Chapter 7: Buddies

Elvirina 

Third period roared its ugly head. We were seated in the auditorium along with almost three hundred other students. About half the students were sent outside to the school’s outdoor training facilities for cleaning. The other half of the remaining students were split midway again and sent to the parking lot. They were apparently painting. The remaining seventy students were scattered all over the school premises engaged in smaller chores. Yes, they had labeled it as a buddy event, but it was looking more like free manual labor to me.

Joshwin was called off with his not too shabby looking buddy and frizzy Nikki tagging along. The janitor needed assistance. I noted Joshwin was irritated when it was clear that we wouldn't be spending 'buddy time' together.

Shortly after, I was sitting alone in one of the back rows as headmistress Quellan asked Blake and me to come to the stage. From the tingle running underneath my skin, I knew Blake was lurking somewhere close by. I was already a bit edgy.

So now, I was placed on the stage of the auditorium with Blake and staring up at a massive mural hanging from railings from the ceiling. The mural was made up of thousands of multi-colored four by four inch wooden squares that were joined on all four sides with butcher’s hooks, basically making it a gigantic wooden wall.

“What is this?” Blake questioned mystified and a little condescending at Ms Quellan. She had taken it upon herself to hand the assignment over to us personally.

“Well, it needs to be taken down and taken apart,” Ms Quellan explained apologetically.

“Are you serious?” Blake blurted, while quite baffled.

“Yes... and the squares should be sorted by colors.” It looked like she actually felt bad for us. I’d bet the other teachers would have found it funny and educational for us. I stared up at the colossal thing. Even with all the special powers in my world, there was no way that we could pull this off in two hours. I wondered shortly if I should count how many squares were lining the edges of the wall and multiply to find out the exact amount of squares. I decided against it because that was just too depressing. The thing was a monster!

“I guess we better get started,” I said trying to avoid being rude. Blake eyed me like I'd lost my mind.

“Thank you. Elvirina was it?” Ms. Quellan smiled appreciatively.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“Do we get to take the rest of the day off when we're done with this?” Blake joked. I had a hunch that he was hoping that we just might be excused.

“No, Mr. Blake,” Ms. Quellan said firmly.

“Don't blame me for trying.” He shrugged.

“Get to work, Mr. Blake,” Ms Quellan admonished.

Obliging the headmistress, I started to take the first of the squares down, unleashing them from the butcher’s hooks. “Ms. Quellan?” I called after her. “Where are we supposed to put all these?” I held up one of the squares.

“There are boxes in the back and remember to sort them by color,” she said humorlessly. Frankly, I suspected that she understood us. There was nothing funny about this. Now I really wished that I had stayed home to comfort Serenity.

“This just fucking sucks,” Blake snarled, tilting his head far back appreciating the amount of work we had in front of us.

“The sooner we start, the sooner we will be done,” I said with an indifferent pull of my shoulder. However, anxiety set in the moment that we were alone.

“You're such a priss,” Blake snickered. Apparently, he was much more at ease with my company than I was with his. I wished that I could just figure out why I was so drawn to him. It wasn't natural for my kind. He shouldn't hold any interest to me at all. “So what's it like being the new kid?” Blake cheerfully continued conversation. He smiled and dimples dented his cheeks. Oh, dear Earth, why? Those two indentations on his cheeks were so charming.

“It's okay... there are a lot of us.” I shrugged. I would always be the odd man out, it didn't really matter if I was at a new school or not.

“That's true. Can I ask you something and you don't have to answer if you don't want to... or you think I'm being a jerk.”

“Sure.” I knew what the question would be. There was only one.

“So are you one of the Thumánn kids everyone has been jabbering about?”

Bingo! “Yes.” I kept my eyes on my hands, avoiding facing him. It didn't take long for the interrogation to begin, but at least he was honest about it.

“Wow,” he said flatly, not sounding very wow'ed at all.

“Impressed?” I asked sardonically, sneaking a quick peek at him.

