Chapter Eighty Six
When Willow told me she was going out of town overnight I got very worried. I felt my heart sink because I thought she might never come back once she leaves. We’re gypsies and I knew that she was feeling trapped in North Carolina. I couldn’t leave until I found the missing piece of me. I debated whether to tell Willow that she just couldn’t leave me because I needed her to help find a fractured part of my spirit. If I told her about it, then I would have to try and explain something unexplainable.
“When will you be back?” I asked nervously.
I was following her around like a puppy as she was packing for her trip. Carefully noting the items she packed, I noticed she only took enough for an overnight trip. Still, I was terrified I might never see her again.
“For the hundredth time Sweetie, I will be back in town by tomorrow evening. I promise. I’ll even be back in school on Tuesday. You can ride with Tray to the airport tomorrow when he comes to pick me up. Then, you can grill me with a thousand questions about the plane ride.”
“Ember is the moon!” Boo declared as he rushed inside Willow’s room and took me by the hand.
“Not today my little Boo-bear honey, Ember is the flippin’ nervous wreck,” I told him.
“There is nothing at all to be nervous about Sweetie. I’ll be coming right back – I promise…” Willow remarked as she closed her suitcase.
“What about tomorrow and Eli and that whole ‘take-me-out-to-dinner-and-meet-my-doom’ fiasco that’s gonna be just waiting on me when I walk into that school?? I have no clue what to do or say or even how to be or not be. You’re gonna leave me here to contend with that impending disaster after Eli’s already injured himself trying to get my attention. I need you to run interference because I’m not ready to face him down yet. Besides, you haven’t given me any female education about anything and I’m sure that I’ll fall to pieces without some kind of support or education from you.
“You’ll also feel mighty bad if Tray squashes him like a pancake because you went on a vacation somewhere and didn’t prevent that from happening. He almost threw him through a wall or the ceiling and I couldn’t seem to do anything about it because I was tripped out from what he asked me. Tomorrow he’s gonna ask me the same thing, only different because everyone will be standing right there or maybe they’ll be sitting, but either way they’ll definitely be watching and…” I exclaimed and would have continued to ramble until she missed her plane, but she stopped me.
She took me by the other hand and told me to calm down, immediately. Then all three of us walked out to the garage where Tray was talking to Rave and Celeste.
“You’re gonna promise your little girl, that you’ll channel an obliteration to Eli so he won’t ask her anything until I return! I don’t want her worrying herself sick about it. I can’t leave until I know you’ll keep yourself in check, as well. So it’s a promise you’re gonna make to both of us…right now…” Willow demanded, loudly.
She had caught them all off-guard because they weren’t expecting us to just suddenly appear. They stood there for a few seconds speechless.
“Ember is the moon…” Boo said again and tugged on my hand as a show of support.
We all stared at my brother and waited for him to make a decision.
“I’ll promise to use an obliteration on Eli, but conditionally…”
“Name your condition…” Willow stated.
“That I can channel it to him for one full week…” Tray offered his condition and then, waited for her to decide.
“You can’t avoid this forever, Tray. So, I’m gonna counter you. You can use your skill and channel that obliteration for one week to him. But then, he’s off limits when it comes to asking Ember out. No pestering, pleading or figuring out a way to charm her into letting you either. She’s gonna have to figure this mess out just like the rest of her human kind because, in case you haven’t noticed, she’s gorgeous. I also don’t expect he’s the last boy that’s gonna brave your insane, big brother wrath and ask her to go on a date. She has her whole life ahead of her, for goodness sakes…”
“Eli would be the last boy to ask her out if she’d let me have my way about it…” Tray thought aloud and I bit down on my lower lip.
I remembered the promise to do his bidding – he really loves me…
“That’s my counter – take it or, well just take it. It’s the best you’re gonna get on this particular issue…” Willow said with her arms crossed.
“Deal, then – what choice do I have?” Tray replied.
“Now, it’s settled. Are you satisfied, Ember?” Willow asked.
“I still wish you wouldn’t go…”
“Are you satisfied?? You won’t have to deal with this date issue until a week from Monday. I’ll be home for the rest of this week. You can panic and rant all you want and I’ll listen. I have to do this, though. It’s super, mega important and I have to do it right away…”
I finally agreed and told her I was satisfied because it’s not like I could hold her hostage. We drove her to the airport and watched her fly off into the sunset. Tray and I decided to go home and call it a night although it was only 7:30. He had left the box with the check book and register beside my bed.
“Here…” I offered and tossed him the box when he walked by my room.
“This one’s yours,” Tray informed me and placed it right back on the nightstand.
“You’re gonna trust me to run around with that amount of money!”
“It was never about trusting you with it. You’ve been paying our bills and doing the household budget since you were nine. I’ve been preparing, but it’s all been for you and your future. I think it’s time for you to start deciding on what colleges you’re interested in attending so we can work on the finances together.”
“Will you be attending with me?”
“After you graduate high school my school days end, officially. You’ll still be living with me until you graduate college and probably until you’re old and gray and wished you’d listened to Willow…”
“I actually plan on living with you forever, regardless of whether I date or whatever – just so you know. I also realize that Willow believes I’m not interested in boys because she thinks I’m afraid you’ll annihilate them. But honestly, I don’t think of Eli – or any guy – in a dating kind of way. I wouldn’t necessarily mind going out to dinner and a movie with him, but then, everyone would get the wrong idea – including him. I simply can’t add anymore drama into my already cluttered mind. You probably know that better than anyone…”
“I know you can’t. I honestly don’t even know how you’re maintaining now…”
“I feel like I should wanna date…and the Creator knows that’s all my friends ever talk about. But, my friends aren’t living my crazy, psychotic life. Eli is handsome, intelligent, popular, and a nice guy for the most part. He’s everything a girl should ever dream about wanting. All I really want is for things to go back to the way they were before I ever met him. I don’t wanna hurt him, but how do I avoid it when there’s no other way around saying ‘no thanks’ with the entire world watching us?”
“It’s a difficult choice and I wish I had the answer. On the brighter side, you won’t have to worry about me crushing him into the earth…”
“Tray…” I said and then, hit him with my pillow.
“Seriously, you’re gonna have to face some things all on your own. I made Willow a promise and she’s right this time. You need to decide what you wanna do about Eli. You also need to realize that getting hurt is part of living in this world – no one gets a free pass, not even you…”
“You’re right…” I replied.
“Let’s get some sleep – it’s been a very long weekend,” Tray said wearily.
“I have no idea how you survived my 16th birthday, but thanks and I love you for everything.”
“I don’t know how I lived
through it either so don’t ask. You’re very welcome. I love you too, my little girl. Now, go to sleep so I can too…please.”
Ember Rising Light (Book One) Page 90
