"I can't use her," Dastan immediately said as he sat across from me. I attempted to stand up with that verbal slap in the face, but Con held me down and froze there.
"You have to try," Mr. Wilde insisted. Dastan threw his hands down on the table and it snapped in half. As much as I wanted to be taken back by the strength, I was more impressed at how he held back that much strength so easily around everyone most of the time.
"I've been trying this entire time!" he roared and then stood to storm out. No matter the fear I felt in every inch of my body, I followed him and grabbed his hand. He jerked out of my touch and spun to face me in rage as if he'd lash out at me, but then his golden eyes softened and he relaxed. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you."
He reached out to grab me once more, but didn't make contact. Instead, he stepped around me and walked back over to the couch, Mr. Wilde studying his every move.
"I feel...better," Dastan expressed.
"It's because of her," Mr. Wilde insisted. Con crossed his arms as Dastan and I took our seats.
"So some random girl just comes and is the exception to all our powers?" Con asked. "That's not possible."
"Why not? That's how your mother was to your father," Mr. Wilde reminded. Both the boys looked down in sorrow. "It's true love, your father said about her...or, more concretely, a specific combination of atoms in contact with each other. He thought there would be at least one occurrence or person for each of you, at any given time, but I never thought she would affect all of you..."
I knew what he was talking about; I was immune to their powers. The love part, was a distant topic to me, though. I hoped that maybe that was Dastan's dad's romantic way of coping with the phenomenon. Right now that seemed like a lot of pressure.
"But then again, Dastan's domain is emotion, so his love will be the strongest," Mr. Wilde added. Dastan's eyes connected to mine and I gave him back nothing but sympathy. "I didn't know that dictated her strength, but I guess so—"
"So what does that mean when my occurrence comes around or even Mateo's?" Con asked. I badly wanted to tell him it was impossible for a girl to love him because he was an ass, but I remembered that Dastan acted like that towards me in the beginning too.
"I don't know," Mr. Wilde shrugged. "It could be completely different since Dastan's circumstances are completely different."
"Can we stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Dastan asked, when it really should be me saying this. He repositioned himself and lifted his chin. "I'm in love and overwhelmed, okay. Why is that so complicated for everyone to accept?"
"Because you put that stupid video on TV that made everything worse," Con hissed. He suddenly turned to me. "Did you even know who he was before that? Did you ever get caught? Better yet, did you ask him to quit?"
"Stop..."
"I only recently put the clues together about who he was and the only person that caught us was my brother," I answered him. "But I didn't ask him to quit..." I looked over to Dastan, who had looked down at the ground. "That's why I went to your house today...to ask you to rethink that decision."
"What?" Con asked. Dastan's eyes flashed up to mine.
"Why? Why would you want that?" he asked me in a harsh tone more than curiosity.
"Because I you shouldn't just be making decisions on my behalf. Plus my brother cared so much about you being a superhero even though—"
"Did you not hear what I told you last night?" he suddenly asked in a hiss, standing up. His eyes darkened from their honey color. "You already called me selfish a number of times, so then why can't you get it through your head that I rather have any kind of relationship with you than one that puts you in that much danger?"
"Because this isn't you, Dastan!" I exclaimed. "You're meant to bicker and tease me every day in school and then sneak into my room every night to be sweet. I don't want you moving schools and quitting your double-life because of me. If that's the case, then don't think about me or what you think I want. Think about all those people out there...and Jem. They need you and expect you to be fighting for them and their lives. I can't let you do this."
I was serious and I hope he saw that. It was clear he loved me, but I really needed him to consider his life ahead of mine right now. I didn't want some perfect relationship with the perfect guy because that wasn't what this was. We had to grow a relationship from the ground up and this was his perfectionism manifesting, not actual embodiment of it. This secretive life of his made everything even more of an adventure that I didn't want to miss out on though. Not to mention, it was his job to save people. Not give up for some girl...especially when that girl was me.
"Well, I guess that's a clear response," Con said, breaking the silence that covered the room. Dastan's gaze was locked to mine and I made my decision. I looked to Mr. Wilde.
"Can I go home now?" I asked him in a weak voice that held just enough of a commanding force for me not to break down and cry. He stood from his seat and nodded briefly. I stood, ready to leave and then Dastan flashed over to me and grabbed my hand. My breath caught in my throat, only this time I wasn't scared of him. I was scared of breaking his heart.
"What can I do?" he breathed desperately, his eyes slightly lightening by the seconds while his hands slid down and around my waist to pull me into him.
"Dastan, it's not that difficult," I told him in a whisper. He groaned in frustration and leaned his forehead on mine with his eyes closed. They flashed open and they were stronger in intention.
"What. Do. I. Do?" he asked. "Anything. For you. What can I possibly do, Angela?!"
"For what?!"
