“You know nothing about him. Well, neither do I, but I would like to,” she said. “And he actually asked Ariadne to go with him.”
“Umm, who the hell is Ariadne?” I was almost sure I’d never heard about the girl before.
“She’s that shy redhead who is really sweet and intelligent. I talked to her during lunch, remember?”
No, I didn’t remember her at all. She must be one of those plain faces that are easy to forget.
“And he actually noticed her?” I said, but then I suddenly realized what the whole thing was about. “Oh, poor girl. That bastard is going for shy and innocent girls so he could get what he wants! Don’t you see it? Those girls will do anything he asks just because someone as good-looking as him noticed them!”
“You’re so prejudiced! It doesn’t always have to be like that!” she said.
“Ok, ok. Whatever,” I said. “But you have to go!”
“Sure, sure. I’ll go. I wouldn’t want to miss you and Michael getting close.” She grinned.
“Hey! I don’t want you there to stare at us! I want you to have fun too. But I need my best friend there in case something bad happens,” I said.
“Something bad? Like spilling a drink over your dress?” She laughed.
“Yeah, something like that.” I smiled. “So, what are you going to wear?”
“Me? You’re the one who has to take Michael’s breath away,” she said. We spent the rest of the day planning our outfits, which was even more fun than I had thought it would be.
Chapter 05
When Saturday finally came, I was so excited that my hands were shaking while I was putting on my dress. After changing my mind for over a thousand times, I finally decided to wear a dark blue cocktail dress. Paula agreed it looked good on me and it was still very comfortable. I also decided to wear my favorite black shoes, and Paula helped me put my hair up.
She chose to wear a long dark green dress, which went perfectly with her eyes. I managed to convince her not to straighten her hair. I really loved her curls and wished many times that I had curly hair just like her. And she liked more my straight hair. But no matter what we did with our hair, mine would never stay curly and hers would never stay completely straight. We had actually laughed about it many times.
The party was being held in a house near the university. I think someone rented the house just for that occasion. But I didn’t really care where we were going; I only wanted to be around Michael. He came to my room so we could go together, and I almost fainted when I saw him. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a white shirt, and his hair seemed so soft and shiny that I thought he could easily take part in some shampoo commercial. The smile he flashed me was completely breathtaking.
“Wow, you look… beautiful,” he said, and I blushed. His presence was enough to warm the whole room.
“Thanks.” I smiled.
He took my hand then, and we walked out. Paula and her companion met us in the hall. I couldn’t help but stare at the guy. He had a really short brown hair, green eyes and a huge nose. He was also wearing a hideous check shirt and was a bit red in the face, probably because Paula looked like an angel next to him. Oh dear, what I had made my friend do!
The four of us walked together to the party, and I was actually impressed when I saw how nice the house was. There were really many people inside and the music was very loud. One room, which was completely empty of furniture, was turned into a dance floor. Two smaller rooms were full of drinks and food and one was turned into some kind of a chatting room, with many armchairs and cushions, where music wasn’t so loud and people could actually talk and hear each other.
While we were checking out the place, I saw the Monster in the company of a plain looking red-haired girl, who must have been Ariadne. The poor girl was laughing nervously at something he was saying to her and she already looked pretty drunk. I couldn’t really blame her because Adrian looked just fine in his black shirt, which was unbuttoned a bit, and dark gray jeans. But when he looked up at me, I immediately felt cold in a room that couldn’t get any warmer.
I was really glad that Michael took me to the dance floor because as soon as we started dancing, the world around us stopped existing. I let the rhythm of the song take over me and enjoyed being in Michael’s arms. It turned out that he was a great dancer too.
I don’t know for how long we'd been dancing when I spotted Paula in the corner of the room, looking bored and desperate. She wasn’t dancing and the weird guy was nowhere to be seen, so I figured she must have come here to escape from him. I couldn’t just ignore that.
“Michael,” I yelled, “I’m going for some drinks. Could you go dance with Paula?”
He looked at me in surprise, glanced at Paula and then just nodded. I really hoped he could cheer her up a bit because he was her friend too. I knew that if I had gone there to talk to her, she would have felt even worse.
I found my way to the room with drinks, pushing away a few very drunk guys who tried to get hold of my arm. Just as I was taking two beer bottles, I felt someone standing behind me, and then someone’s arms were around my waist.
“Ria,” Adrian breathed into my ear, and I turned around, almost hitting him in the head with the bottle. He managed to dodge it by very little and was smiling at me.
“Get the fuck away from me,” I said, raising the bottle in my hand to emphasize the point. That didn’t even faze him.
“Now, now, don’t be so mad,” he said.
“Where’s your date?” I asked since I couldn’t see Ariadne anywhere near. I secretly hoped the girl had gotten scared and run away from him. And yeah, I would really love to rub that in his face.
“In the bathroom, throwing up.” He smiled. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ah, and why aren’t you there holding her hair or something?”
“Because there are plenty of girls left here to seduce,” he said. I frowned at him and wished Paula had heard this.
