by T. Z. Leigh
If anyone had told Jamie while she was back at Hergetson that April could advise and comfort her better than any of her friends ever did, she would have laughed and called them crazy. Yet here they were. She felt like giving April a hug and thanking her for being her support when she didn’t have anyone else. Instead, she just nudged her gently with her shoulder.
“Thanks.”
April smiled and Jamie looked at her in admiration. It was the first time clearly seeing her without makeup on, and she still looked beautiful. That was a rare quality Jamie did not have. Strangely, though, she no longer hated April for their differences. In fact, she was warming to her. She nudged April again.
“So, what about you and Sam? Are you comfortable with each other yet?”
“I think we’re friends now, but nothing more than that,” April replied.
“It’ll take time. It doesn’t usually happen overnight. Especially when you two didn’t like each other at the start.” She turned her face towards the ocean but glanced at April out the corner of her eye. “You’re definitely lucky.”
“How?”
“Well, he’s a good guy and one of the best looking at college, according to every girl there anyway...”
April laughed.
“Okay, I’ll admit, he’s gorgeous, but apart from that, I dunno. Two strong characters together don’t usually work out in a relationship. That’s why he never appealed to me. We would always somehow try to overpower each other.”
A contemplative silence followed between the girls. April’s words stunned even herself, and she wondered when exactly she changed her mind about Sam. Maybe there wasn’t a specific time, but now she saw someone different when she looked at him. Not a shallow jock like she thought he was, but someone who was funny, compassionate and…well, she always thought he was good looking. She just would never have given him the satisfaction of even thinking it for more than a split-second.
Until recently.
“Maybe Sam feels the same about you. If you both take it down a notch, I’m sure you’ll be great together.”
A mischievous grin appeared on April’s face.
“You know, I did catch him with his shirt off the other day and wondered what it would be like to get my hands on him.” Her cheeks blushed a little. “Only for a few seconds, though,” she chuckled.
“I told you...” Jamie began, but a movement distracted her mid-sentence.
Sam was standing by the door leading to the cabin. April turned to see what Jamie was looking at, then her head whipped back around, her face horrified.
“Hey, Sam...how long have you been there?” Jamie asked, walking over to him.
“I just came now,” he stated, although the colour in his cheeks said otherwise.
“Cool. I’m starving, so I’m gonna head down and raid the fridge,” Jamie said and went below deck.
Sam glanced at April. “You didn’t eat.”
Why does he care? “I came up here to check on Jamie. She was upset, so we were talking...she feels better now.”
“That’s good. She’s been through a lot.”
An awkward silence followed.
“You’re a good friend, April.”
His statement surprised her. She didn’t know how exactly to respond. “Thanks.” Another awkward silence followed. April felt like she had to fill it. “How long were you really standing there?”
He hesitated, and she could see the grin begging to appear on his face.
“I’m one of the best looking at college?”
Great, so he basically heard everything I said about him! She cleared her throat. “It’s good to know you like eavesdropping on people. I’m just gonna go and eat, then,” she declared as she made for the door, trying not to look at him.
He grabbed her arm softly to stop her as she walked past, keeping his eyes on the floor.
“April,” he said, his voice much softer than usual, “you know it’s not always a case of opposites attract. When people are alike and understand where each other are coming from, it can work out even better.”
Her entire body fired up in an instant, her cheeks bearing most of the heat. This was the first time he’d directly spoken about their possible relationship. Usually, guys were too intimidated by her to challenge her opinions. His confidence unsettled her. She was grateful he wasn’t looking at her, because for once she felt...shy.
“Okay,” she replied shakily.
He let go of her arm and stood in front of her, looking at her face; first her lips, then nose, then eyes. His piercing green stare made her head almost boil over, so she had to turn her head away. He put his hand on her jaw and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb, but she didn’t take his hand off and wasn’t sure why. Maybe because the nerve endings where he was touching her were going haywire...and now all she wanted to do was gaze into his eyes again. She had never seen them shining like this before. Like dazzling emeralds.
“Would you mind if I kissed you?” he asked.
“What?” The question threw her. “I’m...not sure,” was all she could manage.
He moved his face slowly towards hers, their eyes never breaking contact.
“You can tell me to stop if you want.”
She could hardly breathe, let alone talk. Their mouths were now so close that when he spoke, their lips brushed together ever so slightly.
“Last chance.”
It sent tremors through her and she kissed him, unable to bear it any longer. The kiss he gave in return was more tender and sweeter than any she’d had before. His hand was still on her face, the other running slowly up and down the length of her arm. His hands were strong, yet warm and affectionate.
Exactly how a man’s hands are supposed to be, she thought.
He withdrew from it and let his hands fall to his sides. Disappointment swelled inside her because she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted it to last forever. She could tell that even though he wanted her with fervour, he took great care to be gentle. She took his face in her hands and kissed him again. His emerald gaze intensified the sensation of his lips on hers, and she hovered higher and higher in the air until he drew away with a slight smirk.
