For some reason, I went out of my way and made brown butter mushroom omelette. It took me less than twenty minutes to prepare but I liked to think that I had put a lot of work into it. With a huge proud grin on my face, I set both plates on a silver food tray and put a fork and knife beside each plate. Grabbing a can of juice from the fridge and two tumblers, I put them on the food tray.
When I stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room, Cole was still getting his laptop ready. He was having problem with connecting the wireless headsets to his laptop. The only time I had seen Cole this serious was when he was on the court; he played basketball passionately. Perhaps it was the smell, perhaps it was my footsteps, but he looked up at me, at my apron, then at the tray, and beamed. "Wow. Pure housewife material too!"
"Oh, really? I don't know if I should take that as a compliment."
"You should. It is. And — my oh my — it smells delicious. King sure is a lucky guy."
"Can you stop?" I untied the apron as I stepped into the kitchen and carelessly hung it kn one of the stools. "It's not like I'm marrying King."
"You don't plan on?" I was back in the living room. He had successfully connected the headsets and was now trying to retrieve the downloaded movies from his drive. "Dating leads to marriage."
"What do you know about dating? You're a playboy."
"No I'm not. Give me three girls I've dated."
"Exactly. You don't date."
"Neither did you." Retrieval successful. An array of thumbnails of videos appeared on his screen. "How about. . .The Mother."
"That's the name? What's it about?"
He shrugged, taking one plate out of the tray. He cut a piece of his omelette and poked it with a fork. "Jennifer Lopez starred in that one. Something about protecting her daughter — wow it tastes even better than it smells," his voice came out in a muffle. "I have to give it to you, baby. The school cafeteria needs you."
"I'll just take that as a compliment."
"No joke, chick. How about. . .this one! Kill Boksoon!"
My forehead scrunched up in disgust. "It doesn't seem like something I'll like."
"Don't judge a book by its cover. It's good, you know."
"And how do you know that?"
"I've watched it."
"You have?" He nodded, more focused on the omelette now. "Then why are you trying to force yourself to watch it with me?"
"Who says I'm forcing myself? I mean imagine this. You're class president — a student walks up to you — What's your favourite movie — But, oh, sorry, I don't watch movies. What! Even I would cower in a shell." He did the honours of opening the can of juice and poured himself a tumblerful.
"So you're doing this in hopes I'll win."
"I'm afraid if Sandra wins, she'll make every girl wear shorts on Wednesdays. I mean, not like I mind though," he leered.
"She said that?"
He grabbed one headset and put it over his head. I did same, pouring myself a glass of juice. "No, not exactly," he chuckled, clicking a few things on his laptop. "Murder Mystery. I haven't exactly watched it if it makes you feel better."
"Whatever." And so he selected that one.
"Is your mum asleep? Haven't seen her since I stepped."
"Yes — no. She, uh, she left this morning. She said she had something to do." I took the other plate out of the tray and placed the tray on the floor to create more space on the table. Cole adjusted his laptop to the middle of the table. "Why?"
"Nothing. You know it's kind of rude when you visit someone's house and not greet the parents."
I laughed. "Rude? Since when do you care whether you're being rude."
"I've never been rude," he defended. "I'm just a handsome outspoken guy that girls admire."
"Yeah right!"
"Yeah, right!" He mimicked. "I say you're even learning from me. You and your wet kisses!" He referenced last night's conversation.
"Hey!"
"What! You should be proud of it, you know."
"I can't tell if you mean it, or not."
"I do." He pressed the space bar and the movie paused. "Hey, let me ask you something though!"
"What?"
"Why King? Out of the blue."
"Out of the blue?"
"I'm not trying to be rude or anything. King's my buddy, alright? He's always admired you. . .I was always pushing him to go make a move. Shy dumb arse, he is. Suddenly it happens. I mean, it has to be something you did."
"Me? I'm just a. . .Yeah, a nerd."
"Er, no. You never were. But yeah running for president's got to be the bravest thing you've done."
I stared down at my food, remembering the day King and I had gone to buy the form. "You know, King was the person who encouraged me to go ahead with it." It had started nicely, our conversation, then ended badly when King threw my being naive in my face, and Josh and George harassed me. At least he'd apologized, King, and offered to make it up.
"Aha! So that's where he made the move!" Cole pointed out, a sparkling glint in his eyes.
"I'd always wanted to run for president," I shrugged. "I just needed the right person to support me. And he was there for me. And now. . .here we are."
He pressed the space bar again. "Right. King told me about you and Kimberly. . .and I heard about Josh. It's satisfying to know that this chick fights." He clicked his fingers and pointed at me encouragingly.
"Oh, really? That's not something to be proud of, now is it? And stop calling me a chick!"
"No? What about biddy?"
"You're crazy!"
"Nah. Just a handsome friend you have."
"We're friends?"
"I wouldn't come over if we weren't, would I?" I smiled unconsciously. "There. There. She's falling for this face."
"No, I'm not." I crossed my arms and turned to the laptop. We watched quietly for a few minutes. The movie was enthralling and funny, something about detectives and an Indian marriage gone wrong, but I wasn't enjoying it. Movies weren't my thing. Those times I'd watched movies with Rowan they were because I wanted to spend time with him. It wasn't the movies I enjoyed; it was the moment. "If you're not proud of it — of fighting — why did you do it?"
