Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  Eli shrugged and leaned beside her on the science building wall. His arm just touched hers, and the current of electricity between them buzzed with life and energy. Hunter was fascinated, but Eli didn’t seem to notice.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m fine with it.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “You are?”

  “My mother used to smoke. Dad still does. I don’t like it myself personally, but it’s kind of comforting... in a weird, poisonous way.”

  She laughed, and it felt good. She hadn’t laughed in weeks. This is what I’ve been missing.

  “Still, I don’t understand how you can smoke those things. They’re revolting. It must be worse after you’ve been sick for so long.”

  Hunter found herself nodding as words got stuck in her throat. It worked to her advantage however, because she was supposed to have a throat condition. Her heart was shrinking at the lies she knew she’d have to tell Eli from now on. Her absence from school. Her strange behavior. If ever they started dating, she’d have to explain her hot flushes, her fear of intimacy, even Joshua...

  “Are you sure you’re okay Hunter?” Eli asked and when she looked up at him, his green eyes gazed down at her, caring and innocent. After spending so much time with Joshua, it was strange to be around someone who didn’t know what she was and what she’d done. In a way she felt ten times guiltier, but it was also a relief. To Eli, I’m just a girl. No powers. No ugly past. No shame and guilt and curse.

  Hunter gave him her best attempt at a smile. It felt alien.

  “Yeah. Just tired.” The bell rang for class and she dropped her cigarette, grounding it into the concrete. “We should get to class.”

  She began to walk towards the front building when Eli grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

  The touch of his skin was like a match lit inside Hunter. A shock ran down her spine, splitting through her blood and suddenly the fire in her core was blazing. She yanked her hand from Eli’s and spun her back to him, forcing the fire down before it could get out of control.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, his cheeks flushing deeply. “I was... I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “I was um... I was wondering if I might be able to ask you something.”

  Hunter counted to three before she was sure the fire had slithered back to whatever hell it came from and then turned to meet his gaze. Anxiety splashed across his masculine features. “Sure.”

  “Uh, since you’re feeling better, I was wondering...” he pushed his glasses further up his nose, took a deep breath and said very quickly, “would you like to go on a date with me?”

  Hunter found herself answering before her mind could argue against it.

  “I’d love to.”

  Eli beamed. “Great, um… so Friday then? You’re not working?”

  “I can swap shifts,” she nodded.

  Why not? she thought. I deserve some semblance of normalcy in the raging cyclone of my life.

  There was a knock on her bedroom door and from behind it came Joshua’s voice. “Hunter, are you dressed?”

  “No!” she replied and grabbed her dressing gown from the rack behind her door. Clothes were strewn across her bedroom in an attempt to find something decent to wear. “What do you want?”

  She peered through the crack to see Joshua standing in his work clothes with his reading glasses on. “I wanted to know if you’d like any dinner.”

  She shook her head. “I’m going to bed early.”

  His gaze lingered for a few suspicious seconds, then he smiled. “Okay. Did you do the training exercises I asked today?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “I’m sore as.”

  “Good. I’m proud of you Hunter,” he told her with as much solemnity as was possible for him. “You’re improving vastly and I think you’ll be ready to go back to school soon.”

  “Sure, yeah, thanks.” She snapped the door shut in his face before guilt consumed her and Joshua noticed it.

  “Um, okay, well I’m going down to the lab for a little while to finish grading papers,” he shouted from outside her door, “so if you want dinner, it’s in the fridge. We’ll start training again tomorrow night when I get home from work.”

  “Okay,” she called. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She listened for his retreating footsteps and then slipped on her boots. After pinning her long red hair into a messy bun of curls, Hunter rugged herself up in a dark coat and scarf and slipped out of the apartment.

  The entire drive through the crazy Friday night traffic in the cold winter weather, Hunter tried desperately to fight off the butterflies in her stomach. She was excited not only to get out of the house or to be spending time with Eli, but because she finally had something in her life that didn’t leave her confused or alone.

