Ever Lasting

by Odessa Gillespie Black

  A few couples walked away from the covered octagon. I stepped up the intricately designed stone steps. A cloaked figure stood in the shadows staring over the campus in front of us.

  “I don’t know if I can look straight at you again. I’ve never seen you like this.” Cole’s low voice was so inviting, I almost attacked him right then and there.

  “What? Sober and slutty at the same time?” I stepped up beside him.

  “You don’t look slutty. And since when did your attire concern you so much? I recall parties you used to attend when you were younger. The shirts didn’t cover much, and in those Band-Aids you called miniskirts, you were all legs and behind.” Cole took another long draw of something in a red cup.

  “How many of those do you plan to drink?” I nudged his shoulder.

  “As many as it takes.” He raised a serious expression to the campus grounds.

  “To do what? Forget your own name?” I sighed.

  “To forget that you don’t hate me anymore,” he said. “It would be really nice if you could find a way to start again.”

  “The slit on this dress didn’t have to be so high. Whoever designed it didn’t care that only inches from the top of the slit, you could—”

  “Enough.” Cole grasped my hand. “Just stop talking. You’re not helping matters.”

  A little twitch at the corner of Cole’s mouth melted my heart. At least he seemed more like the Cole I used to know. Not the deathly sick one I’d seen a few days ago.

  “Thank goodness Andrew threw this party. Texts were beginning to not be enough. I was about to come break into your house and check on you while you slept.” I stepped a little closer so I could rest my head on Cole’s arm. Had he gotten taller?

  Cole dropped our hands to the railing and left his hand over mine. The muscle in Cole’s arms tensed. “I threw the party. I had to see you.”

  “You’re not leaving or something?” I lifted my head.

  “No. But I had to show you this.” Cole took my hand and placed my thumb over his pulse point. Nothing.

  I pressed harder.

  “How—that’s not possible.” I turned to him and felt his neck. Normally where his blood vein would throb when I’d pissed him off, there was nothing.

  No beat.

  “It happened last night.” Cole still didn’t look straight at me. “It hurt worse than the shift.”

  “Does that still happen? The shift?” Nausea knotted my stomach.

  “Yes. And it’s more erratic than it’s ever been. I wanted to see you to tell you that we can’t see each other for a while. Not until I have that under control.” Cole’s jaw clenched as he finally met my gaze. He let his hand slide through my long, black hair. A small smile twitched the corner of his mouth. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “No. This isn’t right. We were only supposed to stay away from a romantic relationship. I never agreed to parting ways with you completely.” Tears strained my voice.

  “If you don’t agree, I’ll have to take measures you won’t like. At least if we’re both here, we’ll know the other is close. Being in the same room is out of the question though. Trust me. I’ll take every precaution to keep you safe. You have no idea how thorough I can be.”

  I shook all over. “How long? I’ve already waited three, almost four years.”

  “I’ve waited for over a hundred.” Cole cupped my chin, but just as he leaned forward, he stopped. He shook his head. “Just a while longer.”

  I pulled away and stormed down the steps forgetting the death traps on my ankles and feet. I slipped. Strong arms were already around my waist holding me in midair before I could register the action.

  “I’m also lightning fast now. Faster than even the cat I always chose for swifter eating purposes. Before you get any crazy ideas, remember that. If you miss me, just think to me. If I’m too far away, a text will have to be enough. I love you. Don’t say it back until you can show me. Properly.” The dangerous shoes were no match for Cole’s hot breath on my cheek. It melted my knees and all my inhibitions. Thank God he placed me on the ground at the bottom step and was out of sight before I could spin around and attack him with kisses and whatever else I could to keep him near.

  * * * *

  I searched the whole yard immediate to Cole’s dorm and found no sign of him.

  He wasn’t lying about being lightning fast.

  Disappointment gnawed at my stomach for having seen him for such a short time then having to be without him for an undetermined amount of time. Why couldn’t we ever just be together and have a normal day?

