"Shut. Up."
"No, I'm serious. Here, take my pen and ask her if she dropped it."
"No way."
"If she doesn't talk with you, I'll give you my new laptop."
"What? Don't be stupid."
"That's how sure I am that she's into you. Pretend to walk to the bathroom, act like you're picking up the pen, and ask if it's hers. She'll probably give you her digits."
"If she doesn't, your new laptop is mine."
"Girl scout's honor."
He grabbed the pen from her hand and Clara and I looked at each other.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Hush. Act normal." She grabbed her glass of water and started sipping.
He walked over to our table, leaned down to the floor and stood up again holding out the pen with a nervous smile. He looked at Clara and asked, "Did you drop this? Is it yours?"
Clara shook her head. "No. Thanks for asking."
"Oh…I guess, I thought…I mean, well…."
Why wasn't Clara taking over the conversation to flirt? I'd seen her do that so many times before. She was hardly saying anything! I kicked her under the table.
"It's very kind of you to ask. Are you enjoying the restaurant?" she asked lamely.
I had to refrain from slapping my forehead. I could have flirted better than that—before I was even popular!
"It's okay," he said. "My family likes coming here. I'm more into Greek food, personally."
Her eyes lit up. "I love Greek food! I didn't know there were any Greek restaurants around here."
"Unfortunately, there aren't any here in Delphic Cove. But if you take the next exit off the freeway, there's this little place that makes the best food you've ever tasted."
"Really? I've had a lot of Greek food; it would be tough to be the best I've ever tasted."
"I can tell from your accent that you're not from around here. I could take you there, if you want."
"I'd love that! What's your name?" She asked, taking a sip of water.
"My name's William."
Clara started choking on her water. Not just a little, but all-out choking. I jumped up to help her, but then she regained control of herself. "I'm sorry, William. My water must have gone down the wrong way."
"No problem. I hope you're okay."
"I'm great. Can I get your number? I want to go to that restaurant with you as soon as we can make it happen."
His face lit up. "Name the day and I'll be there." They exchanged numbers and made plans for the following night.
"Is William a family name?" she asked.
"Yeah, it is. I've had several ancestors with the name over the generations. How did you know?"
She smiled. "Lucky guess."
"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night," he said.
"As do I."
He walked back to his table and his sister whispered, "What did I tell you? I could see from over here that you two hit it off! I want the details."
Clara sighed. "I hope I don't end up regretting this."
"It's one date. If it doesn't work, then no biggie. Besides, he seems really nice."
"I can't believe that I'm doing this again. I don't know how I could have found my William's descendant again. I wasn't even looking and he just showed up!"
"Maybe it was meant to be," I said. "Maybe he's the one. The other one was just preparing you for him."
"I'm not going to get my hopes up. I told myself I'd never fall for a human again. Here I am setting myself up for it by going out with another twin of my William."
"I want to hear every detail tomorrow night!" I said, smiling at her.
EIGHTEEN
Clara and I were in her room talking about the two Williams. My mom knocked on the door. "I'm glad you girls are having so much fun, but you have school in the morning."
"Am I done being grounded yet?" I asked, rolling over to look at her. "I've been good, haven't I? I'm sure that Tanner told you that we were at the competition with Amanda and Mark the whole time."
"You can't really blame us for not trusting you, Alexis."
"But to send Tanner as your spy? He's the one that I got into trouble with—if you wanted a spy, you should have sent someone that I don't know. Did you just send him to torture him, since I was with Cliff?"
"I can't keep up with who's dating whom. It seems to change every month, and when you get to be my age, months go by faster than a day does for you."
"How much longer am I grounded?"
"Clara, was she good tonight?"
Clara smiled. "She was perfect."
"I'll talk with your dad. Maybe you can get off on good behavior. Now you two need to get to bed."
"Goodnight, Mrs. Ferguson," Clara said.
I got off the bed. "Goodnight, both of you." I went to my room and called Cliff.
"Hello, beautiful."
I smiled. Everything in the world was right again. "Hello, love of my life."
"How are you doing? I'm so sorry that I wasn't at school today when you needed me."
"I missed you terribly, but Clara and Amanda took care of me. I was fine."
"You're always fine. You need a thesaurus."
I laughed. "I don't know why everyone has to worry about me so much. That's why I have to tell people all the time that I'm fine. Because I am!"
He laughed. "Are you doing anything tonight? I really want to see you."
I giggled. "Me, too! More than you know. But, it's going to have to be after I've slept, since I'm grounded."
"Oh, right. Shall I come to your place or do you want to come here?"
"Let me go over there. I'll be there around three, depending on when I wake up."
"I'll be thinking about you, and then I'll dream about you."
I smiled. "Right back at you. I'm going to go to sleep now so that I can see you sooner."
"Mmmm. Sounds good to me."
