by Melissa Wong
She could feel the warmth of his hand all the way to the tips of her toes as he led her deeper into the garden. This was insane! It was as if she had been shoved into the title role on one of her mama’s stories—the kind that had dramatic titles about love and passion.
“No, I was just thinking,” she told him. Was that her voice? Why did she sound so breathy?
“Anything you would like to share?”
They had stopped in front of a large patch of night blooming jasmine, the waxy foliage and clusters of intoxicating, trumpet-shaped flowers spilling over the wall of their planter and down to the pathway beneath them as he continued to hold her hand.
“I-I was wishing that I wasn’t so nervous around you,” she told him quietly, staring at their hands. “My friends were telling me that there seemed to be some kind of connection between us the other day, but I didn’t believe it! I’m not someone who gets flirted with—I’m the one people try to cheat off of during exams. And then a handsome guy like you flags me down at a party full of pretty girls... my name is so common that I can’t help but wonder if you meant to call out to one of them instead.”
“Y-you’re... attracted to me?” Chase asked, a catch in his voice. She looked up to find him frowning, his cheeks a pale shade of pink.
Sara pulled her hand away from his and took a step back as the embarrassment set in. Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could she have been so wrong? She turned to run, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“I’m nervous too!” he cried, placing his free hand against his chest, “I was worried that I was boring you; that you were only tolerating my presence to be polite.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth!” she replied, grasping his jacket so that it didn’t slide off her shoulders. “I’ve been kicking myself for not getting your phone number, and then you show up here tonight, looking like you stepped out of the pages of a men’s fashion magazine! It’s a second chance, the kind that only happens in stories!”
He slid his hand back down her wrist and clasped her fingers between his as she continued.
“Then I thought I ruined things by reading too much into the situation, and tried to run away.”
He took a step closer and reached for her other hand. She let it fall from its place over her chest and he grasped it as she looked into his eyes.
“I’ve had intense feelings for you since the first time I saw you,” Chase said. Was his voice lower now, or was the sound of her heartbeat drowning it out?
Sara swallowed hard. Was what she hoped would happen really about to happen?
He bent down, his lips brushing against hers hesitantly as if she might change her mind at the last moment. She leaned up on tiptoe and her shoes slid off the back of her feet, heels clacking on the stone path. She didn’t know what she was doing, but as her heart thudded in her chest and all logic went out the window, she only knew that she never wanted this night to end.
Melissa cupped her hands around her eyes and pressed her face to the window. At first she hadn’t wanted to get fingerprints on them because that was rude, but then she’d remembered that they belonged to Criatan and Cretora, and stopped caring. She even added a few deliberately, out of spite.
She scanned the grounds below, hoping to see a camera flash or something indicating he was down there, but the only thing she saw was a small crowd of people smoking on the back patio and two people walking along a path. Where the hell was he hiding? She didn’t want to have to try to locate him using the medallions—they needed to be clear for when the trap was finally sprung!
As she was about to pull away and find another window she spotted the edge of a balcony to her left. She turned slightly to the side and looked upward. There appeared to be someone up there, but she couldn’t quite tell who it was.
She headed for the stairs, gathering her skirts as she made her way past other guests coming down the winding steps. If she was correct, the balcony should be off whatever was over the ballroom, so one of these doors should lead to it...
She tried to plot the room as she walked along the landing, not wanting to open any doors she didn’t have to. Who knows what could be hiding in there—an alien army, or maybe some kind of advanced murder machine!
The hall split, and to her right it ended with open double doors, revealing some sort of study. She looked both ways before ducking into the room, shutting the doors partially behind her.
Moonlight bent over the desk, highlighting a sleek, expensive-looking white laptop and brass lamp. Bookshelves lined one wall, and she briefly wondered what aliens would read about. Her train of thought was cut short when she noticed there was a door in what she thought was a large window, and that it was left slightly ajar.
Melissa placed her hand on the lever and looked out. There was a figure out there in the darkness, but she couldn’t quite make out who it was. It seemed male. What if it was Criatan?
It held up a phone screen turned sideways for a moment, and then lowered it. That could only be one person...
She took a deep breath and stepped outside. “What are you doing out here?”
“Would you believe me if I said I was securing the perimeter?” Cobalt asked without turning around.
“No.”
“Surveying the grounds then?”
“You’re hiding from Ryan,” she said, leaning against the railing next to him and crossing her arms.
He put one hand over his face and groaned. “You know about that?”
“Yeah.”
To her surprise he began to laugh, his hand sliding down his face. “It’s not like everyone won’t see it eventually. I just wanna know if I really look like a girl when transformed, or if the studio decided that they’d better change Pink Ocelot into a girl due to all the... pink.”
“You seem to be coming to terms with this a lot faster than I expected.”
“What else can I do? If the mysterious god-like entity says I’m the pink one, then I guess I’m the pink one,” he said, snapping a picture of the sky with his phone. “When you lose total control of your life, all you can do is roll with it.”
