My heart rate spikes as he turns around. It feels like my tongue is thick and swelling, filling my whole mouth. I know I should stop staring and look away, but I can’t. He is gorgeous.
My eyes lock with his. They are a stunning green, and sparkle like wet grass after a rain shower with the sun gleaming off it. He holds my gaze, and it’s as though he is looking right into my soul. His jaw drops in disbelief, and I feel panic bubble up inside me. Does he somehow know my secret? No, it’s impossible. I break the connection and shake the thought away.
My mouth is hanging open in disbelief. I have just turned around to find the most stunning woman in existence. Is she real? Stepping closer, I can’t help but blurt, “You are the most exquisite angel I have ever seen.” I am thoroughly awestruck by her beauty. Chocolate coloured locks flow around her face. Thick dark lashes frame her eyes, and they are so deep and blue that I could get lost in them; when she smiles after the compliment I gave her, they are utterly dazzling. Her lips are full and she is biting on the bottom one, sucking it in to her mouth, and it is driving me just a tad crazy. She looks ethereal. There’s a mysterious electricity crackling in the air between us. My breath stills as I wait for her reply while I continue to take her in.
She flushes a light shade of pink then softly replies, “Thank you. My name is Ally.” Her melodic voice floors me. She sounds angelic. A faint vanilla fragrance fills my nose, making me feel a little dizzy. Maybe I over did the whole exercise thing today.
Have I died and gone to heaven without even knowing it happened? Did something just transpire back there on that field? I start to turn around to see if I have left my body behind, when out of nowhere, my brother Alex swiftly throws the football at my head and knocks some sense into me in the process.
What the fuck was that? I just turned into a bloody puddle of mush. I know after what I have been through that I am more emotional than most guys, but come on, that was messed up.
I risk glancing back up at her. Shit, I’m screwed. This chick has some kind of strange hold on me. Just standing there as an idiot proves to be about the only thing I can do.
“Hey. I’m Alex, and this smooth talker here is my brother, Theo.” Alex winks, and then extends his hand out, offering to shake hers. He has a way of putting any situation back at ease.
She looks dubiously at his outstretched hand, decides to ignore it, and shyly answers, “Hi, I’m Ally. I’m sorry to get in the way of your football game. I was just leaving.” She looks past us into the distance and finishes by saying, “Enjoy the rest of your game.” Then she steps around me and hurries off.
I spin around, gaping after her as she walks away. She stops at a young boy crying by the play structure. I didn’t notice him at first because all my attention stayed focused solely on her. Crouching down, she places her hand on his knee and relays what I can only assume are soothing words because his tears dry up. I wonder where the boy’s mother is.
Jogging over to give Ally some assistance, I spot blood dripping from a deep cut on her knee. “Oh my god, your knee is bleeding. Are you okay?”
She seems startled by my presence. The young boy is looking back and forth between the two of us, his mouth wide open. Ally seems to have the same effect on him that she did on me; maybe he thinks she is an angel too.
Rushing over to her side, I detect she is uncomfortable when she flinches away from me. I halt and search her face. Her eyes have darkened considerably and are darting around, looking anywhere but at me. “I’m fine. I must have scraped my knee when I dropped to this boy’s level to see what was wrong. Could you please help him find his mother?” Never giving me the option to reply, Ally races off and doesn’t look back.
The boy is clutching onto my hand now. While I watch her run, I force my legs to stay put and not go after her. The whole situation is making me a little light headed, and it feels a little surreal.
Ally was able to knock my socks off in all of two minutes flat. I was so dumbstruck that I forgot to ask for her number, and that alone reminds me how long I’ve been off my game. My life has been at a standstill for long enough. If she elicits this kind of reaction after two minutes, then I need to find her again.
My new mantra for starting over is ‘live life to the fullest, love in every moment like it is your last, never give up hope, and never hold back’. I’m going to find her; I’m not going to hold back. I have to know more about this beautiful girl.