I tossed and turned, unable to sleep for a while. My mind raced with thoughts of seeing Cliff in a few hours, and then went to thoughts of Tanner with his arms around Emma and Hailey. The hurt seared deep into me. He knew exactly what he was doing and what it would do to me. And to think that I'd been on my way to apologize to him.
I decided once and for all that I would be done with him, too. I had enough good in my life; Cliff was a dream come true and everything that I could ever want.
***
When I finally fell asleep, my parents were waiting for me in a little, cozy room in the castle.
"Are you really here in my dreams?" I asked them.
"We actually pulled you from your dream state," my father said. "It's complicated. You'll understand how everything works later. Don't worry about it now."
"There's only one thing that we need you to worry about," said my mother.
"Worry? Is something bad going to happen?"
"No, we don't mean worry in that way," my father said. "We mean that we need you to focus on this one thing."
"Okay, what is it?"
"We need you to join us sooner than expected. You—"
"I'm going to join you soon?" I exclaimed. "When? I can't wait!"
They smiled. My mother said, "We can't wait either, darling child. It can't come soon enough."
"You'll be joining us very soon. So you need to prepare for that."
"What do you mean? What do I need to do to prepare?"
"Get your other parents on board with your foreign exchange program. Tie up any loose ends in your life that you need to. Make sure that you're prepared for your departure. You're going to join us very soon and we want you to prepare for it however you need to."
"We also ask that you don't tell any of the other vampires."
"What? Why not?"
"Leave that to us," my mother said.
"It'll be hard to keep from Clara. She's living at my house with my par… my other parents."
"Child," my father said. "Don't worry about calling them your parents in front of us. We made the cho
ice for you to continue to be raised by them after we found out that you were still alive. You can love us all freely; we're happy that you're surrounded by so much love."
"In fact, we fully support their decision to ground you after that whole werewolf incident."
My mouth dropped open. "How did you know?"
They hugged me and my mother said, "We'll see you very soon."
"How am I supposed to keep this from Clara?"
"We have complete confidence in you. You'll figure something out."
"Can I please tell Cliff that I'll be joining you soon? We promised each other no secrets."
"You mean like with the werewolves?" my father asked with a raised eyebrow. "He'll join us eventually too. We're going to take you to Europe with us first and then we'll go to the castle where he'll join us."
"We're going to Europe? I get to be with you guys in Europe!" I was so excited that my voice actually squeaked. "I've always wanted to go there! Where are we going?"
My mother smiled. "One thing at a time, my child. Focus on getting the loose ends tied up, and we'll arrive to pick you up soon."
"Very soon," my father reassured me.
They each gave me a kiss and then I woke up. I looked at my clock. It was almost two and I was too excited to go back to sleep. I couldn't believe that I was going to go with my vampire parents and that I'd get to go to Europe.
I got up and took a long shower, taking my time getting ready. It was almost three when I was done getting ready and I ran to Cliff's house. When he opened the door, I threw myself into his arms.
"I missed you too, my princess!" He said, kissing the top of my head.
I looked into his eyes and got lost. I wanted to hold onto the image because I didn't know how long we'd be apart. I was going to miss him deeply, but at the same time, I was walking on air because I was going to be with my mother and father.
"You look especially beautiful tonight," he said. "You're glowing."
I grabbed his face and kissed him, taking in his scent. I was trying to hold the memory of his smell and touch in my mind so that I could go back to it while we were apart. I wanted desperately to tell him that I was going to go with my parents.
He must have known that something was up because he kissed me back with as much passion. I had expected him to tell me not to tempt him again. He pulled me into the house and kicked the door closed while still kissing me. He pushed me against the wall and wrapped his arms around my waist, grabbing onto my belt loops. I reached up and stroked his face, feeling the stubble across his cheeks.
He pulled back just a little and looked at me with a smile.
"Wow," I said, breathless. "What was that for? I thought for sure you would tell me not to tempt you."
"I don't care if you tempt me. I have something to tell you."
"What?"
"My parents have called me to the castle. I don't know what's going on but they say I must return."
"Oh? You think something is going on?"
"I don't know if they even know. They sound worried about something, but I get the feeling that they don't even know what it is. They want me there to help them."
"How long will you be gone?"
"I'm not sure. I hope that it's not too long; I'm going to miss you so much."
"I'm going to miss you too. I don't know how I'll manage without being able to look into your eyes."
He kissed me again. "We must promise to stay true to each other. We need to be able to trust each other completely."
"Of course."
"I hate leaving you with Tanner here."
I made a face. "You don't have to worry about him."
"What do you mean?"
"He's best friends with Hailey and Emma now. He also told me that he's done with me. I think he hates me." I was surprised at how evenly I had said that. I'd expected my lips to start quivering again, but they didn't. I must have been too happy in Cliff's presence and excited to go to Europe with my parents that it didn't matter anymore.
"I have to say that makes me feel a lot better. But, I am sorry because I know it must hurt you."
I just looked at him. How could he be so kind and understanding? "Yeah, it does," I admitted. "But, I have you and you're all I need."
