"So where is everyone going to sleep?" Jericho asked when there was a break in conversation.
"Lilly can move in with me," I said excitedly before Roxie got any ideas, "and I suppose Avalon will have to move down with you so Roxie can have her own room."
At the mention of their names, Roxie and Avalon entered the kitchen carrying the last of the littered trash from the living room.
"Avalon doesn't need to move downstairs; we can share a room," Roxie offered, sounding more casual than I believed her.
She's just being nice, knock it off. Avalon interjected my thought train.
Nice is not the right word.... Ho-bag. That's the right word. I replied sarcastically, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at the tiny Latina I was deathly afraid of.
"Eden's right," Avalon blurted out, embarrassed by my remarks and forgetting we were having a conversation no one else could hear. When everyone turned to look at him with confused expressions he fumbled for a better response, "I mean, what she said before; I mean, about me moving down with Jericho," his cheeks were bright red and Roxie was giving him a coy look that I did not like.
"My house has never felt so small!" exclaimed Aunt Syl, turning around from the sink and drying her hands on a dish towel. She looked extra tan in comparison to the porcelain Lilly, standing next to her. "This is what's going to happen, Eden is going to move in with me and Lilly and Roxie can share her room. Avalon, you can stay where you're at and Jericho, I'm sorry, you can still stay where you're at," Aunt Syl gave Jericho an apologetic look, having felt bad for him for having to stay in the living room since the beginning.
"No!" I shrieked, "Aunt Syl, you have given up enough of your life for me already, there is no way I am going to make you give up your bedroom too!"
"Eden, don't be ridiculous," Aunt Syl said quietly. "I want to help in any way that I can."
"No. I'm serious Aunt Syl, I have totally taken over your life. You can't give up your sanctuary too," I said firmly, reminding Aunt Syl that her bedroom was the only place she had to get away; even before the whole Immortal and Resistance thing, Aunt Syl had always treasured the peacefulness of the master suite.
"Oh Eden, stop it!" Aunt Syl turned her eyes intensely on me in a look I knew all too well. She was serious and it was time to pay attention. "When Amory brought you to me, when you were a baby, I knew full well what I was getting into. I knew just exactly what I was giving up and believe me, I knew what would happen to my life. Eden, it's worth it. And if all that's being asked of me right now, is to give up my bedroom, I will gladly do it. Besides, I'm never here to sleep in it anyway." She paused for a moment, waiting for me to respond, but I was too choked up to fight back. She was right and knowing so, she continued, "So, it's settled. Eden will move in with me, Lilly and Roxie can have Eden's room and Avalon and Jericho can stay where they are at."
"Wow, Sylvia, taking charge! That is so hot." Avalon declared.
"Gross, Avalon!" I turned around and hit him in the leg with the broom I was still holding.
"What?" he threw his hands up in self-defense, laughing at all of the girls standing around him appalled.
"And on that note, I think it's time for bed," Aunt Syl turned the intensity of her look on Avalon and sent him retreating up the stairs and into his room.
I led the way up the stairs after him, with Lilly and Roxie following behind. They carried suitcases of their belongings and I grabbed an empty laundry basket to haul the most important of my things into the master suite.
More than taking Aunt Syl's bedroom away from her, I was disappointed at not getting to share the room with Lilly. I had been looking forward to catching up with her and having time to ourselves. And besides that, I felt bad leaving her alone with Roxie.
"Thanks girls, for staying here," I said while grabbing clothes and underwear and my favorite pillow. I was more thanking Roxie than Lilly, I had been planning on making Lilly move in with us for a long time now.
"Of course," Lilly said in her bubbly way.
"Sure," Roxie mumbled. "Hey Eden, listen." I turned around to face her. She had taken her silky black hair out of her usual pony tail holder and it overwhelmed her tiny frame, hanging down to her waist. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, I can be.... I know I can be a little difficult," she sounded sincere and half smiled at me.
