The Coven

Equinox: Chapter 22

They pounded and pounded until their hands hurt and their voices were horse. It had been close to seven hours they had been trapped in the changeroom and accepted that they were going to be stuck in the room until the first gym class on Monday morning.

After midnight they heard someone calling their names, it was Amie's dad. They began calling and pounding again and finally they were found. Their parents were all sobbing because they thought something terrible had happened and they were dead.

"So where was the phone?"

Lilly almost forgot that Mason was there while she was telling the story, "It had fallen into the bottom of her backpack, we had it the entire time."

Mason laughed, "That sucks."

Lilly nodded, "So are you going to share a story with me."

"Nope."

She groaned, "Why?"

"Because I want to hear you talk."

There were so many stories she could tell Mason about her life before she met him and the other members of the Coven, but there were even more questions bouncing around her head than stories. One in particular was burning in her head.

"Why did you stay at the school?" Mason gave her a puzzled look, "Today when you knew a storm was coming you were still at the school, you who should have skipped out early to party with New Sean. Why did you stay?"

Mason sighed, "I told you, I had things to do."

"What things?"

"My things." Mason bolted up and turned to look at her, "We're not dating anymore, Lilly. I can do things without telling you what they are, who I was with and why I did it." He threw up his hands in frustration, "Why do you care so much about what I do?"

Lilly grabbed at him to pull him back down into the heat but he brushed off her touch. Angry and frustrated herself Lilly folded her hands over her chest, "You are just the weirdest person. You do things that don't make sense, one moment you are an ass the next moment you're pleasant. I am curious about what you would have left to do at the school after exams." She sighed and reached out to him, "Please Mason, it's getting colder I can feel it. Please, please lie back down."

Mason let out a breath and lay back down beside her, though this time he was lying on his back, not his side with his arms wrapped around her. It was all she could hope for at the moment, she was sure eventually he would turn back around and hold her.

Why did she want him to hold her? She shouldn't want him to hold her, she was with Ace. She was happy with Ace! He was wonderful to her, he spoiled her, he made her laugh and most importantly he was stable. She wondered where Ace was right now, was he worried about her because she hadn't responded to any of his messages? Did he wonder how she got home from the school in the snowstorm?

Hell did anyone care about where she was? It had to be after dark now and she should have been in Boston a few hours ago, or at least in Willow Creek. Would her parents be calling around looking for her? Would they even know who to call? Or would they be braving the storm to drive out to Willow Creek to find her?

And then there was Mason's family, were they looking for him? Did they even know he was driving her home or were they expecting him even sooner? There was a better chance that someone from Willow Creek out looking for them was going to find them over someone from Boston.

"I stayed for you."

Lilly whipped her head around at the sound of Mason's voice. "What?"

"I stayed for you. I stayed because I knew you wouldn't make it home in your car in this weather." He turned around to face her, "I stayed because I care about you, Lilly."

She bit her bottom lip, "You have a weird way of showing it."

His eyes never left hers while he spoke to her, "After what happened in the summer I had no idea how to deal with...anything." He avoided saying his emotions, "I knew I liked you but you left me when I needed you." He let out a breath, "I was confused and when I saw you again everything bubbled to the surface as this...mean, sarcastic attitude and once I started I couldn't stop."

She nodded her head, not in accepting his behaviour but finally understanding where all the hostility was coming from. "What about Ace? You're pretty nasty to him too."

Mason laughed, "Because Harrington and I have not liked each other since we met freshmen year, and now he's always around, always-"

"With me." She finished his sentence with a whisper, "Are you jealous of him?" Mason didn't say or do anything. He just looked at her with those blue eyes. "Why are you jealous?"

"Because he gets to do this." She felt Mason's hand gently bring her face closer to his, then his warm lips locked against hers. With one moment and one kiss all the memories from the summer they shared came flooding back to her, pushing Ace and their frozen doom to the back of her mind.