In Spirit and Truth (In Spiritu Et Veritate Series)

by Reed, Zoe

  “I think it would be cool if I could breathe under water,” I said, and smiled as Kyla giggled, that adorable dimple indenting her cheek.

  “Like a fish?” she asked, to which I nodded. “With gills?”

  I laughed. I hadn’t pictured myself with gills, but if that’s what it took. “Sure, why not.” Kyla giggled some more, asked why, and then took another handful of popcorn. “Because then I could never drown and would be able to stay in water as long as I wanted to. And you? What superpower would you like?”

  Without hesitating, Kyla swallowed her food and answered, “Definitely shape shifting.”

  I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the off-putting answer. I was expecting her to say something like fly, or be invisible. Isn’t that what most people said? I can shape shift, I thought to myself, wondering what her response would be. “Why shape shifting?”

  “Are you kidding?” Kyla asked sarcastically, like her answer was the best one in the world and how dare I question it. “How cool would it be to be able to turn into anything you wanted?”

  “What if you could only turn into one thing?” I asked matter-of-factly, and watched her eyes go from resolution to glancing toward the ceiling in thoughtfulness.

  “Yeah,” Kyla started slowly, stopped to think a little more and then nodded. “Yeah that’d be pretty cool too, I guess.” I scribbled down her answer and grinned when I saw the next, and final one on the list. I watched as she read my expression and glanced at her own paper, shaking her head once she read the question herself. “Nope, nuh-uh, no way. I ain’t answering that one.”

  “Oh, come on. You have to, it’s homework.” I beamed teasingly, trying to give the most pleading look I could. This was definitely something I wanted to know. “Most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

  “And you meeting my mom doesn’t count?” Kyla asked, and with a chuckle I shook my head. She let out a deep sigh, playfully glared at me and then sighed again. “Fine, last year I was taking an animal science class during summer school.” She paused reluctantly and waited until I gave an enthusiastic nod, encouraging her on. “We took a field trip to the zoo and were being guided by one of the employees.” Kyla paused again and I nodded impatiently, eager to hear the embarrassing part of the story. “Well we were by the pond and our tour guide let us feed the ducks.”

  I snorted and covered my mouth as I held back laughter, guessing what happened next. “Did you fall in?”

  “It wasn’t that funny,” Kyla grumbled and crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out as a comeback. “I thought the duck was going to bite me.”

  “I totally understand. Ducks are just so scary with their soft little feathers and webbed feet,” I widened my eyes frightfully as I teasingly exaggerated every word. “And those eyes.” I probably shouldn’t have been making her feel embarrassed, but the way her cheeks flared red and the way she was pouting about it made her look so cute that I couldn’t resist.

  Kyla dropped her jaw like she couldn’t believe I had the nerve to tease her like that. After a few silent seconds it began to make me nervous, wondering if I really had taken it too far, but then she started laughing and threw a handful of popcorn at me. “Oh, I’ll show you scary.” I laughed as I began to paraphrase Kyla’s embarrassing moment onto the homework paper. After a few moments she cleared her throat expectantly. “And you? What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

  I thought hard about it for a second before realizing I’d never done anything embarrassing like that. I wished I had so that I’d have something to tell Kyla, and I thought about making one up, but after another moment’s consideration I decided I didn’t want to lie if I didn’t have to.

  “I don’t have one.” With that I got up, grabbed the movie and popcorn, and walked to the door of the hallway.

  “What?” Kyla nearly shouted, and the stool screeched against the kitchen tiles as she got up to trail me into the living room. “Come on, I told you the most embarrassing thing of my entire life! You can’t even tell me one little thing?”

  A sad, disappointed look fell over Kyla’s face, and while I could tell that she was doing it on purpose, it still succeeded in making me feel bad. “If I had one to tell you I honestly would, but I really haven’t had anything like that happen to me.”

