Cameron smiled, but his blue eyes were clouded. “Rather precise.”
“Well…you could run away with me.”
“You’re not going to run away. Not really.”
She frowned and stepped a little further away from him. “You don’t know that.”
“I don’t mean to say you lack resolve. I think you have plenty of that.” He slowed his speech, hoping, praying he was making some kind of sense to her. That maybe, if he tried one more time, he’d bridge the divide between himself and one other dragon in the world. That maybe she wouldn’t storm off or hit him if he said what was really on his mind. “I only mean, no matter how many times you run away, you have to come back. To see if they missed you. Because that was the whole point of leaving. Because you want them to love you like you love them.”
Myra stopped walking, her chin toward the ground, her eyes hidden behind her hood. Cameron waited for it, but nothing came save silence. He wanted to reiterate that he hadn’t meant offense, hadn’t meant to be forward or obtrusive, hadn’t meant to make her angry or hurt. But he let her process her thoughts, because that was the blue dragon way.
Finally, she looked up at him. And despite his years of psychophysiological training, his ability to tell what people felt by the ticks and twitches of their facial muscles, he had no idea what was going on in Myra’s head.
She started walking again, then turned and looked at the bewildered boy. “Aren’t you coming?”
And when he caught up to her, she took her hand from her pocket and let it meet his.
When they wandered into the grocery section, they both stopped, not bothering to let go of each other’s hands, since no one was looking at them. Not with the dozens and dozens of empty bags of candy that littered the floor. The wrappers sat rejected on the scuffed linoleum.
Cameron, his mouth ajar, turned to look at Myra. She mirrored him.
If their siblings had ingested that much sugar…
A crash of shelves tumbling over like dominoes. The whooping of dragons in a maddened frenzy. Myra leaped out of the way as Rory sprinted by, wearing Cale like a backpack, a manic grin on his face.
Cale put his hands in the air and screamed, “I’m flying!! I’m flying!!”
And they were gone, leaving a rack of discount gummy worms knocked-over from their dash around the corner.
“Where’s my sister?” Myra looked around.
And then they heard a laugh. When they looked up, they saw her sitting on top of one of the giant shelves, blowing bubbles and giggling as they popped on the light fixtures.
Customers hustled their carts in the opposite direction and security finally showed, pointing angry batons at Cameron and Myra, of all people.
“You kids!”
Myra put both hands on her cheeks. She knew what the guard didn’t. That he was messing with the wrong group of dragons. “They’ll fight him,” she said. “They’re out of their minds. They won’t know any better.”
Cameron nodded. “Get your sister down. Meet me in the gardening section. We’ll go out the back.”
Myra was up the shelves before Cameron finished his sentence. She was a spry little thing, springing up and balancing on the thin shelf top without having to think.
He tore his eyes away from her. Cameron knew exactly where his brothers would be. He snatched up a grill lighter, then jogged over to the toy section and sighed as a Nerf dart got him in the forehead.
He walked over to the container of giant bouncy balls and whistled.
“Look,” he shouted. “Giant gumballs!”
It worked, bringing the two red boys to one place. Then, he turned the lighter on so the fire would catch their interest, held it over his head, and ran for the exit.
He found Myra pushing her sister into the back of the truck. Onna looked silly, her silver and chrome heels sticking up at odd angles as she face planted in the truck bed.
She tossed some more candy in the back, and Rory and Cale piled in, laughing with Onna as they opened up the bags like orangutans, sweet tarts falling from the air like confetti.
Cameron put Rory’s truck into gear, waited for Myra to close the passenger door, and took off, heading downtown and hopefully away from the police who surely had been notified that young, impossibly athletic hooligans were huffing sugar products and wrecking a store.
Myra turned Rory’s radio off and looked sideways at Cameron. “I didn’t know you had your license.”
“I don’t,” he answered.
She grinned. “We’re going to get in so much trouble.”
Cameron smiled back, and his narrow features lit up for once. Myra had never noticed before how perfectly cut his jaw was, how blinding white his teeth were. And in the dark, his hair and eyes made him look like he was underwater.
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I’d be in trouble for something else if I stayed home anyways.”
Myra laughed. “I knew it! You try hard, but part of you likes being in trouble! You’re a secret rebel!”
He shook his head, but he was still smirking. “It’s a misconception that blue dragons are inherent rule followers. The deepest knowledge is often found through rebellion.”
“What do you mean?”
“I do try. I do. But...it’s in my nature to challenge the rules.” He shifted gears, thinking, suddenly quiet. “It’s like I can’t help it sometimes.”
“Is that why you got kicked out of the academy?”
He glanced at her, his eyes growing cold. “What?”
She chewed on her lip, afraid she’d misspoken. “I mean...never mind.”
Cameron was more than glad she’d decided to let that topic go. The blue dragon academy. Where only the brightest and most promising blues were sent to further their studies. Graduating meant a steady career in academia, insurance of a healthy and equally intelligent mate for species reproduction. It was not something he discussed. In fact, since he’d been dishonorably expelled and sent home, his mother had not mentioned the place. Not even once. It was as if he’d never gone. She was that ashamed.
