by E. L. Davis
“Alexia?” He squinted his eyes and dropped the wrench that Alexia hadn’t even noticed he was holding. “Nobody told me you were coming here. I thought they were coming in here to steal everything!”
Alexia looked around and gave him a strange look. “Phil, there isn’t much to take. Besides, they are two teenage girls, why would they be stealing from us?”
“You don’t know this area…” he defended weakly. “They scared me, okay?” He bent down to untie them, and they both gave him extremely dirty looks.
“Cheri, Ellie, this is Phil. He was a good friend of my grandfather. He looks after the beach house when nobody is renting it.”
“Considering you’re not supposed to be here until you turn eighteen, why are you here?” Phil put his hands on his hips and gave her that do-I-have-to-call-your-mother look.
Alexia didn’t know what to tell him. She couldn’t think of a lie quick enough. As if it were always her first reaction, she walked toward him and looked him dead in his eyes. Once she was sure he was stuck in her gaze, she said, “You knew I was coming here. I spoke to you earlier this week. I told you I was coming here with friends for a few days and to stay away.” She paused to see if he was buying it. “Don’t you remember Phil?” She blinked her eyes a few times and then pulled away from his face. Her eyes stung from focusing on his so hard. It hurt but she had to know if it worked.
“Of course, how could I have forgotten?” Phil slapped his hand to his head. “Me and my old age, I suppose. Is there anything you need while you’re here?”
Alexia was trying to keep her jaw from hanging open. It had worked; she had made Phil believe what she wanted him to believe. Demetri had said it was extremely hard to make a human believe something that they knew wasn’t true. He said it took a lot of practice, but Alexia had done it her first time, and she hadn’t even been told how to do it.
“Firewood and alcohol, and a lot of it,” she said in a confident voice. “We’re having a party.”
∞
Demetri and Roman returned to the beach house with several bags of clothing for themselves and even a few food items that you couldn’t get from the market. Milk, chocolate bars, chips, and beef jerky; ‘boy food’, Roman had called it.
The girls had revealed the events of their day to the boys, but Alexia chose to leave out the part about her being able to convince Phil that she had told him they were coming. She wanted to keep that from them; she didn’t know why, but she wanted to soak it in a bit. When she had skipped over that part of the story, she gave Ellie a warning look when she was about to butt in and tell them how she had gotten him to leave.
“Why are you not telling them?” was the first thing from Ellie’s mouth when they were alone in the bedroom putting on their new swimsuits.
“Because…” She paused for a long moment. “I don’t know, I just wanted to, you know, soak it up a bit. I know they will turn it into some big thing and I just felt so confident when I realized I had done it. I don’t want them to ruin it for me.”
“I understand,” Cheri chimed in, “but don’t you think this could have something to do with the special defense you’re supposed to have? Maybe all your defenses are just super easy for you, like you don’t need practice to control them.”
“That can’t be it,” Ellie butt in, “or she would be able to control her anger better.”
This made Alexia realize something that she had missed before. “Wait a minute. How did Phil capture you guys? How did you not fight him off?”
“He was expecting us,” Ellie began. “I’m sure he noticed the soup bowls and everything so when we came through that door he was ready to make the attack.”
“We didn’t even have time to get angry,” Cheri added. “We jumped right to terrified.”
Alexia shook her head, “We need to be ready for a fight at a moments notice. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Ellie and Cheri both nodded in agreement.
The three of them stood in front of the big bedroom mirror, checking out how good they looked in their new swimsuits. While shopping they had realized that either men were the ones who made the clothes at the market or the women liked to show a lot of skin. Everything they had bought showed either a bit too much cleavage or a lot of stomach. It didn’t bother any of them much, since they were all comfortable with their bodies, but it did give them a good laugh.
