Enchant Me

by Anne Violet

  Smiling, I looked him over. He had on one of those button up shirts that made me obsessed with unbuttoning it and rubbing my hands across his chest. We hadn’t had a really good make out session in--geez at least a day or so which was way too long in my mind. He seemed to catch my new mood, patted me on the butt, and went straight to his car; the sooner we would get to my house the better. As soon as we stepped into my house, I gave a perfunctory pat to Cody, who had leapt up to the couch to greet us, then grabbed Christian’s arm, dragged him to my room, and shut the door.

  Unceremoniously I dropped my book bag on the floor and turned to him, seized his other wrist and towed him to my bed. The expression on his face was adorable; he was completely thrilled with my blatant eagerness and very willingly allowed me to push him down to my bed so I could lay full length against him. At first that was all I did. I lay across him like a blanket until there was no part of my body that wasn’t touching his. I let myself relax, boneless on top of him, my hands beneath his head, my fingers in his soft hair and my head tucked into his shoulder where I could easily inhale his delectable scent and time my breaths to his. I had never felt so complete and at peace.

  His hands slid around my waist moving to my back, slowly sliding up my white button up shirt until I could feel the heat of every finger on my bare skin. As his hands trailed up and down my back in whispering caresses, I imagined what it must look like. His tanned hands against the paleness of my back, I moved up onto my elbows to look at him. I had never seen his eyes so dark and smoldering.

  While I had no doubts about what he was thinking-- to see it so clearly etched on his face was something entirely different. I let my gaze travel down to his lips which were flawless in my mind, a perfect bow shape but in a masculine way. I didn’t hide my fascination. I let it show as I drew one hand up to cup his face and stroked his lips with my thumb, then replacing that with my lips. Neither of us had closed our eyes yet, and as I met his, he seemed surprised and I wondered if no other girl had ever touched him with such adoration before. I lifted up a little higher so I could kiss the tip of his nose and both eyes and then reversed back down to his lips. Closing my eyes, I pressed my lips back upon his, trying to commit to memory the exact texture and taste of him. The sense of needy desperation from earlier rolled back over me and my hands cupping his face became firmer.

  Breaking the kiss, I pulled away slightly, waiting for him to reopen his eyes, “I love you.”

  He smiled, his hands moving up to tangle in my hair, “I can tell.”

  Smiling, I sat up and trailed my gaze down his face and neck to his chest. Fascinated by the body underneath me, I started to unbutton his shirt from top to bottom. I could feel the sensual tension in his hands as they gripped my hips and the weight of his stare as he watched me, but nothing could divert me from my current obsession. Once every button had been undone I moved my hands down his chest and abs, sliding his shirt off as I went until his entire upper body was bare to me. I grinned like an idiot, but I was too transfixed by his masculine beauty to care. In my eyes he was perfect, glorious tanned skin covering taut toned muscles. Completely absorbed, I traced every muscle, caressed every inch, and memorized the individual locations of the smattering of freckles across his chest from the sun. When I finally glanced back up at his face, he looked surprised that I could be so captivated by his body. I peppered a couple of kisses across his chest before I lay back down against him, my lips hovering just an inch above his. “What? Are you telling me you don’t want to do the same thing to me?”

  I felt myself lift up as he took a deep breath in and quietly exhaled. His brown eyes were smoky and dilated as he looked at me.

  “You don’t know how badly I want to, but your mom is going to be home any minute now,” he grumbled.

  “My door is closed.”

  “Yes, and my car is sitting in your driveway.”

  “Mom shmom,” I said, while laying little adoring kisses all over his face, “who cares?”

  “Does she own a gun?” he asked somewhat jokingly.

  I thought about it. Actually she did. It was never out so I tended to forget about it. My silence confirmed it for him, and with a totally unsatisfactory chaste kiss on my lips, he rolled me off and to the side of him and started to button his shirt back up. The minute he was done, he got up, walked over and sat down in the Papasan chair across the room. I rose up onto an elbow to look at him. “What? Don’t you trust me?”

