“Oh.” Her boyfriend said quietly
“You’re just so sexy when you take charge. It turns me into complete mush inside.”
“Maybe because I may be part dragon myself?” He teased for her ultimate benefit.
Kara giggled. “Now don’t get me started on that family rumor again—just because one of your ancestors got fucking lucky with the queen of all dragons while she was in human form.”
“Or so the legends say.” Jake chuckled to himself. Then he found himself being hugged by his girlfriend. Hard to believe that they were only a few inches apart in height.
“Don’t ever change, baby.” Kara crooned softly. “Even if I do.”
Her boyfriend held her tightly. “I will love you no matter what. Till death do us part.”
Kara thumped him on the shoulder lightly with her free hand. “We’re not even married yet you fucking idiot and you use that line on me?”
Jake sighed heavily in passing. “Yep. Do you want me try out some other one liners while I’m at it? I got a whole volume of them parked in the back of my head at the moment. Of course, they got there because I had nothing better to do in my free time other than think of you constantly while we were apart.”
Kara sniffed a couple of times—her heart filled with joy. “You did? Really?”
“Really. Really.”
Kara buried her face into his chest. “I love you. I really, really love you.” She whispered longingly.
“I would marry you just for that. But—”
“—I know.” He reminded her. “You can’t afford to quit your day job as the Regency Council’s number one enforcer.”
“The promotion is a big step up, lover boy. It’s the biggest jump in pay as well. That’s why I’ve worked so hard for it. Because you’re worth it. I don’t want you spending any more of your money on me after that.”
“Bullocks.” He laughed. “If I did that, you would go through a serious chocolate withdrawal as a result. Then I would get a real earful from my mum if I did that. She’s very fond of you as far as future mother-in-law’s goes.”
Kara looked up at him, eyes glittering in the overhead kitchen light.
“Then you should staunchly remind her of my survival training in the Rockies at high altitude with nothing but my rifle, knife, and one hundred pounds of gear—while dressed in all weather attire.”
“Didn’t you suffer from mild hypoxia a few times as a result?”
His girlfriend nodded. “Most definitely. They had to use an oxygen tent at one of the lower altitudes at one of our base camps so that I could recover. Because I will tell you this much: Dragons like me don’t do too well in that those kinds of environments.”
“When’s your next training session?”
“Two months from now. In an isolated part of Jay Peak.”
“Isn’t that a little off the beaten path for you?” Jake asked. “I thought you said you were scheduled to head up to Mount Washington?”
“That’s for the rooks. Not for the seasoned pros like myself. The High Command decided to change the itinerary so that I would be in command of a couple platoons of seasoned vets.”
“I hope you’re up to the challenge.” Her boyfriend said in way of a reminder.
“After my promotion, I’m definitely going to enjoy cracking some skulls and busting somebody’s nuts along the way—even if they didn’t deserve it.”
Jake laughed. “You are just pure evil. Why did I ever fall in love with you again?”
Kara looked at him sweetly.
“Because of a great many things. And also because you can’t live without my famous enchilada pie. Now shut up and kiss me you fool.”
Jake didn’t need to be told twice and did so without hesitation.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
A Secret Shared
One hour later.
9:18PM.
“You know…this would have gone a whole lot easier if you had just let me dance with you, Charlie.” Tillie reminded him coldly. “But no…you decided that Roz had to be left behind at your place while you escort me back to the women’s mission to get my things.”
But Charlie was having none of the girl’s hostile attitude with him. “I didn’t want to start a fight between you two. That’s all.” He informed her bluntly while they walked down a semi-lit street on Level Two.
Tillie paused for a moment while walking and turned around to him.
“So my feelings mean nothing to you—is that it, man?” She charged right off the bat.
Charlie sighed—feeling like he was being led around in circles by both girls all of a sudden. And he didn’t know who to really blame for that ongoing trend.
“It’s not that at all, Tillamook.” He tried to allay to the best of his ability. But given the genuinely hurt look the other girl was handing him on a silver platter—he didn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire.
Not tonight anyways.
“Then what, man? Why won’t you return any of the sudden hints of interest I’ve been throwing at you all this time? Is it because of me? Or is it because of the elf girl back there?”
“She’s only quarter elf, Tillie.” Charlie reminded her patiently—while feeling like this was going to be one long night for all three of them. And not because he didn’t like her any less. It was just…complicated.
“Oh Blessed Mother!” the girl exploded angrily. “I don’t care if she’s élan! I just want you to pay more attention to me and less on her!”
Charlie almost laughed at that point but managed to hold it in at great expense to himself, his own personal safety and any chance he might have of making out of this mess alive.
Only because he didn’t want to matters worse for the two of them.
“Then how fair would that be to Roz, Tillamook? If I started showing you more interest while putting her in my proverbial back pocket? Don’t forget: I’ve known her all my life since I was a baby. I’ve only known you a grand total of a few days now.”
The other girl glowered. “I don’t need you to constantly remind me of that, man. In fact, I would greatly appreciate if you stopped doing that. It’s getting on my nerves.”