“Then why are you wasting your time with me?” I said. “Or no one else has fallen to your charm, so you’re so desperate that you came to me?”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” He reached for my arm, and I moved away.
“You’re such a jerk,” I said, trying to get past him. But he stepped right in front of me.
“I saw your beautiful blond friend here. I bet I can get her to dance with me,” he said.
“She has a date,” I said, even though I had no idea where that guy was. But Adrian didn’t need to know that.
“That freak? Oh, please. She’ll forget about him as soon as I appear in front of her,” he said.
“Did you forget that you insulted her when she asked you for your help?”
“I’m sure she’s forgotten about that,” he said. “And if she hasn’t, she will. Trust me.”
“Don’t you dare come near her,” I said through my teeth, anger taking over me.
“Oh, I’m really sorry, but I won’t stop until she ends up in my bed.” He smiled.
“That won’t happen,” I said.
“Who’s gonna stop me? You? Your daddy?” He laughed.
“She will,” I said.
“We’ll see,” he said and turned around to leave. I was already shaking from anger, warmth welling up inside of me. I really wanted to set him on fire. He suddenly turned around, looking tense.
“Don’t,” he said, breathing heavily like he’d been running. I stared at him, realizing that my element was truly bothering him. I used my element to make the room warmer instead of setting something on fire and I knew it must have been circling in the whole room. That had to be driving him crazy.
Suddenly he crossed the distance between us and grabbed me by the shoulders. I froze. All the warmth inside of me was gone as soon as his hands touched my skin. And I had no idea how had that happened.
“Do that again and I’ll kill you, you stupid bitch,” he said.
“Then don’t come near me,” I said.
“Well,
I just wanted to tell you this so you can suffer knowing that your friend doesn’t trust you anymore,” he said. “It’s a fair payback for you plotting to get rid of me. She’ll be mine.”
“I’ll tell her about this. She’ll believe me,” I said, even though I wasn’t really sure. Could this asshole really ruin our friendship? I hoped not.
“No, she won’t.” He laughed.
He let go of me and went out of the room. I stood there for a moment, confused. I wasn’t really sure what had happened the moment he touched me. I knew the warmth was all mine, but from where had all that cold come? I realized I still held the beer bottles in my hands and when I lifted them, I saw thin ice around them, which just began melting. How the hell had that happened?
As I was trying to think through all this, Michael appeared in front of me.
“What took you so long? We were already getting worried,” he said. I handed him the bottle and tried to smile. I didn’t want this to ruin the night.
“I wanted Paula to cheer up,” I said. “I thought you’d dance longer.”
“She didn’t really want to dance with me,” he said. “She thought it was weird, so we just talked.”
“Oh, that’s just fine,” I said, opening the bottle and taking a good swig of my beer. I was really getting tired of my creepy encounters with Adrian.
Michael and I returned to the dance floor and danced for some time. I was just starting to relax when I noticed Paula dancing with Adrian. She was smiling like she had never before. Oh, shit. So he had managed to charm her after all. I wasn’t surprised actually. But I didn’t feel like going over to them and making a scene, because that as hell wouldn’t help.
“I need another beer,” I said and pulled Michael away from there. A few beers later, we were in some corner, chatting and laughing. I have no idea what we were talking about or why we laughed, but in one moment we looked at each other and everything was forgotten. His green eyes were shining like diamonds in the light, and I reached out to touch the soft skin of his face with my fingertips.
He took my hand and kissed it. I think I smiled for a second before his soft lips touched mine in a gentle kiss. I must have kept my eyes closed, because I remember only his warm kisses and his arms around my waist.
Chapter 06
Someone’s rough touch woke me up the next morning. Or at least I thought it was morning. I didn’t want to open my eyes because my eyelids felt so heavy, just like the rest of my body. There was also this horrible throbbing inside of my head.
“Ria, wake up!” I heard Paula’s voice. I opened my eyes briefly.
“Why?” I groaned, putting my hands on my head.
“Well, it’s 3 p.m.” She smiled. “You’re going to miss the lunch.”
“3? Oh, shit!” I said, but didn’t move from the bed. “I feel horrible.”
“Well, you look horrible too,” she said. “And you need a shower.”
“Thank you,” I said. I finally managed to open my eyes completely. She looked great as usual. Actually, maybe even better than that.
“Why are you so cheerful?”
“Oh, I’m just… happy.” She grinned. “I had a really great time last night.”
“You did?” I was surprised for a second, then I remembered seeing her dance with Adrian.
“Yeah,” she said. When she didn’t say anything else, I got a bit worried.
“Tell me you didn’t sleep with Adrian,” I said. Her eyes widened and then she frowned.
“Hey! Are you insane?”
“Phew. I was just worried. That’s all,” I said. “I’m glad he didn’t get you drunk like he did with Ariadne.”
“Oh, please. He didn’t get Ariadne drunk. She got drunk because she was nervous or something,” she said.
“Ah, so how did he explain the fact that he'd left his date and come after you?” I said.
“He said he'd realized they had nothing in common, so they had agreed to part,” she said.