“I wouldn’t say you’ve lost total control,” she protested. This might be a good opportunity to finally clear the air between them!
“Ah, this is crap,” he muttered, deleting the picture. “And yeah, this is pretty much out of my control. I wouldn’t even be here tonight if not for Warrior Business.”
“...because of me?” Melissa asked quietly.
The question hung heavily in the air between them as he locked his phone and put it into his pocket. She was trying to figure out how to continue the conversation when he finally turned to her.
“Are you telling me you want to talk about this now?”
“Well, yeah. If we have to fight together, then we should at least try to fix our friendship.”
“I never felt it was broken!” he cried, “That is, until you started avoiding me.”
“Why couldn’t it have been some random girl from school instead—someone from the photography club or something?”
“What the hell makes you think this is my choice?” he demanded, eyes wide, “Why would I put myself through all this if I could turn it off like a light switch?”
Her chest tightened. This wasn’t what she’d wanted at all.
“Don’t you think I’ve tried? Even before I told you my feelings I was pushing them down every time I saw you! I didn’t set out to ruin anything! But I kept seeing... I dunno. What I wanted to, I guess. Little moments where it felt like you might feel the same.” The last sentence was grumbled as he turned to lean over the railing, and she almost didn’t catch it. She’d never seen him like this before, and it brought tears to her eyes to think that she was the cause.
He put his chin on his folded arms. “That night at your house when our parents were inside and we were talking... there was such a romantic atmosphere to the whole thing. That’s what you wanted right? You’d said before that if a boy ever had a cr
ush on you, you hoped his confession was romantic like it is in your shows.”
Melissa’s stomach felt like it was stuck in her throat, and she gripped the folds of her skirt just to have something to do with her hands. If this were about any other girl she would hold him and tell him everything would be alright—that no girl was worth all this! And even though the girl was her, and she wasn’t worth all this—she still wanted to do it anyway.
“That’s just it,” she began. “We’ve been friends since we were born—not by our own choice, but because our parents were friends before that. If we were together wouldn’t it feel forced to you? Like it was some kind of arranged marriage?”
He sighed, raising his face to the stars before turning to look at her. “Is that why you think I’m choosing to have these feelings? Because you’re choosing to opt out of them?”
His words stung, and she swallowed against the lump that formed in her throat when she heard them. She wasn’t opting out! If she had opted out then not talking to him wouldn’t have been so difficult, seeing him at school wouldn’t have been so depressing, and knowing he was furious with her like this wouldn’t be breaking her heart!
Breaking her heart? She brought a hand to her chest. It did feel like that, didn’t it?
“I-I thought distancing myself from you was the answer,” she said, her voice wavering. “I thought that if I pushed you away, you’d realize that your feelings weren’t real, and that would be best for both of us. I never meant to hurt you like this... not in the long term, anyway.”
“Well it felt terrible!” Cobalt snapped, “And by your flawed logic you would have been arranged married to my brother anyway!”
“I would never—” she protested.
“Well if it’s just because our families are pushing for it, doesn’t it make more sense to marry off the oldest from either side?”
She brought her other hand up to her chest, rubbing them together anxiously. This wasn’t how it was meant to go at all, and the thought of dating Mark made her want to take a flying leap off the balcony. Everything she said just made him more and more pissed off! There was no going back now, was there? Nothing between them would ever be like it was, and they still had to work together.
“Well?” he asked.
“It felt terrible for me too!” Melissa cried. “Do you think it didn’t hurt to push you away? That I didn’t miss you? That there wasn’t a huge hole in my life where you used to be?”
“I figured you’d filled it with Sable and all them,” he said sheepishly, turning around and resting his back against the railing. “Before I knew why you were really hanging out together.”
She looked up at the stars, blinking back tears. “So... what happens now?”
“What do you want to happen?” he asked.
Was she avoiding his gaze because she was afraid of crying? She’d cried in front of him more in her life than she could count on both hands, so it couldn’t be that. Was she trying to hide how much this whole thing was tearing her up inside? No, she’d already admitted to that a few moments earlier.
Was it because she was afraid of the truth? The truth that she wanted to hold him and not let go, the truth where they still sent each other stupid pictures when they were apart and made even stupider jokes when they were together. The truth that she wanted nothing more right now than for him to be happily taking pictures of the night sky while she watched over his shoulder.
“It’s hard to... I-I’m not sure.”
“Don’t pick what you think should happen, and don’t pick what you think will placate me,” he said. “Pick what your heart wants—even though my doing that is what caused this whole mess.”
He let out a small, derisive laugh, nothing more than an exaggerated snort. But it made her finally look at him, and the tears she’d been so desperate to hold back finally fell. He’d been so upset earlier, but he was still looking over at her with kindness in his eyes.
Melissa launched herself at him, grasping at his lapels as she began to sob into his chest.