  In that moment I wished more than anything I had something to tell Kyla. It wasn’t that I wasn’t capable of clumsiness or doing something embarrassing. In fact, especially for a werewolf, I was pretty damn clumsy. It was just that I’d hardly been in the outside world long enough to experience mortification, and even if I’d done something there wouldn’t have been anyone besides my family around to see it. I loved my family, but just then, the thought that they were all I had saddened me. Werewolf or not, I was still a teenage girl, and normal experiences could never be mine.

  Kyla picked up on my abruptly changed mood as we sat down on the couch in the living room and smiled apologetically. “Hey, I wasn’t really that disappointed. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

  “Oh don’t worry about it, I’m okay.” I smiled as warmly as I could. “It’s just that being home schooled I wasn’t around other kids a lot, so nothing embarrassing ever could happen.”

  “I wouldn’t be too disappointed about it,” Kyla told me reassuringly. “You’re not missing out on anything. Besides, I reckon sooner or later it’ll happen whether you want it to or not.” Then her smile spread to an evil grin. “And you can bet I’ll be there to see it.”

  Once again that dimpled smile proved contagious, and a similar one spread over my own face. “I guess you’re right.” I was searching for something else to say but the movie started, the first lines of acted out poetry coming loud through the speakers, and I decided something wasn’t necessary.

  As I sat back on the couch I watched Kyla cross her legs underneath her and lean forward, resting her elbows on her knees and putting her head in her hands. It put her in the perfect position for me to study her while she was distracted. From a factual standpoint, though Kyla was certainly attractive, she wasn’t out-of-this-world beautiful. She was more cute in an innocent way, with her dark green eyes and single dimple, than she was drop-dead gorgeous. The entire day I had been so preoccupied with not staring or saying anything stupid, and trying not to make a fool of myself, that I hadn’t really gotten to appreciate the thing that attracted me to Kyla in the first place. That scent.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting the smell waft to my nose and cloud my senses. It was slightly different today, gently masked by a tropical perfume, but the underlying aroma was still there. It was just as intoxicating as it had been the night before. With my eyes closed I inhaled that sweet nectar until it clouded my mind and put me into a drunken calm. Every nerve and every limb in my body grew weak, weighed down by the thickening blood that slowed in my veins. Even time slowed. When I focused and tuned out the television I could hear Kyla’s serene, steady heartbeat, setting the rhythm at which I breathed in more of that remarkable scent.

  Eventually, the feeling of being stared at made me open one droopy eye suspiciously, and sure enough Kyla was looking back at me, giggling softly. “Are you falling asleep? The movie’s like halfway over already.”

  I smiled apologetically and savored the last few seconds of my fading intoxication as I sat forward. “Sorry, I’m awake.”

  We both watched the movie for a minute before out of the corner of my eye I saw Kyla turn back to face me. “What do you think about Romeo and Juliet?”

  “It’s a pretty good play. Can’t bash the classics.” I shrugged.

  She chuckled and shook her head, holding up the worksheet that our teacher had given us. I hadn’t even noticed that she’d grabbed it. “No, I mean the characters.”

  “Oh,” I leaned back again and rubbed my chin thoughtfully, trying to come up with a better answer even though I’d never really considered myself educationally insightful. “I think their situation was really unfort
unate, but they should’ve just told their parents to suck it.”

  The loud laugh that Kyla let out was satisfying, and I couldn’t help but grin back. “In those exact words? Suck it,” she repeated pretending to write it down, still laughing. “Very Shakespeare.” I just nodded happily, Kyla’s incredible laugh flowing to my ears more smoothly than even the poetry. After a few seconds she stopped laughing, and grew silent for another moment before speaking again and asking, “So, what about you?”

  One eyebrow raised in confusion, I tried to figure out what she meant. “Um, yeah, I’d tell my parents to suck it.”

  Another chuckle and shake of the head. “No, earlier I mentioned my boyfriend, Aaron. So what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?” I shook my head, and my heart immediately started racing as I began the mental battle of deciding whether or not to tell Kyla the truth. “How come? No one in this town worth dating?”

