of my outfit, she begins to ramble.
“Okay. Shoes! What shoes are you wearin’ with this? And hair! What are we goin’ to do with this?! I’ll cover makeup, for sure!” She says rapidly, as she circles me like a hungry lion. Charlie and I laugh, but Mack is all business. If I don’t go along and figure this out now, she’ll stand there and look at me like that until Evan comes to get me. “Okay, I was thinking my black wedges for shoes. My hair is probably going to stay down. And please go light with the makeup.” I reply sternly. Charlie runs out of the room and returns with a skinny crown, lined with simple white flowers. It matches the leaves in the dress, and I gratefully borrow it.
“Thanks, Charlie. This is really beautiful.” She takes a seat on my bed facing me, as she watches Mack work her magic, of course, without the use of real magic. I have the dress, the knee highs, the crown, and the shoes on while Mack has been doing my makeup for 30 minutes, and I'm beginning to get impatient. “Done!” She shouts, as she steps back to admire her work. Finally! She stands me up and turns me around to face the mirror. A
nd when I see myself I'm stunned.
The makeup is so airy and light that it barely looks like I have any on. What in the world was she doing for all that time? She gave me a slight smoky eye that really makes the gray in my eyes pop. You can even see the flowing silver ribbon that hasn't gone away since my birthday. My cheeks have more of a glow, which I hope helps block my excessive blushing. And she tinted my lips with a light red to look more natural. I look like a painted porcelain doll. I never thought I could look so delicate, so beautiful.
‘Wow” is all I can manage to say. “I know, girl. I did good.” Mack brags, causing Charlie to nudge her arm. “By the way, I don't know if y’all have noticed, but you’ve got some silver linin’ floatin’ around your eyes. Are y’all sure you're not like them, too?” She questions. I was hoping she didn't notice. Great. Someone else I love second-guessing the lack of magic in my blood. “Yes, Mack. We’re all positive that I'm not a caster. I don't know where that ribbon came from. But let’s keep that to ourselves for now. Please?” I beg her. I don't want this night to be ruined by my over thinking.
“Of course, Scar. We’ll give you a minute to yourself. He should be here any second.” Mack squeezes my shoulders and hooks her arm in Charlie's, as they leave my room with proud looks on their faces. They're like my sisters now. I know I'm going to cherish their friendship for the rest of my life. Suddenly the doorbell rings. He’s here! I grab my purse and walk out to the living room. But before I turn the corner, I feel my spine begin to tingle with an intense and savory fire. The butterflies in my stomach take flight as I walk through the hallway.
One look at Evan has my breath caught in my throat. He is breathtaking. He’s in dark fitting jeans with black oxfords. He’s wearing a light gray button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A black and white striped skinny tie graces his neck. It’s incredibly ironic because we match to the tee. I finally get to his eyes, and my whole world shifts. It feels like I have tunnel vision because all I can see is Evan. Unable to peel our eyes off of one another, we hear a cough and suddenly everything comes back to life again. He gives me his knee-weakening smile and adds a wink. And at that moment I think I may fall from my legs going weak. I hear a giggle, and I'm snapped out of my trance. Turning my head slowly towards my roommates, I see them trying to hide their smile. And I can’t help but smile myself.
Winter's Awakening (Light Coven Chronicles Book 1) Page 18