A/N: I've made changes to the end of chapter twenty-nine in the scene between Cordelia and Indigo, so be sure to check that out!
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Wednesday turned out to be a great day to go to the beach. After school they split up the group so half of the group rode in Mike's SUV, and the other half rode in Hailey's mom's minivan.
And Cordelia wound up in the backseat of the SUV, sandwiched between Kyle and Cal, with a pretty italian exchange student named Gia sitting in the passenger seat, laughing and flirting with Mike.
While Mike put the moves on Gia, the backseat was awkwardly silent for the first fifteen minutes of the drive. Kyle had openly shared his dislike and distrust of Cal, and it was impossible to tell whether or not Cal knew. Cal certainly didn't seem uncomfortable.
"I'm really happy you could come today Cord, we weren't sure whether or not your mom would let you come." Kyle finally broke the silence, blatantly ignoring Cal in the process.
Eleanor had refused when Cordelia first brought it up. Normally, she would have no problem letting Cordelia stay out late with friends, but ever since the accident, she'd been alot more jumpy and on edge. It was only after Cordelia promised she'd stay safe, stay sober, and be home by eight that Eleanor relented.
"Glad to be here." She smiled politely.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cordelia caught Cal quirk a brow, and Kyle pretended to just have noticed Cal.
"You too Cal. I was surprised to see you this afternoon, but it's nice that someone thought to invite you." Kyle added, with a feign smile.
Kyle's fake attempt at friendliness seemed to amuse Cal. "It is isn't it? That my girlfriend invited me to hang out with her friends." Cal taunted with a twinkle in his eyes as he put emphasis on the word girlfriend, and friends.
"Great we're in agreement. We're all happy to be here." Cordelia blurted out in an attempt to dissipate the tension.
In that moment, Cordelia had a feeling that if she could smell testoserone she would find it very hard to breathe in the backseat of that SUV.
Mike overheard that last part of their conversation, and so he budded in like, "Hell yeah, i'm punped!" Just as he pulled up to the beach.
The mile-long crescent of the beach was familiar to everyone but Cal and Gia. The familiarity didn't change the fact that is was still breathtaking. The water was dark grey, even in the sunlight, heaving to the rocky shore. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand on the water's edge, it's tide line strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves. There was a brisk wind coming off the waves that made Cordelia grateful she'd brought a windbreaker.
They picked their way down to the beach, Cordelia and Cal purposefully trailing behind.
"Girlfriend?" Cordelia repeated in a teasing manner, as she interlaced their fingers.
"Would you prefer a different title?" Cal asked, with a smirk that managed to be charming.
"Mmm...what about confidante? Or flame. No gal pal. Your plus-one? No. Your arm candy." She replied, adding on to her answer as she spoke.
"Too bad I happen to like the sound of girlfriend." He purred.
The corner of her mouth involuntary quirked upwards before a full on smile was plastered on her face.
Jordan led the way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been used at parties before. There was a fire circle already in place, filled with black ashes. Everyone went out in pairs looking for broken branches of driftwood from the forest edge, and they soon had a teepee shaped construction built atop the ashes using everyone but Kendra and Ethan's contributions, since the pair had yet to return.
Cordelia sat on one of the bone-coloured benches chatting with Hailey, occasionally glancing at Cal through the flames, while he talked about soccer with Rafael and Jordan.
Being near Cal and fire reminded Cordelia of the night she'd first discovered magic, and of the flame that had danced in his palm.
Hailey brought Cordelia back to the present when she said, "I cannot believe the two of you are dating. Not that I don't think you should. I think the opposite. You guys are really cute together," in her usual fast-paced delivery.
"So what happened with all that wiccan stuff?" Hailey continued, innocently enough, though Cordelia knew Hailey well enough after twelve years of friendship to know that Hailey was dying to know.
"Cal never intended to start a coven or anything. He just wanted to share something cool and new with people." Cordelia lied easily.
She couldn't be sure it was a complete lie, but it definitely wasn't the complete truth. She now knew it had been an attempt to help stir up her memories and magic.
Kendra and Ethan rejoined the group later on, and Cordelia noticed a flush in both of their faces, as well as a twig in Kendra's hair. She made a mental note to bring it up later and tease Kendra.
After a half hour of chatter, Mike wanted to take Gia to see the nearby tidal pools, and Cordelia decided Cal needed to see them. If he really wanted to belong in Willow Creek, he needed to have see the tidal pools at least once, she decided.
The tidal pools had fascinated her when she was a child, but she had had a bad habit of falling into them...alot.
