Dark Hearts

by P. L. Midnight

  The conversation at the table was a bit strained once or twice, but overall it was just general teenage conversation. This also included Tori trying to get Alex’s attention, while Sara mooned over him. Anne seemed to be content to glance at Raven when she thought no one noticed. If Mark missed getting his usual attention from Sara, he didn’t say anything nor did he look terribly upset. I think he was taking it all in and finding it rather humorous in his odd way of thinking.

  I was not entirely comfortable when the conversation turned to Raven. I didn’t want to give him any reason to feel uncomfortable or to leave, but he didn’t seem to mind. It seemed everyone was a bit curious as to why he had joined us for lunch. Perhaps that was why Anne had glanced at him or it could have been that he was just that gorgeous. Raven, Alex and Vince seemed to be getting more than a few glances from several of the bolder girls in the room.

  Raven didn’t exactly fit in with our group. Brittany and a few of the more “uppity populars” would consider that he was slumming. Actually, we refer to them as the UPs and I’m not talking about the brown truck delivery service. The UPs are the students that think they’re better than anyone else is, blah, blah, blah. Most of them are either overly good looking, rich or just super popular. Since they have their noses up in the air all the time, I think UPs is the perfect name for them. I just keep waiting for one of them to trip over something while his or her nose is so high in the air.

  Tori was the first one to broach the subject, as if I wasn’t even sitting there, “I saw you talking to Emma yesterday. Are you two going to be an item now, Raven? Is that why you joined us today, or did you finally get tired of the UPs?”

  I couldn’t believe she’d just boldly said that. How embarrassing could this conversation get? Vince spoke up quickly before Tori could say another word, “Raven’s a friend of mine, Tori. I invited him to join us. Is that okay with you? Oh, and Raven, by the way, UPs is our named for the snobby populars.”

  Raven chuckled after the rather tense moment caused by Tori’s meddlesome remark.

  Vince never made snarky remarks to anyone. He was usually quiet, but I knew he hadn’t appreciated Tori’s comments. I was glad he’d spoken up. Tori had embarrassed me by cornering Raven as she had. It didn’t bother Tori one bit to be so impudent. I wondered just how jealous she really was becoming about the attention she thought I was getting from the guys.

  “Of course, it’s fine. I just wondered if there was a secret romance going on.” She looked at me and continued, “I just didn’t want to be the last one to find out.”

  “I wouldn’t mind, but there isn’t any romance between us… yet. We’re just friends for now. Perhaps you should direct any further enquiries to Emma in private,” Raven replied to Tori’s curiosity.

  Raven smirked at me, finding the conversation at the table entertaining. I believe he liked teasing me and putting Tori in her place a little. The way the two looked at each other, I didn’t think that there was any love lost between the two of them. I knew that Tori wasn’t a big Raven fan. I guess Raven wasn’t overly fond of her either.

  “Emma might keep it a secret even from her best friend, you know.”

  Vince jumped on her comment immediately, speaking softly but intently, “Emma, if you want to date someone besides me, it’s okay.”

  Could it get any worse? All the eyes at the table were focused on Vince and me, awaiting my response. He seemed to be very interested in my reply. His icy blue eyes held that cold intensity as they occasionally did when he was concentrating on something. Unfortunately, Alex was smirking at me and Raven was scrutinizing me, too.

  “Really, let’s not have this conversation where everyone can hear. Vince, can we discuss this later please?”

  “Sorry, Emma, I really was just teasing.” Raven raised an eyebrow and I could tell by his expression that he didn’t believe Vince any more than I did. I could tell Vince was upset. Tori had deliberately set out to embarrass Raven. Perhaps she just wanted to demean me a bit in front of Alex. Now Vince had gotten involved, which made the situation worse. I didn’t want to hurt him, but had we ever actually been dating?

  “Yeah, Emma, we’ll talk later. We’re still cool, right?” Vince said.

  “Yes, we’re cool.”

  “Are we still friends?”

  “Yeah, we are BFFs, Vince, as well you know. Thanks.”

  “Thanks for what? I didn’t do anything.”

