by M.W. Muse
Chapter Eight
By the gods, that can’t be right! Surely, her relationship with Adin didn’t have anything to do with her dreams. It had to be because of everything else going on.
Adin’s eyes suddenly turned very sad. He let go of her hand and looked down to the ground. “Do you think you’re dreaming these dreams because of me?”
“Oh, no,” she said, squatting down to force his eyes to meet hers. “No. I don’t think that at all.”
“Then why?”
She could tell he didn’t quite believe her. His eyes betrayed any sign of the confidence they normally displayed. She could sense he wanted to look away from her. He would have if she wasn’t staring so intently at him.
“I don’t think that dreams are always literal,” she said slowly, thinking about the words she needed to say. “I think the storms represent me dealing with stress or nerves. If they were related to you, then I had those dreams to help me get over my nerves.”
“But you just said your dreams weren’t because of me.”
“I meant that they weren’t about you literally. I’ve been dealing with other stress too.” She was only trying to make Adin feel better, but then it clicked. “Oh wait,” she gasped, looking away from him, but his eyes followed her.
“What?”
“The dreams didn’t start Saturday night. They started Friday night. After my party.” She thought for a few more seconds. “I woke up Saturday morning to a storm. I remembered I had a dream, but I woke up too quickly and couldn’t remember…could not remember,” she gasped again, shaking her head.
“Legacy?”
“When I woke up, I tried to think back to the dream I’d just had, but I just stared out my window at the storm, not able to see any lingering images of my dream, and my head was pretty foggy. Then I looked at the alarm clock and got up. I think—”
“What?”
“What if the reason I couldn’t remember the dream was because I was still dreaming? It was storming outside, so if I was dreaming about stormy weather, maybe I hadn’t realized when my dream ended and when I really woke up.”
“Was it because I showed up at your party that night?”
“Why would you think that?” His question distracted her from her train of thought.
“Because I’d been out of line.”
“What?”
“Legacy, I held your hands, touched your lips, and held you tightly without explanation.” Adin closed his eyes and shook his head. “I was supposed to be just a friend, but I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t keep my hands off you.” He opened his eyes and looked at her again. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off you either,” he murmured. “I’d been struggling with my feelings for you for so long that my behavior that night caught me by surprise. After you opened your gift,” he said, looking down at her wrist where her watch was, “I left. I knew I had to get out of there quickly before I did anything else that was inappropriate.”
“You were not being inappropriate.”
Adin continued as if she had said nothing. “After I got home, I went over the events of the evening over and over again. I hardly slept. The next day, I thought I should just change colleges so I could get out of town. But that thought, the thought of never seeing you again, I just fought it. I decided that night I would ask you out. I had to know if you’d be willing to go out with me.” He paused. “When you said yes, I was elated. But while I was away, I started wondering if you’d just said yes because I put you on the spot.”
“I told you that wasn’t true.”
“I know,” he said, his voice still sad.
She reached up to stroke his face and heard him catch his breath, but she didn’t stop. “How you acted the night of my party was the best part of my entire day. When you asked me out the next day, I was beyond thrilled. There aren’t words to express how I felt in that moment. I’ve liked you a really, really long time, Adin. When I figured out which stress caused my dreams that started Friday night, it had nothing to do with being uncomfortable with you at my party.”
Adin smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. She wanted to do more to help him understand how she felt. She took her hand off his face and put both her arms around his neck. She stepped forward and stretched up on her tiptoes to hug him close to her. He wrapped his arms around her back, and she rested her head against his chest while he squeezed her tightly. He bent his head down and kissed the top of her head, keeping his face buried in her hair.
“Don’t worry about my feelings for you. I understand why you’re scared. This is new for both of us. This is something we’ve both wanted. How often does that happen—when two people like each other at the same time?”
“I don’t know. This has never happened to me before,” he whispered into her hair.
“Me either. Would it have been easier for you if I didn’t like you as much as I do? You said something before about getting me to like you if that were the case.”