So she went around the bonfire to give Cal's hand a tug to tell him they were going. He didn't question anything, and wordlessly followed Cordelia as they caught up with Mike and Gia.
The hike wasn't too long, but she had to watch every step she took very carefully, avoiding roots and branches, before they finally left the green forest behind in favour of the rocky shore. It was low tide and a tidal river flowed past them on it's way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools were teeming with life. Cordelia was very careful not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds, but Mike didn't have the same concerns. He leaped over rocks, and perched precariously on the edges to show off for Gia who thought everything that came out of his mouth was hilarious.
Cal didn't share Mike's urge to impress, so he stuck with Cordelia and together they found one of the largest pools, and cautiously sat dosn on a rock on it's fringe. They watched the natural aquarium below in captivation without exchanging a word, until Mike and Gia returned and Cordelia realised she was hungry, so she got off her butt and the four of them returned to the bonfire.
The food was already being passed around, and the quartet hurried to claim a share. While they ate, the sky started to blush, and people started to drift away in twos and threes. Some tried to skip rocks, others made a trip to the tide pools, giving Cordelia some alone time with Cal.
As soon as Tiana and Vanessa left, Cal gallantly joined Cordelia on her log.
"I like your friends." He declared, as he scooted over so their legs were touching.
"All of my friends?" Cordelia inquired.
"Most of your friends." He corrected.
"Eight out of nine? Good enough." She smiled, as she rested her head on his shoulder.
He kissed her temple. "I didn't know Kyle had feelings for you."
"Neither did I until recently." She admitted.
"I should have known. It's not like he's good at hiding it, and he's not blind. I guess I just never considered...anyone else in the picture." He sighed, as he idly stroked her hair.
"That's because there isn't anyone else in the picture." As long as my friend with a crush, and a weird dream about your brother doesn't count.
He put his arm around her shoulder and buried his face in her hair for a moment before pulling away to say, "What I have thought about are your lips," with a cheeky smirk. "And your hair. Your smell. Your eyes...I can go on an on." He teased.
Cordelia might've blushed if she hadn't laughed because Cal had listed all of those things in such a dramatic fashion, like he was standing under her balcony comparing her to the sun.
"Ooh and definitely your laugh." He grinned.
Cordelia shifted her face to look into his eyes, unaware his face was already so close. So instead of sharing a look with him, they shared a breath because their faces were so close and then a kiss.
Or they would have shared a kiss if the sound of beach rocks clattering against each other hadn't warned them that someone was approaching and broken them apart as their lips brushed against one another.
Cordelia looked over to see who had interrupted what would've been a great kiss, and saw Ethan and Kendra, approach, with Rafael, Jordan, and Hailey a few paces back. She was almost sure she heard Cal swear under his breath.
"Hey guys, sorry to interupt but we were going to pack up because it looks like it'll rain any second now." Ethan explained, looking genuinely sorry.
Cordelia looked up to note that dark storm clouds were threatening to start pourring soon.
"It's okay. I would've needed to leave soon anyways." Cordelia smiled, forcing herself to get up and put a little more space between herself and Cal.
She pulled up her hood and together they trampled across the rocks towards the parking lot where the rest of the group was already waiting. This time Cordelia ended up in the minivan sitting next to Kendra and Tiana, and Cal sat shotgun, chatting with Hailey.
The backseat turned out to be very cozy, and so Cordelia found herself falling asleep, her head lolling onto Kendra's shoulder. When they got back to school, Cal didn't bother waking her up. Instead he scooped up a sleepy Cordelia and brought her over to his car so he could drive her home.
A/N: Another long wait I know. I apologize so often I wonder whether I should just apologize for now and for the future. I'm sorry. I won't bother giving excuses, instead i'll just apologize and say I hope the wait was at least kinda worth it.
I wanted to thank you all for getting Wicked to 5.8k reads and 1.1k votes. I don't need to tell you guys how insane and amazing that is, nor do I need to tell you how much it means or how grateful I am. Do I? I hope not. I feel really lucky to have had this success on Wattpad by sharing a story i've been working on for about a year. I started this last October with a very vague idea of a book about a girl who finds out she's a reincarnated witch, and meets two gorgeous brothers. I took a break from the book for awhile before I started from scratch in March, and i'm so glad I did. I'm so proud of myself, because I never could have thought I was capable of writing an actual, full-length novel. Now I know it needs some work, and I know my writing needs some work and I plan on working on both of those things when I finnish Wicked. Whoops sorry I didn't mean to write such a long a/n.
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Have a lovely day,
~Liz