"No, it's not you," I apologized in return, understanding that it wasn't all her. "I get that I don't make a whole lot of sense to most people," I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "So lets just start over, yeah?"
"Yeah," Roxie smiled wider and forcefully reached out her hand in a businesslike fashion.
I shook it, still confused trying to figure out exactly who Roxie Powers was, but thankful we were starting over.
I finished gathering my things quickly so the other girls could settle in and get to bed. Lilly looked exhausted and I still wasn't completely comfortable around Roxie.
I dropped my things off on Aunt Syl's giant king-sized bed, and plush ottoman sitting in the corner. The huge flat screen TV was playing the news on mute and Aunt Syl was in her closet on a phone call with the hospital. I snuck out in search of another relationship that needed fixing.
I walked slowly down the hallway, trying to think of the right thing to say, or how to even approach Jericho. But I was nervous. I didn't even know if he would sit down with me, but I had to try. I wanted to fix our broken relationship and get all of the weirdness out of the way.
"Pssst," I turned to see Avalon calling me from his doorway. I walked back up the three stairs to listen to what he had to say in a very conspiratorial way. "Hey, you need to be nice to him."
"What?" I whispered loudly, very offended. "I am always nice to him."
"No. You're not," Avalon said with finality and continued before I could protest, "Just, listen, he is probably the best guy I know and you need to not be so, you know, you around him."
"What does that even mean?" I crossed my arms, and softly stamped my foot.
"It means," he paused to roll his eyes dramatically, "that if he doesn't want to be friends with you, just let him go. He should get to find someone else. And you shouldn't drag him along."
My mouth dropped open in surprise and I didn't know how to respond to those accusations. I wanted to believe that Avalon was just being over-dramatic like usual. But suddenly I felt unexplainably guilty, like Jericho's feelings for me were my fault.
"I'm serious Eden," Avalon continued, "Be gentle with him. He's a good guy."
"I know he's a good guy," I whispered, frustrated with Avalon for making me even more nervous. "Hey, what's the deal with you and Roxie?" I deflected and waggled my eyebrows.
"Shhh...." he hushed me loudly, looking around the hallway nervously. "I just.... we're just.... she's just a friend," he stumbled through an explanation while pumping his hands to tell me to lower my voice.
"Right...." I laughed before walking down the stairs. I heard Avalon's door close and wished that was all it took to keep him out of the impending conversation.
I found Jericho on the couch. His bed was made but he was still awake messing around with his cell phone. He was in gym shorts but that was it. His tanned, muscular chest was just sitting there, with out a shirt, in the dark, just there.
"Hey," I said carefully, before making it all the way down the stairs. I cleared my throat nervously when he glanced up at me. His angular face glowed in the light of his cell phone and I didn't know what to make of his expression.
"Hey," he replied, just as carefully.
"Listen, can we talk for a second?" I tried with more courage.
"Sure," he sat up straighter and put his cell phone down, turning on a lamp with his magic.
"Ok, great," I breathed a sigh of relief and walked the distance to him, sitting on the love seat across from his couch. "So, did you want to put a shirt on?" I asked, finding his toplessness distracting.
"I'm fine...." he half smiled at me and my stomach jumped without my permission. "Right,"
I cleared my throat again and continued, willing myself to focus. "So, here's the thing. I just hate how weird it is between you and me. I hate that we fought and yelled at each other and I hate that...." I stopped realizing my apology was about to get away from me.
"You hate that I ever tried to kiss you," he finished for me and I couldn't deny that he was right. "I hate that too. Believe me," he looked down at the floor and then back up into my eyes like he was determined to keep eye contact. His hazel eyes burned in the soft lamp light and I realized, probably for the first time, how easy it would have been to fall for Jericho had I never met Kiran.
"I just want us to go back to being friends. We were pretty good at that," I smiled, hoping it would be that simple.
"We were good at being friends. I don't think we were reaching our full potential though. But we were good at friends...." he glanced back down at his phone and smiled smugly. I didn't know how to continue at that point, so I just sat there stunned.