  I sighed and figured if I was ever going to say something, now would be the time. Especially if she was going to freak out about it, best to get it over with. “No, no boys worth dating.” I waited and watched Kyla’s face grow thoughtful as she tried to figure out why I’d made a distinction. Nerves made me impatient though, so I clarified. “I like girls, Kyla.”

  “Oh,” Kyla dragged out the word in delayed understanding. She was silent for a minute, clearly thinking of a response as she tilted her head and studied me carefully. Every second that ticked by I grew more and more nervous, worried it would make her uncomfortable. “No girls here worth dating?”

  “Not really,” I said, half surprised that Kyla wasn’t cowering away from me. “You’re not freaked out?”

  She shook her head a little too vigorously, clearly trying to make sure I believed her. “No, one of my best guy friends in Texas, I was always trying to set him up with this other friend of mine, who was a girl. Until he told me he was gay.”

  For lack of a better relief outlet, I chuckled. “You were making me nervous for a second. Just don’t try to set me up with any of your girl friends, okay?”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” she said urgently to make sure I knew she could keep a secret. Again her face grew thoughtful, but the silence was much shorter this time. “Is that why you don’t really hang out with people from school?”

  I opened my mouth in hopes a response would come out, but when none came I closed it again. It wasn’t that Kyla was wrong. I really didn’t hang out with people from school. Werewolf or not, even my siblings had casual friends to do things with every once in a while. Even though the reason wasn’t what Kyla assumed, just the fact that she’d noticed it about me after only a few hours was surprising. Hell, it even impressed me a little bit. Unlike the other students at school, she wasn’t too absorbed in her own world not to notice the little things, and that was a rare quality.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Kyla’s cheeks flared red and she rapidly expressed her apology as she realized that her question could have been offensive. “That was out of line, I’m so sorry.”

  Putting my hand on Kyla’s shoulder, I gave it a playful shake so I could fully emphasize that I wasn’t offended. “It’s fine.” I wanted to move off the topic so she could get over her obvious embarrassment, but now I felt like I owed some kind of an explanation. “You’re right, I don’t really hang out with people at school, but it’s not because I’m gay. I really don’t care whether other people know or not.” Kyla nodded like she approved of that statement but didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I guess I just feel like I don’t really connect with anyone. If you asked Luna, she’d say I have trust issues.”

  “It’s safe to assume you’ve never been to another person’s house?” Kyla asked, glancing around the living room.

  Am I that obvious? I wondered at the question, but nodded. “Correct.” I’d been to a classmate’s house freshman year for a group project, but I was literally there for only thirty minutes, so I didn’t think that counted.

  “I’m surprised,” Kyla said quietly, mostly to herself. When I raised a questioning eyebrow she explained. “You seemed so whatever about coming to my house. Why the change of heart?”

  I knew by the smirk on Kyla’s face that she’d meant it to be a light-hearted and rhetorical question, but if I could answer honestly I’d have said I was already crushing, hard. It was weird for me to be with someone who wasn’t family, but everything so far, nerves aside, had been so easy with Kyla. “To be honest, I’m a little out of my comfort zone. But that’s supposed to be good for you right? And so far it’s been worth it.”

  She nodded and seemed about to answer when her head jerked toward the TV as loud music started playing, and the credits scrolled up the screen. “It’s over already? They should make that into a Disney movie.”

  I knew that statement was meant to be a simple one, but I hadn’t the slightest clue what she meant. “Disney movie?”

  Kyla’s jaw dropped and she stared at me in disbelief. “Disney,” she repeated hopefully, eyes widening in disbelief. “Please tell me you know who Mickey Mouse is?” I nodded, I knew of him and his trademark ears. “Haven’t you ever seen any of the Disney classics?” This time I shook my head. I was beginning to worry I’d missed out on a huge part of something. “Oh lord in heaven!” Kyla laughed and turned her body completely toward me in worry. “Can you spend the night tonight? We are going back to the movie store right now and renting every classic ever created.” I didn’t even have a chance to answer, and had no choice but to stand as she grabbed my hand and began pulling me to the door.