  Before I could comment further, Sara spoke up, “I’d like to see that new Tarzan movie. It’s the new movie with Alexander Skarsgård in it. I think he’d be a great Tarzan.”

  “That’s the guy that played in True Blood, isn’t it?” Tori asked. “Oh, Sara, that’s the guy that Emma and you have been going on about for the last couple of years, isn’t it?”

  “Do you think he’s hot, Emma?” Vince asked me pointedly. Did I want to discuss who I thought was hot, no way.

  “What female doesn’t, Vince? The man is hotness personified. He played a vampire on television. All females, even Tori, though she denies it, find mysterious vampires alluring.” This comment came from Sara, who normally said very little. I guess she figured I’d had enough embarrassment for the day. She didn’t look too happy with Vince or Tori either, at that point.

  I blushed as Vince made “fang” face looks towards me, acting out the part of a love-struck, hungry vampire. “Maybe we just need to get some fangs guys.” Raven smirked and Alex laughed outright. Raven seemed to be concentrating more on my face than Vince’s antics. I’m sure I was blushing from all the attention aimed at me. Alex looked across the table at me and boldly winked.

  I didn’t think I should be discussed as if I weren’t at the table any more than I’d already been. Teenage boys could be a pain in the butt sometimes, even the one that was supposed to be a best friend. Tori had been the worst though.

  Before I could say anything, Tori changed the subject by trying to finagle an invitation from Alex to go Sunday. “I understand the skiing at Mad River Mountain is supposed to be good the next few weekends with the early chill expected. It’ll be almost like being at a ski resort in the mountains. You’d probably enjoy it, Alex.” I almost choked on the juice I’d just swallowed. The girl was as obvious as a tall yellow sunflower in a field of short, dry brown grass.

  “Yes, I heard it was. Emma’s going to show me around the place on Sunday.” Dead silence, followed by an immediate dark shadow which quickly crossed Raven’s face at Alex’s remark. When I looked at Raven again, the look was gone. I wondered if I just imagined the jealous glint I’d seen in his eyes.

  Was this actually happening? Raven was going to leave the table. He’d never be interested in me if he thought I was dating Vince and Alex both. Surprisingly, he didn’t leave as Alex further remarked, “I wanted to visit the place. Emma seemed to know all about it and offered to accompany me. If anyone else wants to tag along, I’m sure Emma would be fine with it.”

  Did Alex just bail me out by inviting everyone else? We were just really going to be friends. Great, now maybe Tori would lay off me as well as Vince. Raven seemed pleasantly surprised by Alex’s group invitation.

  “I’m surprised you can ski, coming from L.A. and all,” Raven said in an almost stilted voice, knowing full well California had places that offered excellent skiing opportunities not far from L.A.

  I tried to pipe up before it got ugly between the guys, but was cut off by Alex’s smug answer. “Actually, some of the finest skiing in the country was not far from us at Mammoth Mountain. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s the highest resort in California and one of the best in the country. The mountain is over eleven-thousand feet high and has one of the longest skiing seasons in the United States. It runs from November to June, so there was quite a bit of time to hit the slopes each season. So, yeah, I ski a little.”

  “I’ve seen pictures of that mountain and it looks enormous. I can’t believe you skied there. You must be exceptional, Alex. I hope you won’t be bored a
t the small place near Bellefontaine,” Tori said in her most feminine voice, trying to make up for her earlier cattiness. I wasn’t sure whom she was actually trying to impress. That cutesy voice she was using did nothing for most guys and the rest of us were just used to the obnoxious tone. More and more, I was noticing that she liked to be the center of attention.

  Maybe this new sassy attitude went with her new look. Perhaps it was because of my new look. Tori had been my best friend forever. She’d never tried to embarrass me in front of anyone before, especially a guy. Today she’d done it twice. I realized that she really wasn’t happy with the attention I was getting, especially from Alex.

  I’d always been in her shadow before. It was not that either of us had actually been popular, but now things seemed to be different. Well, now things were really different, as we were both noticing. I was holding my own and even with her new look and bold behavior she wasn’t the focus of the group anymore.