A tug on my hand forces my attention back to the boy beside me. “My knee,” he exclaims simply, indicating he is not in any pain, yet there is still something wrong with it. Crouching down, my brow furrows as I touch his knee. There are no visible marks on his actual skin; however, there are blood streaks down his leg.
Confused, I flash my eyes back to his to obtain answers. He is smiling. Is that Ally’s blood on him? Suddenly, a word dad used to say all the time when I was younger pops into my mind, discombobulated. I used to think it was funny, not now though. Now I’m just seriously baffled.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Muttering aloud and pacing around the yard is not helping to calm me, although the sting from repeatedly slapping myself on the forehead is giving me something else to concentrate on. It makes me look crazy, but right now, I truly don’t care. My anxiety level is so high it feels as though my head might explode. Surging thoughts are literally pounding against the edges of my brain trying to escape.
The sound of gravel crunching under my feet marginally registers with me and makes me aware of how it is flicking up into my flip-flops. I can feel the blood oozing down my leg and mixing with the gravel, creating a sticky, unpleasant feeling.
Forcing myself to stop, I take some deep breaths, allowing me to think more clearly. I can’t believe I just did that. Maybe Theo didn’t see. He was still a fair distance away when I healed that boy’s knee, and thankfully, the boy was too young to explain what happened. Even if he could explain, it’s not as if Theo would believe him unless he saw it with his own eyes, right? Right, I tell myself.
Everything is going to be okay. No one saw a thing except a boy who is too young to explain. It’s no big deal, no need to alert Mum. Keeping this information from her is the right thing to do. We are not moving again, especially since I have only just obtained this newfound freedom. I will merely have to avoid Theo and his brother from now on, and be more careful where I use my abilities.
I felt reasonably pacified after assessing the situation and coming up with a plan. Moving my line of vision up the driveway, I discover that Mum’s car is still not back. Excellent. I can sneak inside, clean up my knee before she sees it, and hide the evidence under a pair of sweat pants. Allowing one last shaky gust of air to leave my lungs, I brace myself, and head up to the house.
Warm water cascades over me easing the kinks in my neck. I feel the stress slowly starting to leave my body and see the blood from my leg wash away down the drain in swirls of bright red. The scent of my vanilla shampoo floats in the steam surrounding me and lulls me into serenity. “Mmm,” I hum approvingly. My lips turn up slightly at the corners in relief. I can manage the outcome that my abilities bring on my own; there’s no reason for Mum to be any the wiser about it.
Confident with the job I did taping up my knee, I step out of the shower and wrap one of our luxurious white, king-size bath towels around me, assured that no blood will get on it. I grab another towel and wrap it around my head in a turban, all the while faintly singing my favourite tunes from the radio. Currently that tune is Angel of Mine by Monica, inspired by ‘Mr. Hottie’, or as I now know him, Theo. I recognize that might sound a bit melodramatic since I hardly know the guy, but hey, all my knowledge on lusting after a guy comes from the movies, so who can blame me.
I slather some moisturizer on my face, and I am good to go find my sweats. I swing the bathroom door open, and standing there waiting, with arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed, is my mother. “Why is there blood all over the floor leading up to the bathroom? Did you help some
one? What happened? Do we need to run?”
Damn, I forgot to clean the blood trail that I drizzled the whole way up here. I am so busted. I scramble to think of what to say. “Chill Mum.” I stall, wondering whether to go with the truth or to lie. Figuring a partial truth is best, I press on, “The park was deserted except for a little boy, and he wasn’t even old enough to talk yet. He was crying because he had hurt his knee, so I healed it. I stayed with him while we waited for his mum. When she came, I told her I found him crying, but had hurt my knee, so I needed to go. No biggie. No one saw anything, and it’s just a small cut. No harm done.” Holding my breath, I wait to see if she buys my story.
“Okay. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that you need to learn this on your own, and I need to trust your judgment. Just promise me that you will be careful.”
I exhale and give her a weak smile. “I promise Mum.” Phew, disaster averted.