Adin chuckled, and she smiled in his chest at the sound of his laugh. “No, it definitely would not have been easier. I’ve noticed I have a hard time keeping my manners around you. If you didn’t like me as much as you do now, I probably would have just scared you away. You would have thought I was some overbearing prick!”
She laughed at his teasing tone, and he squeezed her harder. She kept one arm around his neck, but slid one hand down to his chest. She rubbed her fingers in circles on him in front of her face. She felt the muscles in her body relax into his embrace.
“Maybe we should finish this conversation inside,” he suggested. “There’s no telling what the neighbors are thinking right now,” he teased.
Her heart started pounding against his chest, and she knew he could feel it. He stepped back and removed one of his hands from her back to lift her face up.
“What’s wrong?” Adin whispered, staring into her eyes.
Uh-oh. He probably thought she was worried about what they’d been talking about. She couldn’t let him believe that. She knew she was freaking out at the thought of being alone with him in his house. How did she tell him she was a chicken?
She grinned widely up at him. His eyebrows came together, but he half-smiled back at her.
“I’m just reacting to the thought of being alone with you in your house,” she said, trying to sound teasing, but her voice broke twice, so she sounded nervous.
“Oh, well, then that’s an acceptable response.” He laughed, and released her face to lead her into his house.
Once inside she, surprisingly, felt more comfortable. She guessed it was because she wasn’t staring at the vision of her dream. She didn’t see the inside of his house in that dream so being inside helped make that less real for her.
“It’s in my room,” he said, and her heart started pounding again. Luckily, her chest wasn’t up against his, so he wouldn’t notice this time. “Would you like to come up with me?”
Her heart took off in a sprint. She took a deep breath to try to settle it, but that didn’t work. “Sure.”
“It’s this way,” he said as he took her hand and led her up the stairs.
His room was right off the stairs, so they didn’t have far to go. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. If his room were at the end of the hall, then she could have had more time to steady herself. But she’d probably just use that time to get even more worked up.
Adin opened the door, and they both walked in. He dropped her hand and stepped aside. “Er, it’s kinda messy,” he said apologetically. It really wasn’t.
“This is nothing,” she said. “You should see my room.” Oh no! Was that an invitation?
Adin laughed a short, nervous laugh and looked down. Then he looked at his desk by the window. “Umm, it’s over there.”
He walked over to the desk, and she stayed planted by the door.
“It’s nothing big,” he said as he pulled out a conch shell.
Actually, it was big.
He walked over to her with it
in his hands. “I just wanted to get you something to show you I was thinking about you while I was away.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said as she took it from his hands and studied it.
“I picked this one because it has light peach colors, like your skin, and tones of blue and green, like your eyes.”
She looked at him, smiling, but he was looking at the shell in her hands.
“What?”
He shrugged. “I like giving you things.”
“I like that you like giving me things,” she said with a laugh.
“Good,” he said, still smiling but now looking in her eyes. “Would you like a tour of the rest of the house?”
“Sure.” Maybe if she got out of his bedroom, her heart would return to a healthier pace.
Adin took her hand and showed her the rest of the upstairs first, and when they went downstairs, she put the shell on the living room table. He then showed her the rest of his house, and it was amazing. It had all the latest amenities: waterfall faucets, stainless steel appliances, antique bronze fixtures, copper accessories, travertine floors, custom iron railings. Simply beautiful.
“This door leads out back,” he said as he opened the door, and they stepped onto a covered patio. It had several ceiling fans, a fireplace, and an outdoor kitchen. They walked to the end of the patio and started to descend the patio stairs when she looked up.
“You have a swimming pool?” She didn’t know why, but she was shocked. Though, his house had everything else.
“Yes, you should come take a swim sometime.”
They walked down the stairs and around the pool. “You do realize a swimsuit is more revealing than a skirt, don’t you?” Was he for real? He had a tough time touching her leg in a skirt. He’d likely have a stroke touching skin exposed in a bikini…skin he wouldn’t ordinarily see.