“Not really.”

“Oh.” I gasped, while forgetting to close my mouth and basically looking like a moron. I hadn't expected him to go all out at the news, but he seemed so fine with it and truly non-bothered. That wasn’t normal. I shook my head to clear some of the dizziness that I was feeling. I was a bit distressed by the overwhelming tingling coming from Blake. He disappeared out the back for a moment.

”So you're all just a bunch of tree hugging hippies hiding out in the woods?” He asked as he came back out with two boxes in each hand.

”No.” I found myself grinning all of a sudden.

“So what are you?”

“Just like you... almost,” I admitted evenly. I knew that we weren't like humans. We were... gifted compared to them, but I didn't see any reason to have that conversation.

“So why are you here and not with you own kind?” Blake asked unashamed.

I stopped, pondering. “I don't know.” I had never thought about questioning my parents’ motive to live out here and attend a normal school instead of being where we belonged in the city of Hananjii.

“But you do live out in the woods, right?” He continued. I didn't really mind the conversation and it kept my mind off the tingling sensation.

“Yes, we all live there.”

“So you're all related?” He asked curiously.

“Not really, but we do consider each other family.”

“So how many of you are there? I mean where you live.” Blake finally started pulling the mural apart, instead of just staring and firing questions at me. “This is just fucking ridiculous.” He complained when giving the work a glance.

“Seventeen... sixteen now,” I amended. Vasvár wasn’t here anymore. I felt a lump form in my throat thinking about yesterday. We would all miss him terribly. I tried to kill the depressing thoughts as I placed the first red squares in the bottom of one of the boxes.

“Elvie,” I heard Joshwin call in my head. Humph... blocking him would be good right now. I was so confused. “Elvie!” I heard my name being called again when it was accompanied by a specific bang against the floorboards. I whirled around surprised to see Joshwin right behind me. He stood at the edge of the stage looking gorgeous. Nikki was placed at his side like a faithful Seeing Eye dog almost wagging her tail.

“I thought you were out sweeping the courtyard or something,” I said trying to steer through my disarrayed thoughts. The tingling hummed stronger. I knew Joshwin felt it too and I knew that he knew and I liked it. This had complicated written all over it. Joshwin's smile didn't reach his eyes. He was silent a little bit too long before he answered.

“No... The janitor wants us to help off school premises.” The look that he sent me was apprehensive.

“Yeah, we're going to take Joshwin's car,” Nikki said beaming and batting her lashes at him.

“Okay.” I made sure not to roll my eyes at her. Internally, I was thrilled Nikki didn't have a chance in hell with my Joshwin. I tried to avoid eye contact with her. Knowing her mind right now, it probably wouldn’t help anything. I was busy enough controlling my hormones and tingle boy.

“Will you be okay?” The only move his lips made was moistening the bottom one. He looked over my shoulder to the lanky guy behind me. I gave a tiny head nod. I looked in Blake's direction. He had stopped taking down squares and was busy inspecting Joshwin intensely. Perhaps it might help the situation, if they at least knew each other’s names. “Joshwin... Caleb Blake. Blake, Joshwin?” I gestured back and forth calling out their names.

“Nice to meet you,” Joshwin said and held out a hand. He looked triumphant somehow, but he kept his smile polite.

“Me too,” Blake answered in a flat husky tone. He kept looking back and forth between Joshwin and me, before he took Joshwin's hand a little reluctantly. From where I stood, it looked like Blake would actually tower over Joshwin, and he was no minion with his 6’5 frame. The minion here was Nikki because she stood less than chest high to Joshwin.

“What are you supposed to be doing?” Joshwin asked, staring at the amputated mural.

“We don't know that either,” Blake answered and gave out an excessive exhale before I even had a chance to open my mouth. I noticed the way he spoke of us as we, not him as I. Joshwin didn't seem to appreciate that too much and by the smug look on Blake's face, he noticed that to.