"To keep you!" he shouted. His grip tightened for a second, but I didn't care. "Just tell me what to do..."
That's when I peeled his hands off of me for his own good.
"Maybe if you think about how you fell for me, you'd know the answer," I told him sternly and promptly addressed Mr. Wilde to figure out a way for me to get home.
Dastan loved me too much. This whole time he painfully internalized it all and, to me, it came across like he had already put his feelings and hopes and realism into an imaginary scenario that didn't turn out quite right and left him in turmoil about it. Only, that imagined trauma was bleeding into actual reality and nothing had happened with us. It came off as intense, especially when considering I had my own confusing life spread thing between both versions of him plus Hayden plus Kenneth plus Sebastian. How was I supposed to respond to that? I couldn't let him center his life around me. If he wanted to keep me, he'd have to do it in a much different way. I didn't care how it was, but he had to return things to normal and do what he wanted. If he loved me, he must figure he knew me. If he knew me, he'd know that I just wanted him to be happy and genuine in whatever he did.
***
I made it back to Manhattan later the same day thanks to Mr. Wilde's big bucks from being a very renowned researcher and physician. I slowly trudged through the airport and saw Nik waiting for me with an absence of his usual dark cloud.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"I think you know the answer to that," I grumbled as he threw an arm over my shoulders. After all, his dad had called him sometime between now and then. Many times.
"So what do you think of my dad?" he asked.
"You're both smart, but only one of you is arrogant about it."
"Thanks," he beamed and I rolled my heavy eyes. He drove me back home and as soon as we pulled up with Sebastian glaring out of my room's second story window, I knew I was in trouble.
"It won't be so bad," Nik soothed as we were in the elevator.
"Easy for you to say," I sighed. He placed his hands on my shoulder and made me face him.
"I'm gonna explain all of this to you and to them, okay? You have nothing to worry about," he cajoled and then pulled me into a hug. This was the warmest version of Nik I had ever experienced aside from when him and Cheyenne had their own private moments that they thought no one saw. We made it to my floor and Sebastian was already there waiting for me with Kenneth sitting on the coach. I gulped.
"Are you freaking stupid?" Sebastian roared at me. "I already told you how dangerous it was and you still acted like some dumb kid and chased after him—"
"Seb, stop," Nik said defensively.
"No! She deserves it and so do you!" he yelled. I whimpered back at the fact that my brother acted like he hated me right now. He started walking over to me, but Nik placed a hand on his chest as he continued to try and get to me. Right now, I was scared because of the death glares shooting out from Sebastian's blue eyes. "Get out of my way, Nik. She knows what she did! Going after him and especially leaving Jem here alone was stupid. Angela, you're such a f*cking idiot—"
"That's enough!" Kenneth growled, standing up. Sebastian glared back at him. "Sure, it was stupid of her, but you can't talk to your sister like that."
"Why are you defending her?! She's not your girlfriend anymore, remember? She's the one dating the guy that stole her away from you and yet also shacking up with a different guy that wiped your memory all these goddamn years ago!" Sebastian snapped, causing Kenneth to gain enough strength and anger to charge at his best friend and punch him in the face. Normally, I'd hate anyone causing an altercation with Sebastian, but this time he deserved it. While he was the one getting punched by Kenneth's defensive drive, it was really me feeling as if I got smacked in the face.
The two boys fought on the floor as I tried looking away, but Nik soon pulled them apart.
"Get out of my house," Sebastian ordered to them. "Both of you, out!"
Kenneth started to walk, but I grabbed his wrist. He hissed in pain so I let go but he got the picture that I wanted him to stay.
"Fine, I see how it is," Sebastian added. He walked toward us, brushing shoulders roughly with the boys before leaving altogether. And let me tell you, I was crying before I heard the elevator ding. Kenneth's arms coiled around my shoulders and I cried into his chest, even after hearing Sebastian's car's tires zoom away.
"I'm here," Kenneth whispered. "I'm here and so is Nik. Shh, darlin'. It's alright. It's fine."
"Hayden? It's Nik," I heard Nik say, probably with a phone up to his ear. "Yeah. I brought her back home, but Sebastian just stormed off cuz he was fighting with Kenneth...Yeah, you really need to...No. He's not back...I know...That's a good idea actually...Yeah. That's fine...Bye."
"What?" Kenneth asked as my sobs became more hushed.
"Nothing," Nik lied. I pulled away from Kenneth and he pulled me to sit on the couch by my hand. "I meant to explain everything with Sebastian here, but I guess—"
"I'll relay the message," Kenneth interrupted. I looked up at him like a crazy person. He still expects Sebastian to forgive him. "It's not the first time we've fought. He'll get over it."
"You sure?" Nik asked.
"Yeah..." he said, not convincing me. "Let's get this over with."