Aftermath

by Jenna-Lynne Duncan

  “Nikki!” I protested. I barely knew how I was going to make it watching the parade, let alone participating in it with everything that was going on.

  She put a delicate fist to her mouth and cleared her throat, “Let me rephrase that. All students running for royalty are required to ride on the float.”

  “Nikki!” I nearly screeched.

  “What?” She threw her hands up in the air. “You’re the one who wanted to run for queen.”

  I shot her a look. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “You didn’t seem to protest when Stephanie got in your business. Maybe it’s because someone got all jealous about her hooking up with a certain bad boy?”

  “Who told you that?” I groaned.

  “Marie talks, girl.”

  The hall quieted and I knew the bell was about to ring. I sunk down right there in the hall and buried my hands in my knees. Nikki quietly sat down with me but didn’t say anything.

  I lifted my head. “And she didn’t hook up with him.”

  “I know, honey,” she patted me with pity. “How ‘bout this: after school, Marie and I will come over to hang out and help you get prepared for the parade and then we can all drive there together? “

  I must have really looked pathetic if she thought a makeover would cheer me up. But I nodded anyway, knowing I had to move forward. She stood up and held out her hand, offering to help me up. I took it and together we walked toward our classes.

  I grudgingly left Nikki to go to my AP History class with Luke. When I walked in, classes had already started but Rachel hadn’t started teaching. Everyone had turned their attention to me when I walked in, probably thinking it was supposed to be the teacher. Luke was in his usual spot, my empty desk next to his was painfully in the spotlight. A blush flushed my cheeks as I took the walk of shame to my desk. I succeeded in avoiding his gaze while I sat down.

  “Hey.” I pushed my lips together as I heard the velvety aloofness of his voice. Did he really think I didn’t mean what I had told him earlier? Was he naïve or just hopeful? Even the prospect of finding out why Hayden was not back yet was not enough to bring me to speak to him. After my dream, his threat of killing Zack was just too real.

  He sighed after I didn’t reply. A small white paper bag was placed on my desk. “I thought you’d be hungry since you didn’t finish our picnic.”

  My stomach growled treacherously and I opened the bag to find another sandwich and a clear plastic container of fresh cut strawberries, pineapple, and some other berries. I licked my lips out of instinct. He was right, I was hungry and that vegetarian muffuletta was delicious. Suddenly, I was not beneath eating what he had given me and I took out the sandwich. I ate quietly while I went over my notes from yesterday’s class. Rachel still had yet to show, and the students started talking amongst themselves at the first chance they got.

  “Is it good?”

  Luke was still irritatingly trying to get my attention. I rose my eyebrows in indifference as I kept chewing, not taking my eyes off my notes.

  “I’m sorry I got a little jealous…”

  Jealous? He was downright possessive!

  “I know I don’t have a right to be, yet, but…”

  My blood boiled when he said the word yet and I crinkled my sandwich wrapper loudly and stuffed it back in the bag. I licked the last of the olive salad off of my lips.

  I was surprised to hear him let out a soft groan and from the corner of my eye I could see him shaking his head. “I love the way you eat.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Where’s your friend? She was supposed to start class eight minutes ago?”

  “I know I was wondering the same th—“ I stopped mid-sentence and turned back to my notes. It was as if he knew just what to say to get me to talk to him. And oh, how I did want to talk to him. Hayden still wasn’t answering my calls or replying to the few texts I'd sent him. Nikki said that I didn’t need to know where he was at all times and I should just give him his space. But Nikki also didn’t know that he Hunted rogue supernatural creatures or that I had almost been killed, yesterday being roughly my third time. And Luke was there, like he always was, open and straightforward with me about his motives. I closed my eyes at the intruding thoughts. I didn’t like where this was going and I resented the doubt that was building inside of me.