Adin threw back his head in laughter. After he composed himself, somewhat, he looked at her. “I do realize that, yes, but I’ll be expecting it then,” he said, chuckling.
“True.”
Adin led her back up the patio stairs. Once they were back on the patio, he pulled a chair out for her. She sat down, and he sat in the one next to her. He took both her hands into his on top of the table.
“You never did tell me why you’re having those dreams. Even though they’re not because of me, I still don’t like the fact that you’re having disturbing dreams.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
Was she going to? “I’d like to, but it really doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe I can help you figure it out.”
“Okay.” She could tell him a little. She took a deep breath before beginning. “Do you remember when we were talking about our families, and I told you about my parents?”
“Yes. They died in a car accident.”
“Well, what I actually said was that the story was they’d died in a car accident.”
He waited for her to continue.
“Um, the night of my party, Lissa told me my mom hadn’t died back then.”
He gaped at her. “What happened?”
“I’m not entirely sure. She said she was a powerful woman, but there were people after her, so she had to leave.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, but she said she told me this because I’ll see my mom again and that I’ll be going through changes until my eighteenth birthday.”
“What kind of changes?” Adin’s face was filled with concern.
“I don’t know.” She didn’t want to get Adin too involved in the mythology stories. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about all that, which is why I think I’m having those dreams.”
“What have your dreams been about, specifically, I mean?”
She told him all the dreams in detail, ending with the one she had about him.
“It seems like your subconscious thinks you’re in danger.”
“I think you might be right.” She looked down at their hands, thinking over the past week and her conversation with River. She hated not telling Adin everything.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” he said quickly.
“Yes. There’s more,” she said, still looking down. A little more wouldn’t hurt.
“What?”
“Apparently, the Gorgos family knows my mom. When I met the son, River, he acted weird. Then the next time I saw him, he said I looked just like this lady named ‘Dora.’ When I told him that was my mom’s name, he was shocked. He said he didn’t know I was her daughter. He took me out that night and told me he saw my mom last year in Greece talking to his dad.” She looked up at Adin, and his expression was frozen. Even his fingers had stopped soothing the back of her hands.
“How do you know the Gorgoses?”
“I got a summer job at their store in town.”
Adin’s eyes narrowed slightly, but quickly opened back up. “When?”
“Last Saturday. They live next door to Calli, and she overheard Ms. Gorgos talking to her mom about needing summer help. I was looking for a job anyway, so Calli went with me down there to apply. Ms. Gorgos offered me the job without me even filling out an application.”
Adin mumbled something unintelligible under this breath.
“What?”
He ignored that and asked her another question. “How long have they lived next door to Calli?”
“Er, I don’t know. I think they just moved here. Where are you going with this?”
“Legacy, my family has never gotten along with the Gorgos family. I don’t like the fact that they live next door to your best friend, and I really don’t like the fact that you’re working for them.”
“They seem nice enough.”
“Of course they do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The Gorgos family is full of people who do and say whatever they need to get whatever they want.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Look, I don’t want to scare you, but you should really be careful around them.”
His words would have knocked her down if she wasn’t already sitting. Be careful. Just like he told her in her dream, sitting at a patio table at this house. It wasn’t the same porch, but it was close enough.
He immediately noticed the change in her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“You just told me to be careful, just like you did in my dream.” She stared off into the sky.
“Legacy,” Adin said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t mean to say it like that, to use those words. Look at me, please,” he said softly. And she did. “It’s just that some members of that family are downright evil.”
“That’s what River said.”
“What did he say?”
“He said to watch out for his mom. That she is evil.”
“He did?” This clearly caught Adin by surprise. “Why did he say that?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t elaborate.”
“I really don’t like this. It seems too convenient that Lissa would give you this news, and the next day you would meet people who may know what’s going on. I don’t know if you can trust what they have to say about this.”