  “Wow, what a comedown from Mammoth to Mad River,” Anne interjected, “I’ve seen pictures of that place. My sister and her fiancé were thinking of going to Mammoth Mountain on their honeymoon. The place looked awesome in the brochures she had. There are over one-hundred and fifty trails and twenty-eight chair lifts. Tori’s right, it’s huge. It has over four-hundred inches of snow per year and three hundred days of California sun. It would be a perfect place to ski.”

  “What’d you do, memorize the brochure?” Mark asked.

  “Maybe she was planning to go with them,” teased Vince, who for the moment was leaving me alone.

  “Leave her alone. You know she’s the resident female super-brain at the table. You know if she read the brochure once she memorized it,” Tori chided as she continued gazing demurely at Alex from under her long lashes, which she batted more frequently than usual. “I’ve got a couple of friends that went skiing there. They raved about the place, too. It’s huge and the Cally sun makes for great skiing. You can ski and get a tan at the same time, imagine that. But really, Mad River isn’t bad and besides it’s close. It’s just quite a bit smaller than you’re used to, Alex.”

  Anne shyly smiled as Mark reached over and grabbed her hand off the table, giving it a nice squeeze. I wondered if he was trying to make up to her for causing her to blush. She didn’t say much and hated being the center of attention. Anne must have really liked the place to babble out the statistics about it as she had.

  I was only half hearing Tori as she was gushing at Alex. She really had it bad for the guy, but he didn’t seem interested in her at all. Unfortunately, when I looked towards him he always seemed to be watching me with those flaming eyes. His scrutiny made me more than a little uncomfortable.

  I hoped that Raven hadn’t noticed the direction Alex was focusing. If he had, he didn’t say anything. I did notice that he shot a few glances in Alex’s direction, arching an eyebrow. The almost smirk on Raven’s face told me that he found it almost humorous. He knew exactly what Alex was doing. I wondered how close their friendship had become.

  Raven had remained quiet throughout the rest of the discussion about skiing. He smiled at me a few times and seemed to be making an effort to fit in with most of the group. I wanted him included in the conversation in a friendly way and asked, “Do you ski, Raven?”

  He smiled at me. His lavender eyes seemed to darken to that shade of deep purple that sparkled like a fine amethyst when he looked at me, “I’ve never skied much. I guess I haven’t had much time with all my other activities and helping with Dad’s businesses.”

  Raven moved his gaze towards Alex, who was getting an abundance of attention from Tori who’d initiated a private conversation with him. She was successfully ignoring the rest of us for the moment, which didn’t seem to make Alex very happy. “What other sports are you good at, Alex?” she purred as she pawed his arm. This delighted Raven and he had a difficult time trying to contain his glee. He seemed overly pleased that Tori was occupying Alex with her constant chatter and very friendly attitude.

  Alex smiled that self-confident smirk, then answered her without hesitation. His smile didn’t quite reach those fire eyes that still seemed to find their way towards me. He answered that his focus had been his studies, even though the tone of her query indicated she wasn’t talking about high school sports. I wondered if she was interested in Alex’s extracurricular activities, which I’m sure, were numerous. Raven made no comment at Alex’s reply. I wondered if Alex was being completely honest with Tori, or any of us. I’d seen him in gym class. He was all golden, lean muscle. You didn’t get a hard, bronzed body like his spending all your time studying. He looked more like a golden warrior than a study geek.

  The rest of the lunch hour was spent keeping the conversation between the guys at a friendly level and watching Tori. It was obvious that she definitely had it bad for Alex, but didn’t seem to realize how obnoxious she was being. She really was acting more despicable than I’d ever seen her act. She just ignored the rest of the table and tried to control Alex, which made her appear desperate for his attention. It seemed to be almost annoying him.

  I’d thought the guys were all becoming friends, however, at times I wasn’t so sure. I could hardly believe that all three guys seemed to be focusing their attention on me regardless of Tori’s efforts to monopolize Alex. Vince was actually paying attention to me, too. His covert glances at me accompanied by his sly remarks demonstrated his unhappiness with the situation between Raven and me.