“Where are we going?” she asked. Home is the other way.”
“I’m dropping them off at the Cave. Let them work of their highs. Otherwise they’ll tear the house apart.”
Myra sat back in her seat. “You really are smart.”
“Yes. I am.”
“Not too humble though, huh?”
“I saw the way you got to your sister back there,” he said, redirecting the conversation. “You are very fast.”
She nodded at the compliment. “Hell yeah, I am.”
“You are also smarter than I predicted,” he added.
She wagged her eyebrows at him. “You like that, huh?”
He replied, his eyes still on the road, “Yes, I do.”
She laughed. “I’m just teasing you, Cameron.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t change fact.”
“What fact?”
He tightened his grip on the wheel, glanced over at her while she stared at him. He’d forgotten for a moment that he couldn’t just say whatever he thought. Most reds he talked to found offense in his insensitive musings and factual opinions. And of all people, he did not want to offend Myra.
“Dude, you can’t just stop talking. That pisses me off.”
He felt the dull, hazy throb behind his eyes that meant he didn’t understand something. “That makes you angry?”
“Yeah. We were having an enthralling conversation, and you just decided you were done. It’s not fair to me.”
“But...my family and other reds tend to prefer I say nothing if I can help it. Less controversy. Less fighting.”
“I’m not them, Cameron. I’m Myra. I’m different.”
“You certainly are.”
“Now what fact were you talking about?”
“Should I be candid?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Never ask me that again.”
“Alright,” And he wanted to smile, but didn’t. “
I find you attractive.”
“Objectively?”
“Objectively, you have healthy, well-presented hair and skin, symmetrical features, plush lips, ample breasts, and well-toned musculature.”
She waited a moment. “And subjectively?”
He pulled into the crowded parking lot, maneuvering around the dozens of reds loitering near their cars. “Subjectively, I have not had an equally enjoyable conversation with anyone before—of any race, gender, or species.”
He turned the engine off and let the others jump out of the back. Cale was the only one who smacked his hand against Cameron’s window and yelled “thank you” much too loudly through the glass.
Cameron was amazed that a red dragon could handle hard liquor and not a few bars of chocolate. Finally, he frowned at Myra.
“You should go with them.”
She tucked her hair behind her ears. “Night,” she said, closing the door behind her and walking away from the truck faster than she’d expected. He couldn’t help but think he’d done something wrong. Again. But you can fix it. He leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and forced the thoughts to form in his mind. This time, you have to fix it.
***
Myra watched as Onna groaned into her pillow, the lights dim in her white and pink-trimmed room. “He’ll never notice me,” she said. She ran her fingers through the flame of the candle on her bedside table, trying to find a little comfort in the heat.
“He hangs out with you almost every day, Onna. I’m pretty sure Cale notices you.” It was late, and Myra stabbed her lamb strips with the prongs of her fork.
Her sister groaned louder, pulling the edges of her pink silk pillow up around her face. She was still hung over form her sugar binge, her usually sleek, pin straight hair frizzed into a mash of black chaos.
“You don’t understand, Myra. You could never understand. Cale sees me, but not how I want him to. I might as well be invisible.”
Myra stopped chewing and pursed her lips. “And you think I won’t understand that?”
Onna sat up, and Myra gasped a little. The remnants of her mascara looked like shoe polish stains on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her brown eyes, the only perfectly identical trait the twins shared, were puffy and red-rimmed. Even her nose leaked.
“You won’t understand, Myra, because you live this perfect life. You just slink around all mysterious and gorgeous and everyone just looks at you and thinks, ‘oh, there’s that cool, sexy loner chick.’”
“Being alone isn’t cool, Onna.”
“It is when you rock it. And you rock it Myra.” She pulled up her nose. “I do not rock alone. I need Cale to look at me. I need him to want me.”
And Onna threw her face back into her pillow and pulled her matching pink blanket over her head. Before Myra could leave, their mother, still made up with her dark lipstick and bleached white smile, poked her head into the room.
“Oh, I just love it when the two of you spend time together,” she said. “I’m out of town for a couple weeks. I left new credit cards downstairs. Get whatever you want.” And then she frowned. “Myra, dear, stand up straight. Slouching is no good for your breasts.”
Myra called out, “Hang on a second, Mom.”
Dana backtracked. “Hmm?”
“Um…we might need to write a check.”
“Sure. Whatever you need.” And she tried to leave.
“No,” Myra said, calling her back. “I mean…it’s going to be for more than usual. We got into a little trouble—”
Dana’s eyes widened. “The kind that involves a boy?”
“No, no, not that.” Myra couldn’t believe she was clamming up in front of her own mother. But Dana was ticking her fingernails against the wooden doorpost, glancing at her watch. “We’re banned from Walmart. Kind of forever. We might need to pay for some stuff to avoid a law suit.”
Dana nodded. “Mmhmm. Well that’s good to hear, hun. You go ahead and take as much as you need, okay? Kisses.”