“Now you know how I feel—having to juggle the two of you around like this.” Charlie emphatically pointed out—none too gently of course.
Tillie’s glowering expression went rigid and frosty as she now glared at him with enough force to move mountains. And she could do it too if pushed!
Charlie backed up a little until his back foot hit one of the many cracks in the road which had been laid down years earlier.
“Um…okay…that was a bit out of line. Sorry?” He tried to mollify but Tillie Gunderson was having none of it.
She was mad. And she was pissed. At him.
“You think this is a game, do you?” she started off menacingly. “You guys think you can come into any girl’s life and play around with their feelings—even though they’ve invested a lot of time and energy into the one person they share a romantic attachment to?”
“Well…it’s not like that—precisely, Tillamook. It isn’t. I was never playing with your feelings at all. I just—well, you come down here full of drive and energy and attraction and it’s…thrown off my concentration. And my vibes.” Charlie admitted with supreme difficulty.
“I’m not entirely sure how I should handle this mess-especially with the way Roz has been acting around both you and me. Especially me.”
Tillie nodded with some satisfaction, her anger all but forgotten for the moment.
“Hey! I know! She thinks of you as her future boyfriend—even though you still treat her as nothing more than a close and personal friend in return.”
“That’s true. I do. And for all the right reasons too. I’m invested in her as such but I don’t feel as much attraction in her as—” then he broke off for a second to try and hide what he had been feeling off and on for the past few days since Tillie entered the picture.
But the other girl saved
him a butt load of pain and personal embarrassment.
“Me?” she tossed out boldly.
Charlie looked at her uncomfortably. It wasn’t an easy thing to admit.
“It’s…well, yeah. I guess. Sure. Why not?”
“Well, that’s not much of an answer, man.”
The older boy nodded. “Sorry. I’m just not really used to exposing myself to people I barely know out of my given profession on a whim and expecting them to, well…understand where I am coming from.”
Tillie nodded a bit more eagerly—her emotional state cooling back to what passed for as normal.
“So I come off too strong and driven, you say?” She said with a giggle of her own.
“Yeah. Pretty much. I mean, I don’t find that to being a minus in the column of new relationship material, but you have to understand the fix I’m in between the two of you. It’s become a literal tug of war and I don’t want to see either of you hurt because of it.”
The teen girl was touched by his words and she closed the distance between them just a bit.
“That’s sweet, Charlie. Really sweet. Most guys I know wouldn’t give a toss about a girl’s feelings because in this world, we’re apparently a dime a dozen in that department. But you come off sounding like a dream come true. I guess that’s what attracted me to you and less to Trevor.”
“—Trevor being—?”
“A guy I had a thing for when I was twelve. He was sixteen and a supreme hottie. But he was a pretty boy nonetheless. My mom was crushed when she found out I wasn’t going to move past first base with him in all eventuality.”
“Ah. I see. So now, I’m your new love interest and you want—what again?” Charlie joked lightly.
Tillie rolled her eyes at him. “I want you to stop ignoring me, man. I know you’re running interference on Roz’s behalf, but show me a little more interest than you had been in recent days. That’s all I ask.” She implored.
“And if Roz were to ask why I gave you a couple long tipped roses out of the blue for your birthday—?”
Tillie giggled. “That would be the best present ever. My dad used to do that for my mom from time to time and me too when I hit my sixteenth birthday in February, but I’ve never had such a gracious overture from any guy unless he wanted the usual from girls like me.”
Charlie studied her in that moment. “And that would be?” He asked guardedly.
Tillie laughed in front of him. “Duh! What do you think, man? A pretty number like me who is a teen witch and turning heads here and there on occasion? Sex.”
Charlie coughed then and nodded with some heartfelt embarrassment on his part.
“Uh…yeah. Sex.” He managed to comment—but inside he was panicking a bit at the mere mention of it.
Tillie of course was scrutinizing him a little bit more from close range and caught the troubled expression on his face.
“What?”
Charlie shook his head, while licking his dry lips. “Nuh-nothing. That’s all.”
Tillie ignited one of her usual spell incantations and waved it in front of him.
Her look changed to one of personal confusion and wonder.
“Are you…embarrassed? Your face is red, man!” She blurted out. “Why? Was it because of what I said?”
The older boy hesitated. Then he nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”
Tillie looked at him in that moment, partial understanding hitting her like a ton of bricks.
“It’s nothing to worry about. Happens to all of us one way or another. But you acted all freaked out there for a second.” She said in quiet analysis. Then she extinguished her spell incantation—allowing the darkness to come rushing back unimpeded.
“It’s like you’ve never heard of the birds or the bees. Or even had sex before either.” She rambled on.
Charlie just stared at her in astonishment. “H-How can you be so comfortable with that idea? How?”
“I’m not afraid, dude. My mom shared with me all the lovely horror stories of intercourse and sex when I hit puberty. She thought that would scare me straight after I stole one of her prized cucumbers out of the garden out back of the house and started…well, experimenting with it.”
