by Mindy Hayes
“Yeah,” he agreed and smiled easily.
I didn’t want to be easy for him. Comfortable, yes. Happy, yes. Effortless, yes. But easy. . .you never wanted to be someone’s choice because it was simply easier. I’d never let myself be that to him. It was a turn in my feelings for him. I needed to accept that our relationship would never be romantic. I was just his best friend, Cal. Someone it was easy to spend time with.
We didn’t speak for a few minutes, eating in a comfortable silence. After several rounds back to the salad bar, the food hit the spot, totally satisfying my Green House craving. When I looked up from my empty plate to him, he was watching me. My stomach twirled under his scrutinizing ocean eyes.
“Do I have something on my face?” I asked, wiping the corners of my lips.
“No.” He looked thoughtful, gazing at me as if I were someone different, like he’d never looked at me before. I cleared my throat and tried to keep confident eye contact, but failed a couple times and dropped my eyes back to my empty plate. He blinked and shook his head. “Did you get enough to eat?”
I grinned. “I’m stuffed. Completely content.” I leaned back in my chair, stretching out my stomach. “You?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “The night’s still young. Do you want to do a movie or something?”
Did he really need to ask? “Sure.”
We pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater and Cameron said, “I have to pee.”
“You should probably do that in the bathroom,” I advised.
He nodded. “The parking lot might cause a little bit of a scene.”
“These people came to see a movie not a peep show.”
He chuckled. “Dangit.”
Cameron paid for the tickets without question or comment and I thanked him again.
“You do the bathroom,” I said. “I’ll get popcorn and meet you in the theater.”
“Deal.” He nodded once.
When I walked in, snacks in one hand, drink in the other, Cameron had saved me a seat next to him in the back row, our usual spot.
“Light butter?” he asked.
I nodded as he held his hand out to me. He didn’t even have to ask; I knew he wanted the chocolate covered raisins I hadn’t shown him yet to mix in the popcorn. He knew just how I liked it.
Once the lights in the theater lowered to a dim glow an unusual tension encompassed Cameron and me. I wasn’t sure if he felt it, but I definitely did. Going to the movies had always been casual before, but now that he had Isla it felt like we were crossing into enemy territory, a boundary that shouldn’t be passed. It wasn’t unlike him to curl his arm around me during movies in the past, but now it seemed like he didn’t know what to do with himself. During the entire movie he was shifting in his seat, situating and resituating the placement of his hands. He’d rest his arm on the armrest between us then shift to the other side, then cross his arms in front of his chest and sigh. After finishing the popcorn I stuck with the arms across the chest approach. It made things easier. I didn’t know why he was so anxious.
When the lights came up, he let me pass in front of him and followed me to the exit. As we walked to his jeep, he wrapped his arm across my shoulder, enfolding me close to his warm body. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight.”
“Thanks for not ditching out on me.” I smiled and nudged my head into his shoulder.
He squeezed my shoulder once and slowly trailed his fingers down my arm, uncontrollably tickling my stomach, before releasing me as we approached the jeep.
The ride to my house was silent as we drove through the still darkness, which normally wouldn’t bother me, but it wasn’t our typical comfortable silence. We had a thousand pound mammoth in the backseat peering over our shoulders as we awkwardly tried to act natural. Cameron pulled into my driveway as the digits on his clock above the stereo read 10:57 pm.
I hopped down from the passenger’s seat. “Thanks again, Cam. I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too, Cal.” The look in his eyes changed again, like he was trying to figure me out which was the last thing I needed right now. Having Cameron dissect my appearance now was dangerous. He might notice something about me before I did. But there was something more in his eyes. Something that resembled longing.
“I’ll see you Monday,” he said after clearing his throat. He had to feel it too. It couldn’t just be me. He had to detect the difference.
I nodded and closed the door, waving as I walked away. Once I was safely in the house, his car pulled away.
At the sight of my bed, I could instantly hear it calling my name. The exhausting day hit me. I sat at my armoire and put my curls into a messy bun on the top of my head, pulling the strands away from my face before putting on moisturizer.
After leaving Cam though it felt strange, I felt satisfied. I had my Cameron fix. I could probably let Isla take my best friend for a few more weeks before I felt neglected again. At least now I knew he still cared. He still wanted me in his life.
When I turned my face up to the mirror, taking in my appearance, my eyes bulged and I stifled a scream. I frantically turned each side of my face to the mirror, examining the foreign growth. It was really happening. It wasn’t as if I could turn back now even though I wanted to. My ears had begun to form delicate points.
Chapter Ten
I dodged my parents all day Sunday. My excuse was that I had a ton of homework I needed to concentrate on and shouldn’t be disturbed, which was a bunch of bull. I locked myself in my room. What I really needed was to test different hairstyles to figure out the best way to cover up these babies. There was no way I could do that if my mom was constantly coming in and out of my room. With every creak and every thud, I jumped, thinking there was someone at my door.
At midday I heard a faint knock on my door and the sound of my dad calling my name. It nearly made me fall off my chair.