  When I opened them, a new teacher had come into the room. He was a younger man with a pile of manila folders and papers in his arms. He dropped the load on Rachel’s desk, adjusted his sweater-vest and then faced the class. “Hello, I’m Mr. Cary. Sorry about the wait, Ms. Vitale had an emergency and I will be your sub for today.”

  The general mood of the class uplifted at the mention of “sub.” Everyone’s except mine. And maybe Luke’s. It was just too much of coincidence with the way she had been acting lately. With the way everyone had been acting lately. I managed to exchange a questionable glance with Luke and then half-heartedly listened to the substitute teacher’s instructions for that day. I added Rachel to the list of things I had to figure out and started jotting down notes as furiously as he was writing them on the board.

  I somberly walked out of the girls’ locker room after my last class. Hayden was nowhere in sight. I checked my phone and still nothing. Now I was really starting to worry.

  “Do you want to hear my theories?” Luke appeared at my side, causing me to misstep and nearly knocking me over into the line of guys leaving the boys' locker room.

  I adjusted the strap of my bag slung over my shoulders. “No.” I didn’t know whether to be more worried or relieved that Luke didn’t know where Hayden was, either.

  “C’mon love, I’ll tell you on the drive home.”

  I walked in the opposite direction, hoping to find Marie or Nikki. “No, thanks. My friends are coming over after school so I’ll just get a ride with them.”

  Of course I didn’t get off that easily and Luke walked beside me back into the school. “I’m guessing from your demeanor that Hayden hasn’t called you since he left early this morning?”

  I scoffed. I wondered if Luke would ever get tired of the one-sided conversations.

  “Which must mean that he must be with Tatiana who came in town last night.”

  Now Luke was making up girls to turn me against Hayden? He was really starting to irritate me but that was what he wanted, wasn’t it? To get a rise out of me? “Never heard of her,” I said indifferently.

  Luke mocked being appalled. “You mean Hayden never told you about the Russian princess who’s madly in love with him?”

  I stopped walking and my hands balled into fists. “You’re lying.”

  “Me? Lie?” He leaned toward my ear as he ‘tsked me. “You know I have never lied to you.” And I was pretty sure he hadn’t. Either way, he must have known this piece of timely information would feed right into the part of me that was completely impulsive and irrational. “Why don’t you call him and ask him yourself?” I turned to face him. Darkened hazel eyes looked up at me through lowered brows. “Oh, that’s right, he’s not answering is he?” because he’s hiding something laced his last words.

  “I hate you,” I whispered spitefully.

  He gave me that cocky, one-sided smile that probably brought men and women alike to their knees. “Well, you know what they say, love and hate both stem from the same place.”

  I tried to think of a smart reply to that but I came up with nothing. I just kept thinking about the first time Luke revealed his true feelings for me on the beach in Tampa. I think my exact words were, “...but I thought you hated me?” and then he told me he loved me. And then he kissed me. And I kissed him back.

  “Rrg!” I grunted my frustration and left him standing alone in the hallway with that stupid smile on his face. “You’re delusional!” I said over my shoulder as I made my way to Nikki’s locker.

  “See you at home, love!” Luke said with amusement in his voice, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Chapter Eighteen
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  “Thanks for the ride, Marie,” I said as I threw my book bag on the bed in my room.

  “No problem, we were coming over anyway.” What happened to Hayden?, were her unspoken words.

  “So, I knew you wouldn’t have a whole lot to go off of, so I brought some cute Ecole T-shirts; do you have some blue leggings, those would be perfect?” Nikki’s voice faded as she entered my closet to help me pick clothes to wear for my appearance on the float. Attire would be ‘anything goes’ as long as it was in the school spirit. Masks were required and I wondered what she had in mind for that.

  “Check the built-in drawers on the left,” I told her, still unsure of the extent of my own wardrobe. Hayden had my room and bathroom stocked with everything I never had. As much as I was grateful, I was overwhelmed. Nikki, with her passion for clothes and candy, helped me put it to good use.

