White Washed

Chapter Twelve | The Date

Trainng with Alix was much worse than training with Cass. Alix pushed me a lot harder and didn't try to help me as much. If I couldn't do something, he continued pushing me until I did it. I knew that it was good for me to be pushed in this way, but it bothered me.

He ordered me to make an oak tree grow from a pile of soil on the metal floor but I couldn't. I couldn't even get on to sprout. After several minutes of trying to no avail, I got frustrated and the dirt lit on fire.

"You can't just lite stuff on fire when you get frustrated. You need to control your anger." He scolded.

Like that helped me so much. I was trying to do that.

My next task was to bend a piece of metal. I didn't know how he possibly expected me to do this, metal wasn't an element. He just kept telling me to get in touch with the metal and to try to feel it. Whatever that meant.

I tried so hard that I was breaking a sweat, but nothing was happening. When I focused too hard, I started to accidently create a strong wind or make it rain on us. The second time it started pouring in the room, Alix got frustrated and yelled at me, which just made me mad.

It's not like I could help it. "Yeah, if you're so good at it, let's see your powers!"

I apparently pissed him off because, without another word, he walked back upstairs. I guess my training was done for the day.

~  ~  ~

Noah picked me up – he came to my dorm room with a rose in hand – at exactly 5:50. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I detested roses so I just took it and stuck it in a cup of water.

He was dressed in jeans and a black button up shirt. I started rethinking my own outfit. I hadn’t known where we’d be going but figured it would be somewhere casual, since that was the kind of person Noah was. I’d carefully picked out my best jeans and my favorite The Acacia Strain t-shirt, straightened my hair and put on makeup.

I’d done my makeup different than I was used too. Usually, I didn’t bother much with it, just put on a small amount that blended in with my skin. Today, I’d had Laurie come over and she’d made me do it darker, with gray eye shadow and some black eyeliner, as well as my usual mascara. It made my eyes pop.

“Do I need to change?” I asked, embarrassed. Here he was, looking all spiffy, and then there was me, wearing a band-tee and jeans.

He laughed, shaking his head. “We’re not going anywhere fancy, I just let Gabriel dress me. You know how he is.”

We both laughed, walking out of my room and down the hallway. I did know how he was. He was very fashion-conscious and he was always so peppy. That was half the reason I had thought about the possibility of him being gay. The other half was that he doesn’t date, to my knowledge.

We got to Noah’s car and got in. The seats were leather, which I disliked since they got so hot and sticky. Today, however, it wasn’t really a problem because it was pretty chilly outside.

We talked about a range of things, from classes and majors to things from our childhood. He noticed the three black lines on my arm and asked me what they were. Thankfully, when I simply shrugged, he dropped it.

He was easy to talk to – almost as easy as Laurie. Neither of them compared to Sammy, of course, but I’d known him longer.

We pulled into a parking lot and I looked at the building. Texas Roadhouse.

Before we had even gotten inside, I could hear the loud country music playing. The waitresses at the door eyed Noah flirtatiously as he gave his name and they handed him a beeper, to let us know when we could be seated.