At First Sight (5 page)

              Lola grabbed more napkins and held them to her palm as blood spilled on the counter. She trembled at the pain and shock of what had happened.

              She ran to the bathroom, bypassing the curious and annoyed people she pushed through. Hissing from the contact, she ran her hand under the water in the sink.

              She stared at her hand. It was still bleeding, running down the drain. She suddenly envisioned herself from the movie
Carrie
and grimaced at the blood. She grabbed a few paper towels and dabbed at the cut.

              She sunk down to the floor, feeling completely violated. She was confused. Had she been a target? Had that man been looking for her? Was he just crazy?

              She looked at her cut, seeing it was still bleeding and decided she had better alert her manager of what happened. As she left the bathroom, she wondered if things could get any worse.

Her manager had immediately called security when Lola told him what happened, but the man had been long gone. He helped bandage her hand up and let her go home for the rest of the evening, making sure that one of the girls could cover her shift.

              Lola’s body was still aching all over, so she was ready to go home and sleep for the rest of the day. Her hand stung, but not as much as it had earlier. She had a white strip of bandage wrapped around her palm. She made a mental note to go by the urgent care to get it further checked out.

              As soon as she arrived home, she spotted a large black truck in her driveway. She parked next to it and furrowed her brows. The windows were tinted so she couldn’t see if anybody was inside. She got out of her little car and knocked on the window.

              “Excuse me? Can I help…” She paused when she watched the window rolled down, revealing Dean. “...you?”

              “Hi,” he murmured softly.

              “How did you find me?” asked Lola, growing furious. How dare he find her house like this!

              “I know some people from your school. One of them told me where you live,” he explained.

              “Well, you can go away now. Don’t come back.” Lola turned and walked toward her front door, angrily getting out her house key.

              Dean quickly got out of his truck and followed her, stopping her from opening the door. “Wait. Please, hear me out.”

              “Why should I?!” shouted Lola.

              They both stared at each other for a moment, noticing something different. Though the ache was still there, it was more bearable. It was as if being closer to each other was making everything better.

              “You feel that?” whispered Dean.

              Lola nodded, but she wasn’t allowing him to change the subject. “What do you want, Dean?”

              “I just…” He stopped when he noticed the bandage on her hand. “What happened to your hand?”

              Lola hesitated. Should she tell him about the man? “I...cut my hand while trying to open a package. You know, one of those things you use to cut tape on a box.”

              Dean cocked a brow, not completely believing her. “Are you sure?”

              “I think I’d know how I cut myself, Dean.” She rolled her eyes. “Now, quit changing the subject. What do you want?

              He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. “Will you walk with me? We can go down to the beach and talk.”

              Lola knew she shouldn’t. “Dean…”

              “Please? Then, if you choose to, you can stop talking to me for good. I’m sure the gift will go away in a few days,” he pleaded.

              She sighed and opened her front door. “Let me change first and then we can go.”

              Dean looked over at Lola as they walked together, their arms brushing against each other. He watched her as she looked at the setting sun. He thought she looked so beautiful in this moment. Her hair was down and blowing in the breeze. She kept her hands clasped in front of her as the colors of the sunset reflected in her eyes.

              “Your thoughts are really loud.”

              Dean blushed. “Sorry. How are you feeling?”

              She knew he was referring to her aches. “They are off and on, but I feel fine. How about you?”

              “Same.”

              It suddenly felt awkward. He had to get everything out there. It was the time to make it or break it.

              “Lola, I know I bombarded you with everything and I didn’t want to scare you. I couldn’t really stop what happened, though. I mean, when it’s meant to happen it just happens.” He paused. “I wouldn’t take it back, though.”

              Lola glanced at him as they continued to walk, but stayed silent.

              “My parents, along with every other Manifester, have dreamed of the gift coming back into our world. My mom always asked me if I found my soul mate and it would just frustrate me because I know I let her down and I let the entire family line down.” He paused and looked down at the sand. “I know everything I am saying sounds superficial because it’s about my family, but you play a major role, too. Having the gift isn’t just about growing our family. It’s about love. Its about finding that one person that you were destined to meet and spend a lifetime together.”

              “I’m not meant for that,” said Lola, shaking her head. “I’m meant to go to Harvard after high school, start a new life, and see what I can make of myself. All of that would just stop me.”

              Dean stopped in front of her. He held her hands loosely. “You think I would stop you from achieving your dreams? Being a part of the family is all about making dreams come true. The person you’re meant to be with helps you achieve your goals and vice versa. I would never stop you from getting what you want, Lola.”

