Going Up in Smoke

Make Me Stay

Song of the Chapter:

"Wish I Knew You" -The Revivalists

You shine like a star
You know who you are
You're everything beautiful
She's hot, hot like the sun
The loneliest one
Still everything beautiful
Well I'll be god damned
You're standing at my door
We stayed up in the city
Until the stars lost the war
So Friday night, holy ghost
Take me to your level
Show me the one I need the most
I need the most  

         Asher made small talk with Eliryn for the entire ride to his home, but Eliryn wasn't really replying fully. She was thinking too much about the situation with Jase and it was hard for her to grasp. They pulled into the drive of the Sommer's estate. Raiven, Lilly, and Brendon were standing outside on the front step and Eliryn felt left out once again.  Eliryn hopped out of the car alongside Asher and was greeted warmly by Lilly and Raiven outside the door.

"Come help us grab some stuff Eliryn!" Raiven gestured for Eliryn to follow her into the house.

Lilly stayed back to catch up with Asher and they moved to the kitchen to grab some things for the trip.

Eliryn followed Raiven through the threshold of the front door and up the winding staircase to the second door on the landing. Raiven had a few bags laid out on her enormous bed. Eliryn stared around the room in awe. It had a regal theme of marble and gold. Her bedspread had golden silk sheets and a marbled duvet. The bed was a large circular shaped object and it took up a large portion of space in the room. Overall, the room was ethereal and Eliryn tried to keep her mouth from falling open as she gaped silently at the fancy furniture.

"A little help here?" Raiven waved over at Eliryn.

"Yeah, uh sorry." Eliryn said, moving towards the bed to grab a bag for Raiven.

"Hey, about that night..." Raiven started.

"It's really okay Raiven-"

"No it isn't. Taryn should not have acted that way towards you and I'm sorry that it had to go down like that. You should know that we all are really glad to get to know you better this weekend. It is going to be so much fun!"

Eliryn could tell that Raiven didn't want to spend a load of time on such a subject, so she smiled, thinking about how great it was going to be to finally be a real teenager and to have a group of people her age that wanted to be around her. 

"Well what are we waiting for then?" Eliryn joked, pushing through the door with Raiven on her tail.

They descended the staircase and Eliryn noticed that she still hadn't heard or seen Jasen. She thought it was a bit odd that he was still unaccounted for, and hoped that it had nothing to do with her after their odd encounter the day before. Brendon stood at the bottom of the stairs and he smiled when he saw the pair walking down.

"Hey Eliryn! Hey babe!" he smiled brightly. 

Eliryn noticed now that his voice had the slightest accent to it, but she couldn't figure out what it was. He took the bag from her and moved to Raiven to grab the other one. Raiven pulled Eliryn through to the kitchen and she saw that everyone was gathered there to eat breakfast before they left. Eliryn looked around the table at everyone, her breath catching in her throat as she saw Jasen sitting at the table...but he wasn't alone. Taryn sat next to him, her dark eyes burning holes into Eliryn. Before she could turn to leave, she caught Jasen's eye. He stared at her with a swirling storm of emotion reflected in his gaze. His eyes were darker than they normally were. The once light swirl was now a nearly midnight grey; the color of a cloud before a hellish storm rains down. Eliryn looked at Raiven and her eyes were as wide as saucers as she also took in the scene. It was apparent that Taryn was not expected to be here by anyone. Eliryn side stepped and tried to act casually as she raced out of the room. She pushed out the front door and slammed her back against it, catching her breath as she tried to also catch up with the last few minutes. Her heart was beating loud in her chest, a single drum in a cavernous room. She wanted nothing more than to vanish into thin air, taking every trace of her existence with her. However, another emotion, a deep flame rose within her, her eyes alight with the fire in her belly. She was lied to and she did not appreciate it. After everything that happened, and after knowing what Eliryn went through with Taryn, Jasen still lured her here under the pretense that everything was fine and dandy. Eliryn didn't realize she had stomped back into the kitchen until she felt the gust of wind behind her and the complete silence in the room at her arrival.