  As Nikki raided my closet and Marie my books, I was thinking about how I would get through tonight without Hayden. I had hoped he would at least call me by the time the parade started. But all I was doing was hoping. Hoping he would be home. Hoping he’d call. Hoping he’d still love me. What was that about? Surely, people in normal relationships didn’t think those sorts of things. Then again, nothing about my relationship with Hayden was normal. How was it that I was able to manage life without him just fine six months ago? Very dully, but fine. Now it was if he had become so entwined in my life that I couldn’t think without him. He had truly come to possess me. As much I told myself I was just worried about his safety, there was that insecure part of me that said he had left me, that he had just changed his mind and left me. It concerned me most of all because this was a time when I was questioning my love for someone else, and it didn’t help that I was also questioning his love for me.

  “Hello, space case?” Nikki took the cherry sucker out of her mouth with a plop. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Hm, I wonder what?” Marie had found a book that piqued her interest and sprawled out on my bed to read. There was humor in her voice and I was glad to hear that things were almost back to normal between us after the night we opened her voodoo chest. “Or whom?” She let out a girlish giggle that was completely unlike her.

  Her mood made me feel playful, and I picked up the nearest thing, a tube of mascara, and chucked it at her.

  “Hey,” she squealed and snapped the book shut.

  I smiled and turned back around on the stool of my vanity. I looked at Nikki through the mirror as she emerged from my closet, saying, “I was trying to get your opinion on an outfit before you spaced out on me. Now you will just have to try all of them on.” She threw a sizeable load of clothes on my bed and I groaned quietly. She came up to me at the vanity, beaming at my supply of products. “I get to do the makeup, Marie you can do something with,” she fluffed my hair, “all of this.”

  “Hey,” I protested at her playful insult.

  Marie sat up from my bed and came to join us at the vanity. We looked at each other in the mirror for a while before Nikki said, “Let’s get to work!”

  When I finally was free from the grasps of my well-intentioned friends, I looked at my phone.

  6:32PM. No missed calls. No new texts messages.

  I wondered how I would be able to bring my cell phone with to the parade. I couldn’t bring a purse and with the outfit Nikki had picked out for me, there was not an inch of clothing that wasn’t clinging to my skin. I gave one last longing look to my phone before leaving it on the charger by my bed.

  As I walked down the curving staircase, I heard Nikki’s laughter mixing with Luke’s seductive voice. Great, what now?

  “What’s a great idea?” I asked, jumping in on their conversation.

  Luke turned toward me with a wicked smile that could only mean he was up to something.

  “Luke’s going to give us a ride to the parade,” Nikki spoke for him, totally buying into his plot.

  “Well, I was going anyway so I thought it would make sense if we all just rode together.” I totally saw past Luke’s feigned innocence at this coincidence. He was motivated, and now I knew he was calculating as well.

  I looked at Marie to see if she had bought in as easily as Nikki had. She shrugged. “It would save me gas.” Her face was apologetic.

  My teeth sunk into my lower lip as I gave Luke a deadpan expression. I could drive myself, but I didn't think they would let that fly. Nikki had already deemed me a flight risk. And it wasn’t like I would be spending time with Luke; we wouldn’t even be alone. I had to be on the float 45 minutes before the parade started so they would have to drop me off at the warehouse, anyway. I guess it would be okay for Luke to look after them while I was in the parade…

  “Fine,” I conceded.

  Luke gave me a victorious, closed-mouth smile and held out his hand to lead us toward the garage.

  Nikki continued her conversation with Marie as they started toward the garage. As I went to follow them, Luke stopped me. I stared at his hand curled around my arm, acutely aware of his touch.

  When I looked up at him, his eyes became stormy. He licked his lips and then bent down to whisper in my ear. The heat of his breath tickled the sensitive area of my neck as he whispered, “ You can’t expect me to play nice when you wear something like that. I’m afraid I simply won’t be able to keep my hands off of you.”

  My jaw dropped open. His words appalled me—and at the same time excited me.

