Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1)

by Barry Chaison

  Truth or Legend? A Historical Analysis of Religious Spirits by Dr. Leonard Alan Woodward

  After the initial stupor wore off, I carefully opened the cover and studied the table of contents. The elegant font that graced the cover was magnified exquisitely on the inside pages. There were so many different topics, it was impossible to pick where to start. Instead of choosing a random chapter, I flipped the pages until Chapter One: Ancient Beliefs appeared. I pushed my pillow up against the wall, leaned back and began to read.

  **************************************

  The rest of the week came with welcomed relief and all of the drama seemed to subside with each passing day. Professor Woodward had continued on in class, business as usual, not making any slight reference to our previous meeting. He continued to treat me similar to every other student in class, and was his normal, interactive and passionate self. Even Liam had held true to his word. He kept his distance from the apartment, even with Annie being home much more than normal. His presence also went completely undetected around campus. My spirits lifted progressively throughout the week and I hoped he had just disappeared all together. For the first time in weeks, a Friday afternoon rolled around in relative peace.

  Professor Woodward’s massive book rested heavily in my lap. Even though the writing was small and condensed on each page, I had made quite a dent in my progress. I was more than a quarter of the way through the book, with each page drawing my interest more and more. The book accomplished what all books are supposed to, it drew me in so much that I was able to leave reality for a period of time and engulf myself within a new world.

  “Geez Zoe, have you closed that book at all this week?” Annie said, flipping through channels on the TV.

  “Huh?” I asked, not lifting my eyes away from the book.

  “Nevermind.”

  “Hello?” a faint voice called from somewhere far away.

  “We’re in here!” Annie screamed.

  “Was that really necessary?” I jeered, rubbing my ear.

  “Hey!” Steph exclaimed.

  I looked up and immediately noticed her red hair, which had rather quickly grown all the way down to her mid back. Her snow white teeth were shining beautifully in the light, as Hope slowly appeared at her side. But there was something new about Hope’s appearance. For the first time, she wasn’t wearing glasses and actually had her hair pulled up into a bun. The corners of her lips were extended up in both directions and she stared directly at me.

  “Steph!” Annie cried, jumping up and giving her a big hug. “What are you guys up to?”

  “Oh nothing,” she said slowly, turning her attention to me. “I just wanted to check in on our girl before her big date!”

  Everything finally made sense as all three pairs of eyes fell on me, each face sporting a unique, but familiar smirk. Sighing unnecessarily loudly, I slammed the book shut and pushed it off to the side.

  “What is this, some kind of intervention or something?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that exactly,” Steph giggled, looking sideways at Annie who looked equally amused.

  “Yeah, we don’t want to talk necessarily, we have other plans,” Annie continued, returning Steph’s look.

  “What do you two have planned?” I asked suspiciously, narrowing my eyes.

  “Nothing, just don’t go anywhere, we’ll be back in a few minutes,” Annie said.

  She turned her back to me and pulled Steph around the corner with her. After the front door slammed shut, it was just Hope and me. Hope stood there for a moment, before she slowly walked into the living room and sat down next to me.

  “I can’t believe you’re actually going!” she said softly in awe. “I’m jealous!”

  “Don’t be,” I replied. “I haven’t even met the guy, but if he’s anything like Liam, this night will be a complete disaster.”

  “Good point,” she agreed. “Are you ready?”

  “Honestly, I haven’t thought much about it. I’ve been reading this book all week, I kind of forgot about it!” I said, smacking the hard cover.

  “I guess that’s a good thing right? If it were my first date, I’d probably be throwing up in the bathroom all afternoon!”

  “Oh my god,” I said suddenly.

  “What?” Hope said, jumping up in surprise.

  “I’m going on a date…”

  “Yeah, I know. Was I just talking to myself again?”

  “No, but, what have I gotten myself into?” I said, my voice breaking. “I mean, I don’t know the first thing about dates! What do I wear? What the heck do we talk about? Is there some kind of etiquette I need to follow? Oh man, this is going to be a disaster!”

  I leaped off the futon and paced around the living room. There was absolutely no way I was going to survive the date. I’d spent so much time during the week reading, I had completely forgotten all about the deal with Liam. To make matters even worse, it was a blind date, which only meant a night full of awkward silences and uncomfortable glances.

  “Whoa, calm down,” Hope said. “Take a breath first of all, it looks like you’re about to start hyperventilating!”

  “You’re right,” I said, resting a hand over my rapidly moving chest. “Deep breaths…”

  “Don’t worry, Annie and Steph will be back any minute and I’m sure they have everything under control.”

  “Annie!” I exhaled. “That’s it! At least she’ll be there tonight. She could carry on a conversation for hours!”

  “You’re not getting out of talking tonight that easily,” Annie mocked, reappearing at the doorway of the living room with her arms folded coyly. “But we’ll worry about that later. Right now, you have a date with Steph and me in my room.”

  “Oh no,” I sighed. “Please don’t tell me…”

  “Oh yes,” Steph said at Annie’s side, holding a perfectly square pink box. I could clearly see the hundreds of rhinestones that were plastered onto the top. “We have an entire arsenal here to help make you look like an angel.”

