Immortalis - Book 1 (The Keeper's Immortals)

by Marisa DeMaris

  One

  I looked over at my former boyfriend, Adam chatting up some perky cheerleaders while doing some over the top flirting right in front of me. It’s like he wanted me to notice although he was the one who broke up with me. Telling me the stereotypical line that it wasn’t me, it was him. We had gone out for two years but suddenly he wanted to end things, I personally thought that he wanted to be free to date our senior year of high school. I was happy or so I thought. After things ended I started realizing that Adam had a lot of flaws, flaws that I always overlooked before because I thought I loved him. I had known him for years and when we finally broke down and starting dating I had to admit that I was worried that something like this would happen but he assured me that no matter what we would be friends. He was wrong.

  Even with all of his flaws, his bad attitude towards me and the fact that he wouldn’t even look at me…I still wasn’t sure what I felt. Although I couldn’t stand the sight of him I couldn’t seem to move on as he was. He was all I ever thought about, all the memories that we shared. His words were taken straight out of an afterschool special but this was life and his words stuck with me more than I thought. The break up was making me depressed and bitter – I wasn’t an angry person normally. I had my moments like everyone did but he was making me into someone completely different from who I really was. “Asshole.” I said quietly to myself before letting out a grunt I slammed my locker shut, adjusted my backpack on my shoulder and stormed out of the school. Once outside I breathed a sigh of relief. The sun that was beating down onto my face felt amazing but it didn’t change my mood any. My heart was still cold as ice.

  Needing to get away from school and Adam I headed to the one place that I didn’t mind being at the moment; a small internet café where my best friend, Trish worked at. I had to stay late at school to make up a test so by the time I made to it through the doors Trish was already drenched in the scent of coffee, chocolate and caramel. She smiled when I walked in only to frown when I wasn’t grinning back. I slammed my hand on the counter in front of her. “Large and strong.” I said, my lovely way of ordering my normal cup of mocha to give me a few moments of happiness. She would sneak me a cup here and there so I rarely brought money with me. Trish only smirked, knowing why I was in a bad mood. She had known me damn near forever so she knew my moods

  “You know I can’t just give you one and I know you have cash!”

  “Oh come on Trish! I’m your best friend and I’m depressed.” I said practically whinny about her actions. I was depressed although I was tired of being that way, I was in a funk.

  “You know I can’t Nora.” She said as the owner of the café, Charlie walked by and rolled his eyes. He had always known that Trish gave me free cups, but she didn’t know he knew. Always on eggshells around him and he was finally tired of her acting strange around him and pretending that he ‘didn’t know about it.’

  “Go on Trish - fix the girl a cup of java already would ya?” He said as he stopped at the register to check the receipts. I would admit it – Charlie was hot. Laid back attitude, gorgeous brown eyes and his arms were killer.

  “What?” Trish asked as she looked shocked. She didn’t want to lose her job because she was saving for a car and that’s all she wanted out of life currently; the ticket to getting out of her parents house temporarily until she left for college.

  “I know you do it. Now you can stop sneaking around.” Charlie said, this time with a wink. I always told Trish that Charlie was sweet on her, but she never listened. I never understood what the problem was. He was only a couple of years older than we were. He bought the café with his money that he had saved back for college, saying it wasn’t for him and never looked back. He was a young entrepreneur. He was smart, good looking and overall was a fair guy.

  “You heard the man, java me up!” I said, this time a bit perkier sounding.

  “Yeah, yeah.” She said as I gave a wink to Charlie who only smiled. While I was waiting on my mocha Charlie waved me over, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Trish was out of range for her to hear.

  “So you’re her best friend - do you think that she would go out with me? She turns eighteen next week and it’s not like I’m some creepy old man, I’m twenty years old.” He asked me while I stood in front of him, gnawing on my lower lip. I hated talking about anyone’s relationships’ or potential ones, but I couldn’t help but to give even a weak smile at the news. I had always told Trish that Charlie liked her, but she never believed me like she never did. Besides just because I was miserable doesn’t mean I would want my best friend to be.

  “I knew it.’ I said happily. ‘But I don’t know, ask her.”

  “Here, take your coffee, sit and pout.” Trish said as she shoved the paper cup full of steaming hot mocha into my face. She wanted to end any and all conversations that mentioned her and she suspected that we were talking about her, because she spotted us both looking at her. Once the cup was safely in my hand she hurried to the back so that no one could see her blistering red face. Trish blushed with embarrassment easily and I loved making that happen often.

  “She likes Italian and pizza doesn’t count.” I told Charlie with a wink as I walked away, heading to my favorite table that sat in the corner. It was beside a window but there weren’t many tables around it so it felt a bit isolated. I pulled out my cell phone, logging onto our schools website; a social networking kind of site for those of us who go to Delano High School. I knew what I was doing, but I did it anyways although I kept telling myself not to. I went to Adam’s page and snooped, only to get flustered when I read what he was currently doing at that moment. ‘Getting ready to hang out with someone special’ I slammed my phone to the table hard enough to shake my cup slightly. I let out a deep breath and suddenly noticed the extremely handsome guy that had popped up out of nowhere. He sat there seeming to smirk at my annoyance which made me go from frustrated to pissed to think that he was finding my frustration humorous since he didn’t know I was going through anything at all.