The swimming suit Cheri chose was a black bikini with small gems embedded all over it. Alexia had told her it made her butt look big and she bought it right away. Ellie, of course, chose a hot pink swimsuit, a one-piece that connected the top to the bottom by a gold chain in the front and back. Cheri had said it made her look much older and Ellie had practically thrown it into the seller’s face.
Alexia had spent a lot of time choosing her swim suit. She knew she shouldn’t care what the guys thought but couldn’t help thinking to herself, what would Demetri say? Would this finally make Roman a little more aggressive? She knew it was wrong to think about impressing them both; in fact, it had made her sick to her stomach when she realized how history was repeating itself. Here they were back in Greece and she was trying to impress them both.
Standing in front of the mirror in her new hot swimsuit was bringing these feelings back to the surface. She didn’t want to feel this way; she wanted to keep feeling confident in herself. Shoving the feelings back down inside of her, she asked her friends, “Does this look like I’m trying to hard?”
“NO!” they both said together.
“It looks amazing,” Ellie assured her.
She had chosen a swimsuit that showed off her curves and tanned skin. It was a two-piece made of silky gold material that made her feel beautiful. On the front right side of the bottoms there was a small heart made of the same gems that were on Cheri’s. She knew she looked good and it made her confidence grow a little bigger inside her chest.
“Hair up or down?” Ellie held her hair up and then let it fall around her shoulders.
“Down,” Alexia and Cheri said at the same time.
“Are we ready to go down then?” Cheri continued.
“I’m nervous,” Alexia said.
“Why?” Ellie asked, turning to her with a very sad look on her face. “This is supposed to be fun. How can you be nervous?”
“Think about it, Ellie.” Alexia sat on the edge of the bed. “The people they said they would invite... I probably knew them once upon a time. What if it’s too much for me to handle and I get sick and make a fool out of myself?”
“Do you really think we would let that happen?” Roman was standing in the doorway wearing just his swim shorts. Nobody had even heard him come up the stairs. “Wow.” His eyes bulged out of his head as he looked around at the three girls all standing there in their bathing suits. Surprisingly, his eyes lingered on Cheri, making her blush. Quickly regaining his composure, he said to Alexia, without really taking his eyes of Cheri for more than a second, “You’re going to be fine. There aren’t many people you knew that are coming, so just try to have fun, okay? You have been cooped up in our house for three days, and you should let loose. You all deserve a night of fun before we lay down a plan of action.”
Alexia was trying not to stare at his body; it was beautiful just like Demetri’s was. His skin was slightly darker, and it seemed to glow slightly. His arms were thick and loaded with muscle, and Alexia couldn’t help but think about how good it would feel in his arms if he would just take control of her, like Demetri would.
“Ah, no plan-of-action talk!” Cheri said, holding her hand up to stop him from talking about the forbidden topic. “See, Alexia, it’s going to be fine. Now let’s go make some margaritas and let loose!” She smacked Ellie’s butt hard to get them all moving. Roman turned awkwardly away and headed down the stairs.
Alexia shook her head trying to rid herself of thoughts about how badly she wanted to be in Roman’s arms. Unfortunately for her, there was going to be a topless Demetri and Roman surrounding her all nig
ht. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, the breath was knocked out of her. Demetri was standing topless in the kitchen blending them some fruity drinks, and his swim shorts hung low on his hips. She knew she had to find something to get her through the night with these two boys without pouncing on either of them.
“I figured I would make you ladies a fruity drink to…”
The rest of his sentence was not heard by Alexia. She had spotted it. The bottle of vodka sitting next to the sink would be her savior. She twisted the cap off and started chugging it back. Everyone faced her with their jaws hanging wide open. After about five big burning gulps, Alexia slammed the bottle back on the counter with a loud.
“Whooo. This is going to be a good night.” She looked at the group of people staring at her and stared back. “What?” She shrugged and walked out the door to the beach with bottle in hand.