  Finally, the long lunch period was over. When Raven offered to walk me to my next class, I didn’t hesitate to take his proffered hand. Conveniently, and much to Tori’s disappointment, we were followed by both Alex and Vince who seemed to have joined forces to keep Raven from being alone with me. They just happened to be going in the same direction and volunteered to walk with us, as if I needed an entourage.

  Friday finally arrived, after what seemed like the most interesting and infuriating week of my life. What with Alex popping up everywhere, Raven’s obvious humor at the situation between Tori and Alex, and Vince’s smoldering glances, it made for a strange week at best.

  Chapter Eight

  Friday night was a quiet night spent at home catching up on a couple of my favorite television programs. The Vampire Dairies and The Originals were both on the Friday night list of must-see television shows for Tori and me.

  Saturday went by uneventfully as I did some picking up and cleaning around the house for Mom, who was working more overtime. Tori stopped by in the afternoon to see what I was wearing for our night at Vince’s house. It wasn’t that I needed help dressing, but Tori felt the need to offer her advice on my attire. I’d suggested a nice pair of skinny jeans with the rhinestone trim on the back pockets and some sparkles sprinkled down one leg. They were comfortable and I thought they were pretty darn sweet. Tori wasn’t crazy about my choice.

  I’d promised to take her advice. So, the soft pink t-shirt with matching floral scarf was also eliminated. I ended up wearing the denim mini-skirt with lace trim, the lace-up antique looking boots that I’d been lucky enough to find at a local thrift store, and an off-the-shoulder, loose fitting, long-sleeved top in a deep shade of beige. It was a nice-looking outfit I thought, as I looked into the mirror, even if the skirt was a bit shorter than was comfortable with my normally conservative taste.

  Tori was pleased with the results as I modeled the outfit for her. “Raven won’t be able to keep his eyes or his hands off you.”

  “I don’t think Raven acts like that.”

  “Really, Emma, hell’s fire, he’s a teenage boy. Sex is all they think about and you are one hot girl. Get used to it. The boys are going to be flirting all the time and hoping to do more than just talk.”

  They can hope all they want, I thought. I didn’t make a comment about the statement she’d made and said instead, “The skirt is not too short, do you think?”

  “You look great and the skirt is fine. You should wear mini-skirts more often to show off those long le
gs of yours. Trust me, Raven will love it. Therefore, Vince and Alex will probably love it, too. Now I have to get out of here so I can go home and get ready myself. I don’t want you to look too much better than me. I’m hoping to dazzle Alex tonight so he’ll forget all about you. I’ll be wearing my mini-skirt, too.”

  “Have at it, Tori, but I think he’s just looking for friends.”

  “You don’t look at friends the way I’ve seen him looking at you. I want him to look at me that way, but if he doesn’t then I’ll just have to join forces with you, Emma, and make sure you get one of the guys as your main squeeze. I’ll take the leftovers as long as it isn’t Raven.”

  “I’m not sure how any of them really feel about me at this point.”

  “Have patience, Emma. We’ve waited this long for amazing boyfriends. We can wait a little longer. As I said, I plan to get your cast-offs. Are you sure you don’t mind if I join Alex and you on Sunday? I think a few of the others are planning to come, too. I don’t have to ride with you two unless you want me to.” She flashed the puppy-dog-eye look at me, knowing I couldn’t resist it and would, of course, want her to ride with us. “I can ride over with the others and meet you there.”

  “I told you, I’m not interested in Alex. I don’t mind if you go. You’re welcome to ride with us, as you well know. I don’t care who rides with us, but you should ask Alex. I really don’t know why I agreed to go with him, anyway. If tonight goes well, I may be dating Raven.”

  “I’d like to see more of Alex. Actually, I’d like to see all of Alex. I bet he looks great in the buff.”

  “Geez, Tori, you hardly know the guy.”

  “I don’t have to know him to recognize perfection when I see it. Anyway, it’s not like I’m planning to rape the guy.”