  I looked over at Hope with desperate eyes and my mind tried to think of any excuse to escape what was about to happen. She just looked back at me with an encouraging smile.

  “I’ll be right there with you,” she said, placing a comforting hand over my shoulders. “It won’t be so bad. You look beautiful anyway, I’m sure they’ll just touch you up a bit.”

  “Exactly,” Annie squealed, hardly able to hold in the excitement. “Come on Zoe, you’re going to love it!”

  Annie’s room looked like a hurricane had swept through it. There was a massive pile of clothes stacked on her bed, and her closet was open with numerous dresses scattered across the floor. Steph was already in the room, standing at Annie’s makeup mirror, sporting a welcoming smile. The circular light bulbs that surrounded the mirror’s borders in all directions glared uncomfortably bright as Annie guided me over and sat me down in front of it. Hope stood in the doorway, arms crossed, leaning comfortably against the frame. She had a somewhat envious look on her face, but she still sported a lazy half smile.

  “How long is this going to take?” I whined, as Steph and Annie started to gather random materials together.

  “Just relax Zoe!” Annie said.

  “Yeah, just sit back and let us do our thing,” Steph added.

  For the next hour, Steph and Annie proceeded to dust my face with a variety of cosmetics. Slowly but surely, I could see the transformation reflect back at me in the mirror. First, they applied a small amount of eyeliner and mascara. Then, they powdered my cheeks with a sandy pink blush and followed it up with a pink tinted lip gloss. Once they finished, my hair became the next victim of their all-out assault on my appearance. Instead of keeping it down and straight, which was my preferred method, they pulled out the curler and proceeded to twist and bend my hair into what actually turned out to be relatively nice curls. The dark curls hovered over both shoulders and rested comfortably on my mid back.

  “There, that, ought, to do it…”
Steph said, pulling on a few curls which were out of place.

  “What do you think?” I asked, looking up at Annie who just stared back at me with emotionless eyes.

  “You look absolutely beautiful,” she said in somewhat of trance. “What the hell am I going to do now?”

  “I’ll take care of you in a minute,” Steph interjected. “But I can’t help but agree with you on that one Ann. Zoe, you look phenomenal.”

  I looked back into the mirror at Hope, who was now sitting on Annie’s bed.

  “Amazing,” was all that came out of her mouth.

  As I started to stand up, Annie held my shoulder down, keeping me in place.

  “What? I thought we were done!”

  “There’s one more thing I want to show you,” she said coolly, releasing her hold and walking towards her closet.

  She pulled out a lanky black halter dress and a pair of dressy black flats that were all way too big for her diminutive frame. The dress was absolutely gorgeous. It had a fixed halter with a ring detail at the front center. Two dream catcher shaped rings connected the two rear straps. A tiered ruffle hem completed the lovely dress. I stared in awe as she walked it over to the bed and laid it out carefully.

  “What is that?”

  “Call it a late birthday present,” Annie smiled widely.

  “You’re kidding right? Isn’t that a little too dressy for dinner?” I asked.

  “We’re going to Cristos Zoe, it’s a really fancy restaurant on the Strip. Liam told me to make sure we dressed for the occasion so I thought this would be perfect for you.”

  “A fancy restaurant?” I repeated uneasily. Annie gave me a warning look, silently telling me to just go with it. I swallowed hard. “Oh, well, you didn’t have to go out and buy me a brand new dress Ann… I’m sure I could have scrounged something up here.”

  “Well, I wanted to do this. I’ve never been able to share this with you before and I wanted to make sure it was perfect. Besides, I know how hard it is for you to be doing this, so I thought I’d get you a little something to show how much I love you.”

  “Ann, I don’t know what to say,” I choked up.

  “Don’t say anything, just go put it on!” she responded with a slight crack in her voice. “Hope, can you help her out?”

  Hope’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and she leaped up from the bed and grabbed the hanger that held the dress. She carefully put a supporting hand underneath it and walked out the door towards the bathroom, which had the only other mirror in the house.

  I felt slightly uncomfortable getting half naked in front of Hope, but her concentration was so focused on the dress that she didn’t even notice as I took off my shorts and cream colored blouse. After about five minutes, Hope zipped up the final side, while I stepped into the accompanying flats and gazed at my reflection in the mirror. There was a slight flirtatious feel to the dress. It had a silky feel and rose about mid thigh, which made it the shortest thing I’d ever worn before. For the first time in my life, I was wearing a beautiful piece of clothing that I actually belonged in.

  “Everything okay?” Hope asked, looking at my probing reflection in the mirror.

  “Yeah,” I sighed nervously. “Just never shown this much skin before.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never seen someone look so pretty. Even Steph can’t match this.”

  “You’re a horrible liar,” I smiled, giving myself one last check before opening the door to the bathroom.

  “Alright, I’m just not going to go tonight,” Annie said in awe, looking back at me from her makeup chair. “There’s no way I can compete with that.”

  “Shut up,” Steph said, dropping a blush brush. “It’s perfect.”

