She honks again. I race downstairs, carefully holding my beach bag and watching my steps.
2:00 p.m.
The house creaks. Otherwise, it’s dead silent. I guess Jare went somewhere. I shrug and open the door. I lock my eyes onto a black, slender car with matching rims.
That’s definitely not Dawn’s car.
I look at the guy leaning against the vehicle. He’s wearing flip flops. His tanned complexion gleams against the warm sun’s rays. He’s wearing light, blue washed shorts with fashionable rips.
His jaws are clenched, his body hard. He’s shirtless…very shirtless. Air trickles out of my mouth as I exhale in awe. My heart beat slows down and the light, warm wind moves the tiny hairs on my skin.
The gravel beneath him crunches and rumbles as he slowly walks toward me. He smirks at me. His chocolate eyes are mouthwatering.
I feel a presence around us as the air between our bodies stiffened. Hollister cologne slithers up into my nostrils. My nose flares as he touches me underneath my chin with the tip of his thumb. He leans over me and whispers into my ear.
“You’re staring again, Miss Swift,” he says, his voice rough and raspy. I shudder. Goose bumps pop on my skin, traveling down from my ear onto my lower back.
He must be rich if he has both a motorcycle and a car. I can’t believe Eric is in front of me and not Dawn. How does he even know where I live?
My lips part slowly. I say, “I—I’m sorry.”
He slides his hand down my arm. I grip the strap of my beach bag because I’m nervous. He eventually finds my fingers and gently loosens the grip. While he continues to stare into my eyes, I see their light green reflection through his.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” he replies. He grabs my beach bag and interrupts my daze. My eyes flutter up to his face. He was so close to me...The nerves in my body tickle against my skin.
His muscular chest rises as he breathes, and the veins along his slim arms are visible. I glance down at my beach bag.
“Where’s, uh, Dawn?” I manage to say, looking around. I purse my lips and pull out my cellphone to shoot her a text, but he grabs my phone and places it in his pocket.
“Don’t worry about it,” he says under his breath, grinning.
I look up at him. “Give me my phone, Eric.”
He shakes his hand and starts to walk away. “Come get it.”
I clear my throat, turn around, and walk back up my steps to my house. He grips my waist and turns me around. I chuckle as he places his arm around my shoulders and walks me to his car, opening it for me like a gentleman.
A new car scent brushes against my face and my butt slips around on the polished, black leather seat. Eric shuts the door gently. I watch him sit next to me, smirking. I close my eyes and take another deep breath. I reach into his pocket and steal my phone back.
“I believe this is my cellular device, thank you very much.”
I look at the houses next to us. I don’t feel so nervous around him anymore. I don’t care how cute he looks.
None of this is real.
When he presses the start button to power up his car, my attention flutters back to him.
He smiles at me. As he drives off, I watch my house fade away. I turn back around and cover myself up with my cardigan then it hits me that the person driving, is really Eric. He seems happy to finally have me trapped with him for the night.
“So, this was all planned? You didn’t think I’d know you were doing all of this behind my back?”
“You’re trying to act like you knew. It’s okay, everyone needs a surprise in their life every once in a while. Plus, I know you missed me.” He purses his lips.
“Heh, right,” I say as he turns to look at me. I’m on my phone, checking Facebook.
“Are you hungry?” he asks.
I look at him and then at the crystal blue lights gleaming on his skin from the speedometer. The windows are tinted, making the inside of his car dark.
“Not…really.”
Before he can say anything, my stomach makes an embarrassing grumbling sound, aching for me to feed it. How embarrassing. I quickly place my hands over my stomach and then cover my mouth as I avoid eye contact.
“What a liar,” he jokes. “Where should we go to eat?”
He waits for me to say something. When I don’t, he finally speaks.
“Sweet Frog it is.” He chuckles. “You like frozen yogurt?”
“I love frozen yogurt.” I smile at him. He’s more than pleased that he can now take me out to eat as well.
“Aren’t we going to be late for the rave?”
