by ID Johnson
"Mother, who says things like that anymore?" Cadence inquired emphatically. "No, he's definitely not gay. Why would you think that?"
"He's just . . . too perfect. So nice looking, well groomed, organized. Are you sure, honey?"
"Yes," Cadence confirmed.
"But honey, I think he might. . ."
"I'm certain, Mother. Certain."
"I don't know. . ." Liz insisted.
Cadence sighed. She still wasn't getting it. "Mom, I know he's not gay," she said gesturing so widely a splash of water from the glass in her hand spilled onto the floor.
Liz seemed to catch her drift at last. "Oh," she said, that small grin back at the corner of her mouth. "Well, okay, then." She nodded her approval of her daughter's taste and handed her beloved daughter a towel to wipe up the water. "You've always had your mother's good eye for men," she added patting her daughter on the shoulder. As she crossed back to the stove, she probed, "Now, tell me how this is going."
"Mother," Cadence exclaimed, wiping up the water. "No, not now. Maybe in a few months. Or years. It's . . .complicated."
"Okay," Liz acquiesced. "But if you ever need a back up plan, I think that Elliott is a nice boy, too. And he sure seems to care about you."
Cadence considered this information, especially since she knew that Elliott had requested she be removed from the team not that long ago. "He's a great guy," she replied. "Definitely someone I want to have around if I ever get myself into trouble."
***
Jack had never imagined he would be staying in a hotel in Shenandoah. It never crossed his mind that he would ever need to, what with his parents' house a permanent feature in his life and in this town. But he certainly couldn't show up there, not since his entire family and all of his friends thought that he was dead. He would have to stay out of sight. So, Giovani had rented a small room in an unimpressive hotel on the outskirts of town, hopeful that they could get to Cadence soon, possibly tomorrow, and then get out of town.
Seeing his own obituary in the paper was extremely surreal. It was well written; he sounded like a stand-up guy. He briefly wondered what the people reading his accolades would think if they had witnessed his confrontation of that waitress in the woods last night. They probably wouldn't think of him as "One of Shenandoah's brightest stars," or "A champion taken oh too soon."
He had learned that his own memorial would be held the next afternoon, and despite Giovani's reluctance, he insisted on going. He knew Cadence would be there, and he had to see her. He longed to touch her, to kiss her lips, to hold her, and prove to her that he was the same Jack she had professed her love for just a few days ago. Once Cadence joined him as an undead, they would be able to spend the rest of eternity together. She would understand why becoming a Vampire was so important, once she realized they could be together forever this way. It may take some convincing, but Cadence was smart, and he knew she would listen to him.
He would have to be careful not to be seen by anyone else, of course. And it would be difficult to see his parents and the rest of his family and not be able to speak to them, particularly if they were upset over his death. But he would find a way to get to Cadence. Once she knew he was not gone forever, she would be elated. Then, their new lives could begin.
Giovani was thirsty, but Jack insisted they could not kill anyone in Shenandoah. If they were going to claim any victims, they would have to go out of town. He was still satiated from the girl at the truck stop, but he had saved none for his brother. Reluctantly, he agreed to go out on a hunt with Giovani, one in a neighboring town. Then, he would come back to the hotel and dream of the beautiful Cadence Findley. By tomorrow night, she would be his again, at last.
***
"How does this sound?" Cadence asked, leaning back in her chair, letting Elliott read the words on the computer screen.
He had been pacing behind her, tossing a Koosh ball in the air, critiquing her every thought for the last half-hour as she attempted to write the speech she was to give at Jack's memorial service the next day. Looking over her shoulder, he read the half-page she had written and paused to reflect. "Looks pretty good to me," he said, impressed with her writing skills. "It's what they asked for. I say, print it."
"Are you sure?" Cadence asked, looking over it again. He had been very helpful, particularly when it came to word choice. Still, she was taking this request very seriously, and she wanted to make sure that it was the best she could do.
"Yeah, I think so," he insisted, glancing at it one more time.
Cadence glanced up at him before sighing and hitting print. She set it to make two copies, one to carry on stage with her, and one for Elliott to read to her, just in case she froze up on stage and couldn't read from the paper copy. She should at least be able to repeat what he said to her.