  Still, the fire urged for release. She could feel it whispering to her. This isn’t right. You’re not ready to be alone with him. Joshua will kill you when he finds out. She shook it out of her and tried to find her real voice. It, too, whispered to her. The fire doesn’t control you, you control it.

  Hunter concentrated on seeing Eli and tried to pretend she was simply a normal girl going on a date. After a while, she felt calm.

  The cab dropped her off in front of a dark building with century-old architecture. The golden plaque on the sandpaper-like stone read ‘St George Library, 1922’. Hunter frowned wondering if she’d misread Eli’s directions, when someone behind her cleared their throat.

  Hunter whirled to see Eli in a burgundy coat, scarf and his usual square spectacles. The fire roared inside her, reacting to the warmth and excitement of her emotions. I can do this, she repeated. I’m stronger than the fire.

  “Hello,” he smiled.

  “Hi. This isn’t where our date is, right?”

  Eli laughed, held out his arm and nodded toward Prince Street. “Not quite. Are you hungry?”

  She grinned and took his arm. “Starving.”

  Eli took her to an artsy French restaurant called Raoul’s. It was clustered with sixties antiques and a little more crowded than she would have liked, but the staff were so friendly - to Eli in particular - and brought out many different appetizers for her to try. Some she couldn’t even pronounce the name of. Eli recommended this and that from the menu and even asked the waitress to pass a message to the chef. Hunter stared back at him as he devoured his vegetarian meal in surprise, the golden romantic candlelight of the room giving his olive face and angelic glow.

  “What?” he asked as he dug into his Pâté Maison.

  “Do you like… own the place?”

  “Dad used to bring me here a lot when I was younger, sometimes with Mom, sometimes alone. Not anymore though.”

  Hunter sipped her water. “How come?”

  “He has ‘more important’ things. He’s too immersed in his work and his girlfriend to find the time for me, so I doubt he’s been back here since, like, the nineties.”

  “You must really hate him for it,” she said, knowing if it were her there’d be hell to pay. What kind of father would neglect his only son for work and money?

  But Eli wasn’t vengeful. He simply shrugged and played with his fork. “I know he doesn’t have time for me, and I can’t understand why, but there’s nothing I can do. He’s dug himself a hole and he’ll forever live in it.”

  Hunter sighed. Eli seemed like the perfect guy. He was vegetarian, he played the violin and he was the son of a rich father who treated him as though he didn’t exist. Alex was right; Eli was poetic. And what was Hunter? An orphan with an awkward guardian who smoked, couldn’t control her temper and had a supernatural fire burning inside of her.

  “Are you okay?”

  Hunter shook her head slowly. “Eli how do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Shrug it off like that? Have you ever tried talking to your father?”

  Eli’s eyes seemed to swim with pain. “Countless times. But I’ve given up. I’ve learned to face
the fact that I’m no longer a part of his life.”

  It was causing Hunter pain to listen to his words. To know that Eli had a father – something she’d never known – who treated his own son as if he were simply an accessory or a nuisance made fury burn inside of her.

  It was then that the heat began to push itself against her skin. Hunter relax, she told herself, focusing on not letting it overcome her. It was bubbling in her core, as though someone had turned up the temperature on the stove. She wasn’t going to let herself lose control, not here with Eli, not when her powers were so raw. This was stupid, you shouldn’t be here, leave now, leave leave leave-

  “Hunter?” asked Eli, peering through the candlelight at her. “You look a bit flushed, are you alright?”

  She held her breath, concentrating with her all her might and wishing it would be over. But the tingling sensation was building, the buzz of the restaurant confusing her, Eli’s panic echoing in her mind until she realized she needed air.