After a few moments of my prolonged silence Jericho looked up at me from underneath his thick eye lashes and gazed at me intently. I couldn't bring myself to look away so I just sat there staring back at him, half wondering if he was right.
"Ok. Let's go back to being friends," Jericho said slowly, never taking his eyes off of me. "I mean you were right, I'm never going to argue my way in to a relationship with you. Right?" His eyes never lost their intensity or their focus and suddenly I was squirming.
"Right," I cleared my throat, "I mean, you're right. You can't," I half smiled, lost in his eyes and doing my best to convince myself and him that I was serious.
"So then, friends again," he smiled back, and reached out his hand as if to shake mine.
"Oh, is this what friends do?" I laughed, extending my own to his.
"Yes, it is," he said slowly, our fingers touching and then our palms. The magic between us ignited in a violent spark, shocking us both, but still Jericho connected his hand with mine and shook it back and forth as if what was transpiring between us was completely casual and not a poorly masked strong physical attraction.
My cheeks burned with heat, not only from embarrassment, but from shame too. I shouldn't be this attracted to Jericho. I shouldn't be second guessing my relationship with Kiran. I was in love with Kiran. He was my soul mate. There shouldn't be thoughts of other guys swimming around in my fuzzy head.
I cleared my throat again and retracted my hand, rubbing it against my jeans, "Well, I'm glad we got that settled."
"Me too," Jericho smiled mischieviously at me, and I was bombarded with butterflies. "And as friends, we should probably hang out. Don't you think? I mean, that's what friends do...."
I was about to object, but he flicked on the TV before I could make an escape and the late night talk show host was interviewing one of my favorite celebrities. I started laughing with the TV before I thought twice about leaving.
Jericho seemed to relax a little more, if that was even possible, and laid back further in the couch, lifting his feet up and sprawling out. I noticed his feet, long and boney, his arches were high for a guy and his toes made a perfect arch. I couldn't even begin to understand what I found attractive about them, but for some reason, his bare feet on my couch was absolutely endearing.
"Popcorn?" I blurted out, jumping up before I could concentrate on his feet anymore.
"Sure," he mumbled as I retreated into the kitchen.
I breathed in deeply as I rummaged around the kitchen looking for the box of microwavable popcorn. I was too frazzled to really look for it, so I found myself just slamming cupboards and periodically opening the refrigerator for no apparent reason.
I stopped for a moment, and placed both hands on the cool granite of the kitchen island. I had to get it together or retreat completely up to the safety of Aunt Syl's bedroom. But either way I had to decide fast.
My magic was pinpricks of excited energy and I closed my eyes searching for the zen I knew was buried deep beneath my firm resolve to love Kiran. I did love Kiran, with everything that I was. I knew that feelings for Jericho did not mean my feelings for Kiran were in jeopardy.
It was just that my relationship with Kiran was in jeopardy and also difficult and also lonely. For such intense feelings, we had seen so little of each other on an intimate level. The entire world was literally against us being together, and meeting each other in our subconscious sleep state hardly counted as significant alone time.
Jericho was easy. A relationship with him would be easy. He was laid back and didn't have to worry about running an entire race of people at the brink of a civil war. And on top of it all, he was a good guy, a really good guy, a guy that under normal circumstances would have been an obvious choice for me to fall for.
That was it.
That was all.
I opened my eyes slowly, taking another big breath and deciding that I would conquer this and enjoy the friendship with Jericho that I so desperately wanted.
However, when my eyes were finally opened there he was, standing in the doorway to the kitchen just watching me. Shirtless, tanned, muscular and amused.
"How's that popcorn coming?" he wasn't really smiling but his eyes were deeply amused.
"It's fine. I mean, it's coming fine," I spun around and began opening the white cabinets again determining to focus. "I just um, have to find it first and then, you know.... make it...." I trailed off, feeling foolish and frustrated. Where was the damn popcorn?