  “I’m sorry do you find something funny?” I asked the mystery man with a sharp tone. He continued to smile as he stood from his chair and moved into the spare one that was at my table. I knew I should have moved it earlier but I wasn’t expecting a random guy sitting with me.

  “You’re sigh was cute.” He stated as he took a drink of his coffee. His words took me back for a second. I hadn’t been expecting him to flirt with me after I had snapped at him.

  “Oh, well…thank you. It was a sigh out of frustration though.” I explained, hoping that he would leave me alone because that was what I wanted.

  “Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked. I laughed a bit at the thought of a random stranger wanting talk about my silly issues when my own mother didn’t care most of the time.

  “I don’t even know you and you don’t know me.” I said with a smile. The young man shrugged his shoulders, smiling large enough that every pearly white lit up her dark, dank corner. His hazel eyes were as bright as his smile as they stared at me intensely.

  “You’re right, I’m Reid Hollingsworth – now you know me.” He said as he stuck out his hand. I took it willingly, shaking it while thinking that maybe making a new friend wasn’t the worst thing that could happen at that moment. It wasn’t like he was bad looking – he was a pretty man.

  “Well it’s nice to meet you Reid, I’m Nora Langdon.’ I said with a smile. ‘You know I’ve never seen you around here before. How old are you?”

  “Four years older than you, Twenty two.” He stated.

  “How did you know how old I am?” I wondered, becoming slightly spooked. He smiled as
he pulled my school identification card out from between the pages of my history book. I had forgot that I had placed it there as a bookmark because the bell had rung so I didn’t have the time to look for anything else. “Oh yeah, right. Duh Nora.” I said while laughing at myself. Reid continued to smile, thinking that being able to laugh at one’s self was a great quality in anyone. I personally thought I was losing it over the break-up. My mind never seemed to be where it should be these days – only on Adam and what or who he was doing.

  We talked for hours, getting to know one another, just relaxing and making friends with one another. This was nice for me because everyone only talked about Adam ever since the break up, the only one who didn’t talk about Adam was Trish, but she had other things to do in her life besides entertain me every minute of the day. In fact since I had started talking to Reid we hadn’t talked about Adam once, something that was beyond fine with me, although I knew that we would eventually because that was the reason we started talking in the first place. Mid-sentence our words were interrupted by Trish walking over with her book bag and jacket in her arms. I looked up, then outside where I saw Trish’s mother waiting in the car. “Do you want a ride? My mom is here.”

  “Nah, thanks though. I’m just gonna walk. I need the time to think.” I stated. She glanced over at Reid who gave her a small wave with his free hand.

  “Yeah. Think. Whatever. Call me tomorrow beyotch!” Trish said since she knew that the next day was Saturday so we wouldn’t see each other like we normally did at seven thirty in the morning. I said my good-byes, Reid nodded his head in my direction and then we were alone again, but only for a moment until Charlie kicked us both out so he could lock up for the night.

  I pulled out my cell phone to check the time; it was ten thirty. After telling Reid the time he asked if he could walk me home and willingly I allowed him to. It wasn’t a safety thing, we lived in small town with damn near zero crime, but it was a comfort thing. I wanted company that wasn’t Trish, not that I didn’t love my best friend enough to have her around all the time but I needed a break from her. We walked slowly, mainly because I didn’t want to go home where I would be alone again. Being alone meant that I would start to think about Adam and there was something about this guy that was comforting to me. Finally the topic I was dreading talking about came up. We stopped walking as we crossed the very park where Adam broke up with me at; we sat in the swing where Reid gently pushed me once before he sat down. “So you never told me why you were so down before.” He asked.

  “Oh well that’s a long story.” I said hoping that would end the conversation. I really didn’t want to talk about it. I really just wanted to enjoy the breeze. It was calming. It was nice.

  “I’ve got nothing but time.” He told me with that killer smile. I finally admitted to myself that not only was this guy really nice, but he was really cute. I told him the long and drawn out story of my relationship with Adam. He didn’t say a word during and afterwards he was nothing but comforting. This was an odd feeling for me; someone allowing me to vent without rolling their eyes or just not paying attention – something that all of my girlfriends had done. He finally spoke up when I mentioned that Adam and I broke up only a few feet from where we were located.

  “Probably could have picked a better place to stop huh?” he said with a chuckle as he pushed himself once on the swing.

  “No it’s fine. It’s been some time - I just can’t get over it. He wasn’t the first boyfriend I’ve ever had but…I guess I just took it really hard….maybe because it was so sudden? I mean two years and then we’re done and then top everything else off, our friendship – the one we had – is gone.” I explained my thoughts behind my own actions. I wasn’t just hurting because our relationship as a couple had ended but I truly cared for Adam as a friend. We had known each other for years – it wasn’t easy to just to rid my life of him because he was a huge part of it. We were friends.