“River is the one who told me, and he is the one who also warned me about his mother. Why would he warn me about her if he’s just lying to me anyway?”
“I don’t know. Is there anything else?”
“Yeah, there’s one more thing.” Might as well go for broke where River was concerned. “The night he took me out…” She hesitated, not sure how Adin would take her non-date with River.
“Go on,” he said after several seconds had passed.
“He mentioned some things about Greek mythology.” She wasn’t sure if she should continue. It looked as if Adin was fighting anger. “Um, he also said something about descending from Greek gods and acquiring certain abilities,” she said timidly.
Adin’s hands
ripped away from hers and went straight into his hair. He leaned his head back, shaking it uncontrollably while he stared at the ceiling. “Unbelievable!”
She jumped in her seat at the sound of his tone and waited quietly for him to calm down, but he just kept shaking his head.
“Adin?”
He still didn’t look at her.
“Adin, what’s wrong?”
He looked at her, but didn’t answer that question. “What did you think when he told you this?”
“It seemed pretty farfetched.”
He nodded, hands still on his head. He seemed to agree with that assessment.
“But after I thought about it some more,” she started slowly, “I realized it matched Lissa’s story.”
Adin went back to shaking his head.
Great, she’d have to tell him everything Lissa had said. So she did. Adin just gaped at her.
“This is a lot to consider,” he finally said. “Maybe you shouldn’t think about your mom or any of this other stuff until she contacts you. It’s best to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“I already considered that, but I’d like to know what River has to say about everything too. Whether or not you think he’s lying.”
Adin’s fist landed on the table. “I don’t want you talking about this with him.”
“Why?”
“I’ve told you why.” Adin looked at her with pleading eyes.
She didn’t want to fight with Adin about this. In fact, she didn’t want to argue at all. No way was she telling him the prophecy stuff.
She stroked Adin’s face, but his eyes were still beseeching. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. You’re getting mad, and I don’t want to upset you.”
“You’re not upsetting me,” he murmured, sliding his hand across the table and taking her free hand into his. “I’m just worried about you, and I don’t trust them.”
They weren’t getting anywhere with this conversation. “It’s getting late. Maybe you should take me home.”
Adin’s face turned sad. “Do you want to go home?”
“No, I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I’m sorry, I’m being a jerk. I’m not usually so overbearing. I think this falls under that category of not knowing how to react to my feelings. I care about you so much, and I know we need to take things slowly. But going slowly or not, it really doesn’t change how I feel about you. I may try to control how I react to those feelings, but it doesn’t stop me from having them.”
“It doesn’t bother me that you have those feelings. I have them too,” she said, smiling shyly.
He reached his other hand over to rub her cheek. “Let’s go,” he whispered.
“Okay,” she said, smiling bigger. She grabbed her gift and they left.
On the ride to her house, the conversation about River had been dropped, and she realized their relationship had changed. They were still taking things slowly, but now it really felt like they were heading in the right direction. It no longer felt surreal to her. And this made her feel wonderful. It was easy being with Adin, and except for how he felt about his reactions to his feelings for her—good reactions, she thought—it was easy for him to be with her too.
When Adin pulled into her driveway, she looked over at him.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked Adin as he put his car in park.
“I’d love to,” he said softly, but smiling exuberantly.
He walked around to her side of the car quickly since it had started to rain. He opened her door and then guided her up to the front door.
As they walked into the house, Adin dropped his hand from the small of her back and kept a couple of paces behind her—out of respect for Lissa, she assumed.
They walked into the living room, but Lissa wasn’t in there. She could smell food cooking, so she led the way to the kitchen with Adin right behind her.
Lissa was in here cooking dinner, but she had her back to them. Adin stood right beside her now.
“Hi, Lissa,” she said to her, getting her attention.
She turned around with a smile on her face that faded slightly when she saw Legacy wasn’t alone.