  Lacee and Nicki stumbled through our door and staggered past the coat rack, knocking it over in the process.

  “You just hit that guy.” Lacee giggled and hiccupped.

  “That’s not a guy. It’s a coat rack,” Nicki said.

  Another loud bump then crash followed.

  “Shush. You’re going to wake her up.” Lacee faltered over her words.

  I pretended to be asleep. Dealing with them was more than I could handle after the night I’d had.

  * * * *

  My dreams weren’t scary.

  A man with no face loomed in the wooded area of the campus. As much as a vision like that would have normally sent me screaming, I was abnormally calm. The campus was quiet with a weird ground covering fog.

  Glowing eye under the canopy of the trees were stared me down. The glow in Cole’s eyes normally meant he was enticed by me, but these eyes looked different. Possible insidious intent or just curious, I wasn’t sure. But they paralyzed me.

  The tension in my leg muscles released and I was able to walk toward the eyes. I didn’t speak to it, but I could tell that it was male. Excitement much like the feeling back in high school when you had been left alone with the cute guy by your friends on purpose so that you would have no choice but to make conversation filled me. But here, in this dream, I could tell that the being I was secluded with did not want conversation. It was a feeling that became more prevalent as he darkened into a more solid form.

  The strange thing was, I should have felt guilty for the thoughts that ran through my mind pertaining to the effect the being had on my inhibitions, but I didn’t. I stepped toward the shadow that became a man, still not able to see his face.

  “Beautiful.” A man’s whisper seemed to float around me. The tone was so erotic that I stepped even nearer. In the dream, I began slow deep breaths as the anticipation of the man touching me deepened. I wanted to disappear into the darkness with him.

  A voice called from a distance behind me. Cole’s voice became recognizable in the dark, and it came louder the next few times he called.

  When he found me, Cole stopped behind me looking into the darkness but he would no longer see what had drawn me there. It was gone.

  Cole took my arm and spun me around. “You scared me. Allie, you cannot go out here by yourself. He’s here.”

  “Yes, I know. That’s why I came.” I never would have said that if I had been awake.

  Cole’s shook his head and stepped back. “You wanted to be with him?”

  “It wasn’t like exactly like that. I don’t know what happened.”

  Cole took my hand and delivered me to the steps of my dorm.

  I woke in the dark hours of the morning.

  I slung my blanket off and rolled over onto my stomach with my face in the pillow. I tried to go back to sleep, but the dark man kept passing in front of my eyes. In my waking state, I was afraid. Having Cole so close to me must have sent me into a borderline erotic dream.

  Awake, I knew there was no chance of me ever wanting anyone but Cole and that the dream was very silly, but I couldn’t help but want to wash away the lingering guilt that surfaced from the dream to this world.

  I made my way to the bathroom through a darkness that still seemed to be thick with the memory of the dream. I stepped into the shower and let hot water course down my spine. I sigh
ed and leaned into the water, wetting my hair. Maybe if I took a shower, the night would wash away, and I could sleep better when I lay back down.

  A whisper mixed with the spray of water hitting the shower gripped me. I stood very still. No matter how hot the water was, it couldn’t warm the chill that ran over me. I cautiously tugged the shower curtain back, but there was no source of a whisper.

  It must have been the sound of the water in the shower—I had mistaken it for a human sound. I recovered, hoping the water would work magic and warm me. Eventually, it did.

  I got out, wrapped a large plush towel around me and walked back into my room. I glanced over my shoulder a time or two more, feeling silly each time but the uncanny feeling that someone was watching me was ever present.

  * * * *

  I woke the next morning to a note from Nicki informing me that she had a breakfast date with a guy she met at the party. Not too big on early breakfasts, I sat on the sofa. The frat house looked as if a trash can had exploded in the front yard. Hired help or new initiations to the fraternity carried bags around the yard gathering the debris.