“Did she, ah, find out?”
Tillie laughed. “Did she…ever! Man I thought I was in trouble when my mom uncovered all of the “evidence” of my spurious activities. I thought I was going to be cursed by giant vegetables for the rest of my life—as a pre-teen who hadn’t awoken as a witch yet.”
Charlie went quiet at that point, not sure how to best proceed with this conversation of theirs. But no harm was being done—at least.
“So what happened after that?”
“Oh, you know, lectures, talks, study guides, video slides, the usual. My mom thought it would be best if I educate myself on the joys of sex—outside of garden produce.”
“And then?”
“Life went on like normal. Of course, I never looked at cucumbers the same way again, but that’s a different story altogether.” Tillie offered up in quiet triumph. Then she looked at Charlie who wore yet another panicked expression on his face.
“Now what?” She asked. “Don’t tell me that I embarrassed you again with my run on horror stories of teen girl adolescence?”
“It’s not that.” Charlie said with some stiff resistance. “I’m just not sure how to tell you this. Only Roz knows and she swore she would keep a secret from anyone else like you who would either ask or…find out.”
Now Tillie was curious. “Find out what—exactly?”
The older boy sighed. “The reasons why I’ve been holding off committing to a possible relationship with a girl. It’s kind of embarrassing to say the least. I don’t know…well, how to handle it.
“And you talking up a storm about sex and everything and it had me thinking—I was going to freak out no matter what.”
Tillie reached out to him by hand and touched him on the chest lightly.
“Okay. So what’s the problem?”
Charlie looked at her in that instant, trying to form the right words in his mouth.
Then he nodded.
“Can you keep a secret?”
“I most certainly can, Charlie. You have my word.” She answered honestly. She smiled warmly as she said it.
Charlie sighed and bent down a little to whisper something into her ear. Something only she could hear and no one else. When he finished, he pulled away and waited for a reaction from her.
It came in the form of a question of her own.
“And here I thought my mom’s cucumbers were big. Is it…is the condition painful?”
“Sometimes.” He admitted with furthered difficulty. “That’s why…that’s why I’m not trying to hurt anyone I make friends with—girls I mean. I don’t want them to think that I’m a freak or anything.”
Tillie touched his arm tenderly. Then reached for his hand as an afterthought.
“I promise you this, Charlie: I won’t think of you any less after tonight. Thanks for trusting me with this secret.” She voiced to him solemnly. “But it doesn’t change anything about how I feel about you. I still like you—if that’s okay to say that. But you couldn’t possibly scare me off with…well, you know. That.”
“You’re not afraid?”
Tillie bopped him on the top of the head. “Dude! Remember? The cucumber story I just told you minutes ago?” She scolded him lightly in exasperation. “If I can handle that, I can handle whatever…you decide to throw my way—if Roz doesn’t decide to kill me first.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
Tillie nodded before she raised her hand towards him.
“Now…quick question?” She interjected then.
“Sure.”
“Is that why Roz is so protective of you lately—because she’s afraid you’ll get hurt by some girl due to your…size?”
Charlie nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Well, I can’t speak for every teen girl I have crossed paths wit
h, but I promise I’ll do nothing to hurt you on account of that.”
“I would appreciate that. I do.” He said with a breath of fresh air and inherent relief. “Now, shall we continue on our way? I don’t want to stay out later than usual because tomorrow I work and I need all the sleep I can get right now.”
The other girl nodded. “Sure. Lead the way.”
CHAPTER FORTY
A Night to Remember
Kara curled up with a blanket on the couch next to her boyfriend—a bowl of popcorn on the table in front of her. And a half glass of wine.
“I am so cold,” she moaned softly—curling up even more under the blanket and leaning up against her boyfriend some more. “And you’re so…warm.”
“Could be the wine.” He said in passing. “Or the half-pint of Ben and Jerry’s that you ate.”
Kara giggled. “Cherry Garcia never goes out of style—no matter what century it is.” She admitted freely without guilt. “How about you?”
“Americone Dream. Or the classic Tonight Dough—though I think the latter is yet another limited edition like the last batch.”
“I don’t know…I was eyeing that Pecan Mint-Chocolate Truffle pretty hardcore the last time I was at the store. But I decided that I didn’t need to be awake all night after devouring the whole thing by my little lonesome.”
“What’s that taste like?” Jake asked with idle curiosity.
“One of my friends said it’s got an interesting flavor to it. It’s pecan mint ice cream mixed with chocolate truffle flakes. There’s also a different variation with sea salt and caramel that I would like to grab as well one of these days when I’m not so damned busy with work and life in general.”
“Maybe I should buy a pint for the flight home.” Her boyfriend decided.
Kara eyed him speculatively. “And where would that leave me?”
Jake laughed a little before leaning over to kiss her on the top of the head.
“Wanting.” He murmured playfully next to her ear.
Kara growled a bit at his suggestion before elbowing him in the side. But the blanket took most of the damage. But her intent was pretty clear regardless.
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