“Nah, my car’s pretty fast.”
***
We arrive at Central Plaza. It’s sort of like a mini market place with a bunch of restaurants and little stores. Eventually, we find a place to park and Eric quickly gets out of the car to open my door.
This is not a date. No way! Okay, maybe it is. Do not panic. I feel my chest moving and my heart slowly beating. I can do this, I know I can.
“Thank you.” My eyelashes flutter up at him. I grin and cover myself with my long cardigan. He places his arm around me as we walk up to the store. I tense up from his half naked body brushing up against me. I hold back a smile. Eric opens the door, letting me in first.
How cute.
The customers inside stare at Eric and his body. It’s kind of awkward, but I don’t care. I wrap my cardigan over my rave outfit, so that I don’t draw any more attention to the both of us. I’m wearing shorts to cover the bottom part of my outfit. I glance down. The blue and pink material at the bottom of the bikini is poking out. My shorts are unbuttoned and the zipper is down.
We pick our yogurt cups. I pick cookies and cream and Eric gets strawberry.
He sticks his index finger in his yogurt and attempts to place it on my nose. I yelp, moving away from his yogurt finger. Laughing, he eventually gets a hold of me, wraps his arms around my waist from behind, and licks the yogurt off his index finger.
“You’ll never be able to run away from me. I’ll always catch you.”
He pays for our frozen yogurts after we decorate them with a bunch of sweets. I sprinkle his with a bunch of jelly beans and he tosses chocolate chips into mine. We find a nice window seat perfect for the two of us.
My cellphone, which is in my purse, vibrates, and I see that Dawn has texted me with a smile emoji. I shake my head, smile at the text, and place the phone back into my purse. Eric catches my reaction and sticks his green spoon into my yogurt.
“Do I have yogurt on my face?” He feels his chin.
“No.” I laugh. “Dawn sent me a text.” I shake my head.
“She helped me with everything,” he says. “Well…I didn’t know where you lived, and she helped me with directions.”
I play with my yogurt, swishing my pink spoon around it in a circle. I grin at the mess I’ve made in the pink cup.
“I’m going to kill her,” I mumble.
“Shut up.” He snickers. “Besides, you’re always running somewhere whenever we meet,” he sticks his spoon in his mouth, “so this was the perfect plan to trap you with me and eat yogurt.” He glances up at me and stares. I smile.
“I’m not always running.”
“If you say so.”
We talk and talk more about his life: how his dog almost kicked him into a lake, how Slytherin is his favorite house in Harry Potter, how much he loves math. I crinkle my nose at that. As we laugh, I watch his tiny freckles dance on top of his nose.
“Slytherin, huh? I knew you were trouble.”
“When I walked in?” He smirks.
“Jerk.”
Time passes by. Tears from all the laughter fills my eyes. Even though I’m not sure if we’re on a date, talking to him feels so easy. For the first time—in a long time, I enjoyed myself.
Without finishing our yogurts, we leave the store and head outside, toward his car. I watch his back muscles contract and shake my head, grinning.
>
I brush my hair out of my face and tuck it behind my ear as I purse my lips.
Maybe the male species isn’t that bad after all.
Chapter 9
Eric stands by the car, holding the door open. I’m nervous that he won’t let me in his car with food. When I approach his sleek vehicle, he snatches the cup of yogurt out of my hand, glaring at me.
“No food allowed, sorry.”
“Seriously?”
“No,” he jokes, taking my spoon and scooping some yogurt into his mouth. His voice is muffled by the sugary treat. I nudge his stomach with my elbow and he releases a grunt as I slide into my seat.
“Was that necessary?” he says, turning his car on.
“Yes. I attack thieves.”
“I was going to give it back.” He laughs.
“Sure.”
He revs up the engine and swiftly enters the highway. As he steers his car into the fast lane, he rolls down the windows. Cold wind brushes against my face and whips my now dried out hair around the car. He turns up his radio, placing his shades on.
