“Likehim?” My stomach sours thinking of the bastard, but I stubbornly take a bite of my dinner.
Mildred sighs heavily. “Yes, I believe so. Adelmo was the dangerous combination of handsome, charming and broken. He worshiped Lina, vowed the world to her, because she was his air-- his very reason for being. It sounds very romantic,” she criticizes, “but that isn’t love. It’s chains.”
She reaches over and squeezes my free hand. “When you choose to share your life with someone, please make sure you’re together because you enrich each other. You are whole people on your own but are better together. My darling, you don’t need someone else to give you worth, nor are you responsible for someone else's.”
I nod and sniff.Damn, this woman is good.“Got it. No Romeo and Juliet reenactments.”
“Certainly not,” she asserts sharply, her nose wrinkling in disgust. “How I despise that play and how people have romanticized it.”
I choke out a laugh. “We’re studying it in my English AP class now. You should hear how the girls in my class swoon.”
She rolls her eyes. “Bloody twits. Are they at least explaining the themes of literature of that time period, and how the tragedy of the play isn’t that they couldn’t live without each other but that their deaths were senseless?”
I grin, glad to know my aunt is as annoyed as I am. “Not at the moment. Mostly we’ve been reading it out loud and then translating for the modern day meanings. I’ve been enjoying playing devil's advocate-- the rest of the class, not so much. Kaleb backed me up today, so that was nice.”
“Speaking of, I would love to hear more about school and your new friends,” Mildred inquires none too subtly.
I tuck my hair behind my ears, trying to figure out how to explain the guys, especially since I can’t be sure she knows anything about the supernatural. “Well, overall school is good, and I’m lucky that I have at least one of my friends in most of my classes. Both Kaleb and Donovan are in my AP Chemistry class, and the teacher allowed me to join Kaleb and his lab partner.” I snort, remembering what Donovan told me after class. “Donovan and Kaleb used to be lab partners, but they kept finishing their work too quickly and spending half the class period with nothing to do. Two weeks ago, the teacher had enough and split them apart to ‘help with the students that were struggling.’”
“Let me get this straight,” she says with a smirk. “Your friends are too smart and instead of finding new ways to challenge them, your teacher split them apart.”
“Pretty much.” I take another bite of my dinner. It tastes so much better now that we’re not talking about the bastard. “Let’s see. I told you about English. Not much to tell about Study Hall, and we learned how to cook an egg in Foods and Nutrition. Exciting stuff.” I leave out that Gina and some of her entourage are also in my Food and Nutrition class. Mostly they glared and whispered, so not high on my concern list. “Not much to really tell. I did start school yesterday so it’s hard to say much more than school is school. The guys are nice, funny, and well, they’re all really close and they treat me the same way. Like I’m one of them, even though they just met me.”
“That’s wonderful, darling. I’m glad you found them,” she replies, then teases, “Now tell me about them. Are they cute? When will I get to meet them?”
“I can’t believe you asked me if they’re cute,” I laugh, getting the warm fuzzies that she cares enough to want to know about my friends. With mock reluctance, I admit, “They… are attractive, but they’re just friends, so no getting any ideas, and at least one of them is picking me up on Saturday.”
“Is that so?” she emphasizes with a sly pull of her lips over her wine glass.
I roll my eyes and blush. “None of that in front of the guys.”
She snickers quietly, then needles, “But I’m pretty sure it’s in the teenager handbook that they must be embarrassed at least once by an adult in front of their friends.”
I cover my face with my hands and groan, but my cheeks are wonderfully sore from genuine smiles that keep making their way across my lips.
Over the rest of dinner, I say what I can about the boys. I tell her about how Nolan is both charming and silly. That Felix seems to always find a silver lining and has a pop culture reference for every occasion. How people seem to be afraid of both Donovan and Connor, but really Donovan is passionate and frank, while Connor reserves his attention for people and things that matter to him. And they’re both funny and frustrating, and on occasion, frustratingly funny. Last but not least, I talk about Kaleb and how he’s the group’s voice of reason. He’s kind, compassionate, and has the patience of a saint. Patience the boys have way too much fun testing.
By the end of the evening, we’re laughing and I feel light. That’s the real gift the boys gave me. Simply by being themselves, they’ve helped me start to unshackle myself from my past. I’ll never forget what’s happened to me, but I now feel a sense of hope that it won’t rule me forever.
Chapter 9
Callie
Itake another desperate chug from my travel mug, the coffee burning down my throat, before putting it down on the cold tile floor beside me and commence rummaging through my bottom locker. Quickly, I swap out my Chemistry and English books and binders for my Pre-Cal and Psychology ones.
“Whoa, Callie love, where’s the fire?” Nolan chides, leaning back against the vibrant red lockers beside me, one foot pulled up in what I’m starting to think of as his trademark pose.
He’s dressed ‘casual’ today in expensive, pre torn jeans, a vintage t-shirt that looks like it’s from an old car show-- and is in French, hoodie, and a beanie that sits on the back of his head with well-coiffed strands of his white blonde hair visible across his brow. He may not act like the spoiled rich kid, but he sure does look like one.
“My aunt took me to the mall in Portland for clothes and supplies yesterday, which is great because I needed the stuff, but it’s a two hour drive and there was an accident on the way back, so we didn’t get home until late which means I didn’t get to bed until late, then I didn’t hear my alarm go off…” I ramble in one continuous stream.
I leave out that the few hours’ sleep I did get was broken by nightmares. Each time, I fought to stay awake, but despite my efforts, I was dragged right back under.
“Having a rough morning, got it.” Nolan raises his hands in surrender then gives me an assessing look. “Clothes shopping but couldn’t find a new hoodie you liked?”
“No knocking the sweater,” I warn with a tired glare. “I’ll have you know, I won this in a trivia contest when my class did a school trip to Arizona State University.”
Before last night, it was also one of the few things I owned that was untainted by the bastard, earned with what I knew instead of bought for me. The simple passing thought of him has last night’s dreams crawling their way across my conscious mind, and I shake my head to try and dislodge the feeling of acid burning through my skin.He’s gone. I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.