  “I’m going outside for a sec,” she managed to mumble before she fled from her chair, nearly knocking a waiter out of her way and onto a neighboring table. Before anyone could scowl at her or whisper to their friends, Hunter had burst through the door of the restaurant and out onto the street where it had started to drizzle. She found herself amidst a crowd of people popping their umbrellas and preparing for a downpour. As she tilted her head up to look at the black sky through the maple trees swaying in the wind, she felt the heat wash out of her.

  Eli caught her by the shoulder and turned her around suddenly. She met his green eyes and tensed, waiting for the fire to erupt from her hands, but it was completely gone.

  “Hunter, are you-”

  “Sorry,” she said and let him guide her under the porch of the restaurant. “It was just a bit stuffy in there.”

  “It’s okay. It gets a bit like that, but I like stuffy. It’s a nice change from being so alone all the time.”

  Hunter’s heart broke. “You’re not the only one who feels alone sometimes. Joshua isn’t exactly the best of company, and since the rumor I haven’t had a close friend, or any friend for that matter. I know what it’s like to be alone.”

  She turned her eyes from watching the rain and looked up at Eli’s face. Suddenly it occurred to her how much she truly cared for Eli. Their differences were more than what they had in common, but they could make it work. Even though she was afraid of the path ahead of her, of how the fire might react, so far everything was perfect. For now, that was enough.

  “I guess we can be alone together,” Eli said over the sudden downpour.

  Without a second thought, Hunter took his face between her hands and kissed him gently.

  Eli blinked in surprise and relaxed, his hands sliding around her waist, his lips becoming soft and eager. The feel of his arms around her was like nothing she’d ever experienced and the smell of his clean blonde hair mixed with strong cologne and rain intoxicated her. The kiss was so simple and yet so blissful at the same time. When she pulled away, his eyes were sparkling. Flushed cheeks tensed as he smiled.

  “Wow,” he said.

  The rain poured over the veranda roof and people pushed past them in their hurry to find shelter, but Hunter and Eli didn’t notice at all. She felt the heat disappear as though blown out like a candle. Perhaps it was because she was falling for Eli and finally happy for the first time in a long time, or even because she wasn’t angry anymore. Maybe it was just the rain that forced the fire back into the hole it seeped out of.

  Whatever the reason, Hunter wrapped her arms around Eli and, with a small smile, kissed him again.

  twenty

  The weather grew warmer as the school days passed on, and Hunter caught taxis to and from Jackson High. She would arrive home before Joshua and leave after he went to work each morning. Joshua had developed such an obsession over her powers that she marveled at his inability to see what was going on right under his nose.

  The moment he got home from the university, they would begin a new training session that he’d spent all of his free class time prepping for. She was completely taken aback, day after day, by his impressive knowledge of her powers and what she could do with them that sometimes she speculated how much of the truth he’d actually told her. For how long had he known of her abilities? A few years? Her whole life? Not only were they fighting the fire, but Hunter was also learning techniques such as defensive combat training, controlled breathing exercises and even theory - most of which Joshua researched thoroughly in his spare time studying in the lab and between classes.

  By the time May came and went, Hunter could set things on fire as easy as if she were breathing air. It made it that much less of a challenge to be around Eli when she wasn’t constantly measuring her inside temperature or worrying that her hands were ablaze.

  “Hey I was wondering,” Eli said as they sat at a table in the rowdy cafeteria. “Did you want to come with me to the aquarium this weekend? I can give you a sort of… backstage tour?”

  Hunter nodded. “I’d love to. I’m working Friday and Saturday night, but we could go Saturday morning?”

  “Sure.” Eli took a big bite out of his veggie burger and Hunter laughed at the sauce that dribbled down his front. “Oh… crap.”

  “Here, I’ll get it.” Still giggling, Hunter took her napkin and wiped it on the hem of his flannelette shirt. “You’re a grub, you know that?”

  “Shut up, I’m enjoying this,” he mumbled through his food.