“Come here.” Joshwin said his voice was suddenly so tempting. I followed orders as a brainwashed soldier and bent down to his level. Joshwin stroked my hair, running the length of the strands with his fingers. He kissed me and it wasn’t just a peck on the lips. “Be careful,” sounded in my mind while my lips were busy against his. When our mouths parted, I noticed Blake was suddenly very busy pulling squares apart. Prior to leaving with Nikki, Joshwin threw a scrupulous look at Blake. I turned, pretending not to notice his anxiety and continued sorting the numerous squares. Joshwin and Nikki were barely gone when Blake started up the conversation again.

“So... he's jealous?” Blake stated more than asked.

“No, Joshwin doesn't get jealous,” I answered. I wasn't sure if I was lying or not because I had caught a testosterone vibe between them.

“What do you mean that he doesn't get jealous? All guys do, especially when it comes to their girlfriends. And looking the way you do... I'd say that he's all shades of jealous,” he countered.

I blushed, mainly from Blake commenting on my appearance. He thought I was pretty. Oh, how I wish I could control my mind. “He doesn't... there's no point.” I bit my lip. I didn’t want to dig further into the mechanics of Thumánn family life. I didn't feel like diving into a long explanation that he wouldn't understand.

“Is it true?” Blake narrowed his eyes in my direction while he settled a stack of squares down in the box in front of him.

“What's true?” I asked, deciding that playing dense was the best policy. Maybe he would bow out and stop asking so many damn questions.

“That Thumánns marry more than one guy?” No such luck. I bit my lip again.

“Yes,” I muttered. I was reluctant to talk about this with Blake. I wasn't ashamed of my life. I knew we were different. I'd always known, but somehow I didn’t feel like fleshing it all out to him.

“That is so weird,” he mouthed.

“Now why would that be weird? I think it's weird that you only have one dad.” My instinct to protect the people that I love and myself flared. “Besides, it's the only thing I've ever known.”

A few moments ticked by before he answered. “I can see that.”

“You can?” I stared at him dumbfounded, like he just said he was going to stab himself. That was so far from the response that I was used to. So far, I had heard just about anything under the sun being said about us and someone understanding was not one of them.

“Yeah... it's like my parents are filthy rich. I don't claim to know what it feels like to be poor because I don't. I'm sorry about the weird comment.” His face dimpled when he smiled apologetically.

“You’re forgiven.” I grinned hoping to sound nonchalant. But oh dear Earth, I was in trouble and completely fascinated by him.

“So... how many dads do you have?”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Three.”

“But only one of them is your real dad, right?” Blake went for the obvious solution that would explain my existence, while he loosened an entire section of squares.

“No,” I muttered trying to keep the complicated makeup of our genetics simple.

“Are you kidding?” Blake asked confused.

“No,” I snickered at his baffled expression. He had been cool so far, but at some point the facade would have to crack.

“Explain... please.”

“Well... it takes two men to impregnate a Thumánn woman and then I have a spiritual father.”

“Two men and one woman... huh?” He said giving me a dirty look.

“Don't even go there.” I warned harshly, throwing a pink square at him that he dodged neatly.

“I'll be nice,” he promised after my reprimand. “But I want to know,” he said looking honest enough. So, where was the harm?

“Okay... but no joking,” I warned.

“No joking,” he retorted.

“Okay... so I have three dads and one mom.” I started, but was cut off swiftly.

“Just one mom?”

“You promised,” I complained, feeling mostly like stomping my foot in raw irritation. I was going out on a limp here. I didn’t feel like being ridiculed, least of all by him.

“I'm serious. You have three dads. I didn't want to exclude the possibility of multiple moms.” Blake shrugged innocently.

“Oh okay... um two of my dads, Junius and Dewritar are my biological fathers.”

“Dew... what?” He grimaced cutting in.

“Yeah, that one can break your tongue.” I grinned. It was strange talking to Blake, but effortless, though, I hardly knew him.

“I'm not even going to try to fucking say it, but go on.” Blake encouraged.