“Come in,” I said and pulled my hair down around my ears in case Mom was with him.
He peered around the door and stepped inside alone. “Is everything okay?” I gave him a helpless look and he rushed to my side. “What changed?”
I pulled my hair behind my ears to reveal the tips. Of all things I was expecting, a smile was not one of them, but it formed on his face as if I just told him I got a 4.0. Was that pride in his eyes?
“Dad?” I prompted.
His voice was quiet as his bottom lip quivered. “I haven’t seen those in so long I almost forgot what a faery looked like,” he said softly
Sentimental. Really. He was getting sentimental on me? “Dad,” I repeated, my voice reprimanding him.
“I’m sorry.” He swallowed, blinking back what could have been tears. “Right. Your ears.” He couldn’t stop looking at them. “It won’t be easy to hide those.”
“You think? I can’t keep these from Mom.”
A deep breath of air flowed from his mouth as he ran a hand over his face and his faded green eyes finally met mine. “You’re going to have to try.”
“But, Dad—”
“She’s got a lot on her plate right now, Calliope,” he interrupted. “I cannot add this to it.”
“You say that as if it’s her burden to bear.” I threw my hand to the closed bedroom door.
“This affects us all, Calliope,” he chastised.
“Oh really. Because the last time I checked, your ears looked pretty rounded and normal to me.”
The stern look that crossed his face made me shut my mouth. I’d never seen my dad so wound up. He was normally the laid back one in the house. Zen. Which made sense now that I knew he lived in a forest for the majority of his life. But why was it so important to keep this from my mom? I understood that this case was a big deal. I understood that it could completely rock her world, but this was a lot for me to process on my own. And I didn’t want to live a lie. I wanted to be able to live and talk freely in my home.
“I’ll tell her. Just not yet. We have to wait for this case to be over. If her concentratio
n is tampered with, she could lose and this vile criminal could get off. This case is really important to her, Calliope.”
I sighed. I knew it was. She’d been building this case for months and months. It was the case. The one she had fixated on for years, doing everything in her power to keep this man behind bars before his trial. I saw his point, but it was going to be far from easy. Not that any of this had been easy thus far. Nothing was easy anymore. Everything was complicated. I was spinning more webs full of lies and if I wasn’t careful I was going to get caught in one of them. I didn’t want this.
“Just give it a few more weeks,” he pressed.
“As if I have a choice.”
“Thank you, Calliope.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Hair looks good by the way.”
I laughed without humor and offered him a smile. “Thanks.”
Luckily, the next morning I slipped out of the house undetected and made my way to school. If my mom had been around, she would have figured something was up. I hadn’t gained control of myself yet. I needed to get my bearings before being able to confront her without suspicion.
I made my hair extra curly and braided it in two, making sure not to tuck it behind my ears. I hadn’t braided my hair since I was twelve. It was probably a horrible idea to go to school in the first place, but I had to go. I couldn’t not go to school ever again. I still had a life, a human life that I was going to cling to for as long as I could. I would not go to Faylinn and be forced to live among the Nesters as a slave to Favner. My body was not his to use as an instrument for reproduction. That was going to be decided by me and the future Mr. Whoever when the time was right.
My nerves were spiraling in chaos underneath my skin. Every eye that I caught in the hallway was judging me. Examining my every move. I touched an ear nonchalantly, self-consciously. It was safely nestled underneath my nest of hair, as I was sure it would stay if I would just stop touching it.
I saw the back of Cameron’s head by our lockers. Maybe it was because I was so conscious of my ears now, but when my eyes found him they went straight to his perfectly round ears, his blonde hair brushing the tops. Isla wasn’t with him, thank goodness. The fewer people I talked to today the better, at least until I figured out how to hide these things better.
“Hey,” I said, breathless, and hid behind my locker door, searching for my English book.
“Mornin’,” he replied, still rummaging in his locker.
I focused on my breathing. That was where I would keep my composure. If my hyperventilation didn’t slow down, it was going to make me faint and cause a very unnecessary scene in the middle of the hallway. I was being paranoid. Cameron wasn’t going to notice anything was different if I simply acted natural.
I heard him close his locker door. “Isla’s still throwing up.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Tell me about it.” He sighed and came to stand on the other side of my locker door, in view of me. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t want to seem flustered or out of character. I continued to sort through my locker, hoping he’d leave so I wouldn’t have to have an actual conversation with him. “Calliope, you’ve got something in your hair.” He lifted his hand, pointing.
My hands flew to my ears, fluffing my hair out over them. My other ear. The wind had moved my hair just enough for a point to barely poke out through the blonde curls and I had missed it. I knew people were looking at me funny. This was going to be harder than I had thought.
“Cal,” he prompted. “What was that?”
I attempted to play stupid. I knew it wouldn’t work for long, but I had to stall to think. “Oh. . .I don’t know,” I said, clipped, closing my locker. “Must have been a leaf or something.”
He chortled. “Oh, c’mon. That didn’t look like a leaf.” He reached out to touch my hair and I stepped back.