Dangling the Koosh ball by one rubber filament, he bounced it off of her head, just to be annoying. "Do you mind?" she asked, swatting at him.
"Not at all," he replied, curtly, doing it again.
"Twerp," Cadence mumbled, taking the papers off of the printer and handing him a copy. She read over it again, still swatting at the Koosh ball. When she was finished, she shrugged her shoulders, wondering if she could make any improvements.
"Sleep on it and see what you think in the morning," Elliott suggested. He took the copy she gave him, folded it in quarters, and stuck it in his pocket.
"Good idea," she said, shutting down her computer and sitting the paper on the desk. She crossed over to her bed and flung herself onto it backwards, suddenly feeling both physically and mentally exhausted.
Elliott put the ball down on top of her dresser. "You okay, kid?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.
Cadence pushed her hair back off of her forehead. "Yeah," she replied, half-heartedly. "I guess so."
"Nothin' easy about that," he said, shaking his head. "You can do it, though. If anyone can, it's you."
"Ha!" Cadence smirked, trying not to roll her eyes. "I know y'all think I'm some sort of superhero, but not when it comes to stuff like this. I'm terrible at talking in front of people. And, I'm pretty sure I'm going to start crying so . . . ."
"No you won't," he insisted. "Hannah will be there."
She hadn't considered that. "Oh, yeah, that's true. Can she do anything for stage fright? Panic attacks?"
"Actually, yes. But I don't think she'll need to. You got this, kid," he patted her knee reassuringly.
Cadence suddenly realized he was using his little trick on her. "Oh," she mumbled. "I guess you can help with this, too, huh?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, winking at her."
"Thanks," she replied, sitting up and scooting around to face him. "You've been a really great friend these last few days," she added.
He smiled at her. "Well, you kept me from getting my ass kicked, both literally and figuratively, the other day, so, it's the least I could do." After a moment he added, "Besides, I kinda like you, kid."
She couldn't help but grin at him. "You're ridiculous," she mumbled under her breath. "I kinda like you, too. But not in the way my mother thought I did," she added, remembering her mother's comments.
"What?" he asked an amused and alarmed expression on his face.
"I know, right?" Cadence asked. "She thought we were a couple or something."
"That's cray-cray," he exclaimed in his best ghetto accent. "That'd be like. . . dating my sister. Or, my sister-in-law. Or something. Weird."
"That's my mom," Cadence admitted. Then, she added, "Oh, and she thought that Aaron was gay."
With that, Elliott burst out laughing, shaking the entire bed. He threw himself backward, popping Cadence off of the mattress. It took him a few moments to catch his breath even long enough to say, "That's hilarious. Did you tell him?"
"No!" she assured him. "Are you kidding? 'Hey, baby, how's it going? My mom thinks you're gay. Wanna hook up?' Now, who's cray-cray."
"Well, I would never say this to his
face, but I can kinda see why she would think that, not knowing him well. He is a bit of a metrosexual, that's for certain," he admitted.
Cadence was still skeptical. "I don't see it," she stated.
"No, you wouldn't," Elliott agreed. "Why did she say that, anyway?"
"Well, when she thought that I was dating you, and I told her I wasn't, she asked me if I was seeing anyone. And I told her it was complicated, not that I was dating someone. But she asked who. She's my mom, what can I say? She asks a lot of prying questions. Don't moms do that?" Cadence asked, absently twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Hell if I know," Elliott replied. "My mom never asked me much of anything except for to pass the booze and to change my baby brother's diaper. Sorry, kid, can't help you there."
"That's awful," Cadence said consolingly. "I'm so sorry to hear that. I thought that generation was, like, June Cleaver, or something."
"That was just TV, not real life. No big deal now, it's been so long," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he added, "But I don't really want to talk about it either."
"Okay," she agreed. "Well, my mom has always been very supportive. I'm very lucky."
"You are," he said nodding. "You have great parents."
"I do," Cadence replied. "Thanks."
"Sure. Hey, speaking of prying, what was Christian doing up here?" he asked.
"You are prying, aren't you? He just came to check on me, that's all," she said as nonchalantly as she could muster.