“And Kasardian is my spiritual father. He's also my mom’s soul mate.” I continued. All the talking made me work slower. Well, it wasn’t like we were getting paid, so who cared.

“Soul mate... you guys actually believe in that goofy stuff?” Blake asked sarcastically, eyes rolling back in his head. I didn't appreciate his tone. I got defensive.

“Yes, very much! It's one of the touchstones in our existence.” I basically huffed, feeling slightly offended.

“Okay, so what does your boyfriend think about some other guy having dibs on you?” Blake smirked.

I wondered shortly how he would react knowing the truth about Joshwin and me. “Fine... he's kind of it.”

“He's your soul mate?” Blake's eyes looked like they were in danger of bulking out of their sockets.

“Yes.” Sudden conflicted emotions battled inside of me. One was pride. I was proud that Joshwin was given to me. The second was regret. Regret that I would never get to know tingle boy on a more personal level. I pushed the second thought from my mind faster than the blink of an eye. That was just too dangerous.

“So how did that come about? The soul mate thing?”

“We were chosen for each other and everything else happens naturally after that.” I edited out things like being born on the same day, which made us eligible for each other. I also evaded facts like the Oracle's affinity for sensing soul mates. The Oracle had the ability to see who would be a perfect match and who would perfectly suited for each other. There was a long pause after that and we both worked quietly.

“So you’re marrying the guy?” Blake's face suddenly pulled into a disapproving grimace.

“Joshwin,” I inserted, annoyed. “But yes, something like that.”

“Joshwin,” he retorted. “What is something then?”

“It's called a commitment for us, not marriage,” I answered. “But it is almost the same thing.”

“Why the rush?”

“There's no rush.” I threw back. The line of questions was tampering with my mind. Perhaps, I wasn’t the only one regretting not getting to know each other better. Oh no, my independent mind had to be controlled better.

“But you are marrying him?” Blake used their word again.

“Yes.” You had to give it to him. He was tenacious.

“Why?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me.

“That's the way things are... and I want to. Joshwin and I will commit at some point, but when is up to us. I don't live in a prison camp.”

“So you're not going to shop around? There are other fish in the sea, you know.”

“Not for me... not now anyway and I know there are other men.” I would shop around eventually, but there was no reason to get into that. I had Joshwin and that was enough for now.

“Oh, right. But are you just going to settle for the first guy some person shoves down your throat?” Blake asked disapprovingly.

“No one is shoving anything down my throat,” I answered, feeling slightly agitated.

“I can handle the whole three dad thing… I think. But you should be able to pick for yourself.” Blake brushed his honey blond hair off his face as he stood up. He'd been stacking away several hundred squares.

“I can pick for myself and I would still pick him... We are wired differently from you.” This conversation was turning rather intense, aided by the relentless electrical tingle running under my skin. I pushed it to the back of my mind again. So many things to keep in check right now - the tingle, my independent mind and the urge to block Joshwin and have privacy with Blake. On top of all of this, there was the undeniable thrill of getting to know Blake.

“So back to the spiritual dad thing... how does that work? Is he like your godfather or something?”

I sighed, happy with the shift in conversation. I didn't want to spend more time defending my relationship to Joshwin. “Not exactly, Kasardian is more my dad than Dew and Junius. They may be my flesh and blood, but they have very little say in my upbringing? That stuff is entirely my dad... Kasardian, I mean.” I watched the expressions shift on his stunned face.

“Okay... now that's weird,” Blake said as his brows furrowed.

“I know.”

“So... Joshwin,” he tasted the name. “You won't ever have biological kids, but he's going to be their father in the sense of what being a father implies?”

“Pretty much... yeah.”

“Please stop me, if I'm being a pain in the ass.”

“As long as you're nice, I don't mind. But how about you... your family?” I asked in return.

“My family... Hmm, there's not much to say,” he answered flatly. The dimpled smile was gone instantly.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I felt too eager to learn more about him, much to my regret. Joshwin and I were at such a great place. We had things that we needed to do before anyone else was brought into the mix and a human was utterly impossible.