After an eventful morning, I spend the afternoon and evening relaxing with a good book. I fall asleep to sweet dreams of sparkling green eyes, tussled brown hair, and a deep smooth voice telling me how beautiful I am. It’s the best sleep of my life, or at least, the best dream.
It’s been a few days since Theo almost caught me healing that little boy in the park, and I have been avoiding him at all costs. My plan today is to move forward in this new journey of living independently. I’m determined to take the next step and to brave the over-crowded mall.
I will miss ogling Theo’s impressive form playing footy at the park, but I can’t risk going near him again when he came so close to finding out my secret. I wonder why this thought saddens me so much. This strong attraction to him is something I have never experienced first-hand before, and I am curious if it is like this for everyone.
Inclined to go the long way so that I might catch a glimpse of him as I walk by, I tie the laces on my shoes and head off in that direction. Winding through the neighbourhood, I admire all the different houses as I pass by. They have their own individual style, and the only thing they have in common is the beautiful manicured gardens. Different coloured flowers line the footpath and send up sweet scents of gardenia, roses, and other blossoms. Most houses have giant oak trees out front, like the ones in the park. They meet in the middle of the street, and create a make shift arch that shades the street below.
The weather is overcast and gloomy. The clouds are gathering speed as they roll by overhead, and it is getting darker by the minute. This causes shadows to fall all around me and leaves a dark, eerie feeling in the air. I hope that we will get a decent amount of rain; it’s been a while, and the surrounding landscape is getting rather dry.
Confident that I will still make it to the mall before the rain hits, I stroll past the park at a leisurely pace. Chancing a quick glance over at the area, I come up disappointed; he isn’t there. Oh well, it’s probably for the best.
Moving on at a brisk pace, I start to feel excited by the prospect of going to the mall. I haven’t been there in a long time. Mum has given me some money to shop with, and my mood brightens even further as visions of all the things I would like to buy dance before my eyes.
After a minute or two, I hear footsteps jogging behind me, and then a moment later, I hear my name. “Ally?” It’s spoken as a question. My breath catches. I’d know that gravelly voice anywhere; it’s starred in my dreams the past couple of nights since I first heard it.
Pretending I didn’t hear, or that I might not be this Ally he speaks of, I quicken my stride. After all, I am meant to be avoiding him. I don’t find myself trying too hard though. I actually do want this beautiful guy to catch me. Stupid traitorous hormones.
“Ally, is that you?” He calls out a little louder than before. Relinquishing any hope of getting away, I stop and pivot around. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to do that because he is still jogging right at me and has to still himself suddenly by bracing his arms on my shoulders.
Breathless, he rocks back and forth on his feet a few times and then looks up at me. Whoa. He is so close. I feel his warm breath fanning in short puffs across my face. His eyes meet mine, and he inhales sharply. The look he gives me is so intense that I feel like a million butterflies just went berserk in my stomach. Actually no, upgrade that to bats, big strong-winged bats flapping like crazy.
I can almost taste the sweet cinnamon smell mingling between us. I’m severely tempted to close the distance and find out if that’s what it is for sure. Scared he might be able to read my mind, I feel my cheeks warm, so I take a step back. Shyly, I fix my gaze to the ground. All of a sudden, I find something fascinating down there. How embarrassing. I seriously hope he doesn’t notice.
Pull it together Ally. You’re seventeen, and you shouldn’t be turning into a tomato just because a cute guy stands close. As he drops his arms, the spell is broken, and he moves a step or two back, increasing the distance between us. I feel a momentary pang of sadness from the loss of contact.
“Sorry about that.” He laughs nervously. “So,” he hesitates and then continues. “I saw you walking by my house, and I just wanted to check and see if you were okay. You know, your hurt knee and all.” He stumbles over his words.
“Umm, it’s okay. It was nothing,” I reply with the briefest of glances. I kick the toe of my shoe against the footpath and twist a strand of my hair around my fingers. I’m so flustered. I’m torn between wanting to stay and talk to him, and wanting to run in the other direction because I have no idea what to say.
“I’m glad to hear it. I was hoping… I mean, I just moved to the area, and don’t know anyone yet, and I was wondering if you would want to hang out some time.”