He looked at her with a bit of skepticism but didn't ask anything else. "Okay," he said slowly.
"How did you know he was here, anyway?" she asked.
"It's my job to keep you safe. I think I should know when someone comes into your room," he replied.
"Good point," she agreed. "Well, believe it or not, I'm actually tired. I've got a long day ahead of me. I think I'm going to get some sleep."
"Okay. I'll head back to the hotel. Hannah's probably bored out of her mind by now. I think Aaron and Eliza are headed back in the morning," he added.
She nodded her head. "Okay. I haven't talked to either of them all day. And, if they're on a hunt now, I probably won't be able to before I fall asleep."
"I'll tell Eliza you said goodnight then," he said winking.
"Yes, please do," Cadence replied sarcastically. "I wouldn't be able to sleep if I thought she wasn't having one."
***
Eliza wasn't having a very good night. The hunt had been long, and boring and she had spent very little time actually doing anything. Any chance she had gotten to speak to Aaron, he had blown her off. Now, he was in the thick of the pursuit, despite the fact that he was just supposed to be consulting, and she was back at the headquarters, weighing through a ton of data, trying to get a location on where one Rogue might be headed. If she was lucky, she might have one more opportunity to get him all to herself before they headed back to Iowa the next morning. If she couldn't find the time to let him know how she was feeling about him before they went back, she may have wasted her only chance.
The fact that she was so distracted by her thoughts that she was missing commands should have been a reminder of why they broke up in the first place. But it wasn't convincing enough for her to return her thoughts to the job at hand, not entirely. The one thing that complicated matters more than any thing else was the fact that she genuinely liked Cadence. She wished there was a way for her to get what she wanted without hurting her friend. Under the circumstances, however, she couldn't think of any. And, when it came down to choosing between what she wanted and what would make Cadence happy, she had to go with her own happiness. At the end of the day, only one of them could end up with Aaron, and there was no way Eliza would lose this battle, no matter what that meant for Cadence.
Chapter 7
The day they had buried Drew, just the month before, had been drizzly and dreary, just as funeral days should be. However, when Cadence awoke on the day of Jack Cook's Memorial Service, it had been a bright, sunny day. The ambient temperature was still low enough that the snow on the ground only grew slightly slushy in the direct sun, not melting away. Still, Cadence felt a bit cheated that the weather hadn't agreed with her somber temperament.
She had ridden to the service with her parents and Cassidy, intending to spend as much time as possible with her friends from high school. This would be a tough day for all of them, even with Hannah and Elliott applying their skills to the group's emotions. When she arrived at the school, there were several people she had not seen since graduation, and she was immediately caught up in the arms of just about anyone who even remotely recognized her. She had been Jack's girlfriend; surely she would need as much comforting as anyone else.
A few minutes before the start time, she looked around to see many of her friends from LIGHTS sitting in the back of the room. She gave them a little wave but didn't rush over to say hello. She knew she would see all of them soon enough. Aaron had sent her a message earlier that morning letting her know that they were running behind. Eliza had gotten very ill the night before, and she wasn't feeling up to flying. He had called in a Healer, but she hadn't been able to get there until that morning, and so their flight had been delayed. He had reassured her that he would be there soon, hopefully just before the service started, but she wasn't confident that it would actually go as planned. She was also slightly skeptical of Eliza's condition, previously unaware that Guardians could even get sick, and made a mental note to ask more questions about that later.
Also noticeably gone from the group was Elliott. He was outside somewhere, watching everything through her IAC. When she got ready to do her speech, he wanted to be able to concentrate so he could assist her. She was extremely grateful that he would be there to help her.
There was a large picture of Jack on the stage, his senior picture from high school. Next to it sat the urn that Dr. Arnold had given his parents at the hospital. There were also flower baskets containing Jack's favorite flower, red poppies, which just happened to be in season. As the time approached, Cadence took a seat in the front row near Jack's parents, as instructed, and nervously folded and unfolded the corner of the piece of paper that contained her speech.