I turned to Cole to see that he was still staring, only glancing at his laptop occasionally. "They're your hands. You're free to punch whoever you want so. . ." He chortled as he said this. "Getting out of your comfort zone, trying new things, that's a solid improvement. I'm almost jealous. Kimberly, though."
"Why is everyone talking about her!" I sighed in exasperation.
"Who's everyone?"
"I don't know. It's like she's the good girl and I'm the bad—"
"I didn't say that, baby."
"She shouldn't even be in the conversation. She's not even our classmate. Being a cheerleader or being King's brother is not enough reason to be putting her nose in things that aren't her business!"
"Is that the reason — you almost killed her — that you feel intimidated by her presence?"
I cringed when he mentioned killing. "I wasn't going to kill her. The funny thing was that I'd actually gone to apologise. No one knows that of course. All that mattered to Griffin was that I'd almost killed her."
"Oh ho! Hold it right there, Murderess," he snorted tongue-in-cheek. I grabbed a scatter cushion and threw it at his face. "Careful, there! Don't kill me too." He was beside himself with laughter.
"It's not funny, Gritihan!"
"You don't suppose so. Please don't pick up that knife. The veins in my neck are very fragile," he guffawed. None of what he said sounded like mockery. "Although — I'm certain — Josh would be very happy to have a companion. Oh ho! What's with the evil eyes, baby?"
I took off the headset. "You're an annoying little thing." He let out a belly laugh, placing his hands on his stomach as if trying to suppress his laughter. His face had turned red. Tears were at the corners of his eyes.
"Honestly, maybe you should star in a Murder Mystery 3. You're a natural!" I let out a titter. Josh downed the juice in his glass in a go and refilled his tumbler. "Wow. That was a good laugh."
I huffed.
"Kimberly doesn't hate you, you know."
"No, trust me. She does." I shook my head.
"You have every right to do whatever you want. And she has every right to dislike what you're doing." He crouched closer to me. "Speaking up for yourself is absolutely right. I mean even I think Josh deserved it — shed blood once in a while — the dirt in your vein go away — you made him healthier." I rolled my eyes. He shook his head, a simper on his face. "Kim might be wrong. You might be wrong. I know the kind of person she is. So impatient. Jumping to conclusions. I also know this. Kim's got a good heart. She cares about people. Genuinely. She might be a bit too proud sometimes. That's where you step in. Be the big girl. The bigger chick. Talk to her. Apologise. You don't have to be her friend. Just. . .be on good terms. Sink your differences. She's your boyfriend's sister after all."
There was plea in his eyes and a hint of admiration as he spoke about Kimberly Isnaul. "Hold up. Do you like Kimberly?" The look in his aquamarine eyes and the way he turned his face away sheepishly gave him away. It was my turn to laugh. "Who would have thought? That Collins Gritihan would ever fall in love? Kimberly needs to hear—"
"No. No, Emery—"
"So we're back to calling me by name?"
"If you decide to have a conversation with Kimberly, don't mention this." He straightened his shirt, pretending to be unaffected. "It's something I want to do on my own. I've been suspecting that Griffin may like her too. Gotta beat him to it."
"Fighting for a girl. Nice."
"I won't be fighting. I'm not like you." He turned and faced the laptop.
"Yeah, you're not." I gave him a light bump on the shoulder. "You're probably scared King would not—" My necklace began to glow. I looked up to see if Cole might have noticed. He hadn't, been too focused on the movie, thankfully. I hid the stone in my palm. I could hear Tevessa calling my name. When he turned to look at me, waiting so I could finish my sentence, I was relieved to know he couldn't hear it. "Give me a second, would you?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, um. . .I need to. . ."
"Don't tell me. I'm no girl."
What? Deciding that this was Cole and that none of his words were ever to be taken seriously, I took one more bite out of my omelette — Cole's plate was empty now — and headed up the stairs. I reached into my room, locked the door, and let go of the stone.
"Tevessa."
"Where are you? Is it okay for me to transit through the portal?"
"Yes. I'm alone now."
The necklace stopped glowing. In less than a minute, the portal appeared and Tevessa stepped out of it. In a black T-shirt and navy breeches, and a pair of boots to match, he did look a bit ruffled. "Emerald." He beamed at me. "Trekma at Elakki were bustling with people. Last time I saw that that much chaos. . . You have a very lovely room." He let his eyes roam around. "Suits your personality."
"Um, thank you." He seemed strangely happy like we hadn't had that argument.
"My community, we're grateful." He thanked as he sprayed open another portal and returned the blue-green bottle, ready to leave. "You made a lot of things easier for me."
"Wait. Just, well, I hadn't meant what I'd said. No. I'd meant it. Just. . .I didn't intend to come off as rude as I had. If you think about what I said, Tevessa, I'll really appreciate it. I really enjoy your family's company. . . and yours too. I was only concerned, pretty much."
He didn't smile. He didn't frown. He didn't falter. "I thought about it. I already made my decision." And then he left.
Just as soon as another portal beside his opened Crypta walked out, giving me barely any time to think about what Tevessa had said. He had a concerned look on his face, then he glanced at the other portal which was getting smaller until it gyrated away, then at the bottle in my hand, and eyed me suspiciously. "I was. . .I was coming from somewhere."
"What did I say about using Neban stones for personal gains?"
"You're not the boss of me."
He shook his head, seemingly too bothered to start an argument with me. "Emerald. They've taken Father."
"Who's they? And what do you mean taken?"
"The Zadios. Elera's been kidnapped."
.
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A/N
Oh, my! What's going on?
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