The sun was almost down, and it wouldn’t be long before the water was too cold to go into, so she took another gulp of Vodka and left it on the porch before running to the water. It was just like she remembered, warm water with the waves pushing her backward. She turned back to see everyone walking much slower to the water. “Come on you guys, get in here before it’s too cold!”
She was already feeling the alcohol, which was what she wanted. If she started off tipsy, she would be good for the rest of the night. She stood still, waist deep in water, facing the sunset and waiting for somebody, anybody, to join her in the water. Ellie got to her side first. Before she could question what exactly Alexia had up her sleeve, Alexia stopped her.
“Is this not the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen? I know what you’re thinking El, you’re worried about what I’m going to do tonight, and I have to be honest with you. Looking at those two guys topless is killing me. It’s taking everything I have not to pounce on both of them and rip their clothes off.”
Ellie raised an eyebrow in response and Alexia sighed.
“I know you’re thinking that the alcohol will just make it worse, but I think it will keep me calm and collected.” She turned to look back at the boys, who were hauling some of the wood Phil had brought over for a fire to a pit in the sand. “See, I can look at them right now and not freeze up. It just takes the edge off. I’m not going to be drinking like that all night, I swear.”
“Okay, I believe you. I just don’t want you to get drunk and do something stupid.” Ellie smiled at her and put her arm around her just as Cheri joined them and put her arm around Ellie.
“Taking care of our little alcoholic over here?” Cheri joked.
Alexia laughed and reached over to smack her friend lightly on the arm. They stood together for a moment, mesmerized by the sun setting in the sky.
“I understand why you’re getting wasted, Alexia,” Cheri said. “They both look super hot tonight. I think we may need a new nickname for Roman. Something like rock-hard-abs Roman. I think that sounds really good!”
Ellie gave her a warning look as if to tell her to shut up.
“I like it,” Alexia said, looking back at the guys on the beach. They had a fire going already and Alexia could see a small group of people coming down the steps that led to the market. “I think some of the people they invited are here.”
“I wonder if you know any of them,” Cheri pondered.
From out in the water, they couldn’t get a good look at any of the people approaching. It looked like two guys and two girls, but Alexia wasn’t sure. “Me too. I guess we should go introduce ourselves then.”
Splashing Cheri with some ocean water, Alexia laughed and took off running out of the water. As she got closer, she realized her prediction was right. The newcomers consisted of two boys probably one or two years older than her and two girls who were most likely the same age. She searched their faces for some familiarity but saw nothing.
The boys were both dressed in swim trunks and muscle shirts while the girls were sporting string bikinis and bright colorful wraps. Neither of these guys had the type of bodies that Demetri and Roman had, not even close. Nevertheless, they weren’t too bad looking and if the two girls they were with weren’t their girlfriends, she was sure Cheri and Ellie would try to hit on them.
“Alexia!” The first girl ran at her and caught her up in a big hug. Just like when she had approached Ahaz, a million images burst into her mind, pictures of her and this girl on the beach, in the market, playing with paper dolls, and many more images which Alexia knew were most likely memories from her first life.
“I didn’t believe it when they said you were really here.” The girl held her at arm’s length and looked her over. She was a pretty girl, with much darker skin then Alexia’s, bright brown eyes that were bulging out of her head at the moment, and brown hair that tickled her waist. Their eyes were level with each other. Alexia knew this girl once upon a time, but now she was just a stranger staring at her like a long-lost best friend.
“Oh.” The girl let go and took a step back. “I’m sorry, I forgot you probably don’t remember me, do you? I’m Leigh, and we used to be best friends, like, forever ago.” She laughed, and Alexia caught a flash of brilliant white teeth.
All Alexia could do was smile back, since she was in shock. This used to be her Ellie. This was the girl that she would have gushed to about Demetri and Roman and what they would do when they were alone. If she had been as close to Leigh as she was with Ellie and Cheri, then this girl would know everything about who she used to be.
