by Hayden, Sean
“I um… Yeah. I think I better.”
“Up to you,” she said disinterestedly.
I pulled my running shorts up over my boxers and felt a million times safer. For some reason. I don’t know why.
I turned the console on, grabbed the two remotes from the charger, and flopped down next to her on the bed. She yanked one from my hand and propped some pillows up at the other end. I liked to lie down when I played, but I guess she didn’t. She kicked off her shoes and brought her legs up on the bed, stretching them out next to my head as we waited for it to finish turning on. The logo flashed on the screen and then the COD logo finally appeared with the start screen.
“Set it up. I’ll be right back,” she said and slid off the bed.
“Where you going?”
“Getting rid of my jeans. I’ll be right back.”
“Um. Clarisse?”
“Yeah?”
“Nevermind.”
She opened the door and walked into the hallway. Thank the Creator. For a moment I thought she was going to just pull off her jeans in the middle of my room. We were friends, close friends, but not that close.
The bathroom door opened and she came back into the room, lightly closing the door behind her. I was afraid to look, so I chose the players and the map. I hit start as I felt her sit down next to me on the bed and pick up her controller.
Bare legs and feet stretched out next to me. I looked out of the corner of my eyes at her toes. I think it might have been the first time I had ever seen her without shoes. I was half-expecting talons, but she had dainty feet and cute toes with a pink, perfectly manicured little nail on each one. I gulped as my eyes travelled over the smooth skin of her legs. I stopped at her knees and turned toward the TV, not wanting to look any higher.
Okay. I did want to, but I didn’t.
The game started and she sniped me in the first twenty seconds. It was a clean headshot, too. I groaned while I waited to re-spawn.
“Ha!” She nudged me with her leg, bringing the warm skin against my shoulder. I had put shorts on. Maybe I should have put a shirt on, too. Long sleeves. Maybe a hoodie.
I re-spawned back in the middle of the ship where I had started. I tried sneaking to where she had sniped me from a different direction, but she was waiting for me there. I rounded the corner into a well-placed knife attack to the face. I lowered my head in humiliation.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.” She patted me on the back. With her foot.
“Says the girl with a two kill streak one minute into the game.”
“You just need to accept my superiority. Tell you what. I’ll only use my knife for the rest of the game.”
“You just stabbed me in the face.”
“True. But at least I won’t be able to snipe you with it.”
Ten minutes later, Clarisse was dying of laughter and I had only killed her once. “I hate you.”
“Awww. But I wuv you. And I wuv killing you! Want another Dew?”
“Sure.”
She got off the bed and I turned to watch her leave. Her jeans were gone. She had put on shorts from somewhere. If you could call them that. They were dark grey yoga shorts with the word “smoking” stenciled across the back of them in big pink letters. They ended about a half an inch above her butt, leaving the bottom of her cheeks hanging out for the world to see. And by world I mean me. I gulped and turned back to the game. I had brought up the start screen to choose a different map. It was the farthest thing from my mind.
I valued Clarisse’s friendship more than anything next to my relationship with Jess. For the five-thousandth time I wished that Clarisse was a little less attractive than she was.
I loaded the map and waited for her to come back before starting the round. She did and I made the mistake of looking up. The shorts looked even better from the front. I shook my head and focused on the screen.
Instead of taking her original position, she set her can of soda on the floor and handed me mine, split and then plopped down and lay the same direction as me, putting her face to face and shoulder to shoulder with me. “Hit start.”
I did.
The second round didn’t go any better than the first. I managed to kill her twice, but she utterly wrecked me. At the end, she leaned over and… Well I hope she had meant to kiss me on the cheek, but I happened to turn at that exact moment in time. Her lips landed on mine.
It started out innocently. I should have pulled away. She should have pulled away, but we didn’t. I felt her lean into the kiss and I turned on my side. Clarisse scooted closer and brought her arm over me, slipping her hand over my shoulder and down my back. I rolled even farther, drawing her across my shoulder and onto my chest.
Her lips parted and I felt her tongue brush across my lips. I opened my mouth and the kiss truly started. She climbed on top of me, never pulling her mouth from mine. My hands lifted and slid down her back and over her butt. I grabbed two handfuls and she moaned into the kiss.
“Connor. Jess is downstairs, I told her I would see if you were up. I see that you are. Claire, could I talk to you for a moment?”
No kiss in the history of mankind had ever ended so abruptly. My sister’s voice from my door dripped with anger and disdain. My life was–for lack of a better word–over.
Clarisse slid off me, looking more embarrassed than I had ever seen her. She was quiet, too. Another uncharacteristic trait.
Cae turned and stopped. “Jess doesn’t know Claire is here. I’m not going to say anything. Ever. We’ll talk later. Claire and I will be in my room, talking. Take your girlfriend to the mall, Connor. Go somewhere. Far.”
I nodded, even knowing she couldn’t see me since she was facing my open door. I threw on a shirt and walked downstairs in a daze.
Chapter 21
“Hi Jess!” I tried to sound more excited than I felt. It wasn’t that I wasn’t excited to see her, because I was. It was the pit of fear and guilt that had swallowed my stomach that made me not feel it like I should.