When he presses a button, the roof begins to lift. My mouth drops. I’ve never been in an expensive convertible before. I gaze at the dark orange, red, and pink sky.
The sun is setting beautifully.
I force my hands out the opening, screaming. Eric laughs, though I can’t hear him too well with the pressure of the wind muffling his voice. I feel so happy. My heart begins to thud against my chest. The feeling of being free exhilarates my body. My hair flies everywhere.
Eric drives with one hand, his other arm outside of the car window.
“This is amazing!” I yell.
“What?”
“This is amazing.”
He mumbles something, but I can’t hear him.
***
When you’re having fun, time sort of runs by. We didn’t really care to show up at the party early or anything. It’s a rave party, and I’m pretty sure these events run late anyway. The surroundings we drive through become less dull and turn colorful.
To the side of us, a Ferris wheel circles with rainbow lights bouncing off it. The lights fall on the tip of my nose. I breathe in exuberantly. Music booms against my chest, and a carnival with a ton of lights flashes as we drive past.
People are walking on the boardwalk toward the colorful lights. Eric steps on the gas, causing the car to jerk forward faster. We were just a black darting speckle on the bridge to everyone. I see my reflection against the ocean’s surface. I notice the sparkling ripples from the waves crashing against one another. Nerves tingle throughout my body. I’m aching to jump out of the car.
Eric slows down. He turns his car and drives into a sandy parking lot. My body is vibrating from all the wind and excitement coming from the scenery.
I’ve never been this happy.
My date finds a space to park. Then he opens my door and takes my hand. His trunk flies up with a press of a button. I dance over to it and dig into my beach bag. I see my broomstick and remember Jare’s warning.
Stay out of the crowd.
I shrug, sigh, and pull out the white special boots Dawn gave me to wear. The sand is getting into the flip flops I’m wearing, and I know she’d be upset if she notices me not wearing her special boots. I slide my feet inside them and wrap my cardigan around my waist.
After I close the trunk, I turn around to see Eric staring at me in disbelief. His mouth drops in shock. He looks like he’s about to start drooling.
“You’re glowing!” he says, pointing at me.
I glance down at my outfit and see that the baby pink outlines on the fabric are beaming against the moon’s light. I twirl around, smiling. I had no idea that this outfit was made out of glow-in-the-dark material.
I strut to Eric, whose mouth is still open. I slide my index finger under his chin, tickle his facial hair, and close his mouth.
“You’re staring.” I smirk at him.
He laughs and lifts me up off of the ground.
“Let me down!”
“Nope.”
We approach a massive crowd of people dancing and waving their hands in the air wildly. Eric eventually lets me down. We both stand there and gaze at the shirtless guys covered in paint and girls wearing colorful bras. I want so badly to dance with them. I glance at Eric, who’s biting his bottom lip. He holds out his hand for me to grab.
Someone chucks paint in the air and people roar as it lands on them. No one seems to care. Three guys run toward the ocean and jump into the waves. They seem intoxicated. I can’t help but think about how dangerous that is. Part of me wants to run after them to make sure they’ll be okay.
Eric grabs my hand, forcing me to run with him into the middle of the crowd. He begins to jump, so I figure I should too. We bounce with the group of people, screaming and throwing our hands toward the DJ. He’s blasting Icona Pop with a cool dub step mix to it. Eric finds his way behind me. I lean my back against his chest and place my head against his jawline.
Some girls scream and bump into me. We all jive sync with the bass. The beat thuds against my heart. It’s so thrilling. My body begins to numb because of the number of vibrations thumping against my skin.
Two girls come from behind the DJ. One girl bends over and kisses the DJ’s cheek. He smiles. The other girl skips to the front of the stage, her hands flying up. She moves gracefully in several formations while circling her hips with the beat.
She whips her long hair, flirting with the crowd as her hips sway along with the roaring group. Rocking with the beat, she blows a kiss to the crowd and proceeds to jump in one place.