  I recovered my composure. “You'd better keep your hands off me, unless you want me to break your fingers.” I gave him my best menacing smile. Where was this side of me coming from? Strangely, I knew.

  “Ohh,” his chest rumbled with laughter. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

  “Both,” I snapped as he slowly made his way around to my other ear. This had to stop.

  “I look forward to any time where you touch me.” He had circled me, like he was a vulture and I was his prey.

  “You’re disgusting!”

  “We’ll talk more of what I am later, love. Right now, your friends are waiting.” At his last words, he left me there in the hallway, weak-kneed and boiling with anger.

  “No, we will not talk about this later!” I called after him, but it was too late, I had already heard the door to the garage open. And he'd had the last word.

  I uttered a minced oath, blew a curl out of my face and stubbornly followed him out.

  Five minutes later, I was in the garage standing outside Luke’s truck. Luke had started the truck, and Nikki and Marie were already in the backseat. There was no way I was going to sit next to him, regardless of his plans. A thought occurred to me and I opened the back door to meet their confused faces. I smirked and squished myself in.

  “There’s no way I’m sitting up here alone like I’m some damned driver,” Luke protested, looking irritated that his plan had backfired on him.

  I tried to contain my laughter. “The car doesn’t drive itself. And if you’re not up for the job, we’d be happy to drive ourselves.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” He gave me a long look in the rearview mirror. “You know I’ll take what I can get, Ana.” And he pulled the gear into drive.

  I was acutely aware of Luke’s gaze on me the entire ride. I squirmed in my seat at the reflection of his intense hazel eyes and tried to pay attention to the story Nikki was telling us.

  I caught the tail end of her sentence when I suddenly wished I had heard the whole thing. “She won’t mind that you are going with us?” Nikki had asked Luke.

  “Wait, what?” I gripped the seat in front of me. “Who won’t mind?”

  “Hello—Stephanie? Luke was supposed to be going to the parade with her. For her.” Nikki looked up thoughtfully. “I’m not really sure how that works since she is going to be on the float with you.”

  “What?” I was stunned with both pieces of new information. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. Of course Stephanie would be on the Ecole float since she was also run
ning for Queen. But Luke on the other hand… I thought he had ended it with her. I didn’t know why, but lately I was more repelled by her than before. I really meant it when I told Luke 'anyone but her.' I didn’t trust her one bit. Something about her, besides her usual cruelness, just rubbed me the wrong way.

  We pulled up to the warehouse where the floats were stored before the parade. I was a little disappointed that we had arrived already and I wouldn’t be able to finish the conversation.

  “Oh my God, we’re here. Good luck, Ana!” Marie reached over and squeezed my arm. I was glad someone was nervous for me.

  “Nah, who needs good luck? She looks great if I do say so myself!” Nikki was proud of her makeup job. I was really impressed as well. It was like she was an artist and my face was her canvas. Instead of a mask, Nikki had painted one on my face. It was subtle but the butterfly wings made my eyes look exotic. I could hardly believe it was my reflection staring back when I had first looked at myself in the mirror.

  “Thank y’all so much, I really appreciate it.” I gave my friends meaningful glances before opening the door. “Luke, may I have a word please.”

  “Of course,” he smiled smugly.

  I came around to his side of the vehicle and led him a few steps away from the truck—and Nikki and Marie’s earshot—before I started with my inquisition.

  “What’s up with you going with Stephanie?” My hands automatically went to my hips and his gaze followed me there so I crossed my arms instead.

  He shrugged like he didn’t have a care in the world, and why would you if you were Luke Boudreaux, gorgeous, rich, and immortal? I swallowed. “Well?”

  “That was before all of this.”

  “All of what?” I realized I wasn’t trying hard enough to ignore him, that I was actually leading him on. And that realization struck me like a splash of cold water. It felt awful.

  He must have seen something on my face because then he replied, “Stop worrying about if it’s right or wrong. You can’t change how you feel.”