Notice Me

21

Her eyes were glazed; she watched the smoke as she exhaled. For a second, I wished I could know what was going through her mind as she watched the clouds of silver. She had this look on her on her face, one that looked like serenity.

That look came to an end as Carter spoke to her, his voice loud enough that even I could hear it over the music booming through the backyard.

"So you think they should just give up on the girl of their dreams?" Cain asked in surprise.

A deep breath escaped my mouth as I tried to find the words I wanted to say. "Do you really think she's the girl of their dreams? Or do you think that they just want her to be?"

Cain was silent, likely he was taking in my words. I wasn't sure if he would grasp the meaning of them completely, because I wasn't even sure if I had grasped the meaning myself.

We watched in that continued silence as Seren moved across the hot tub, I guess whatever Carter had said was enough to grab her attention. She stumbled slightly as she stepped through the water, until she fell on his lap. She leaned into his ear, whispering things that I'm almost positive she didn't mean.

"I really don't know what it is about that girl," Cain finally responded, "besides the obvious. It's like... I don't know, it's like there's more to her than that. It's like she's magic or something, the way that everyone wants to be with her."

"Maybe it's because we all know we can't have her," I mumbled, frowning slightly when I realized he was partially right.

"We?" Cain chuckled as he said the word. "So you're admitting it, finally."

"Shut up," I shook my head. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant... I think we all know that there's something there we can't see, and everyone wants to know what that something is."

And I had a feeling that the something was something dark. Maybe not black, but a chilling dark blue.

"Well," Cain's tone had changed, and I refocused my eyes on our current reality. "I guess you were wrong."

It didn't take a genius to realize what he was referring to, because Seren's lips were locked on Carter's. His lips were moving against hers, but she was as still as a statue. It was a stark comparison to the times I had seen Seren kiss other boys before.

Carter pulled away, his thumb dragging down her bottom lip as he looked at her with narrowed eyes. Not the kind of narrowed eyes that would suggest he was mad, no, these were the kind of narrowed eyes that form when you're wondering if what just happened was real life or not.

I didn't have to guess what Seren's face looked like as she stared back at him. It was blank. There was nothing.

"Am I?" I said to Cain, "am I really wrong?"

"Hmm," he hummed out, watching as Seren pulled herself from the hot tub. She walked away once her feet were on the ground, she didn't spare Carter with a second glance.

She walked towards us, but like I feel whenever Seren walks towards me, I didn't think she actually saw us. Like we were invisible, or simply just pieces of furniture in her eyes, she walked right by us towards the table that held the booze.

"Bro," Cain elbowed me, "look how pissed Jax is," he whispered, trying to fight his laughter.

But, I didn't think it was funny, because as I looked at Jax, he held the kind of anger that could be felt by anyone in proximity to him. He was glaring at Carter, his mouth formed into a nasty scowl.

"That dude," I started, pausing as my eyes continued to roam over his face, "he's kind of weird. You ever get that vibe from him? Like, he's... I don't know, off?"