“Okay, then. So I’ll see you guys in an hour?”
An hour! I looked at the clock, and sure enough it was just after two in the afternoon. Where the hell had the day gone? Oh, yeah, I had found out that I was Superwoman, that’s where.
“We’ll be there,” Aiden said, covering for me because I was once again lost in my own thoughts.
“Don’t be late,” Chelsea said before hanging up.
I turned around in my seat so that I was facing the dashboard. The nauseous feeling had started to subside, but it was still creeping the crap out of me.
“What was that about?” I asked Aiden, hoping that he would be able to explain what was going on.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Haven’t a clue.” Aiden looked over and saw the disappointment on my face. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”
He laced his fingers with mine and the tension instantly drained from my body. “What did you just do to me?” I asked. I had completely forgotten to ask about what he and Anna could do by just touching me.
“You mean this?” He squeezed my hand, sending an extra wave of calmness coursing through my body.
My eyes widened in surprise. My whole body pulsated as waves of whatever the hell it was seemed to flow through my veins, sending me into a state of calmness I had never felt before. I finally managed to find my voice. “Yes, that.”
He laughed and sent another wave pulsating through my body, making me gasp as I felt ‘it’ enter my body.
“The easiest way to explain it is that we are able to manipulate your endorphins by way of touch,” Aiden explained. “I can also make you angry, too. Want to see?” A mischievous smile spread across his face.
“No,” I said, pulling my hand away from his. If he could make me feel this good, I sure as hell didn’t want to know how angry he could make me feel.
Aiden laughed. “Maybe later, hey?” he joked, which I didn’t find half as amusing as what he seemed to.
“How ’bout never,” I warned.
“Hey?” Aiden said, grabbing my hand, which I reluctantly let him hold.
“What?” I wondered what else he was going to try to do to me. Aiden’s expression was serious, making me even more nervous.
“I will never manipulate your feelings like that,” he promised. I hoped he was just referring to the whole making me angry thing, because the calming endorphin thing he did was definitely okay with me. Aiden sent another wave pulsating through my veins, letting me know that yes, I was still getting some of the good ones from him.
For the remainder of the drive to my place, I tried to get past the calm feeling that consumed my body and tried to make sense of the creepy feeling I had when I heard Chelsea’s voice. I knew there was something important that I was missing, but for the life of me, I hadn’t a clue what that thing was. By the time we arrived, I was still no closer to figuring it out.
Aiden parked in the driveway. I got out and made a quick dash for the side gate, hoping none of my nosy neighbours were watching me run across my front yard in a T-shirt that barely covered my ass. I half-hoped invisibility was one of my gifts, but by the look on my next-door neighbour, Mrs. Carson’s face, I was in no such luck. She gasped and placed her hand over her heart as if my public display of fleshiness was giving her a heart attack. She was lucky I hadn’t burned a hole through my underwear; otherwise, she would’ve probably ended up in the hospital. A small laugh escaped my lips at the thought of what her doctor’s notes would say, “Patient Diagnosis: Minor heart attack, caused by Jade Sommers’ booty.”
Thanks to my abrupt departure from school, I had left my bag with my keys in the science lab. I hoped Mum had returned the spare key to our ‘oh so secret, nobody would ever guess’ hiding place, which was actually in plain sight.
I opened the side gate and barely managed to close it behind me before Tyson came bounding up to greet me with one of his over-the-top kisses. It was really more like a loving mauling of any body part of mine that he could manage to fit between his massive chompers.
“Hey, boy,” I said as I tried to remove my hand from his mouth. He reluctantly released his loving grip and settled for a rub behind the ears.
I moved my hand down to the front of his neck and was relieved to find that Mum had returned the key. We figured that if any would-be robber could get the house key from the collar of a fifty-kilo Rottweiler, they deserved to get into the house without having to break a window.
With Tyson sniffing where he shouldn’t, I quickly opened the back door, jumped inside, and left a sulking, overgrown puppy outside. I loved my dog, even though he was a handful. We had once sent him away to a doggy training camp that claimed to be the best in the business. Four hundred dollars later and they couldn’t even manage to get him to walk beside them for more than a second. Mum of course made them give her money back, even though they wanted to keep some for boarding and feeding him. We weren’t sending Tyson there so we could go off on a holiday, so Mum kindly told them that if they didn’t refund us in full, she would do a story on how incompetent they really were; they were suddenly more than happy to refund us in full.
I opened the front door and let Aiden inside. He went to grab my hand. “I don’t think you want to do that.” I pulled my hand back and held it to the side. “Dog slobber.” I looked at the glistening goo covering my right hand.
Aiden stood back as if he was going to catch cooties from the drool. “I’ll just wait in the living room while you go wash that shit off.” It was even funnier to watch his reaction to dog saliva, knowing that he was practically Superman. Yet something so pathetic could turn him into a little girl.
“You know I’m far from a little girl,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
“Oh, really… Well then, why don’t you come upstairs and show me just how much of a man you really are?” I said, holding out my slobbery hand.
His eyes darted down to my outstretched hand, which I’m sure was a little too close for comfort. “I would, but then we would be late, and Chelsea would kill you if you left her alone with Ben.”
“Your loss,” I said, turning around and walking upstairs. I could feel his eyes on me, wanting so badly to take me up on my offer, but not enough to confront his fear.
After showering to get Tyson’s slobber and the stench of smoke, burnt clothing, and fire-extinguisher fluid out of my hair, I dressed in my new barely-there white swimmers and threw a light blue kaftan on top. I wanted to try to go swimming at the beach before I had to get back home before Mum did; she would probably freak if she knew that I’d been out all day, especially when she had told me to stay home.
I looked at myself in my full length mirror, admiring how damn cute I looked, then grabbed my beach bag and towel and went downstairs.