Elliott wasn't just outside to make sure that Cadence's speech went according to plan; he was also on the look out for approaching Vampires. He had it on pretty good authority that a pair was in the area. The last thing any of them needed was for Jack Cook to crash his own funeral. He would be in this position at least until Aaron arrived and could give him new directions. He decided the best vantage point would be the roof, his usual choice when it came to surveillance, and so he was on top of the gym, his keen eye mulling over the parking lot and the entire area. He wasn't upset to be out here, rather than sitting in the cafeteria. He hated funerals anyway. He was very glad he would never have the need for one.
The pastor from the Cook's church, Rev. Don Jones, started the service only a few minutes past 2:00. Cadence had been told that she would be speaking after the second tribute song, which should be about twenty minutes in. She spent the whole first fifteen minutes trying to stay calm, feeling the good vibes from Hannah even from the many rows behind her, but still fighting the shakes. She couldn't imagine how bad it would be if she didn't have an emotional Healer available.
Some of the students from the media department in the high school had volunteered to put together a slideshow of pictures from the Cook's photo albums and Jack's Facebook page. It was astounding to Cadence just how many of his pictures she was in. She hadn't realized that she was still such a significant part of his life, even after they had been split for so long.
Finally, the pastor introduced Cadence as Jack's close friend, and on slightly wobbly legs, she made her way to the stage. Hannah turned up the juice, and she began to feel a calmness flowing through her whole body as she walked to the podium.
"You've got this. You are a pro at presenting. You can speak in front of anyone," Elliott assured her in his tran
ce-like voice.
Cadence believed him. She could totally do this.
She looked up at the crowd and froze. The room was packed. In fact, despite the cold weather, the doors in the back were propped open so that the dozens of people standing outside could hear and feel as if they were still a part of the service.
Cadence sat the paper down on the podium and cleared her voice, trying to gather her thoughts. She glanced at the paper, but it was just a blur. She looked out at the faces in the front two rows, including the Cooks and all of her friends from high school. Her parents were there as well, and Cassidy, who was wiping her eyes with a tattered tissue.
"Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and just talk to me," Aaron said, and Cadence realized he was somewhere in the room. She looked up and saw him standing by the back door on the right side of the cafeteria. Even though she was so far away from him, she could see that he was smiling at her, and she suddenly had the confidence to read what she had written.
"Good afternoon," she began, the words on the page suddenly legible again. "When I was first asked to say a few words about Jack, I was both honored and terrified. To be given the task of summing up such a significant life in just a few moments seemed nearly impossible to me. Though Jack wasn't with us nearly long enough, the impact he had in that short time can only be described as profound." She paused for a moment, looking at the faces in the crowd. Many of them were nodding in agreement. She locked eyes with Aaron again and then went back to the paper, hoping she hadn't lost her place. "When we think about Jack's life, we immediately remember what an amazing athlete he was. Watching Jack pitch a baseball game made young girl's hearts melt and old men talk about the greats, such as Cy Young and Sandy Koufax. I should know," she added, "I was one of those young girls swooning." This remark got a bit of a chuckle, lightening the mood somewhat. "I watched from the sidelines with the others for a couple of years before I finally caught those beautiful brown eyes of his. And we were inseparable for years. Even when we realized life had taken us in separate directions, I couldn't help but keep Jack in my life as one of my best friends. Because, that's what Jack was to everyone--a friend. He would do whatever he could to help anyone. I remember one time, our senior year, one of the freshmen was getting picked on by a group of juniors. Jack not only stepped in to defend the smaller guy, he also gave him his lunch money--all of the money he had on him--to replace the money that had been stolen. That was the type of guy Jack was. When I asked him why he did that, he said, 'He needed the good.' I asked him to clarify, and he simply stated, 'You know, the good. We always say we have to take the bad with the good, but there aren't a lot of people handing out the good anymore.' I think that might have been the moment I fell in love with Jack. And I don't think it's ever possible to fall out of love with Jack. I think that's why all of us are here, because we love--not loved but still love--Jack Cook. He was the kind of guy who would never quit on any of us, so how could we possibly quit on him?" Cadence glanced up from her paper just then, and froze again. In the back of the room, by the door on the left side, she saw a quick flash. She felt her stomach tighten up and fought an instant bought of nausea. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and reopened her eyes. The face in the crowd she had thought she had seen was gone. She glanced back to where Aaron had been standing, and he was gone as well.