  He arched a brow at my teasing smile. “No, and I don’t trust myself either. Before your mom gets home we should practice with your powers.”

  I rolled onto my back looking away from him. “Which powers?” I asked quietly, not eager to have him release my psychic abilities yet. The pain they had caused me was still too fresh in my mind.

  “At least the telekinetic part,” he answered, getting up to come stand next to the bed, looking down at me sympathetically. “Lex, it shouldn’t hurt like that again. That’s what I’m here for.”

  I shrugged my shoulders; I was in no hurry to have any more visions. He sighed and held out his hand to help me up just as we heard Cody scratching at the door, meowing to be let in. When I opened the door Cody immediately rushed in and sat himself in the middle of my rug, glancing back and forth between Christian and me like he was waiting for something. Mystified, I shrugged my shoulders, and sat down cross- legged in front of him, with Christian sitting opposite. I gave Cody a couple long strokes from head to tail before finally meeting Christian’s eyes. Christian looked around my room, apparently looking for some things that I could safely move around in my small overly decorated space.

  His gaze was serious as he scrutinized me, coming to some sort of decision. “I think you’re ready.”

  Anxiety filled me; was he going to push the psychic issue? “For what?”

  He clasped both of my hands in his, rubbing the tops of them in a soothing gesture, the look he bent on me was purposely reassuring. “For me to release the rest of your telekinetic powers.”

  I looked down at my hands then back up at him. “Ok.”

  He closed his eyes and started to concentrate, without meaning to I tensed up, preparing for him to invade my mind. His eyes popped back open to regard me. “Lex, do you trust me?”

  Meeting his eyes, I nodded my head and forced all my muscles to unlock. The hardest thing was relaxing my mind, letting myself be open-- and vulnerable. I watched as he closed his eyes again, I felt a brief flicker of him in my mind and then he was gone. Even before he opened his eyes again I felt a quick painless tingle from my head to my toes, and within moments it just ebbed away. I stared at him, stunned that it had been so easy.

  He grinned at my clear relief. “I tried to tell you that it was going to be ok.”

  Releasing my hands and carefully leaning over Cody he cupped my face and gave me one of those soft melting kisses that turned me into complete mush. All too soon he was pulling away to look around my room again and then pointed to three of Cody’s toy balls with bells in them.

  “How about you try lifting all three at the same time?”

  I lifted my hand towards them, still feeling a little silly doing it especially with him watching, and lifted them into the air. Cody immediately took notice and ran over to them, leaping into the air trying to reach them. Glancing back at Christian I noticed his grin was just as big as mine.

  “See if you can keep them all suspended while you jingle each one individually,” he mused.

  I rolled my eyes at him for coming up with something so complex, but obediently turned back and concentrated on moving each one independently. It didn’t happen immediately, but once I was able to truly picture what I wanted in my mind, they started to move right before my eyes. Cody went ballistic then, first jumping after one then the other.

  My power was the greatest cat entertainment invention ever. We were laughing so hard at his antics that we almost didn’t hear my mom’s quick knock on my bedroom door. Without waiting for a reply she st
arted opening the door. I abruptly cut my powers to Cody’s toys and they bounced on the floor just as she stepped in. She looked at the three of us curiously.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Ah--we were getting Cody to play with his toys,” I said, pleased that I could give her a version of the truth.

  “He is darling,” she said, bending down to pet him. “Hello Christian.”

  “Hi, Cindy, how was work?” Christian asked politely. “It was fine, I’m glad it’s almost the weekend.”

  She straightened up still looking at us suspiciously. I wondered what the heck she thought we had been doing. I watched bemused as she tried to discretely look around my room, for what I don’t know. Finally she walked out and I turned to look at Christian to see what he thought, and he shrugged his shoulders.

  “I think that’s my cue to leave,” he muttered.

  “I don’t think she was trying to hint for you to leave. She likes you, she’s glad we’re dating.”

  He stood up and helped me to my feet. “I know, but both of us need to prep for finals anyways.”

  “True… damn it.”

