stellaR (Editing)

Chapter XII

Chapter- XII

We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever; the goal is to create something that will.     -Chuck Palahniuk

 

     Chaud and I drove to my house in silence. The radio played softly, but I don’t think either one of us heard it. I didn’t, anyhow, I was too busy replaying our stupid little argument in my head.

     I looked out the window and realized we were in my driveway.

     “Thanks,” I said quickly, reaching for the door handle.

     He grabbed my arm.

     “It’s later, Stella.”

     My eyes flashed up to his in surprise.

     “So?” I asked quietly.

     “So tell me what you were so upset about back there.” His blue eyes were striking, even in the dark of his car.

     “Right now?”

“Unless you’d enjoy sitting in my car all night,” He smirked.

I slouched back against the seat in defeat.

“What were you up to Monday night?” I asked instead.

He shot me a confused look, but answered my question anyway.

“Well, after I’d stopped by your practice to see you, and found out that you’d… misplaced the key, I headed home. I spent half the night trying to think who might’ve taken it, and the other half trying to figure out what opportunities we’d lost when it was taken.”

I grumbled to myself, and looked at my hands, which were sitting in my lap.

“What were you up to, Stella?” Chaud sounded curious now.

“I had someone waiting for me when I walked into my room.” I said bitterly.

Chaud leaned his head to the side, studying me, just now letting go of my arm.

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently the President of the Elemene wanted to have someone personally assess my abilities.” I waited for the words to sink into his head.

“They were… waiting for you… at your house?” His voice came out strangled, and there was a tone of anger laced underneath the pretentiously calm façade that I noticed.

Now it was his turn to clench and unclench his fists, and he did, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” And there it was; there was the question I’d been trying to answer myself these past few days. Was it simple laziness? Was it some stupid sense of feminine pride, that I could handle things myself without running to a boy?

“I guess… I just didn’t want to bother you.” I said weakly, pathetically, cringing at how the words sounded.

Chaud turned round to look at me, really look at me.

“You didn’t want to bother me.” He repeated back at me.

It sounded twice as dumb when he said it, I realized with another cringe.

“I can take care of myself, I can wield space, you know.” I said haughtily.

Chaud looked out his window for a moment, and I noticed his hands were more relaxed on the steering wheel, no longer tensed up. When he finally looked back at me, I was surprised at how… gentle his face was. Like we hadn’t had a silly fight not even an hour ago, like he was talking to someone he cared about, really cared about.