Finding the strength to raise my head back up, I let slip, “I’m going to the mall.” Good one Ally. He probably doesn’t mean right now, you moron. Stop talking about yourself in the third person in your head and say something. Jeez, he probably thinks you’re a loony toon.
My cheeks flood with heat again as I spout out even more drivel, “I mean, you don’t have to come. I was just saying what I was going to do.” Oh my god! He probably thinks I’m desperate, and I already kind of am when it comes to him. I mentally kick myself. I guess I’ve totally blown my plan of avoidance out the water.
The smirk on his face shows that he is amused, and he seems to be enjoying my stuttering. He just stands there with his hands in his pockets, looking all sexy and carefree. Damn him. His smirk turns into a grin. “The mall sounds fantastic. Shall we?” He motions with his hand to the path.
Afraid to speak, I just nod and continue on my way. He keeps pace beside me while I try to think of something non-idiotic to say. As we walk, our arms accidentally brush against each other and that small contact sends tingles through me. Goosebumps appear on my sensitized skin, and the wispy hairs stand on end. I love this new feeling. I fight the enormous goofy grin that I know is filling my face.
“Did the sun suddenly come out, or did you just smile?” The grin breaks out in full force now. Is he flirting with me? I start to giggle, then clamp my hand over my mouth to hold it in. Looking abashed, he rectifies, “Sorry that was pretty cheesy. I don’t really do this.” He swallows hard, waves a hand between us, and then shakes his head. “I guess I don’t actually know what I’m doing. Your smile is gorgeous though.”
“Thank you.” He reaches out, takes my hand, and we forge ahead. Occasionally we sneak sideways glances at each other, and I smile like a fool every time he catches me checking him out.
“So who exactly is Ally? Other than a breathtakingly beautiful girl, of course.” He grins at me, and I almost snort at his cheesiness. I can’t help but think that it’s somewhat cute though. “What do you do for fun?”
“Umm.” I chew on my lip, trying to buy some time. I’m pretty much a hermit. I’ve only recently started going out into the world, but that isn’t something I can tell him. My endless supply of trashy romance novels comes to mind, but I don’t want him to know about the smut I read in those. How embarrassing.
He nudges my hip with his. “Come on, you can tell me. It can’t be that bad,” he teases. “What is it? Let me guess. Do you hide dead bodies? Dance around the house in your underwear?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me as he jokes around.
My eyes bulge out of my head at his suggestions, and I cough and sputter as a sense of shyness comes over me. “No,” I scoff.
“Relax Ally. I was just kidding,” he says with a chuckle.
Feeling slightly self-conscious, I take my hand back and cross my arms. “I knew that.” I can feel my pout. “I like to read and watch movies.” Surely, there’s no need to mention what type.
“Let me guess. Romance.” Busted. He doesn’t look as if he is making fun of me. It seems he’s just curious. I give him a playful shove anyway. “Sue me. I’m a girl who likes romance. It wasn’t a hard guess. I bet you like action. Am I right?” I quirk my eyebrow with a satisfied look on my face. I so have him here. Point made.
His face goes deadly serious as he answers, “No, romance is my favourite genre too.” He keeps up the charade for about ten seconds before he bursts out laughing.
“You arse.” I can’t help but to laugh too. He’s actually quite funny.
A single fat raindrop lands on my nose. It rolls down to my lips, and I lick it away. Theo stops mid step and he focuses his stare on my mouth, devouring my lips with his eyes. Oh my, I might be in over my head here. Is he going to kiss me? I’ve never kissed a boy before.
The rain starts to fall faster, and before he has the chance to make a move, I break the moment by stammering, “It’s raining. Quick, let’s go.” Motioning towards the mall with my head, I turn and run at full speed for the last few hundred meters there.
Wow, I almost kissed a girl that I just met in the middle of a downpour. What a way to go to scare her away, you weirdo. Silently berating myself for my lack of common sense, I catch up to her at the automatic glass doors in front of the mall.
Angel of Mine Page 2