  “Are you guys sure? I think it’s a little revealing,” I said, gazing down at my bare, lanky legs.

  “Three of us told you that you’re perfect,” Annie said. “Besides, it’s good to show some leg. Gets Damien thinking about what he wishes he could have.”

  I nodded reluctantly, biting my lip.

  “Anyway, give me about half an hour then we should be ready to go,” she continued. “We need to have time to walk over to the Beta House in my heels.”

  Hope and I turned and left the room, closing the door behind us. Walking into the TV room, we sat down on the futon and waited, anxiously, for Annie to finish. For 45 minutes, we sat there and made small talk, trying to keep my mind at relative ease. It was nice talking to Hope as she was much more comfortable listening than talking. Even though I was the same way, it didn’t feel as overbearing and stressful to talk to her.

  Annie and Steph finally emerged from her bedroom. My jaw dropped when I looked at Annie. Her golden blond hair had been curled very similar to mine, but it wasn’t as long so it rested neatly on her shoulders. Her face glowed and the clicking sound of her heels filled the silent room. She wore a very attractive olive green strapless dress that had a pleated neckline and satin banding ties along the back. Annie topped off the ensemble with a slick pair of gold colored high heels that perfectly matched her hair.

  “Well, if you think I look perfect, what does that make you?” I gasped.

  “Zoe, it’s no comparison. Besides, the important thing is that we look great together. The guys won’t know what hit ‘em!” she gleefully exclaimed.

  “So true,” Steph added. “I guess we should get back downstairs Hope and let these two vixens get out of here and hit the town.”

  Hope stood up on command and sauntered over towards Steph’s side, looking miserable. Her emotions had changed so much over the course of the afternoon that it was practically impossible to decipher exactly how she was feeling.

  “What do you two have lined up for tonight?” I asked.

  “We’ve got a few movies and a pizza downstairs calling our names,” Steph sighed. “We definitely won’t be on the same level as you two tonight.”

  “I’ve got an idea, why don’t you go in my place Steph, and I’ll stay back and watch the movie with Hope!” I joked.

  Annie shot me a gaze that would have burned through lead.

  “Calm down, I was just kidding,” I carefully said.

  “Alright, have fun tonight and good luck!” Steph said to me and she gave us both a hug. Hope did the same and followed her out of the front door.

  “Ready?” Annie said while we grabbed our purses from the front table by the door.

  “I guess so.”

  Taking a deep breath, I followed Annie out of the apartment and into the stunning Las Vegas evening.

  Chapter 7: Double Date

  The fraternity house had a completely different feel during my second visit. The dark, black lit atmosphere had been replaced by an elegance normally seen in mansions. We stood on a beautiful ash colored marble floor between two solid ivory columns, while an enormous chandelier lit up the foyer. A wide staircase, covered with rich brown colored carpet extended up and out in front of us, leading to what I could only assume were the bedrooms. Annie pulled me to the left and we entered their living area, which was just as extravagant. The walls were a beautiful cream white and were full of framed composite pictures and hundreds of plaques. There were numerous black leather sofas set up in a box formation in the middle of the room, with a huge granite topped coffee table in between them. A stunning traditional bronze pendant hung down directly above the table, giving the room it’s only light. A stunning crystal vase, which held a bouquet of vanilla orchids rested on top of the table, adding to the majesty of the house. Bookshelves were scattered along the walls and were full of hundreds of books that had been compiled over the years. While Annie looked expectantly for Liam, I stood mesmerized by the spectacular layout of the Beta house.

  Without warning, Annie tugged my arm and pulled me back towards the foyer. I looked around and saw Liam striding down the stairs, accompanied by a very tall and familiar looking guy. My eyes lingered on my date for a moment before they froze on Liam. It was the first time I’d ever seen hi
m wearing something besides a rugged t-shirt and khaki shorts. He sported a perfectly fit pair of black slacks and shiny, laced up black shoes. A creaseless white shirt was tucked into his pants, while a solid green tie that matched Annie’s dress was hanging from his neck. Even his hair had been gelled up just enough to make it less shaggy looking and more aesthetically pleasing. My heart skipped a few beats while I tried to accept seeing him so cleaned up. Slowly, and with a lot of effort, I turned to look at his friend, who decided to go uncomfortably casual. He was wearing a pair of very saggy and torn jeans with a short sleeved black fraternity shirt, with B-A-D spelled out on the front in white. As the reality of how foolish I would look standing next to him in my elegant dress, I glared over at Annie disapprovingly, only to find her floating towards Liam.

  “Hey guys,” Liam said, pulling Annie in and kissing her briefly on the lips, which made my stomach churn. “Zoe, this is my buddy Damien Peterson.”

  “We’ve met before,” Damien boomed in a voice deeper than Mark’s, “at the toga party. I pointed you guys towards the kitchen, right?”

  My mind replayed the party in a flash and Damien’s face instantly popped into my head. The wild blue eyes, the oversized and pointy nose, the hundreds of freckles and the strawberry-blond hair were all too distinct to forget. He was even easier to remember because he was one of the few guys that actually towered over me.