“No. Just me,” he answered evenly.

“And your parents?” I continued.

“Away, as usual,” Blake answered with a shrug. He put a large amount of tiny hooks into a box. He tilted his head back, evaluating.

“You must be lonely.” I wondered out loud.

He inclined his head, while his eyes were boring at me. “No.” Blake answered all gloomy. It was obvious that he was lying.

“I couldn't imagine being alone all the time.”

“Like I couldn't imagine having three dads, but that doesn't mean that  you don't understand,” he said solemnly and I was sure something deeper was at work here.

“You're not freaked out?” I asked.

“Some... but I can hold my own.”

“You are kind of tall,” I joked lamely.

He laughed suddenly and his face lit up beautifully. “Being the captain of the basketball team does require that.”

“You're the captain?” I asked. “How tall are you?”

“Almost 6’7 and yep, I'm the captain,” Blake drawled, coming over to stand beside me. “You don't pay too much attention around here, do you?” The tingling intensified and I breathed in deeply to center myself. The attempt to ignore the enticing current under my skin didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I knew Joshwin would be in my head soon.

“That must keep you busy?” I continued the conversation without Blake noticing how rattled I really was.

“Some...” He smirked. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to evaluate what the secretive little grin meant.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” I blurted without even thinking about it. Really, it was none of my business, but I desperately wanted to know.

“No.” His eyes were suddenly piercing into mine. I tried to seem nonchalant and absolutely not interested in him.

“Why not?” I continued with as much indifference that I could cram into my voice.

“No one in specific caught my eye.” He stopped taking squares down facing me and his eyes were sizzling. He was incredibly intense. I realized that now.

“You could get just about any girl in the school,” I joked, then blood rushed to my face and electricity ran to my heart making it pump harder.

“How would you know?” He cocked a brow. I figured now was definitely not the time to disclose my mind reading abilities.

“I see how girls look at you,” I said, attempting to keep my secrets just that – a secret.

“I don't want just anybody,” Blake answered, with a suspicious look trained in on me. His answer felt double edged somehow. Up front, it was just a simple answer to my question. He wanted a girl that was special. That was fair and even noble. The second possible meaning was extremely complicated. Would that special be someone like me? Someone, who was impossible for him to have? I was aware of stories about human fascination with us. I was in the middle of my transformation and 'apparently' I was even more appealing, but that was just hard to believe.

“Well, you could.” I couldn't shed my smug smile having read a few minds sporadically. Oops.

“Again... how do you know?” He kept his intelligent eyes locked on me. “You don’t seem to pay attention to anything else around here.”

“I can be... perceptive.” Why on Earth couldn't I keep my big mouth shut? That wasn't supposed to be hard. You just zip it.

“Are you talking about your gifts? I've heard rumors about that, you know.” His voice changed to a whisper, like the walls had ears.

“Hmm,” I murmured uninterested, attempting to avoid answering his question.

“El... are you gifted?” Blake whispered.

“Don't call me El.” I complained, ignoring his last question. So, we already morphed into the nickname category.

“Why not?”

“It sounds stupid. My name is Elvirina.” I reached for more squares. It was best to keep my hands busy. Not that it would help anyway because we would never finish in time for lunch.

“Well, my name is Caleb and you call me Blake.”

“That's different.”

“How?”

“I like Blake and it's your last name, El sounds like... like a fish, I don't know?” I shrugged. My plan to keep him off my special talents seemed to work. Blake was distracted.

“What should I call you then?”

“Elvie or Elvia.” No one called me Elvia, why would I say that?

Blake jumped at the chance. “Okay... Elvia. You are so dodging the subject. Are you gifted?” Ugh, game plan failure!

“Maybe,” I answered, rubbing my unexpectedly clammy palms together. I was nervous and my mouth was going dry. I didn't want to scare him off.