“Anyways,” Leigh spoke quickly, “this is Sam.” She pointed to the girl behind her, who looked exactly like Leigh, except slightly taller with shorter hair. “Alex and Theo.” She finished gesturing at the boys behind her. “Theo is my brother, although I’m sure you don’t remember him, since you were always too focused on those two.” She gestured to Demetri and Roman, and then slapped her head. “That was stupid of me to say. I’m sorry. You know how you have those moments when you just kind of talk without thinking about what you’re saying? I’m having one of those moments.”
Alexia couldn’t help but laugh, Leigh was exactly like the friends she had now. No wonder they had been best friends. “It’s okay. I can imagine it must be pretty weird seeing me again.”
Cheri and Ellie were standing beside her now, checking out Theo and Alex.
“This is Cheri and Ellie, my best friends,” Alexia said, making introductions. “And this is Leigh, Sam, Theo, and Demetrius. Leigh used to be my best friend before…” she paused trying to choose the right words, “...I died or whatever.”
Leigh pulled both the girls in for a bone-crushing hug, and Alexia could tell she was going to get along with her friends well.
“It’s so good to meet you,” Leigh said to the girls. “I hope you’ve been taking good care of my girl during this lifetime. You’re the lucky ones, since you never have to lose her. Well, until you die, that is.”
“We’re Immortal, too,” Ellie said proudly and beamed at Theo, trying to impress him with what she was.
“Imagine that,” Sam said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was soft and shy. “Did you, like, know who Alexia was when you met her?”
“Oh, no, we grew up together, and when Alexia turned Immortal so did we cause this one time when we were little kids…”
Alexia cut Ellie off before she could finish the story. “Do you guys want a drink or something?”
“Nah,” Leigh said. “We took some shots before we came over here. To be honest, I was a little nervous about seeing you again. I thought it would be, like, really weird but it’s totally awesome.”
Alexia couldn’t agree with her, so she just nodded and smiled.
“Theo,” Demetri said as he came over, “we didn’t get to talk much earlier. How’s it been? I don’t think I’ve seen you since…” Demetri paused to remember the year, “…1873?”
“I think that’s about right.” As soon as Theo began to speak, Ellie gasped quietly and squeezed Alexia’s wrist. Alexia knew right away that Ellie loved this
boy, as she was the type of girl to go all drooly over a guy with a deep sexy voice.
“I’m going to go get some lawn chairs, so we can all sit around the fire,” said Alexia.
“I’ll help!” Ellie and Leigh said at the same time, following behind Alexia.
When they were far enough away, Ellie gave a squeal and looked at Leigh. “I am sorry to say this, but he is so hot. Is he your boyfriend or Sam’s?”
Leigh laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Theo is my brother, but don’t worry,” she added when Ellie got that oh-shit look on her face, “I’m used to girls acting like that about him. I’m sure Cheri will be all over Alex, but don’t worry, they are both single and ready to mingle. It’s going to be a good night.”
∞ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ∞
Two hours later, the sun had disappeared, and the only source of light was from the blazing fire and the few lights from the beach houses. Roman had been right when he said there weren't that many people that Alexia had known before. Besides Leigh and Theo, there were only two people who knew her: a guy named Milo that had grown up in the house next door to hers, and a girl named Alessa.
"I used to follow you and Leigh around all the time!" Alessa said. She was only fifteen years old and it made Alexia sad to think that this girl had died so young. One thing she had wanted to ask all the people who had known her back then was how they had died, but she didn't find it appropriate party talk.
About an hour after Leigh and her group showed up, several groups of people started flooding to the beach. Now that the sun was down, people were ready to party the night away. Leigh and Cheri were in the middle of a crowd of people who were all dancing to music playing from an old stereo. Ellie was chatting up Theo, Roman was talking to a guy he used to work with five years after Alexia had been sent into reincarnation, Demetri was in the house getting more alcohol for everybody, and Alexia was sitting by the fire watching the waves roll in and out, over and over again.