To hype her audience, she bounces her hands up and down, motioning them to follow her. Eric and I jump with the girl as sand flies up in the air from beneath us. The beat slows down, building its jittery momentum, getting ready to release all of its bass and tasty dubstep vibrations.
The song completely stops playing. The yelling gets quiet and the raging people become still. Within a second a massive wave of bass and vibrations punch the insides of my body. I laugh in shock.
The girl slides across the floor, throws her neck back, and body rolls. She twirls around, sticking her tongue out and smiling. She skips to the other side of the stage and high-fives her partner, switching places with the girl who kissed the DJ.
She continues to thrust her hips from side to side. She points at me and smiles and then I realize the girl is Dawn. She makes it look so easy to do what she’s doing. I feel a wet splash on my back. It’s paint. Then another splash and another land on me. I laugh, jumping up and down, swinging my hair around.
Three girls circle around me, twirling and dancing along with the beat, grinding on me. They smell like the ocean’s mist. The girl in front of me smiles in her neon colored outfit. Her long wavy hair stops right above her belly button.
Red hair fades into a light pink as I look down her wavy strands. The girl on my left also has ombre hair. Her dark green hair fades into a light, leafy green. Twirling behind me, the last girl jumps around with her dark blue hair that fades into a light blue. They skip around with the beat and then they gracefully wander away, through the crowd and toward the ocean’s shore. I brush my hair out of my face. I want to follow them and have fun.
I want to be just like them.
I notice their skipping is synced as they play along the shore, twirling around and giggling. They toss sand up in the air. Their bikinis, which seem tight on them, are glowing as they dance in a sparkled cloud of sand. My ears perk from the sound of singing in a distance from the party. Everything becomes silent. All I can hear is the beautiful, tempting voice pulling me out of the colorful pit of dancing people.
The three girls stop playing around in the sand to look up at me. Their mouths move slowly as they continue to sing. I can hear them amongst the many sounds and see them from a distance. My glasses aren’t on, so it’s strange that they’re clear in front of me.
“Pretty girls like you are a must,” red hai
r says. She sticks her index finger in her mouth. “Come be luscious, like us. We’re three you can trust,” green hair giggles. “Along the shore. Come forth.” The mermaids twirl around. “Don’t be shy. Come play with us.” Blue hair tosses her hands up, kicking sand everywhere gracefully as they sing to me.
They’re melodic dancing and salacious singing makes me want to come closer and dance with them. I want to have fun.
My mouth begins to hurt. I’ve been constantly smiling since they first started dancing around me. I try to scream to grab their attention as soon as they jump into the water, but no sound comes out. I screamed too much at the DJ.
I race after them, stopping just at the edge of the water. I take off my big white boots and toss them to the side. The water’s mist sprays against my glow-in-the-dark outfit, and the waves gently tickle the tips of my toes. The girls singing become louder, and I can’t resist the temptation to dive in.
I try to think about where I remember this from, but somehow the singing and the dancing is blocking me from remembering this certain scene. I throw my hands up to my ears, picking at my memories.
I try to stop myself from entering the cold, dark water, but the ocean is luring me in. The sparkling waves strike up from my ankles, rising to the tip of my knees. Soon, water is splashing against the middle of my thighs.
“Come play with us…” they sing.
They giggle. “Closer, keep walking.”
A splash of water sprays on my face. I can taste the salt on the bottom of my lip. Something grabs my arm in the middle of the splash. With a bolt of speed, I’m dragged through the sharp cold water and into the middle of the ocean.
Letting go of my arm, the red haired girl turns around and floats in front of me. She bounces along with the water. Gracefully, her skin sparkles from the moon’s light as well as her red hair. She smiles at me, bites her lips, and lets her arms flow against the slight waves.
She’s so beautiful.
She circles around in place, turning back to look at me with her pitch black eyes. I stare back in shock. I can’t scream because my throat is sore from the rave. On the sides of her arms a sharp little fin glimmering against the water’s surface. Little gills on both of her cheeks shrivel and wiggle as she breathes.
Mystical (The Mystical Trilogy Book 1) Page 9