“Hi, Legacy. Hi, Adin.”
She was intending on introducing them, but he had been here on her birthday, and his grandma did live next door, so she knew Lissa knew him already. Besides, she really didn’t know how to introduce him. She knew what they meant to each other, but since they were going slowly, she really didn’t know if that entailed formal introductions as boyfriend and girlfriend yet.
“Did you two have a nice time today?”
“Yes, we had a great time,” she said calmly. “Do you need any help with dinner?” She thought it best to sidetrack her from the topic of her date.
“No, you should entertain your company. Adin, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded politely with a smile, but quickly glanced at Legacy for approval. She nodded.
They turned to walk out of the kitchen.
“Would you like to see the rest of the house?” she offered nervously. She knew he’d have to see her room on the tour.
“Sure,” he murmured.
“Well, you’ve already seen just about everything downstairs, except for Lissa’s office.” She pointed to her office door. “And the dining room.” She motioned toward that room. “Though we never really use it much.”
They walked upstairs, and she pointed out each of the bedrooms, saving hers for last.
“Here’s my room,” she said as she opened the door. She walked into her bedroom, and he followed behind.
“Hmmm,” was all he said, but he smiled.
“What?” she asked as she put her new conch shell on her nightstand.
“Nothing. It’s just not what I expected.” He shook his head, but seemed amused.
“What did you expect?” She looked across her room, but nothing looked out of the ordinary to her. It was a typical teenage bedroom. She had a modern comforter with matching pillows on her bed, some posters and pictures on her walls, a computer desk with her laptop.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect anything. You know when you read a book and visualize how something looks, but when that book is made into a movie, the director’s visions aren’t always similar to the ones in your head? It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just different.”
“Are you telling me you’ve visualized what my bedroom looks like?” she asked as she turned to look at him.
“Maybe.” He was playing coy. He obviously had thought about it.
She liked that.
“What else have you visualized, besides my bedroom?”
“I’ve envisioned a lot of things,” he said, taking a step forward.
“You have?” She played along, taking a step in his direction.
“Mm-hmm.” He took the final step toward her and ran his hand down the length of her arm.
“Legacy, dinner’s ready,” Olive said as she popped her head into her room.
Legacy jumped, taking a step back, and Adin dropped his hand to his side, smiling.
“Shall we?” she asked.
Adin nodded, his smirk still evident.
Downstairs, Lissa had set the kitchen table for the four of them. While they ate, there was rarely a quiet moment, which was nice. They all seemed to enjoy the conversation, regardless at who it was directed to.
When they were finished eating, Adin walked with her to the living room. “I should go.”
She felt a pang of sadness, which was silly. It was probably because of their little tiff, and at this point, they hadn’t made any other plans to see each other again.
He frowned at her expression. “Would it be okay with you if I stopped by tomorrow night? I have some things to do tomorrow, but I’d like to see you in the evening if you’re free.”
Her frown quickly disappeared. “I’d like that a lot.”
“Good, then I’ll see you tomorrow,”
he said, and he quickly kissed her forehead.
He started to turn away from her. “I can walk you out,” she offered.
“No, it’s still raining.” He grinned.
“Okay.” She smiled back, but followed him to the door.
He turned to face her in the doorway and glanced around to see if they had an audience. They didn’t. He leaned toward her, his lips at her ear. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered.
Her heart thudded, and she put her hand on his chest to steady herself. “See you tomorrow,” she said breathlessly.
He put his hand on her face and slid his lips from her ear to her cheek, where he kissed her. Then he slid his hand down her other cheek as he stepped away from her.
“Tomorrow,” he murmured as he turned to walk out the door.
She watched him drive away and then shut the front door. She was tingling from his touch and enjoying the smell of him lingering in the air. When she turned back around with a frozen grin on her face, Lissa was standing there with a confused look on hers.
“Here.” Lissa handed her a postal package.
“What’s this?” she asked as she took it from her.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s from your mother.”