“Are you okay? I texted you like twenty times and you never answered!” She ran up to me and wrapped me in her arms as soon as I cleared the bottom step.
“Yeah. I just slept most of the day and now I can’t find my phone.”
“As long as you’re okay,” she said and squeezed me a little harder, but then her arms went rigid. She turned her face into my chest. I thought she was going to start crying, but she inhaled. Deeply.
She pulled away and looked at me quizzically before reaching up and grabbing my shirt, pulling it to her nose. She sniffed again and again. “Why do you smell like perfume?”
“Cae just gave me a hug.”
“No. Your sister wears Dolce & Gabanna. I know. I gave it to her. You smell like…” She sniffed again. “Sunflowers,” she said and I could see the gears turning in her brain.
She looked up into my face and must have saw a little bit of guilt. Without a word, she pushed me away and walked up the stairs. I followed. She opened my door first. She sniffed the air, frowned, and looked around. Then she went to my sister’s room.
Without knocking, she opened the door. I closed my eyes, and waited for the killing blow. I didn’t hear an angry scream, so I opened them back up. My sister was lying on her bed, earbuds on, and mp3 player playing God knows what. She pulled one bud out and asked, “Everything okay?”
Unconvinced, Jess walked into my sister’s room. She looked around and sniffed the air. “Was anybody else in here?”
“No?”
“Sorry, Cae. I thought I heard a voice.”
Jess looked mortified. “I’m not feeling that well,” she said to me. “I think I’m going to head home.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I hated the game I was playing, but… At that moment in time, it wasn’t guilt that drove me. What Clarisse and I had done was inexcusable and would never happen again as long as I lived. I was truly grateful my sister had come up at that exact moment and put an end to it. But that wasn’t
my driving motivation right then. It was not hurting Jess. If she had found out about it… I was actually worried about her. She looked hurt, confused, and a little unwell.
On the verge of shaking, she nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
“Want me to drive you home?”
“Do you promise me nobody was here?”
“Of course,” I said and tried to sound convincing.
She nodded. “No. I’ll be fine. I think I’ll have a quick nap and call you when I get up.”
I leaned in and pressed my lips against her forehead. “I hope I didn’t get you sick,” I said. I even went so far as to press my hand against her forehead to feel her temperature. That seemed to mollify her and she slumped against me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like an accusing bitch. I thought I really did smell a different perfume. That and I’ve been worried sick about you all day. Hurry up and find your phone so I can call you later.” She let go, kissed me softly on the lips, and left Cae’s room.
“I’ll walk you out,” I said and followed, not daring to look at my sister.
I opened the front door for her and kissed her again. “You sure you don’t want a ride home? You can pick your car up later if you want.”
“No. I’m okay now. I really don’t know what came over me. I think I was still sick over what happened yesterday. It’s okay, Connor. Love you. I’ll call you in a bit.”
She kissed me one more time and left. I closed the door gently behind her, turned, planted my back against it, and slid to the floor. The urge to vomit almost overwhelmed me.
Clarisse and Cae came down the stairs.
Neither one of them looked happy, but Cae looked pissed. “Sit down, both of you.”
Clarisse took a seat on the couch. I stayed on the floor. I really didn’t feel like moving. “I’m sorry.” I said the words, but I don’t know who I was saying them to. My sister who caught us, the friend on the couch that I should have shown a little more restraint with, or the girl that I loved who had just left and had no chance of hearing me. I guess it didn’t really matter. I was sorry to all of them.
“Yes. You are. Sorry is definitely a word I would use to describe your ass right now. What the hell, you two? I thought you were just ‘friends’ and that nothing could ever happen between the two of you. Trust me. If Jess weren’t completely in love with my moron of a brother, I would be happy for you two, but come on!”
Clarisse looked even guiltier. “It’s my fault.”
“No. It’s both of your faults,” Cae replied.
I nodded. “It is. She leaned over to kiss me on the cheek to say sorry for beating me. Fate intervened and I happened to turn at the wrong moment. Our lips locked.”
“Don’t hand me the bullshit. That kiss was no cosmic accident. You weren’t wearing a shirt and you barely had any damn pants on.” She even pointed at each of us in turn. “Let me ask you this. What would have happened if I hadn’t walked in at that exact second? Would you still be up there?”
“No!” We both said it at the same time, but I looked at her and she at me. We both were questioning our response.
“Right?” I tried to get some affirmation from her.
“Of course not. I’m not into worms. That kiss was a total accident. In fact, I think it made me a little sick. I’m going home to take a shower and gargle with some bleach. He still tastes like pretzels.”
Clarisse stood and I watched her go. Grateful, actually, that she was leaving. “Wait,” I said and she turned back, looking hopeful. “Where’s your car? Why didn’t Jess notice it in the driveway?”
“It’s still at school. I flew here. Rule number one with skipping, always leave evidence that you didn’t,” she said, turned, and strode out the front door, slamming it behind her.