  A knock came at my door.

  As soon as the sun rose, I’d hoped Cole would come to his senses. Maybe it was him, here to apologize.

  I looked through the peephole. A bittersweet surprise stood on the other side of the door: Mama and Shelby.

  Mama looked down the halls, and Shelby winked into the peephole at me.

  I yanked the door open.

  The twins fell into my arms, fighting over who should hug me first and why.

  “I’m the mom.”

  “I’m her best friend, and her aunt.”

  “Just because you two were closer in her past life means nothing. She slid out of my vag—”

  “I’ll hug both of you. How is that?” I squeezed them hard.

  “Nice, nice,” Mama said looking around. At the window, she gasped, “Ah, and look at the view.”

  “You are happily married.” Shelby pinched Mama.

  “Most days.” Mama grinned as she watched the show of nice-looking young men competing for their place in the fraternity. She looked the same age as the guys she looked down on, so it wasn’t weird other than the fact that she was my mother.

  Shelby rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to me. “Your husband has overreacted. There’s nothing here.”

  “Could you please not call him that?” I shoved the door shut before the twins had me on the do-not-associate-with-that-girl-cause-she’s-a-freak list that I had already heard other students gossiping about.

  “Oh, there’s no one awake this early. They’re all partied out and having wild dreams.” Shelby pointed to her temple, denoting her power to hear them.

  “That’s not weird and psycho-stalkerish at all.” I went to the sofa. “So, why are you here again?”

  “Cole wanted us to obsessive-compulsively check over your dorm and the grounds to ensure your safety every few days. I found nothing. Nada. Zilch. Over the years I have gained more experience with detecting the residual electric current the entities leave behind and there has been nothing on this part of the campus for days, weeks even.” Mama rested her behind on the sofa arm.

  “So, now that we have that over with, and I didn’t get to stop for breakfast, let’s eat.” Shelby pulled me to my room and using her fashion sense and special powers jerked clothes that looked too dressy for breakfast out of my closet.

  I tossed the shirt she chose back in and she pulled another out and offered it.

  “Come on. You don’t want to walk around looking all frumpy,” Shelby said.

  I sighed and put the sparkly shirt on to oblige her.

  * * * *

  At the coffee shop Common Grounds, right off campus, we opted for a seat in the corner. The seats at the tables in the middle of the room were giant coffee cups and the tables looked like large upside down coffee filters with holes cut out for the legs of the chairs to fit.

  I didn’t feel like eating, but my mom and aunt would hear of no such thing.

  “You need to keep up your energy if you’re going to pass all your classes.” Mama scanned the menu as a group of students gathered at a round table in the middle of the establishment.

  I was glad I had dressed better than a hobo. Almost as soon as the waitress left with our order, in sauntered Cole. He stopped with a jerk when he saw us in the corner.

  “Hi, honey! What a surprise.” Shelby stood as Cole approached the table.

  I looked back to my menu but couldn’t cloak the tension between us.

  He didn’t want us in the same room with each other, so for as long as I could stand it, I would obey his wishes. But that meant that when he saw me, I wouldn’t speak either.

  Okay, I was a little mad that he’d excluded me from his life again.

  “I saw your car,” he said to his mother, while not peeling his eyes off me.

  I pretended I didn’t see his stare.

  “Will you be staying?” she said. “Do you mind, Allie?”

  I shrugged indifferently. “I think I’ll have the chocolate crepe.”

  Cole leaned over my shoulder and read the menu. His breath was on my neck. “Hmm. Drizzled in chocolate syrup, covered in a heavy cream. Sounds interesting.”

  I shot him a look, then looked at our parents. What happened to not seeing each other?

  Cole wasn’t smiling. His expression was calculating. “What’s the matter? Never tried it?”

