Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series) (4 page)

“
L
et
’
s go check out the solo room
you made for me,
”
Ben exclaims
as
he darts down the hallway line
d with large
Roman
pillars. They
let off a golden glow as he
hurries
by, resembling a motion sensor l
ight.
The pillars are magickally charged, when someone with good intentions walks past them th
ey will put off a bright glow. If one with bad intentions passes by the columns will glow red or even turn black
—
the lighter the color the purer the intentions. I think it was quite the touch. We have these magickal
pillars throughout the school.

Reaching for the bras
s
doorknob
at the end of the hall
, Ben turns the knob
,
but
to
no avail. With a questioning look, he turns to me. I smile and hand him the key.
“
Y
’
all really need to stop teasing me all the time
…
’
cause
one day I
’
ll figure out my powers can give you a run for your money.
”

Alexander laughs and nods as he pushes through the now open door.
“
That would be the plan
,
now wouldn
’
t
it?
”

Ben races inside the room
, throwing himself onto the pillow-
top queen-size bed. With an elated breath
,
he gets up to examine the roo
m. On either side of the bed are
black
nightstands
with a single drawer and storage area
s
. Across from the end of the bed is a large matching
nine-drawer
dresser. I walk over to the bed and strai
gh
ten the royal blue duvet and white throw pillows. Ben checks out the small desk for his studies
,
and then turns to the white leather love seat and recliner.

“
This room is so sick. Thank you for my own little man cave,
”
he says while plopping down in the chair. Looking ahead
,
Ben
notices the flat screen TV-
DVD, stereo combo. His face light
s up.
“
I freakin love this room!
So much for basic.
”

“
Dude
,
you haven
’
t even chec
ked out the shitter yet,
”
Nate j
okes.

“
Yeah
,
cuz I really car
e about that. As long as there are
two ply tickets in there, I
’
m good,
”
he chuckles as he gets up to check out the washroom and walk through closet.

“
Well dude, Alex and I
will go get the rest of your junk
,
and you can start unpacking.
”

“
Thanks man. You know
,
I have to say, it sure would have been cool if you wer
e
a vampire during our football days. We could
’
ve kick
ed
some state butt.
”

“
We
ll
, sorry to break it to ya Ben,
but
it wou
ld have been all me. Wait a sec! It was all me
—
even
the mortal me kicked butt!
”
Nathanial smirks as he and Alexander lead us out of the room.

Nathanial
’
s Memories

Thinking of everything I have planned
,
I go back to the day I first met Sophi
a. I will never forget that day
,
and the memories of what I shared with my mom makes me smile. It
’
s
hard to believe she and
Dad
are gone
—
I hope they would be prou
d of me. I sit in the chair, bu
ry my head in my hands and close my eyes, remembering every detail of that first day.


  

  


The first day of school is over and most of my friends are racing out
of here as fast as they can. Me
—
I wish I could repeat the day; this has been the best day of my life. Come to think about it, I gotta get home and tell
Mom
and
Dad
. Walking to my bike, I see her, the new girl
;
I can
’
t help but stop and watch her for a few moments. Her brother and sisters
all hop
into the perf
ectly polished white Escalade a
s she takes one more glance around and shakes her head before hop
p
ing in. I don
’
t thi
nk she
’
s happy about being here.
I
’
m gonna have to help her with that. When they pull away, I unlock my black Raleigh mountain bike. I saved
for years for this thing
,
and
I
love it. Jumping on
,
I decide to race home and tell
Mom
and
Dad
the amazing thing that happened today.

Pulling up to the drive
,
I see
Mom
’
s
little blue beater car in the drive. With sheer excitement
,
I ride up to the lawn
and
toss my prized bike down. I pause only for a second at the sh
ock that I just tossed it there
,
and then
bolt in
to
the house.
“
Mom
—
Mom
, you are not gonna believe it! Where are you
? Come here
!
”
I scream.

“
My
God
Nate, what happened?
”
She comes racing out of her room
,
with her medical scrubs pulled half over her head.

“
Sorry Mom
;
I just had the best day of my life.
”
I turn for a moment
,
allowing her to fix her shirt.

“
Okay son, what is it? W
hat made today the best day of your life?
”

“
I met her,
”
I say
,
thro
wing my arms around my mother
,
w
ho was once the mos
t beautiful woman I had
ever
known. N
ow she takes the second seat.

With a confused grin and little chuckle
,
she p
uts her hands on my shoulders
,
p
ushing me back just enoug
h that she can look up at m
e.
“
W
hat on e
arth are you talking about Nate?
Who did you meet?
”

“
I met the girl I
’
m gonna marry.
”
I take her hand and spin her around.

“
Well
,
I take it you met the new family in town.
”
She laughs and sits on one of the kitchenette chairs.
“
Okay
,
why don
’
t you tell me about my futu
re daughter in
law?
How did you
meet?
”

“
I was walking to class
,
and she literally ran me ove
r. She was trying to find
her
class
,
a
nd bang
—
h
er books went flying everywhere. So after helping her gather
up
he
r
stuff, I noticed we had first period history together. I showed her our class
,
and then even got to sit next to her.
”

“
Okay
,
so you have picked the girl you want to marry because you sat next to her?
”
She gives me a questioning look.

“
No
,
Mom
. It
’
s so much more.
I
t
’
s like how you and
Dad
just knew.
We also had Photo
shop
together.
”

“
Okay, okay, so then tell me more about her.
”

“
Well
,
her name is Sophia
,
and she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is a little guarded
—
not sure if she
’
s happy about moving here
…
I will help change that though. She ha
s the prettiest long brown hair
—
t
hat was pulled up
—
a
nd the greenest eyes. S
he wore these black rimmed glasses that just made her eyes pop. Her lips are so pink
,
and I can
’
t even explain how pretty she is. Anyways
,
I think she
’
s pretty smart too
,
but hides it.
”

Mom starts to laugh.
“
I have never seen y
ou this excited about anything
—
not even football. I guess she might be the one. Did she give you any indication that she would like to get to know you better?
”

“
Well
—
not really. She was warming up a little, b
ut don
’
t worry. After all
—
who couldn
’
t love me?
”
I flash
Mom
one of my
half-crooked
smiles
,
and she buries her head in her hands while shak
ing her head.
“
Oh my G
od
,
Mom!
”

“
What now
,
Son
?
”
she asks
,
still chuckling a little.

“
You can
’
t tell
Dad
and Luke about this! I
will never hear the end of it
—
acting like a little school girl with her first crush.
”

“
Hun
ny
,
I hate to break it to you
…
although
you
’
re not a girl, this is your first crush.
”

“
Mom
,
didn
’
t you hear anythin
g I said? This is not a crush. T
his is the
girl I
’
m gonna marry!
Just wait and see.
”

“
Yes, yes
,
the girl you
’
re gonna marry. Can you promise me one thing though?
”

“
What
’
s that
,
Mom
?
”

“
Graduate first. You still have two years
,
and I am far too young to be a mother
-
in
-
law.
”