And she was gone. Myra wondered if she realized it was her second two-week trip in a row. What she’d just said to Myra was the only conversation they’d had in a month.
Myra felt strange again, standing in her sister’s uncluttered room. As if, though it was lofty, there was no place for her.
She walked towards the door, and before she closed it behind her, she turned to hear Onna’s snoring body. She’d never met a person so different from her, so fast and loud and far. It was as if they were strangers. And the worst part, Myra was convinced, if they’d not been born together, they’d never be friends. Onna had no idea who her sister was. And she didn’t care to find out.
Myra put her snack away and went back to her room, ready to grab the duffel bag she kept packed, ready to go one more time, maybe for longer, maybe forever. She bent over to pick it up but had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming.
She ran to the window, opened it, and reached for his arm. “What the hell are you doing? Do you know how high up we are?”
Cameron climbed into the window, a little breathless. “Of course. I did the calculations beforehand.”
He stood with his palms resting on his knees while he caught his breath. Myra stared at the way his muscles cut through his plain white shirt, the way blue tinged his neck, the way a light sheen of perspiration danced on his skin in the moonlight.
She fought the blush she knew was spreading across her cheeks. Pull yourself together. “Um…how long were you out there.”
“A while,” he stated, straightening up, stretching his arm as if his muscles were pulling tight. “I would have called first, but I don’t have your number.”
Myra stared at him. “You’ve been hanging off my window for ‘a while?’ You could have killed yourself!”
He shook his head, looking back at the window as if he was recalculating. “No, I don’t think so. I’m stronger than I look.”
“You look plenty strong, Cam.”
Cameron looked over at her when she said it, and she knew there was no way she could hide her blush that time.
“You alright?” he asked.
“Uh…yep.” Jesus, kill me now. I’m transparent.
He pointed to the bag on her bed. “You’re packing.”
“Oh, that. Yeah…I was thinking about making a run for it.” She stopped and pointed her thumb to her door. “Why didn’t you just ring the doorbell, Cam?”
He followed where she pointed, looked down at the floor a moment. “I didn’t think you’d want anyone to know I was here.”
“Why? We’re not doing anything wrong, right?”
And to her amazement, he gave a wry half-smile. “If that’s what you say.”
She pointed at him and smiled back. “What does that mean?”
“It’s up for interpretation.”
She laughed, a good one, the kind that made her feel lighter. “Cameron Anders, are you flirting with me?”
He leaned back on the edge of her desk and crossed his arms. “More like trying to. I’m not very good.”
“No, that wasn’t bad, actually. Not very subtle, though.”
“Subtle is not easy for me.”
She sat on her bed, realizing she was having the first interesting conversation she’d ever been a part of under her own roof. “How do blue dragons flirt, then?”
“We don’t.”
She chewed on her thumb. “Oh. Like you don’t mate at all?”
Cameron laughed at that one. “The opposite, Myra.”
“What’s the opposite of mating?”
Cameron was still smiling. “You misunderstand. There is only intercourse, no preliminaries. Societally we don’t date, we don’t ‘flirt.’”
Myra blinked at him. “So you just…hook up?”
“If there is mutual attraction, yes. And then that’s it for most partners. Though it is usual that if you were compatible, you may engage again in the future. But most blue dragons never marry. And children only come from blues with
the most intellectual prowess, to continue the species. Even then, the children are most often not raised by their parents.”
Myra wrinkled her nose. “I guess I thought all you guys ever did was study. Apparently, you’re all freaks.”
“We do have rather pronounced drives. Another reason marriage does not seem to work out well. We seek to satisfy desires quickly and sufficiently so that the pursuit of knowledge can be continued without further distraction.”
“That is not very romantic.”
“No, it is not. I’ve never met a romantic blue dragon.”
Myra nodded her head over to her window. “You just waited outside my window so you could talk to me. That’s romantic.”
“I’m not opposed to trying.”
“Why? Because red dragons are romantic?”
He waited a moment. “Not because reds are romantic.”
“Because why, then?”
“Because you.”
Myra let the air between them grow still. “What now then?”
“Whatever you want.”
“You mean that?”
He nodded.
“Okay. I want to know why you were sneaking out, the night we first ran into each other.”
She could tell he was thinking by the way he clenched his jaw. It was amazing how still he could be, like a statue, when his mind was busy. Blue dragons conserved all energy when they were the most mentally active. Rather than running around, unable to sit down like reds, they kept perfectly unmoving, so every ounce of energy could instead go to their brains.
“You’ll have to wait until late tomorrow night,” he said at last.
“I can do that.”
Cameron stood straight, no longer leaning on the desk. “You sure you can sneak out?”
Myra laughed. “Now you’re making jokes, Anders?”
He smiled. “It was funny?”
Her smile made her glow, and her brown eyes, for once, weren’t so sad. “Lame. But yeah, it was funny.”
“So I’m impressing you?”
Sole: A Blue Novella (The Core Series Book 2) Page 3