He smiled and ran his hands through my hair. "Will you be okay while I'm away?"
"I think so, even though I'm going to miss you."
He kissed me. "Just remember that we won't be apart for too long. We'll be back together soon enough. As soon as I'm done helping my parents with whatever's going on, we'll be reunited. I'll talk to them about moving on with the wedding plans."
"That sounds good to me. I'll talk to—" I had almost said that I would talk to my parents. "I'll talk to Brooke and see what plans she has for my dress. I bet it will be the most beautiful dress ever created."
"Even so, it will pale in comparison to your beauty."
I opened my mouth to speak but his phone buzzed. He picked it up, looked at it and answered it. "Brooke? What's going on?"
"Are you alone?" she whispered, clearly forgetting that I could hear almost anything that I wanted to.
"No," Cliff said.
"Go to a different room. I need to talk to you, now."
Cliff cupped my chin and gave me a quick kiss. "I'll be right back, my love."
I smiled and sat down at the table and focused my hearing on their conversation.
He went upstairs. "What's going on, Brooke?"
"You're alone?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Something's going on with the king and queen."
"Do you know what?"
"You don't sound surprised."
"Of course not. You think that my mother is one to keep quiet about anything? They've ordered me to the castle to help them figure out what the king and queen are hiding."
"Does Alexis know about this?"
"She knows that my parents are bringing me to the castle. But I didn't have the heart to tell her that it's because my parents think that hers are hiding something. It would crush her."
"What do you think they're up to?" Brooke asked.
"I have no idea. They've been taking so many secret trips to Europe. I agree with my parents, it's something more than keeping the leaders over there in order. It made sense for a while; in fact it was probably true. If you want my personal opinion, I think they probably stumbled upon something while they were helping the leaders over there. What it is, I can't even begin to guess."
"That sounds reasonable."
"Why did you call to tell me that you think something's up? What gave you that idea?"
"They've ordered me to be ready to leave anytime. I have to make a whole bunch of clothes for Alexis, so I think they're planning on taking her to Europe. It sounds like I'm going to finally take up my position as her personal aide."
"They're planning on taking her? I had no idea about this. Something is most definitely going on."
"You don't think that Alexis knows, do you?"
"No, she hasn't said anything. She was visibly upset when I told her that I was going to be leaving for the castle."
"We'll keep in touch about this. Don't tell Alexis anything."
"I won't say anything. I just want her to think that everything is normal. My love has been through too much already."
Brooke sighed. "Are you always going to baby her? She's going to be the most powerful vampire alive, you know."
"She's not there yet, but yes, I probably will always look out for her. I can't see why I would stop."
I smiled. I loved that he was so protective of me. I could handle myself, but it was still sweet.
My mind wandered. I wondered what my parents were up to. Between their secrecy about taking me and the secret discussion between Brooke and Cliff, I was extremely curious.
Cliff came back downstairs and smiled at me. "Brooke had some questions about my parents. What would you like to do before you need to get back home? This might be the last chance tha
t we can spend time together before I have to go to the castle."
"What? Are you leaving that soon?"
"I don't know. It depends on when my parents call for me. When they do, I have to drop everything and leave."
I frowned. "I don't want you to leave so soon."
"Then we need to make these last few hours count. We can take a romantic walk, we can watch a movie and cuddle, or we can eat some dessert and just talk."
"Can we do all of the above?"
He laughed. "I don't think that we have enough time, my princess. It's about 3:30 and that only gives us three hours."
I pouted. "Fine. Let's snuggle while eating dessert and watching a movie. Then we can go for a romantic walk and talk. We can do that in three hours."
"I like the way you think. You go pick out a movie and I'll get the dessert ready."
A few minutes later, we were nestled up next to each other on the couch eating banana splits that Cliff had made. I loved the feeling of sitting next to him. Once we finished our dessert, he put his arm around me and pulled me as close as possible without actually pulling me onto his lap.
I could barely focus on the movie. I couldn't believe that this might the last time we would see each other for a while. I knew that I was going to go away with my parents soon, but I thought that I would at least be able to spend time with him until then. His leaving made me resent his mother even more. I wanted to hold onto him and never let go.
After a while, the movie was far enough along that I couldn't even figure out what was going on because I hadn't been paying any attention. I looked at Cliff, holding my breath as I did. He seemed to get better looking every time that I saw him. I couldn't wait until we were married and never had to be separated again.
He noticed me looking at him and smiled. "What are you thinking about?"
"I can't wait until we never have to leave each other again. I don't want you to go; I just want you to stay here with me."
He held my chin in his hand, ran his finger down my face and traced my lips. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. We'll miss each other, but we'll appreciate each other even more when we see each other again."
"If I live through it." I sat up straight and ran my fingers through his hair. I looked deep into his eyes and placed my lips on his. He pulled me close and wrapped his arms tightly around me as we continued to kiss a little longer. It was never enough.
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 54