  “Same place, same time, tomorrow?”

  I smiled, wrapping my arms tightly around him, hugging him to me as much as humanly possible. “It’s a deal.”

  Lifting me off my feet he planted one last hungry kiss upon my lips and then arm in arm I escorted him to his car and waved as he drove away. He hadn’t even turned the corner and I already missed him. I almost started laughing again when I realized how close a call we had in being discovered. I sobered as I thought of my mom’s reaction. Would she kick me out of the house like I was some freak, or would she flip out and send me to the military to be dissected? Shaking the horrible thought off, I walked back into the house determined to resurrect my grades with some old fashioned hard-core studying. I woke up the next morning to my mom knocking on my door.

  “Come in,” I called.

  She poked her head in; her hair was pinned up and tucked under her beachcomber rain hat along with her rain coat over her dark work suit. I groaned and rolled over.

  “Exactly,” she said dryly. “It’s been raining hard for hours and the weather man says it’s just getting started, a heavy thunderstorm will be rolling in this afternoon. I know it’s early but would you like me to drop you off to school on my way to work?”

  I peered at her from my pillow like she was insane.

  “Well, I don’t think you should be driving your cycle in this weather. Maybe you should call Christian or Tina to drive you in or take the bus.”

  I groaned again in answer and pulled the pillow over my head. Giving up she stepped back out and pulled the door closed. I absolutely refused to take the bus and I didn’t need to disturb anyone else’s morning schedule. I would just have to locate my waterproof gloves, hats, boots and duster. As I laid there trying to build up the energy to actually get out of bed, I felt Cody slowly pad up the length of my body until he was sitting on my waist. I turned my head to peer at him only to have him meow demandingly at me. Evidently he wanted me to entertain him like I did yesterday.

  “You’re a greedy little thing,” I told him.

  He hurdled over me down to the floor coming to stand in front of his toys. Looking me straight in the eyes he chirped at me and circled the balls. Like the well- trained human I was, I sat up and looked at the balls and then at the ruined curtain tieback sitting on the floor too. Closing my eyes I pictured in my mind lifting and bouncing the balls as I did yesterday, but now I also pulled the tieback along the floor racing around the room. When I opened my eyes again, I laughed at Cody’s confusion on what to attack first. Ultimately he decided he would try to pounce on everything; one minute he was chasing the tieback, the next minute he was leaping into the air for one of the balls when they came close enough to strike. I gave him a good ten minutes of this and then my alarm went off. Disgruntled at the end of his play time, he marched away, tail in the air to the living room.

  Sighing I got up and went to my closet to unearth all my rain gear. During my search, I fielded calls from both Christian and Tina asking if I needed a ride. While Tina accepted my assessment that I would make it to school just fine, Christian took a good ten minutes of convincing. When I looked in the mirror just before I headed out the door, I had to admit I looked very dramatic in all black with my long black weatherproof duster that was split up the back for ease in riding. I had barely closed the front door behind me when I was immediately pelted with cold hard rain, and the wind whipped my coat furiously around my ankles. Looking up into the dark turbulent sky, I admitted to myself that maybe I should have taken my mom’s advice and gotten a ride.

  The crawling pace all the way to school almost drove me nuts but finally I arrived safely. I parked next to Christian who was still sitting in his car, out of the rain. He got out of his car and looked me over as I took off my helmet. “What?” I demanded.

  “You look like you stepped out of the Matrix.”

  I looked back down at myself. I hadn’t thought so, but if this was how everyone was going to react all day long, maybe I would be better off going back home and changing. Seeming to guess my thoughts, he seized my arm and towed me to class.

  “You look sexy, just a little sci-fi.”

  I could hear the laugh in his voice and I squinted my eyes at him as I mulled over possibly giving him a slight sucker punch to the kidneys. I started to wonder if he could read minds after all, because he took a clear step back from me and pushed me towards class.

  “I don’t think I am going to risk trying to kiss you right now. I will see you after class,” he whispered after me.