“Does that give you a tiny idea?” he asked, his stare still somehow causing pleasure to ripple through every muscle in her body.
“Of what?” Her brain was fuzzy. She couldn’t think clearly.
“Of what it’ll be like to get your hands on me.”
She remembered, and her face heated again with embarrassment. “Oh...uh...”
“If it makes you feel better,” he said, grinning, “I wondered the same about you.”
“Oh really?” she replied, her sassiness beginning to flood back in.
“When I saw you in hot pants the other day.”
She laughed, suddenly not as nervous. She hadn’t worn hot pants since being in the Skrytosphere. He was just trying to ease the tension. She turned it around on him.
“So, what tiny idea did you get from that? If you were to get your hands on me?”
His expression became serious and impossibly, his eyes sparkled even more.
“That it would be amazing.”
When Zachery saw Jamie come down the stairs, he tried to look busy, hoping she wouldn’t approach him. She didn’t. She went and sat next to Sven instead. They talked and she got up to get food out from the cupboard, then sat back down and they talked some more. Like everything was normal. She whispered something into his ear and they both laughed. This annoyed Zachery and he had to move from there. He went up on deck and found Sam and April talking quietly. April saw him first, then Sam turned around.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“No, bro,” Sam replied, “I was just about to leave anyway.”
Sam and April stared at each other affectionately for a moment, as if having a silent, intimate conversation with one another, before he disappeared down the steps.
“I can go back down if you want,” Zachery told her.
“No, I’m gonna...”
“Okay, good, because I need some air.”
April folded her arms. “Is there a reason why you’re ignoring her?”
“I don’t wanna talk about Jamie right now,” he said, pacing back and forth.
“So, when will you wanna talk about her?”
“I dunno, okay? I dunno.”
She was suddenly bright and chipper. “Right! Looks like I’m the agony aunt today. Go ahead, Zachery, tell me your problems.”
For the first time in however long, a ghost of a smile teased his face. He didn’t speak, just stared at the horizon.
“It’s okay, talk to me,” she said, stepping closer to him and putting her hand on his arm.
“She’s really important to me.”
“But?”
“But when she was taken, I couldn’t handle it. Something in me snapped, and I don’t know how to reverse it. I was so scared, not knowing if she was alive or dead. It was easier to shut off than go crazy worrying.”
“I might not know exactly what you’re going through, but I can understand it. It is easier to close yourself off; trust me, I know. But another thing I know is that if I found someone who cares about me as much as Jamie cares about you, I wouldn’t ever wanna lose them. Just think, no matter how long she was in that cell, or however many times she was beaten up...”
“April, don’t remind me, please...”
“...she only ever dreamt of you, cried for you. You’re her knight in shining armour. Does she really deserve for you to treat her this way?”
“Of course, she doesn’t! Do you think if I could, I wouldn’t be myself with her?”
“You have things you need to work through, that’s fine, but if you take too long, you could do irreparable damage. It will only be a certain amount of time before she can’t handle it.”
She turned to leave.
“Thanks, April, I owe you one.”
April smirked. “Join the club.”
The sun was low in the sky when Zachery went below deck. This time, everyone was in the sitting room, all chatting and laughing together. He felt like he didn’t belong and sat in the corner away from everyone else. He had deja vu. He sat like this at those parties at school, wanting to join in the cheer, but finding himself incapable. However, when he was going through all the challenging and stressful times at school, he had no one.
Now he had her.
“Jamie, can I talk to you alone for a second?”
After the words had left his mouth, Zachery realised that that was the first thing he had ever said to her, and he had another deja vu. He clenched his jaw and inhaled deeply, hoping she wouldn’t hate him for being rude to her in their first meeting, then for treating her like crap after she had been a prisoner for days.
“I just wanna tell you something,” he added when she hadn’t moved.
April and Sam smiled at each other as Jamie followed him out before he shut the cabin door behind them.
“What?” The word came out weaker than she had wanted it to.
He didn’t speak but took her in his arms. “I’m so sorry. You’ve been hurt enough, and I hurt you even more.” His fingers traced over her fading bruises. “Can you forgive me?”
She thought about it for a minute. If this had happened while at school, she probably would have told him to get lost and never speak to her again. But after everything she had been through over the past few weeks, that just seemed petty or childish. The fact that Zachery was the only thing in her life which made her feel truly happy was unsettling, but the feelings she had for him were strong enough for her to forgive him.
She narrowed her eyes. “No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend. Have fun being lonely,” she said, then gave him a joking smile.
He laughed, a genuine laugh that made her insides feel warm. He held her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Jamie. I’m so sorry.”
When her neck felt damp, she moved his head back gently and looked at his face. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks and she wiped under his eyes with her thumbs. He crashed his lips onto hers like he was seeking something from there that he needed.