  Seeming as if he knew that there was something more on my mind than I was telling him Reid took my hand and pulled me up from the swing that was no longer moving and we started walking again. Once we had finally reached Vickers Street I felt myself slow down even more than normal because I wanted to spend just a little more time with my new friend. I had talked about things with a perfect stranger that I hadn’t even talked about with my best friend, but then again maybe that’s why I confessed so much because I doubt that I would ever see him again.

  “This is me.” I said, stopping at the brick two story house. ‘Thank you for walking me home and listening to every word of my sad and completely to long of a story.” I said with a cute, innocent looking smile.

  “You’re not gonna ever get over him, not until you force yourself to move on.” He said with a sly grin on his face. The moon shined on his face, lighting up his eyes making them as bright as his smile. He stood with his hands shoved into his pockets as he watched me. I, myself, stood in front of his nibbling on my body lip. It wasn’t something I did often, defiantly not around a guy so I chalked it up to being overwhelmed with thought at the moment.

  “Yeah, but it’s a lot easier than it sounds.” I knew he was right because he wasn’t the first person who had given me such advice. Trish and my mother, when she listened, both had told me the same thing.

  “Mind if I try something?’ Reid asked as he started to move towards me, slowly only to be stopped by my hands on his forearms. He only smiled. ‘Trust me Nora, just trust me.” And I did, for some reason I did trust him. He slowly moved in and kissed me gently on the lips. It seemed to last forever and I didn’t want it to end. His lips were soft and the kiss; well it was warm and nice – I didn’t feel much of a spark but there was like an electric current rushing through my lips. Maybe that was a spark. I could feel myself become overwhelmed with heat as I began to blush. Unable to speak temporally, only Reid’s smile broke my silence.

  “Well I’m sure I’m as red as an apple. Ah sorry, God can I say anything that won’t embarrass me more?” I laughed hoping I wasn’t making to much of a fool of myself. I could feel my face, the heat that poured across it as I told myself to shut my mouth.

  “I hope that helped.’ Reid said. I didn’t want to admit to him that it did but I had a feeling my rosy cheeks and stupid grin on my face told him the truth. ‘I’ve gotta go. It was really nice meeting you.”

  “It was really nice meeting you too. Will I ever see you again?” I asked. It sounded like a line out of a movie, once of the cheesy after-school-specials. That needed to stop for sure.

  “You never know, maybe?” Reid said as he started to walk backwards from where I was at. I turned to unlock the door but when I turned back around to see him off he was gone, leaving me with an empty feeling in my heart. In the sky above thunder began to roll through the clouds, a light rain started to fall from the black sky; black like the hole that had formed in my heart only to be eased by the words of a stranger who I had to find again.

  Two

  I woke up, thinking that everything that had happened the night before was a dream. The tingling on my lips was still present when I sat up from my slumber, like I had been zapped with a dose of electricity so if it was a dream it was an amazing one. Wanting to know if it really did happen I called the one person who would remember; Trish. I picked up my cell, dialed her number and waited.

  “Morning loser.” Trish said as soon as she picked up. Oh the joys of caller ID, making answering the phone fun for the person answering.

  “Hey last night was I talking to a guy?” I asked, brushing past her attempt to annoy me which frustrated her.

  “Eh yeah, a hot one too. Why?” Trish asked through a yawn.

  “I’m coming over, I’ll explain in person because honestly I’m kinda spooked.”

  “Sure, I’ll through a couple of waffles in the toaster.” She said before hanging up. I threw on a pair of jeans, a band tee and my favorite pair of sneakers before hurrying out of the house as I pulled my hair back into a messy po
nytail. Rather than walking I decided to borrow my brother’s car, sending him a text massage as I pulled out of the driveway just so he wouldn’t call the cops on me. I told him that it was an emergency, not that he would care just as long as I wasn’t gone to long and didn’t put a dent anywhere.

  I was at Trish’s in ten’s minutes, running around to the backdoor where I opened the door and took a seat at the bar only to have Trish sit a waffle covered in maple syrup in front of me. It smelt amazing but I just couldn’t force myself to eat anything at the moment. As soon as Trish was done with hers she stabbed her fork into mine and moved it to her own plate. I rolled my eyes at her actions.

  “What? I’m hungry and you’re not gonna eat it obviously.’ Trish said as she cut a piece off and shoved it into her mouth. ‘So what did you wanna talk about?”

  “The guy I was with last night, after we left the coffee shop he walked me home and we talked about the whole break up. He was telling me that I needed to force myself past it and move on, but that I didn’t know how and then…”

  “And then what?” Trish said, sounding more than lack luster, as she chewed on a rather large bite of her breakfast. Best friend or not Trish had grown tired of the Adam problems, talking about them and having me fully focused on them. It was all I thought about – until now.

  “He kissed me.” I blurted out before becoming extremely silent awaiting her friend’s reaction. Trish through the fork down, creating a large sound that filled the room, and even before she swallowed her food she let out a chuckle of jealously.

  “Shut up! Well, how was it?”

  “It was…nice.” I said.

  “Just nice? That’s it?” Trish asked me, her tone making me think that she thought I was completely crazy. The first guy to show interest in me since Adam and I just said the kiss was ‘Nice’.

  “Yeah, nice. Made me forget about you know who which is what Reid’s goal was.” I explained.