Try To Change Me

Chapter 35

Phitz had never been so utterly confused in his entire life. And that was saying something. He raised a hand to his face, rubbed his eyes, and then blinked rapidly before looking again at the scene before him. Unfortunately, it still didn’t make any sense.

His best friend of nearly ten years was tenderly embracing a girl he’d introduced himself to only ten hours before and who had been invisible just ten minutes ago. Invisible.

“Invisible,” he murmured aloud, desperately trying to come to grips with the word. It was a word he was perfectly comfortable with in comic books, he’d even say he was disappointed without it, but not in real life.

Salena swung in his direction, relief evident on her face. “Oh thank God! I thought I was the only one!”

Her grin was so broad, slightly hysterical, and Phitz closed the gap between them to wrap an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, hunching her shoulders away from touching him. “There, there,” he said, patting her gently on the head with his other hand, “you’re not the only insane one.”

That dragged a laugh from between her lips and she relaxed, leaning into him hesitantly. Phitz cast her a funny look, confused by her reluctance, but gave her a rough squeeze and decided they had bigger fish to fry.

A certain resilient bitch for instance.

Carissa had clambered to her feet, her hair smoothed back into place and her cheeks tear and blotch free. Apart from her barred teeth and the growl snaking its way up from her chest, it was as if nothing had even happened. When the angry shout broke free, Ebony and Austen both snapped back to attention, coming to the sudden, embarrassing realisation that they had been cuddling. Ebony jerked back, extricating herself from his arms quickly and wiping at her face. Austen was slower to move, looking somewhat stunned, but he managed to grab her tiny hand in his before she removed herself completely. He held firm as she tried to move away.

This only infuriated Carrie more.

“What the hell was that?” she screeched, arms flailing in the air. “What is wrong with you?”

Phitz noticed that she still didn’t approach the other girl. None of them did. They were still all a little too shell-shocked to move.

“I could ask you the same,” Ebony murmured, meeting her eyes without flinching.

That shut Carissa right up and Phitz wanted to fist pump.

Austen gave Ebony’s hand a supportive squeeze and her eyes flicked down to their entwined fingers. Her mouth fell open slightly, as if she hadn't quite realised how intimately they were connected, and her eyes slowly raised to his. They stared at each other for a moment, both unblinking, both afraid the other would let go. 

With a rough cough, Phitz pointed past them, herding the other two girls along. "Macca's is this way?"

As they left the other two behind, Ebony licked her lips and looked away, studing the hedge beside them with great interest. Austen took a tiny step closer, raising his other hand to her cheek. 

"Are you ok?"

His fingers brushed her skin and she snorted. "Are any of us?"

"Fine - are you feeling better?"

"I don't think..."

"Ebbie," He groaned, tilting back his head and almost hiding his grin. He let out a dry chuckle, scratching his head as he tried to figure out exactly when he had started finding avoidance attractive. "Let me rephrase: Are you feeling considerably less aggravated than you were moments previously?"

She shrugged, flicking her eyes back to his. They bore a disticntly mischeivious glint. "Well, when you put it like that..."

Austen shook his head at her. "Just promise me you're not going to beat yourself up about anything you said to Carrie. I'm sure it was more than deserved."

"Who said I was going to beat myself up about it?" she demanded instantly, leaning away from him to pin him more directly with her scowl. 

"Everything about you says that," he murmured, closing the gap until they were a hairs-breath apart, "You're sweet and self-deprecating, and you refuse to stand up for yourself though I can't think of a person more worthy of their own support and..."

Halfway through, Ebony wrenched away, her eyes wide and flaring with anger, She ripped her hand free from his and he stuttered to a stop, his brow furrowing anxiously. She shook her head at him. 

"Don't talk like you know me!" she snapped, running both hands through her hair. The tie snapped, sending messy brown waves cascading over her shoulders, but she shoved the locks aside and glared at him. "You noticed me less than a day ago, we have had about two conversations... you don't know the first thing about me!"

"I like to think being in a life or death situation gives you a little insight into a person's character," Austen grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Well you think wrong! The only thing today has shown us is that in special circumstances, you think fight and I think flight which makes us totally incompat-" As if she realized what she was saying, Ebony stopped, waving her hands dramatically between them as if to sever that train of thought. She continued in a much calmer tone. "Look, thank you for busting into the theatre and helping me when i got shot and rescuing my bag and sort of walking me home and..." she gesturing a few feet over to where they had been embracing, "supporting me." Her arms fell to her side, her expression bland and exhausted. "I appreciate it, I really do, but we honestly don't know each other."

It took a while for Austen to respond as he processed everything she had said. He kept his gaze focussed on the ground, but when he did look up he met her unflinching gaze and offered a tight-lipped smile. "I get what you mean - there's a lot I don't understand. For instance," he stepped up beside her, in the same direction as the others had gone, and she turned to walk with him as she continued. "How long have you been invisible?"

Ebony laughed before she could help herself, one loud bark that startled Austen so much that he nearly dropped his bag. "What?"

"Invisible? Unable to be seen?" He was starting to realise how insane this conversation was, but he pressed on with a slightly hysterical edge. "I bet it's got it's uses: sneaking in after curfew, ditching a date at the movies, getting to class late and pretending you'd been there all along..."

"What are you even talking about?" she demanded, one eye twitching slightly. Her breath was coming slightly quicker, her heart pounded, and she fought to stay in control. "What do you mean invisible?"

They stood there, staring at each other in utter confusion, for what felt like a millennium, before Austen let a single hesitant question fall from his lips. "You do realise you disappeared before, right?"

"You mean I clocked out? Went a little bit loopy?"

"No." He struggled to continued, raking his fingers through his hair and chewing on his lip. He finally met her eyes again and took a deep breath. "I mean that we couldn't see you. At all."

It's very short and I'm very tired. Good night. 

xo SwimmingUpstream