I looked over at my sister, who looked like she wanted to do very harmful things to me right at that moment. I opened my mouth to say something, but she just held up her hand for silence.
“Talk to me when you grow up and stop thinking with your boy-parts.”
* * *
Needing to blow off some steam, work out some aggression, and basically get my mind off of things, I decided to go meet with Raven. That and I was afraid of missing a session with her. She might hurt me.
The clearing was empty as I stopped my scooter between the last of the trees. At least she couldn’t swoop down from above and cleave me in half through the dense branches and leaves. At least I hoped she couldn’t. Warily I looked up while I got off and walked the rest of the way into the clearing.
I made my way to the center when she finally made her appearance. There was no attack. She simply walked out from the trees on the other side and met me in the middle. I could tell by her face that something was wrong. She looked less happier than usual.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to leave,” she said simply.
I nodded. “Oh. Okay. Is everything alright?”
She shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. There’s been more incidents in the areas surrounding.”
“What kind of incidents?”
“Like the one involving your sister. Changed humans have been attacked and killed. Reaped for no reason. Whoever is behind it is breaking our laws and must be found. The Covenant has been in place for eons. The Changed must be protected.”
I nodded in understanding, though I was confused why Raven would be helping. She usually avoided the duties of the fallen. “What about my sister? And her friend? Should I be worried?”
“Yes. Keep watch over them. Should you find anything… Call me.”
“How? I didn’t know you had a cell phone.”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Simply think of me and call my name.”
“Oh.” I did understand. I had used the ability to contact Clarisse in the past. I didn’t know it would work with any of the Fallen. I guess that’s how Clarisse called Darius when she needed him.
“Connor. Be careful,” she said and turned to leave.
“Raven?” She stopped and turned to look at me over her shoulder. “Thank you. For everything you taught me.”
“Our training isn’t over yet! I wish to dance with you again, youngling. Take care for now.”
I nodded, gave her a small smile, and waved as she left me standing alone in the center of my clearing. I sighed and headed back toward my scooter. With little else to do, I had only one other thing that could cheer me up… A bag of pretzels.
Chapter 22
Raven’s warning about my sister nagged at me on the ride to the mall. I decided to play it safe and called her cell. It went to voicemail. I was pretty sure she was still pissed at me and ignoring me, but I had to be sure.
I drove past the mall and headed to the house to check on her. The front door was locked, my parents weren’t home, but Cae was. She was in her usual position, listening to music on her bed.
Even with her music blaring at dangerous levels, she heard me enter her room. “What?”
“Want to go get a pretzel?”
She pulled the earbuds from her head and gave me a level look. “Look. I don’t know if you know this, but you’re not my favorite person in the universe right now. So no.”
Okay. I deserved that. “I know. But I’m feeling like shit and hoping a pretzel will cheer me up.”
“So go.”
“But I’m also worried about you. And Elizabeth.”
She scrunched her eyes in confusion. “Why?”
“There’s been more attacks. It wasn’t just you. I just found out.”
“Am I in danger?”
“You could be. It’s why I don’t want you alone. Will you come get a pretzel with me?”
“Okay,” she said and I heard a tinge of fear in her voice.
“Call Elizabeth. Let her know what’s going on and tell her to meet us there.”
I left her room to let her get dressed and make the call. Changing my shirt quickly, I headed downstairs to wait for Cae. The doorbel
l caught me off guard and I almost stumbled down the last few steps.
I crept as quietly as I could to the front door and peered out the peephole. The last person on earth I wanted to see was standing there, the last of the day’s sunset casting an orange glow on her normally blond hair. I sighed and opened the door.
“What?”
“I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to come and apologize.”
“Shannon. Just do me a favor. Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, and more importantly, don’t ever touch me when Jess is around.”
She seemed angered at first, but then an evil smile slithered across her face. “So does that mean I can touch you when she’s not around?” Without waiting for an answer, she ran her fingertip from my neck down across my stomach and only stopped when I grabbed her wrist.
“What has gotten into you? Why are you doing this?”
“I want you. I want you more than anybody I have ever met.”
“But I’m taken. I’m in love with Jessica.”
“For now, but that doesn’t mean you will live happily ever after. If you want me to wait, I will.”
Okay, I was totally creeped out. “Um. Okay. Yeah. You go wait. Over there,” I said and pointed east.
“I knew you would want me to wait. Don’t make me wait too long. I’m not a patient person.”
She shot an evil glance over my shoulder and left. I breathed a sigh of relief. That Chosen was bat-shit crazy.
“What was that all about?” My sister’s voice from behind me made me jump.
“Your guess is as good as mine. She’s not right in the head.”
“I gathered that by your conversation.”
“You heard all that, huh?”
“Dog ears. Comes with the fangs.”
“Yeah. I know. And don’t you mean bat ears?”
She punched me in the arm. “Let’s wait inside. Elizabeth is picking us up so we don’t have to ride the scootermobile.”
“What, you don’t like the scooter?”
“It’s fine for one person, but have you ever ridden behind you? Your cologne smells like rotten moose.”
“It’s called eau de Cae. I thought you might like it.”