“You are... aren't you?” Blake continued pushing.

“Promise you won't tell anyone.” I bit my lip. I knew that I should keep my mouth shut about my life.

“Promise,” Blake agreed in a hurry.

“All Thumánn women are. We have up to three gifts.” My mouth said without any permission from my brain. I needed to have my brain to mouth filter checked. It didn’t seem to work.

“Seriously?” His eyes flipped wide. By the look on his face, he definitely thought that the rumors had been just that... rumors!

“Seriously,” I retorted.

“So what can you do?” He was still staring at me with teacup-sized eyes.

“I don't want to tell you,” I muttered. I didn't. There was no reason for him to know that I could read a few minds and could control the wind. All that information would make him assume that I should spend the rest of my life in a padded cell.

“Why not?”

“Show me that I can trust you and then I'll tell you.” I promised. Perhaps easing into it would be the way then all the extra stuff may seem less important. It would prefer it, if I could trust him NOT to blabber it all over school . Besides if he got too close and broke his promise, I would set Serenity on him and make him think it was all just a dream. She could be really handy sometimes, but I knew deep down that I'd just made a promise that I shouldn't have. I was walking dangerously on thin ice. We as a people always kept to ourselves.

“It's a deal,” Blake agreed, smiling. He seemed thrilled by my term of surrender.

“You really need to help finish this.” I gestured upward. Blake hadn't moved since the conversation had started turning my secrets inside out. I reached up for more squares at the same time Blake did. Accidentally, we both reached for the same square and Blake's warm fingers moved over mine. I felt a sharp snap and a tiny spark lit against my hand as our skin touched. I yanked it back startled and stared at him. Blake was gawking back at me with surprise written all over his face. Totally stunned and with quick hands, I started to dissect the mural from another spot. I moved fast and hurried to get as much as possible done before we would break for lunch. My mind clung to the snap that literally made sparks fly between our hands. Though, I kept quiet for the rest of the time my mind hovered furiously around Blake. Who the hell was he?

He yanked hard at the opposite end and with an enormous crash the rest of the mural came down. I shielded my head with my arms as the rest of the thing plunged to the floor. Squares and butchers’ hooks scurried over the floor, making a whooshing sound as they went.

“Oops,” Blake said flatly, staring up.

“Oops...?” I repeated glumly and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Mural, mural on the wall, who's the biggest of them all?” Blake recited. “Or should I say ceiling?” He muttered with his face tilted upward at the amputated ropes hanging down.

“Maybe you should say nothing and pick all of this up?” I snapped. Blake stared at me amused before he cracked into a loud contagious grin. I couldn't help, but join in.

I found a broom in the back room and started sweeping the mess together. I figured it would be faster than actually picking the squares up. It had taken almost the assigned time to get half of this down. “Maybe we should just push this into a corner.” I suggested, feeling strangely good doing something illicit.

“Yeah, maybe no one will notice.” Blake rolled his eyes. One thing that was as sure as the sun rising tomorrow is that Headmistress Quellan would notice this chaos. Blake was all for the corner strategy and didn't need much encouragement from me. I used the broom and pushed the mess into the darkness.

“No more free manual labor,” I muttered, while placing the broom against the wall.

“Wow... that is exactly what this is,” Blake said like he had just had an epiphany.

“You just figured that out now?” I eyed him darkly.

“Hey... child labor is illegal, maybe we should report them?”

“Not really.” The bell rang announcing buddy time was finally over. “I'll see you later.” I told Blake, as I jumped off the stage. I was in a hurry to get out and escape the forbidden humming that I liked too much for my own good.

“Elvia, I'll make good on my promise,” Blake called after me. My stomach clenched. Why was I stupid enough to even consider that? Maybe I should ask for a new brain for my birthday.