  As I sat in first period the next day I stared tiredly at the board and thought about the night before. When we’d arrived at the video store Kyla couldn’t make up her mind about which Disney movies she’d wanted to get. So she’d picked at least six, and just like that we were up all night watching movies and talking. Renting all those DVDs and having a sleep over was Kyla’s way of catching me up on my childhood, and the effort was appreciated. Not to mention I’d liked the movies better than I thought I would have. After watching every single one that she picked, I’d decided ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was my favorite.

  Since we talked a lot, I heard a lot about Aaron. Probably a little more than I would have liked. Especially when Kyla admitted that because they’d been together for a while by teen standards, she and Aaron had been intimate. He had also declared his love for her, though according to Kyla, she wasn’t sure if she felt the same way. From what I could gather during our conversations it seemed like Aaron had just been a good way to kill time, though I wouldn’t have said it like that to her. Fortunately for me it didn’t seem like she was too head over heels for him. Unfortunately, however, Kyla still had a boyfriend, and the previous night had only succeeded in furthering my interest in the beautiful brunette.

  The steady hum of the air conditioner in each of my classes reverberated on my lethargic brain like a massage, adding to the weight of my eyelids and making it impossible to keep awake. While I nodded off my first and second periods flew by, and it wasn’t until third period when my phone vibrated in my pocket that I finally lifted myself off the desk.

  Stealthily checking who the text was from, a big smile couldn’t be kept from spreading across my face as I read Kyla’s name, and the text from her that said “**Yawn**”.

  “You too? I’ve been sleeping all morning.” I replied, and stared groggily at the front of the room as I waited for a response.

  “My car. Nap. Lunch :]” As I read Kyla’s text the teacher leaned over through the aisles and cleared his throat at me.

  “Meet you there.” I pounded out my final text as fast as I could, and put my head back down on my arms as my smile grew.

  I wanted it to be lunch right then and there. Ever since we’d parted ways this morning I couldn’t wait to see Kyla again. Never would I have thought that I could talk to and connect with someone so easily, but Kyla proved me wrong by talking endlessly and making me laugh more than I could ever remember. The
effect the girl had on me had to be the result of her easygoing personality. She was so accepting of and so interested in what insignificant details I would tell her about my life. Even when she was sharing her own intimate details, she did it so easily and in such a carefree manner that it made me want to confess everything, to open up and trust her with things I devoted my life to hiding from the world.

  The bell to go to fourth period rang and I trudged to my next class, only to fall asleep for that entire hour too. When I thought about it, I found it odd that none of the teachers said anything about me sleeping, and figured those were the perks when I had a reputation for doing all my homework and getting good grades. A loud dinging woke me up at the end of fourth period and I excitedly walked a quick pace to Kyla’s black truck, where she already had her elbows up on the hood, her head resting on her arms. She must have sensed me getting near because she picked her head up off the car and smiled happily.

  “You just couldn’t wait to see me again, huh?” I teased her.

  Letting out a small chuckle, Kyla rolled her eyes and opened the door so we could both climb into the back seat of the four-door truck. Immediately she took off her jacket to use as a pillow to put her head on while she leaned back against the seat behind her. She began making snoring noises and I would have laughed, but I was reduced once again to the staring fool as Kyla’s long body stretched out in front of me. Her low cut tank top revealed a lean, tanned upper body, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander as her chest rose and fell each time she took a breath. There was that desire again. Tugging at me in ways that were hard to ignore. In the silence Kyla opened one eye to peek at me, and with a shy blush reddening my cheeks I quickly looked away.

  There was no way I hadn’t been caught gaping, but she ignored it and leaned forward. She then kicked one of her feet up to rest it on the center console between the front seats, and with her knee raised she rested her arms on it. With her leaning forward like that, where I had the perfect view, it made it extremely hard for me to resist stealing glances at her chest. God, once you start you just can’t stop. I growled at myself, forcing myself to look Kyla in the eyes, or anywhere else but there. Does she know what she’s doing to me? I just hoped she wouldn’t notice how hard I was trying not to. And failing not to.