“Yeah, right… till your unwillingness to sleep with him parts you.” I rolled my eyes.
“Look, he’s a nice guy. He even apologized for refusing to help me that day and he looked really sincere. And I would appreciate it if you don’t talk about him like that, because he asked me on a date.”
“Paula! He told me himself that he was just going to seduce you!” I said, feeling the headache getting stronger.
“You lie,” she said, looking hurt. “I know you hate him, but that doesn’t mean you have to invent things like that about him! I talked to him! I know he’s nice!”
I stared at her for a moment, trying to think. Obviously, there was nothing I could say to make her see reason. I guessed I had to let her learn it the hard way or risk losing her as my best friend.
“Alright, if you say so,” I said. “But don’t let him make you do anything you don’t want.”
“Of course I won’t,” she said. I sighed.
“Well, I leave you now to get dressed and everything.” She smiled. “Oh, and there’s aspirin on the table if you need it.”
“Oh, thank you, hun!” I said and she left, smiling like she was the happiest girl in the world. Damn you, Adrian, damn you!
I had to wait until Monday to see Michael because I didn’t want him to see me with a hangover. We had lunch together, exchanging a kiss or two. Paula had actually said we were disgusting at some point, but we just laughed at it. Her face, however, completely lightened up when Adrian walked into the room.
He went to sit on the table where he usually sat with his friends, who for some unknown reason weren’t there this time. Paula followed him with a longing look in her eyes.
“Hey, you’re drooling!” I said.
“No, I’m not.” She frowned at me. Then Adrian looked in our direction and made a movement with his hand for her to join him. I thought I was going to be sick.
“You’re not going to go to him like some stupid puppy, are you?” I said, but she was already getting up. “Paula!”
But she didn’t listen. She simply walked over to him and let him put his arms around her. Michael touched my hand lightly.
“Let it go,” he said. “He won’t be able to hide for long that he’s a complete jerk. She’ll see it soon.”
“You think?” I said, looking into his deep green eyes, which became a bit darker as he spoke.
“Yes, I’m sure of it,” he said. It was actually so easy to believe him that it surprised me. But he was right; Paula wasn’t stupid. I was sure that in a few days she would be totally over him.
But days had passed and Paula was still with Adrian. They were now officially dating, just like Michael and me. Because of all the work that had to be done for the university and romantic dates, I didn’t see Paula as often as I used to. And even when we were together, we just talked about anything else that didn’t include our boyfriends. It was weird actually.
While my relationship with Paula was getting worse, Michael and I were doing great. We spent all the time we could together and I actually found out a lot of things about him. He told me about his Russian ancestors, his favorite things and pastimes, his childhood and many other things. I particularly enjoyed the story about his aunt, who had run away with her boyfriend and gotten married even though he had a different element from her. Of course, her act had been a big humiliation for the family and she had been disowned, but she still lived happily with her husband and their adopted children.
I really enjoyed spending my time with Michael and I somehow started to see myself married to him. The only problem was that my parents informed me that they might come to visit me soon. I wasn’t planning to tell them about my relationship with Michael, not if I could help it. But still some part of me believed that when they did find out, they would accept it because they loved me so much. I really hoped I was right.
One day I walked into the girls’ restroom and saw Paula fixing her make-up. I hadn’t truly seen her in days, only during classes and in the hall a few times, but we'd n
ever had a chance to talk. I was getting really sick of this situation. I knew she was busy like I was, but Adrian took up all of her free time and she had none left for me.
“Paula?” I said, and she smiled at me. “Did you pass the exam?”
“Oh, yes!” she said cheerfully. I knew that already, but I didn’t want her to run away from me again.
“That’s great,” I said, waiting for one girl to get out of there. I didn’t need witnesses, especially not when Paula and Adrian had become one of the most popular couples here. I wondered how the news hadn't gotten to Paula’s parents.
“Listen, now that you passed the exam, would you like us to have a girls’ night? You know, like we used to have before…” I said.
“Umm, that would be nice, but I have to ask…” she said.
“Don’t tell me you have to ask your boyfriend for permission,” I said. “I’m your best friend! It’s not like you are meeting some guy.”
She looked at me for a moment, thinking. I couldn’t believe what that bastard had done to my friend! He'd completely sucked her brain out!
“Alright,” she said after some time. It took me a moment to realize what she had said. I'd half-expected her to refuse.
“Great!” I smiled. “Come to my room at eight. I’ll be waiting.”
“Sure,” she said, fixing her hair. I walked out of the restroom to prevent myself from making a comment that would make her change her mind about our little party this night. Just as I closed the door, I saw Adrian in the hall. He was leaning on the wall and watching people pass by, occasionally smiling at girls. I rolled my eyes. Why Paula didn’t see it?
I realized he was waiting for Paula and that scared the hell out of me. He hadn’t been here when I entered so he must have used his ability to find Paula by identifying her element. He could track anyone here at any time… even spend some time with another girl, knowing for sure that Paula wouldn’t find him… I didn’t even want to think how he could use this ability when the disease showed its ugly face.
Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1) Page 5