I was supposed to keep this world from Cameron, but he was making it very difficult. And I was doing a terrible job at seeming normal.
He laughed again. “Take a chill pill. What’s up with you today?”
I was becoming a faery. There wasn’t any denying it anymore, as much as I wanted to. As much as I didn’t want it to be true, it was happening, just as Declan and Kai had predicted. If there was one person I needed more than ever now, it was Cameron. I had proof now. He’d probably scream like a girl at first, but he would know what to say to me. He would know what to do.
“Cam, meet me after school.”
“What?”
“Just meet me after school,” I persisted.
He sighed and pressed his shoulder against the lockers. “Cal, I told my dad I would head straight to his shop after school. Just tell me now.”
“This is important, Cameron,” I said seriously. “Please?”
His misty blue eyes grew uneasy and he reached his hand out to me, setting it on my arm and rubbing reassuringly. “Are you okay?” Just hearing the worry in his voice made me want to cry, a feeling I had stifled until now. I had been tough, but there had been no sympathy from anyone before now. I had simply been expected to accept this. Why was it that sympathy sparked the need to cry?
I bit my lip. I didn’t want to make him anxious the rest of the day, but I couldn’t say I was perfectly fine either. He could read the discomfort clearly on my face.
“Cal?”
I shook my head and tried to assure him. “It’s nothing that can’t wait until later. I just really need you to meet me. Say you will, please?”
“Of course. I’ll tell my dad I’ll be a little late.”
“Thank you.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Just meet me at my car.”
He nodded, but the look of concern never left his face as I walked away.
The end of the day couldn’t come fast enough. I was constantly fussing with my hair, making sure my ears were covered at all times. When I awoke this morning and checked my ears, the points had become more prominent. They were definitely faery ears now. I wasn’t even sure when they had started to form. I don’t think Declan would have missed them if they were there Saturday morning, but maybe they hadn’t been big enough to notice. Cameron wouldn’t have known to look for them at dinner. It scared me how fast they had grown. Were my wings going to be the same way?
“Is it just me or did Jake Winter sprout into a Greek god over the summer?” Lia asked as she took a bite of her sandwich at lunch.
“Jake, really?” I followed her gaze to a group of guys punching each other and goofing off without a care in the world.
She shrugged meekly, so unlike her.
“I’m sorry, but do you remember what Jake said to you the first time you met him?” She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming. In my best Jake Winter voice I said, “Hey, are you lost? Because heaven is a long way away from here.”
“Winter is such a tool,” Cameron said as he plopped across from me on the grass. I hadn’t even noticed him coming up to us.
“See, even Cam remembers that fateful day,” I said, feeling validated.
He shrugged. “That’s only because that was the day you had chopped off all your locks, Cal, and you were bawling your eyes out next to Lia when he came up. He was so insensitive that he didn’t even see you crying. He just proceeded to gawk at Lia.”
I looked up at him without a word to say, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes looked to the ground, holding something I couldn’t read. Frustration? Uncertainty?
He remembered that?
“Okay. Okay. He’s a tool and I’d never give him the time of day,” Lia said, conceding.
“Thank goodness,” I said and turned my attention back to her. “But don’t let me stop you if he’s the man of your dreams.” I chuckled.
She glared at me, but gave a small grin. “Speaking of hair. Yours is especially nice today, Callie. I’m digging the braids,” she teased.
“What’s wrong with the braids?” I lifted my hands to my hair, double-checking my ear’s whereabouts.
“Nothing. I just have never seen you wear braids before. It’s very Britney Spears.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Cameron cued in at the wrong time. “You haven’t worn braids since we were in middle school, Cal.”
“I just felt like changing things up a bit. There’s only so much you can do with curly hair.” They both eyed me, questioning my poor excuse of an answer. “Lay off the hair,” I commanded jokingly, but I think it came out more like pleading.
Cameron’s eyes read my lies. “Huh, you sure there’s no other reason?” he asked.
I eyed him, warning him not to go any further and mention our earlier conversation. This ended with Cameron. I was not going to tell Lia. If he wanted to get on my bad side he’d keep up with the questioning, but he knew better.
He diverted his gaze from my glare. “You going to finish that sandwich, Lia?” he asked.
She looked at the unfinished sandwich in her hands and then back at him, handing it over. I don’t think he even wanted it, but it ended the conversation about my hair.
When the final bell rang for Cameron to be finished with school I waited in my car, more anxious than I thought I was going to be. I shouldn’t want to tell him. It had been a battle in my head all day. As much as I wanted to tell him, I could still back out and make up some bull crap story about why I was so on edge. The inside of me laughed knowingly. I should want to hide this from the entire world, but I felt a little lighter thinking I was only moments away from sharing this huge secret with my best friend.
I put the car in drive as soon as he sat in the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” he asked after closing the door.
“Away from the school.”
“Why?” he pressed. “Callie, you’re killing me here. You can’t even tell Lia? Why can’t you just tell me now?”
“Because I have to show you and I can’t show you in the middle of our school parking lot. We need to go somewhere private.” I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the canyon.