"Oh, good," Jericho, patronized me before walking over to the pantry, opening the door and then pulling out a red box of microwavable popcorn.
"There it is," I smiled sheepishly.
He continued the making process, pulling it out of the plastic and sticking it inside the microwave before pushing the correct buttons to get it going. I jumped up on the kitchen island, swinging my legs and doing my best to distract myself. He stood next to me, leaning against the island and watching the glowing microwave turn the popping bag around and around.
"So what's the deal with Roxie and Avalon?" I asked, hoping to get to the bottom of my growing suspicions.
"Roxie and Avalon? What do you mean?" Jericho turned around to face me. We were too close for my magic not to react. I hoped he didn't notice the elevated level my electricity suddenly surged to, I pretended not to anyways.
"You know, like is there anything there? Like between them?" I put my two pointer fingers together in a childish way, indicating that I thought they were kissing. I laughed out loud as I did it, not even able to hide my embarrassment.
"What?" Jericho laughed too, "I don't know. Can't you just do, like you're weird twin thing, and figure it out for yourself?" he reached out to stop my fingers that had continued in an absent minded way. His hand was only there for a moment, but I knew my magical reaction was too much to ignore.
I cleared my throat, pulling my hands back behind me quickly and leaning back on them. "I mean, yes I could. But I don't know, it feels like a gross invasion of Avalon's privacy. I have this rule about not digging deeper than what Avalon would just up front tell me. There are some places that are just.... sacred. You know?"
"That's awfully cavalier of you. Does Avalon give you the same respect?" Jericho turned around to grab the now frantically popping popcorn before it burnt.
I burst into laughter at his question. We both knew better. "Yeah, right.," I exclaimed, reaching into the now opened bag of steaming popcorn. "There is nothing sacred to Avalon. Trust me!"
"Oh, I know," Jericho looked down at the late night snack, but at least he agreed with me. "I don't think there's anything though.... between them. Avalon is pretty much married to the cause. You and he are so different in that."
"What do you mean?" I asked, reaching for more popcorn.
"I don't know, you're all, relationship first, Resistance second, maybe, second, maybe not even at all. And he's all, tunnel vision and can't even see all the girls just drooling over him. He has a one-track mind and it is definitely not where most guys his
age are," he laughed a little rougher, but I realized he was right.
"Why do you suppose that is? Do you think he's a better person than me?" My mood changed and it dawned on me that Avalon was a better person than me; I didn't need Jericho to confirm or deny the question.
"No, not at all," Jericho replied with intensity. "It's just that, I don't know, Avalon was raised for this roll. I mean, Angelica never kept anything from him, he knew from day one what his purpose in life was, and he has always been determined to fulfill destiny and all that. You just kind of fell into this life and still can't seem to catch up," he paused to smile at me shyly. "I don't think it's a matter of who's the better person, I think it's just a difference in personality."
"Thank you for that," I said genuinely, while still believing that Avalon was in fact, just a better person than me. "Well, if there was anyone to live up to his dedication though, I'm pretty sure it would be Roxie. Sister is a bad ass." I shivered, remembering how terrified I was of her.
Jericho burst into laughter, "You're right about that. I think she even intimidates Avalon a little bit." I joined him in laughter, finding it hard not to believe.
"Oh, my gosh, is that the time?" I shrieked after glancing at the clock on the microwave. "It is so late, I really should get to bed," I said, truly apologetic.
"Yeah it is getting late," Jericho said, sounding disappointed. "I've got a huge day tomorrow waiting for you to get home from school so I can actually protect
something." He smiled at me and I realized how awful his days here must be. He couldn't really be a bodyguard if I was at school for eight hours of the day, and even when I was home, there wasn't a whole lot going on.
I moved my hands forward to jump down from the counter, but Jericho was there. He put his hands on either side of my waist, his palms hot, even through my clothes. Before I could react, he had pulled me forward, gently helping me down from the island. His hands didn't linger, but my magic was erratic from the small contact.
Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series) Page 13