After a minute he pulled away, both of them a little breathless, and looked at her. Her eyes were puffy because she was tired, her face was pale because she was weak, and now her lips were swollen from the kiss because of him. He kissed her again and her heart danced around her rib cage. Nothing needed to be said between them. They understood each other perfectly. They stood there for a long while after, her arms around him and her head buried in his neck.
“Do you know I’ve liked you since the moment I saw you?” he admitted.
But I’m not even that pretty, Jamie thought self-consciously. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not, I promise. You passed me as I was going down to my language class. I walked backwards while watching you and nearly killed myself from falling down the stairs.”
She laughed loudly. “I was in my own world at school. That’s why I probably never noticed,” she told him. “My dad dying really messed me up. But about a year ago, my friends said they saw you looking at me while we were having lunch out on the fields. They kept telling me, though I told them you must be looking at a girl near me or behind me. I never thought a guy like you would find me attractive.”
“A guy like me?”
“The best-looking guy at school doesn’t usually go for a plain-looking girl…like me.”
“You’re not plain at all, Jamie. You’re…”
She couldn’t be bothered to hear his exaggerated speech about how beautiful she was and covered his mouth with her hand.
“Zachery...will you lie down with me? I’m so tired. I just...I want to lie here. We don’t need to talk right now.”
He seemed hesitant to let it go, but they lay down in each other’s arms with her head on his chest. She fell asleep almost immediately, and he followed soon after.
Chapter Twenty
A thunderous bang and a fierce vibration rocked the boat, waking everyone up. Another, then another.
“What is that?” Sam yelled, preparing himself for what was most likely imminent danger.
“Let’s go, Sven. You kids stay here!” Fyzer ordered before rushing out.
“Grandpa, wait!” April shouted, holding his arm back.
“It’s fine, April. You all need to stay safe. We’ll handle it,” he said.
Fyzer ran upstairs and Sam was uncertain of what to do, but held April’s wrist firmly when she started up the stairs.
“What are you doing?”
“Sam, I’m not gonna let them deal with...whatever that is on their own! If you wanna stay here, be my guest.”
She pulled her hand away and he followed her without hesitation. The boat shook violently, and they slammed into the wall as they ascended. She fell backwards and he caught her.
“The boat is shaking too much. Stay low to the ground,” he told her.
They crawled up and when their heads poked out of the doorway, a chaotic scene was unfolding before them. A sea creature flew up in the air and into the ocean. Sven was in the air too, an ear-piercing screech escaping his lips before he flew into the water where it had fallen in. Fyzer was standing in the middle of the boat. His arms were outstretched in front of him as he chanted something under his breath. A bright light emanated from his hands, a tornado of heavenly colours surrounding him. The boat shook slightly as the creature was lifted thirty feet above the boat by Sven, and Sam stared at April in amazement. The creature looked like an octopus but had the jaws of a shark. It was the size of an elephant.
“How strong is he?” Sam gaped, stunned.
The creature fought for freedom, but Sven held it with a strong grip. Fyzer clapped his hands together and pointed them at the creature. The constant struggling stopped. It was still, instantly going limp, its life gone in a second. Sven let it drop back into the water, and all was calm and silent again. He flew down to the
boat, his breaths deep and wheezy.
“Well done,” Fyzer said, patting Sven’s arm once he had returned to his normal form.
“And you, Your Highness.”
They both grinned.
“Grandpa!” April shouted as she raced out on the deck.
Fyzer didn’t exactly look surprised to see her, and he held out his arms as she ran into them, hugging him tightly. She turned to look where the creature had landed.
“What was that?” she asked.
“A mazitriton,” he replied. “It would have wrecked the boat and eaten us all bottom side up as we tried to swim away.”
Sam shuddered at the thought.
“We have to move into a safe zone before any more show up,” Sven said solemnly.
“You’re right, I’ll get the boat started,” Fyzer replied and jogged away. He passed Sam on the stairs.
“That was awesome, Fyzer.”
He stopped and gave Sam a stern look. “Next time April wants to go against my word, you’d do well to stop her.”
“What makes you think she’ll listen to me?”
“She’s very stubborn, just like her grandmother. However, are you telling me that if it was a life and death situation, you would let her rush into it without thinking?” His eyes glistened with anger in the moonlight. “If she does not listen to me next time, make her listen to you. It’s better for her to resent you than for her to die. Understand?”
Sam just nodded, unsure how to respond to his reprimand. It was as if Fyzer already treated them like a couple, and April would even consider listening to him. Sam watched him disappear into the cabin and saw Zachery and Jamie standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Where were you two?” he accused.
“We’ve been here the whole time, Sam,” Zachery pointed out defensively. “You and April just stayed on the steps, so we figured they had the situation under control.”
“You know what, don’t worry about it.” Sam knew he was being foolish. “Fyzer just had a go at me. Guess I’m not used to people giving me lectures anymore.”