  After class Tina ran up to me, her eyes holding a mixture of happiness and anxiety. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

  “Jim wants me to meet his parents tonight. Can you come over and help me pick out clothes and makeup?”

  I briefly glanced down at what I was wearing today, thinking that she would probably be able to pick out an outfit suitable to meet Jim’s conservative folks better than I. Then I realized she just needed me for moral support. “Sure, but you’re going to be fine. They’ll love you—and if they don’t it’s their loss. Right?” When she didn’t answer soon enough I elbowed her. “Right?”

  “Ouch, yes.”

  “Alright, I will see you after school,” I said and watched her practically skip down the hallway to her class.

  After the bell rang and I stepped out of class, Christian was immediately at my side. I smiled up at him, admiring how perfectly he was put together. He was wearing that fitted white button up shirt that showed off his golden skin and made his dark hair and eyes look even darker.

  “You’re hot, you know that,” I said, almost complaining about the fact, as I remembered some of last night’s highlights, mainly me taking his shirt off and caressing every bare inch of his skin.

  His lips twitched at my tone, and his eyes softened as he looked down at me. “You’re so cute when you blush.”

  “What?” I asked horrified.

  Usually I could tell when I blushed. I put my hands over my cheeks and could feel the slight heat in them. I ducked my head to hide behind my hair and thought about anything but a half-naked Christian. I thought about cleaning Cody’s litter box and doing the dishes until I was sure my cheeks had returned to their normal pale color. He laughed at me and then I felt his arm around my waist pull me tighter, and as I looked around I saw the reason. Jenny Slater and Tanya Brown were about to pass us. They were staring at me and whispering to each other, broad smirks on both of their faces. Without even contemplating the wisdom of it, I discretely swept my hand across my own body and suddenly Jenny’s leg came out from under her and across Tanya’s legs. They both hit the floor in a jumble of arms and legs, the contents of their purses emptying across the tiles, sliding under lockers, and kicked by passersby down the hall. Evidently thinking Jenny had done it on purpose, Tanya hauled back and slapped her. Only to have Jenny retaliate by pu
nching her in the nose, and so began the biggest girl fight in Crescent Point High School history. I glanced up at Christian in amused horror at what I had caused. He laughed loud and hard in his beautiful voice as we passed them, and pulled me to a stop outside my second period. He tenderly tucked my hair behind my ears.

  “I don’t think you will ever have to worry about them again. They’ll be too busy antagonizing each other now.”

  “Don’t you love karma,” I said.

  His warm fingers cupped my chin as he looked at me. “That wasn’t karma. That was you.”

  I squirmed under his gaze. “I love you,” he murmured, then headed off to his own class.

  Even though no one would know that I had caused the girl fight of the century, I still found myself avoiding eye contact and keeping as low a profile as I could manage for the rest of the day, which Christian seemed to find hilarious. It was a relief when the school day ended and we walked out to the parking lot.

  I smiled at the idea of having him all to myself this weekend. “Tina asked me to come over to her place after school and help her do her makeup and pick out what to wear to meet Jim’s parents tonight. I should be home around 7 tonight. Did you want to come over then?” Not even waiting for an answer, I added an incentive. “My mom is going to a concert tonight; she won’t be home till real late,” I hinted, raising my brows flirtatiously.

  He bent down, and kissed my nose. “Well in that case…” he teased.

  “Hey...”

  “Just kidding, I will see you then.”

  I grunted playfully in acknowledgement and we kissed and parted ways. As I put on my helmet a loud crack of thunder seemed to almost shake the parking lot, and a little more hastily than usual I made my way out, and straight to Tina’s. At Tina’s house the hours seemed to whip past us as we considered outfits and appropriate makeup styles. It was cute how happy yet anxious she was, and I did my best to remind her that he was the one lucky to be dating her. There was a lot of laughter and picture-taking by me and her mom, Tracy, commemorating the moment. Only to start all over again when Jim finally arrived, which meant subsequent embarrassment for Tina. I gave Tracy a hug goodbye as we watched our girl being driven away by her knight in shining armor then headed to my bike.