  I dropped my menu, almost knocking over my water in the process. The explicit thoughts his words had elicited, and his breath on me neck sent me out of the restaurant without so much as a goodbye to my family. I wasn’t embarrassed so much that he had said something like that, because he used to pick with me all the time, back when I hated him. But just then—.

  The effect he’d had on me the night before came to mind. I’d expected him to descend the stairs looking like a man off a magazine cover. Only this time I was shocked. That night, I’d known I’d feel a strong physical attraction to him, but only because of the setting. This time, he’d been blatant, disregarding that our mothers were in the same room.

  I could only imagine the scene in the coffee shop at that very moment.

  Shelby and Mama would have no idea why I’d fled. They’d have been happy to see Cole flirting and me accepting it. They weren’t aware of the last few days, the blood promise. They remembered none of it, due to Cole’s new way of planting new memories in their head. Or had he always had that gift and I’d just been left unaware. The way I always had been.

  I couldn’t remember a time he’d used it to his benefit when we were younger. So maybe it was new.

  On the sidewalk two blocks away, Cole’s voice in my head stopped me. “Why did you run? I remember days when flirting like that was welcome.”

  I refused to respond with thought or words. I had broken a sweat in the early wintry air.

  I cooled off on the long walk home.

  He had the right to lose it now and then too. I just couldn’t be in the same room with him when he was in the process of it.

  My cell rang as I made it to the steps of the dorm.

  “I’m bringing your breakfast back, but we’ll be leaving shortly after. I just wanted to apologize for my son’s behavior. He was out of line flirting so blatantly,” Shelby said as if she were scolding him as much as she was apologizing to me. “I raised him better than that.”

  “We’ve sort of had some difficult times since we’ve both began attending the same school. It’s nothing we won’t work through.” So they had heard him. Gah, how embarrassing.

  “You be safe walking. I hate it when you’re alone in a city you’re not familiar with,” she said. “Be there in a few.”

  We hung up.

  At least I’d get to see them off without him looming over me with that odd look on his face.

  Chapter 11

  When Mama, Shelby, and Col
e stepped into my dorm room, I had to grip my door handle to stay upright. Looking at Cole was impossible. He walked past me as if nothing was wrong and looked out the window as Mama and Shelby said their awkward goodbyes.

  “Cole, aren’t you coming?” Shelby gave Cole an uneasy glance.

  “In a minute.” Cole sounded more like himself now. “I wanted to apologize. Properly.”

  That last word held meaning. As I tried to remember when he’d used it before and how he’d meant it, Cole saw them out the door.

  As soon as the latch on the door made a final click, my heart lunged in my chest.

  Cole crossed the room. When I thought he’d stop his usual three-foot-away safe distance, he kept coming.

  “I wanted to apologize for not doing this sooner.” He yanked me into his arms and leaned down to me.

  I jerked back trying to escape Cole’s moment of weakness, but his lips nearly grazed mine.

  Out of pure reaction and terror of what might happen if our lips connected, I tried to slap him.

  Just before my hand connected with Cole’s face, he caught my arm. The look in his eyes was of humorous patronization. “Aren’t you tired of waiting?”

  “Colby Kindall Kinsley. You had better back up. Right now. If you do this, you put your life in danger.” I wriggled to get free of his arms, but he held me fast.

  He leaned into my ear and whispered, “Don’t act like you don’t want me. I hear your thoughts from my room.”

  Dazed by his voice, I was breathless, weightless, and paralyzed.

  He was too intoxicating when he was so close.

  “I…I…uh…” My knees buckled. It had been too long—the weeks, days, hours, minutes. They had droned away too slowly for me to be able to hold back anymore. His warm breath on my face fogged my senses.

  Cole’s voice was a deep velvet. “I’ll only kiss you if you want me to, but if I start, don’t ask me to stop.”

  My muscles turned to Jell-O. He was the only thing holding me up.

  A knock came on the door.

  I couldn’t answer. My vocal cords were pulled too tightly.

  “Allie?” Shelby said from outside.