“I’m ready. Let’s go,” I called out as I headed to the front door.
Aiden was by my side within a blink of an eye.
“Whoa.” I wasn’t used to how quickly he could move. I wondered if I would ever be able to move that fast, too.
“Whoa yourself,” he said, taking a look at me, giving me exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Aiden wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close. “You know, I think Chelsea wouldn’t mind so much being left alone with Ben,” he whispered in my ear, his hands making their way down to my arse.
“Oh, no, I think you were right before. She would definitely kill me if I didn’t show up on time.” I pushed my hands against his chest, breaking his hold on me.
Aiden puffed out his lips like a little child who had just been told that he couldn’t have the lollipop he wanted so badly. “That’s so not fair,” he complained.
There’s always tonight
, I thought.
***
We arrived at Baxter’s ten minutes early; neither Ben nor Chelsea were there. There was one booth left, which was amazing—they were usually snapped up first by the after-school crowd. I slid in first and Aiden sat beside me, leaving the opposite side for the hopefully blossoming lovebirds.
The waiter came before I had a chance to look through the menu, but thankfully I knew it by heart, which I knew probably had something to do with my ‘brilliant mind.’
I ordered my favorite, reef ‘n beef pizza, and Aiden ordered meat lover’s pizza, garlic bread pizza, beef nachos, and a side of chips covered in a creamy, bacon and mushroom sauce.
“You know they’re going to catch on to you sooner or later,” I said. He would always pretend that he liked to have a bit of everything, but I knew better. What Aiden was really doing by ordering such a spread was making sure there was enough food for everyone to share. He had money, and the majority of our friends did not. So rather than being turned down when he offered to pay for the meal, he would just order enough to go around. Surprisingly, nobody had caught on yet. They were so used to Aiden sampling almost everything on the menu, and thought they may as well not let his leftovers go to waste.
“And until then, I’m gonna keep buying.” He flashed me one of his devilish grins, making me think that maybe that day would never come. For all I knew, they had already worked it out but were feigning ignorance. I mean, they got a free meal, and Aiden got to pay for it like he wanted.
“Hey, guys,” Ben said, sitting down opposite Aiden. “Is Chelsea here yet?” he asked, looking around the café.
I shook my head. “Nope. Sorry.”
The look of disappointment that came over his face was almost too much. He obviously couldn’t wait to see her. God, he was a lovestruck puppy.
“Calm down, mate, you don’t want to seem too desperate,” Aiden said with a laugh.
“She’ll be here soon.” I looked up towards the entry. “Actually…” I couldn’t finish my sentence because as soon as I laid eyes upon her, my stomach twisted in knots. I couldn’t explain it. Why was I okay around everyone except Chelsea? Even speaking to her on the phone had made me feel sick.
“You don’t have to wait any longer,” Aiden said, finishing my sentence. He put his arm around me, giving me as much of a comforting embrace as he could without everyone wondering what was up with me.
Ben followed our gaze, and the moment he laid eyes on Chelsea, his face lit up.
“Sorry I’m late,” Chelsea said, trying not to look at Ben, but also trying not to look like she was purposely not looking at Ben—it was a funny thing to watch.
“Don’t worry, we only just got here, too,” I lied. “Move down and let the poor girl sit down.” I motioned to Ben to wiggle down so that he would be sitting in front of me.
I didn’t have to be able to read minds to guess the profanities that Chelsea was swinging at me in her head. But I didn’t care. At the moment, I wanted to be as far away from her as possible. And if that meant only one extra seat away, then that’s where she was going to sit. I really didn’t get why I was feeling like that. Normally, Chelsea and I were practically joined at the hip.
“Thanks,” she said through gritted teeth. I could tell she wanted to sit opposite me so that she would be able to get swept up in a conversation with me and not have to focus on Ben. Bad luck for her. Besides, I knew the two of them would be perfect for each other—even if she didn’t agree.
Once Chelsea was seated, she started quizzing me. “So, you look okay… How is that possible?” She was looking me over, obviously wondering how I’d managed to escape death twice in two days.
“I’m fine, I—”
Aiden cut me off. “You don’t have to worry, she’s fine,” he said, trying to get her off my back, but Chelsea looked like she didn’t really believe him, so he added, “I’ve seen for myself.”
Her face turned bright red. I knew exactly what she was thinking, and I knew Aiden did, too. And that was the exact reason he had said it. Right about now, Chelsea would be living her love life through me, which is another reason why she needed a nudge in the right direction—towards Ben, that is. She needed her own love life, and maybe then she would stop obsessing over mine.
The waiter brought over our assortment of food and, as usual, everyone dug in without any thought about who had paid for it all.
Thanks to the unexplained sickly sensation I got around Chelsea, I no longer felt like eating. I sat and picked at my food, not really listening to the three of them rambling on about something that had happened at school.
Before I knew it, Aiden squeezed my leg, letting me know that they were finished and getting up to leave.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Chelsea asked with a concerned tone.
“I’m just a bit tired. Sorry.”
“Well, I guess we can count you out on ice cream,” she stated more than asked, looping her arm through Ben’s. I had to look twice. Yep, I saw right, Chelsea really was snuggling into Ben. What the hell had I missed?
Chelsea noticed my open mouth. “Bet you never thought you’d see this, hey?” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ben was… glowing. I thought that description only applied to pregnant women, but sure enough, he was glowing.
You’re going to have to fill me in on what the hell happened there
, I thought to Aiden.
When I turned to leave, Chelsea grabbed a hold of my arm. “Wait—”
I didn’t hear the rest of what she said because the moment our skin touched, flashes of Chelsea strapped to a chair went through my mind. She looked terrified, as if she was scared for her life. She was shaking her head, begging someone not to hurt her.