Midnight Serenade

Chapter 13

"So, are you still planning to pretend that none of this has to do with magic?" I asked as Sawyer and I walked along the quiet street that was lined by picturesque little homes.

Understanding that I was trying to make sense of everything, he'd allowed me to just mull it all over for a while. But now that we were headed to our original destination and, I assumed, getting fairly close, I wanted a distraction to keep me from stressing over my potentially very awkward impending family meeting.

"Is there some reason I should change my mind about that?" he asked with a smug look that I gave right back to him.

"Telepathy?" I said incredulously. "Dreams that are based on your specific biology? Dreams that change when you make decisions and that know how to respond based on those decisions? Dreams you can actually share with someone else?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again, evidently flustered. We stopped walking and he stared down at me, trying to think up an answer. When a minute passed and he still hadn't come up with anything, I quirked an eyebrow, feeling the childish urge to say something to the effect of, 'so there'. I refrained, but his confounded expression was adorable and I couldn't help grinning.

He pursed his lips and then shook his head. "Alright," he conceded. "You win. I have no idea how to explain that logically. The telepathy might be explainable as another sense that humans don't understand, if it wasn't so specific and changeable. But the dreams... I just have no idea."

"So magic then," I said sarcastically. "You're asking me to believe in magic."

"I might try to give you some story about hormones and chemistry but I'm not anywhere near good enough with science to try to bluff it, and I doubt you'd buy it anyway."

"Probably not." I laughed.

"Although..." he said playfully, hinting at arguing that very point.

I shook my head. "Sorry, you ruined that one."

Not seeming very disappointed about that, he smiled down on me. "Well, maybe there is something magical about it then. Who's to say?"

"But it's crazy," I said, feeling that same enticing pull from the dreams as he towered over me. "There's no such thing."

"Just like there's no such thing as shifters?" His words were teasing. His tone and body language were not. I wasn't sure how it happened but we were quite a bit closer than we'd been a minute ago.

"Maybe?" I was finding it harder and harder to argue that possibility, but I stubbornly held on to my last shred of reality. The fact that he was so close - and still much too far away - was making it impossible for me to infuse much conviction into my words. Looking up at him like this was making it difficult to even remember what I was supposed to be arguing. Or to breathe normally as my heart pounded away. How embarrassing would it be if he could actually hear it?

But how incredible would it be to hear him in my head?

"Up until yesterday, you never even thought to believe in shifters, but I can assure you, they're very real. Why couldn't it be the same with magic?"

Unconsciously, I began chewing my lip in deliberation, swallowing nervously when Sawyer's eyes followed the movement.

"I guess it could, but..."

"Don't think of it as magic," he said, bringing his gaze back to mine. "That puts it in the context of unicorns and leprechauns. Just try to see it as a special part of what we are that we don't understand. But maybe with enough study, we could. Like quantum physics or something."

I liked science enough, but I definitely preferred thinking of whatever I shared with Sawyer in the context of unicorns rather than homework.

"How do you know there aren't unicorns and leprechauns?" I smirked.

He chuckled. "I guess I don't."

That laugh! That smile! My insides felt all quivery and it was suddenly very difficult to pull my eyes away from his mouth.

Hesitantly, he put a hand to my cheek and gently brushed his thumb under my eye.

"Eyelash," he breathed.

I wasn't sure if I believed him, and I found that I didn't much care. Not when I was currently drowning in those incredible eyes and not with his hand still touching my face, making it impossible to focus on anything else.

The space between us shrank considerably and I had no idea which one of us moved or if we both had. As we stared silently at one another, some distant part of my brain was protesting and telling me that I should be pulling away. That I'd just met him and wasn't ready for this yet. The rest of me didn't care. At the moment, all I wanted was to experience his kiss while conscious. To see if the dreams had done it justice or, more enticingly, if they hadn't.

Sawyer dipped his head so that our faces were an inch apart. My eyes started to close in delightful anticipation and he came closer still.

A riot of noise made me gasp as my eyes flew open, and I took a step back. A hoard of kids on bikes were suddenly swarming by us. They screamed and laughed and made exaggerated kissing and vomiting noises. My face flamed.

"Sawyer's got a girlfriend!" some of the boys sang. "Sawyer's got a girlfriend!"

"About time!" one of the girls yelled.

"Ohhh, Zoey won't be happy!" another one said with glee.

They rode their bikes in a wide circle on the street and continued to yell things and make immature noises. A few of the girls broke out in the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song. Since they didn't know who I was, they simply called me 'that girl'.

In my humiliation, I peeked at Sawyer. He seemed annoyed, but was mostly choosing to find the humor in the situation.

"Alright Dylan," he shouted over their taunts. "You might want to move along before I tell a certain someone about a certain valentine you still have under your pillow."

I knew which one Dylan was because his freckled face grew tomato red and he hastily shut his mouth.

"Or before I tell the group about Mr. Squiggles, Tyler," he added.

Another little boy's face glowed before he and Dylan began trying to move the group along. But of course, with those little tid bits out there, the other kids seemed happy to stay right where they were, their taunts turning to pleas for information.

Sawyer gave each of them a pointed look. "I know plenty about all of you," he threatened. "Do you really want me to start spilling all my secrets?"

The kids' smiles faded and they traded nervous looks. Apparently not needing more prodding, they all turned and zoomed down the street, away from us.

I was still horribly embarrassed, but I couldn't help laughing at the way he handled that. I might have yelled or cried, but Sawyer got them to go away with no drama, probably guaranteeing that it wouldn't happen again.

He took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "Yeah....the joys of being in the pack," he said sarcastically.

"They seemed easy enough to handle." I tried to console him.

"The little ones are," he agreed. "The older ones won't be so afraid of information about a stuffed animal or a kindergarten crush getting out."

"That's really cute. Poor Dylan and Tyler won't get any peace from the others."

"Oh, they earned it." Sawyer was amused. "I'd bet a good deal of money that those two instigated that little attack."

Inconvenient and embarrassing as it had been, I was a little grateful for their interruption. That more reserved part of my brain was sounding a lot more sensible now that I wasn't quite so close to Sawyer. Whatever decision I eventually made, it was too soon to think about kissing him for real.

Wasn't it? I didn't want to admit it, but I was pretty disappointed that the moment had been ruined.

"Well, I guess we should..." Sawyer motioned for us to start walking again and I obliged, trying to ignore the awareness of his complementary disappointment.