“What is—?”
“I love you!” she wailed, letting the words tumble out. “And I hate it!”
He put his arms around her, holding her against him tighter than he ever had before. “Well, romance is officially dead and we killed it,” he chuckled.
“Why couldn’t I tell before?” she continued, “Why do I have to care so much about what our parents want?”
“Honestly, I’m kind of glad it happened this way,” he said as she sniffed and looked up at him.
“Why?”
“Because I know you mean it, I guess.”
He bent down and her breath caught in her throat, her heart suddenly beating way too fast. She squeezed her eyes shut, not sure if she wanted that to actually happen yet! Instead there was a gentle sensation against one of her cheeks and she opened her eyes as she loosened her grip on his jacket. She looked up to find him smiling down at her, his dreamy, half-lidded expression only furthering her disappointment.
It must have shown because his eyebrows furrowed and she laughed at the dramatic change, causing him to look even more concerned.
“I-I thought you were actually going to kiss me! I was all—my heart was racing, I couldn’t breathe—but then...” She pulled back, a hand going to the cheek he’d kissed. “Oh, my mascara is running now, isn’t it? I bet I look horri—”
Cobalt suddenly grabbed her, pulling her against him as his head bent down again, one hand at the small of her back, the other entwined in her hair. She gasped as his lips met hers, unprepared for the electric sensation that shot through her at his touch, leaving a tingly warmth where it had been.
There were so many things spinning through her mind at once. Was she doing this correctly? When was she supposed to breathe—and where was she supposed to put her hands? Was he wondering all these things too?
They separated, both of them breathing hard. He almost seemed as shocked by the kiss as she did.
“Tonight is weird,” she breathed, trying to catch her breath as she put her hands on either side of
his face and stood on her toes. This time she kissed him, trying to match his intensity as the warm sensation flooded through her once again.
This time when they parted she put her head on his chest and he put his arms around her.
“Best trap ever,” he declared with a gulp as she listened to his heartbeat. Good, it seemed to be going as fast as hers was!
Suddenly what he’d said registered, and she pulled away in a panic.
“Dammit, we’re supposed to be working!” she exclaimed. His eyes went wide as the realization hit him as well.
“Come on,” he declared, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.
She smiled despite herself as she followed him. Even though they might be in terrible danger, she still had butterflies at the fact that he was holding her hand.
Chapter 9
The Trap
“Oh my god, you two are the worst!”
Melissa heard Sable before she actually saw her, turning abruptly toward the sound of her voice.
“Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?” she continued, hands on her hips. She looked over at Cobalt, feeling more than a little guilty.
“No... did you see Sara and Ryan? They were looking for you earlier.”
“Yes—and I also found your little brother using cider glasses to drink from the chocolate fountain!”
“Dammit AJ!” she growled. “Where is he now?”
“I left him with Ryan while I tried to track you down.”
“That... doesn’t seem like the best idea...” Cobalt said.
“That’s like the blind leading the blind!” Melissa cried, “Now we’re gonna find them both in the chocolate fountain!”
“Correction,” Sara said irritably, dragging both AJ and Ryan over to them, “They were attempting to race crackers down the sparkling cider fountain.”
“Attempting? It was a success—
mine won!” Ryan protested.
“No it didn’t, you cheater!” AJ yelled.
The sound of a spoon hitting a glass caught the room’s attention, and everyone immediately fell silent.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” someone announced, “The cake ceremony will commence in the grand ballroom in five minutes time! Thank you.”
The room began to buzz as the guests started to talk amongst themselves.
Sable scoffed loudly. “Since when is it a cake ceremony?”
“Since these guys decided to make themselves billionaires,” Ryan said bitterly. “Having money means you get to do whatever the hell you want, and they wasted no time in figuring that out!”
AJ craned his neck, trying to look over the crowd as they made their way to the front of the ballroom. “I wonder who their kid is? Maybe they kidnapped and brainwashed some poor idiot.”
“They already did that when they took you,” Melissa said.
“Ohhh, nice one!” Ryan exclaimed, holding up his hand. She high-fived him hesitantly.
“Did anyone see Chase?” Sara asked, scanning the room, “I left him for a moment when I spotted Ryan and AJ, but now I can’t find him.”
“Wait—Chase is here?” Sable asked incredulously.
She smiled, her face flushing. “Yeah. We went for a walk in the garden earlier...”
Melissa glanced over at Cobalt. Do I look like that when I talk about him?
He caught her watching him and gave a little smile, which caused her to turn back to Sara just in time to see her whispering something into Sable’s ear.
Her face lit up. “Really?” she squealed.
Sara nodded.
“I’m so jealous! Good job!”
Before Melissa could ask what they were being so secretive about, someone bumped into her from behind. The crowd around them was closing in as it got closer to cake time, and suddenly it seemed like there were way too many people here.
“I hope there’s enough cake to go around...” Melissa muttered.