  Hunter fixed his shirt and went back to eating her own. She rested her head on her fist and felt herself dozing as Eli talked about the aquarium and their most recent mission to save a whale colony in Iceland. It wasn’t that Eli didn’t interest her – on the contrary, she couldn’t get enough of him. Joshua had her working so hard in the lab that she had a ton of homework piling higher every day. It was nearing the end of the third quarter, and soon she would have to start studies for the end of year exams. None of it seemed important anymore, in the scale of things, but Hunter still wanted to try.

  “You look tired,” said Eli. “Have you been working a lot?”

  “Something like that,” she replied.

  They were suddenly joined by one of Eli’s friends whom she had seen before but never met.

  “Hi, Hunter is it?” He held out his hand as he sat opposite them on the bench. His brown hair and square jaw reminded her of someone who belonged on the football team. “I’m Jack Holloway.”

  “Hey,” she said. “You’re not any relation to Benny’s girlfriend Clare, are you?”

  Jack nodded, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, unfortunately. She’s my sister – but that secret stays between us.”

  “You share the same last name.”

  Jack fiddled with a strap on his backpack. “Right… yeah, I guess that sort of gives it away.”

  Hunter wanted to burst out laughing. The similarities between Jack and Eli were uncanny. Both were quietly attractive, in a nerd-undercover kind of way. Jack was just as nervous around her, if not more so, than Eli had been.

  “Hunter.” Eli nudged her and nodded to a table of mixed groups next to theirs. She turned her head and caught them all with their eyes glued to her. It was nothing she hadn’t seen before, but as they all whipped their heads back and started whispering, she thought she saw something different in their eyes.

  “Why were they staring?” asked Jack.

  Hunter shook her head and sipped her can of Coke. “They always do. It’s nothing new.”

  Jack nodded slowly, his brow creased in a frown. “Okay, well dude, we still on for Saturday?”

  Eli made cutting motions with his throat. Hunter peered at him.

  “What were you doing on Saturday?”

  Eli shrugged, shooting a glare at Jack, who looked just as confused as Hunter. “Uh, nothing. He just comes over every Saturday after soccer. I can’t Jack I’m… I’m taking Hunter out.”

  “Hey bros before hoes man! I’m kid
ding,” he chuckled. “That’s fine, I’ll just let myself in.” Jack collected the books he’d dropped at their table and waved. “See ya guys.”

  Hunter turned to Eli after Jack was out of earshot. “Does he like… live at your house or something?”

  “His home life isn’t that great,” said Eli. “He just stops by whenever he has the opportunity, just to get away from home.”

  “Oh.” Hunter pretended to be immersed in her half-eaten lunch, feeling suddenly awkward.

  Eli wrapped his hand in hers under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Hey, he can join our club.”

  Her grin widened and she relaxed against Eli’s chest, a place she’d become very comfortable lately.

  Hunter let herself into the apartment and threw her key card in the bowl next to the door. It clattered against the other identical key card that Joshua took with him to the university, and Hunter did a double take.

  Oh shit. He’s home early!

  Panicking, she ran to her bedroom, hoping he was in the lab and not waiting around for her. But her luck had run out. Joshua stood in the kitchen, chopping a cucumber in preparation for a salad as she ran past. She froze, backed up a couple of steps and turned to face him.

  The piercing glare of his pale blue eyes stabbed her like the stainless-steel knife clamped in his bony white hands.

  “Hunter,” he began in a voice like a snake’s hiss. “Where have you been?”

  “Oh just... you know, to the store...” she replied, but the answer couldn’t have been more obvious and the both of them knew it.

  “You were at school.”

  “No I wasn’t.”

  He pointed with the knife at the floor beside her. “Then why are you carrying your school bag?”

  Hunter glanced down at her physics textbooks jutting out of the pocket.

  “Well... I...”

  Joshua slammed the knife down on the chopping board with a deep thwack. The blade dug into the plastic and Hunter found her words lodged in her throat. She stood there, frozen, minutes passing before Joshua even spoke.