“We'll see,” I answered over my shoulder, while walking out of the auditorium. Joshwin waited for me right outside. I expected for him to start questioning me at first sight, but he kept quiet. The only thing that I thought I heard him say was 'that was interesting'. He kept quiet all through lunch and it was getting strange. I tried to force the conversation by asking what he had done off campus. He just answered in one-word responses, so I gave up. I figured that he was mad. I knew that I should have been less friendly with Blake and should not have promised to tell him what my gifts were.

Driving home was just as quiet as lunch and the following classes had been. I was getting edgier by the minute. I hadn't really done anything illegal, but I would apologize anyway just to ease the insane tension.

Joshwin stopped the car and got out, before I could even unhook my seatbelt. Out of the car, he finally looked at me the way he had done the last few days with burning intensity and a little bit of humor.

“I'm sorry,” he mused privately. I stared at Joshwin like an imbecile. What on Earth was he sorry for? As far as I knew, I was the only one who was pushing the boundaries. “I shouldn't make you feel so guilty.”

“You don't need to apologize.” I was already breathless and all Joshwin did was look at me.

“I do. It's not your fault. I should be more careful with you. It's my job to take care of you... especially now.” He said the last part with a small, but very content smile. I knew it was linked to my transformation.

“But I do feel guilty.” I bit down on the thumb that was soon without a nail because of my relentless gnawing.

“Don't. You're just radiant. I can't say that I blame the guy,” Joshwin murmured.

“But I felt it too.” I felt the intensity, the direction of Blake's questions and his layered answers. So when I felt it, so did Joshwin.

“Yes,” he answered slowly and moistened his delicious lower lip. “But I also feel this,” he said as he traced a finger gingerly across my collarbone. It left a burning path on my skin and me heavily breathing... again. “I feel how you react to this,” he mused in a deep warm voice. I stared into his persuasive blue eyes. If he would only take me upstairs and give me what I wanted, he could have me, all of me right now. My blood pumped furiously in my veins. “See, it's not your fault. It's just so easy to push your buttons these days.” Joshwin's beautiful face broke into a triumphant smile.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You suck,” I snapped sourly. I was sick of his ability to turn me on like a light switch. I yanked my book bag from the car and stalked toward my house.

“Don't go,” Joshwin begged, grabbing my wrist. I wanted to yank my hand free and close myself off from him. He shouldn't get the satisfaction of my uncontrollable hormones. “Please don't block me. I'll behave.” He pulled on my wrist and tugged me toward him. His eyes were somewhere in between regretful and full of desire. Ugh... it was really starting to be unfortunate not to have a single feeling private. Joshwin pushed his fingers through my hair and I lost my trail of thought. “I'll almost behave.” He promised with a wicked look, leaning down and kissed me. It was urgent and almost greedy. I dropped my bag, wrapped myself around him and responded immediately with just as much force back at him. The sweet taste of him made my heart slam harder and harder in my chest. I breathed heavily against his lips, while my hands knotted into his untidy hair. My head whirled. Joshwin broke off and I wondered shortly where he got the stamina from because he was in this too. “Patience Elvie...” he whispered, his eyes burning and his words were filled with promise.

“Patience is so overrated.” I tried to persuade him by brushing my tongue against his, while refusing to let the kiss end.

Joshwin moved his arms to my waist, hugging me to him. “We will... soon. I promise.” The words made my heart go wild in my chest. It was dancing with a sudden anxiety that I hadn't known before. Joshwin kissed me again. My head was whirling. The new outlook that he would make good on his promise made me even more receptive to his actions.

“This is just so much fun.” He broke off laughing gently.

“I wish that I could hate you. This is so not fair.” I complained trying to let anger set in my voice.

“But you can't hate me.” Joshwin's smoldering eyes made detesting him impossible.

“No.”

“Good,” he said, while pulling me closer. I felt the heat coming off his body.

“But I'm going now. I should go see how Serenity's doing.”

“Okay.” Joshwin answered with a teasing smile. He kissed my forehead.

Stalking into my house, I knew that I needed and wanted to get back at him. He couldn't do this to me and not expect any form of consequence. I knew just the way and all I needed was an audience.