              “But, it’s not supposed to be like this. There is no such thing as a soul mate,” said Lola, removing her hands from his grasp.

              “What do you call two people that are happily married then?” asked Dean.

              Lola barely spoke up. “I wouldn’t know.”

              Dean sighed. “When you say it, it sounds really heavy. But, it’s the same thing as love. Whether you want to believe it or not, we are meant to be together. We just found each other in a different way.”

             
“I don’t deserve love. My parents never loved me. Why should anybody else?”

              Dean looked down for a moment, gathering Lola’s thoughts in his head. He looked up, his blue eyes glazed with unshed tears. “Lola, I’m sorry that your parents left you. You don’t even have to tell me the whole story. But, I don’t want you to think that you deserve to be alone or that you should be alone.”

              Lola looked away from his gaze.

              “Are you mad?” asked Dean cautiously.

              “Why would I be mad?” She looked back at him.

              “You aren’t really talking,” he said softly. “The last thing I want to do is drive you away.”

              Dean hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Can I at least take you on a first date?”

              Lola chewed on her lip. “A… date? We don’t even know each other.”

              He quirked up a small smile. “Yeah, I know. It doesn’t have to be a real date if you don’t want it to be. But, why not give it a shot? If I completely scare you off, then we can never see each other again.”

              She sighed. “I don’t know. Where would we go?”

              “I’ll plan something.” He smiled at her.

              “Hey! Lovebirds!”

              Dean looked up to see three men in black clothes that covered lean muscles. “Can we help you?”

              “Yeah,” started the middle guy with a military cut. “You can help us by getting off our beach.”

              Lola furrowed her brows. “The beach is a public place.”

              Dean pulled Lola closer to him, making sure to shield her from the guys. “
Don’t antagonize them.”

              “Oh,” chuckled the guy on the right. “This girl has a mouth on her.”

              “Maybe somebody should teach her how to use it properly,” said the guy on the left, walking toward her.

              Dean glared at them, shaking his head. “You stay the hell away from her.”

              The middle guy laughed and balled his hands into fists. “Louis. Nathan. Get her.”

              Lola gasped as one of them attempted to grab her arm and pull her away from Dean. He was held back by one of the guys and grunted, trying to get away and rescue Lola. He watched as they shoved her to the ground, one of them landing on top of her.

              Something inside of him blew up. He felt an incredible amount of energy inside his body as he grew angrier. He was feeling protective of Lola and he was feeling angry at the people trying to hurt her. He could only think of one thing to do and he knew it would completely freak her out. But, he had to save her.

              Dean began murmuring under his breath. The guy that was holding him suddenly jumped back, shouting out in pain. Dean’s body felt hot as he glowed a bright green. His hands shot out at the other guy, knocking him off of his feet. He then grabbed the other guy’s shirt, tossing him off of Lola. She was staring right at him in shock. He had expected that, but he had no choice.

              “His eyes are glowing,” muttered the guy with the military cut.

              They all put their hands up in defense, backing away slowly. “Alright, man. Alright.”

              “Get out of here,” seethed Dean, his voice taking on a much darker tone as he continued to glow in front of them.

              As Dean glowed brighter, the three guys ran off. He then sighed heavily and closed his eyes, returning back to normal. He felt sluggish and turned to face Lola.

              He looked at her, out of breath. He helped her up and kept his hands on her waist. “Are you okay?”

              She just looked at him and nodded. “I’m fine. Can you take me home?”

              He nodded and walked with her back to the house. The walk back was quiet and Dean knew something was wrong. He had a very good idea what was on her mind, even though she was trying her hardest not to think about it.

              Dean furrowed his brows as they stopped at her front door. “Are you okay?”

              “Yeah. Why?” she asked.

              He shrugged. “You’ve seemed kind of indifferent since we left the beach.”

              She unlocked the front door and went inside, letting him follow her. “I’m fine, Dean.”

              Dean held her hands as she faced him. She bit on her bottom lip nervously. “Lola, if this is about the magic, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lay it all out there like that. I wanted to introduce you to it carefully and somewhere private. I hate that I scared you like that, but I wasn’t going to let those guys hurt you. I don’t want to see you get hurt, okay? I’m not going to let anybody try to…”

              “Dean, you glowed!” she shouted, stepping away from him.

              He said nothing, allowing her to continue shouting at him.

              “This can’t be real, Dean. I mean…” She scoffed and threw her hands in the air. “You were like a freaking alien back there! You were glowing green and your eyes were glowing and those guys…!”

              “I didn’t want you to see me like that, but I had to save you,” explained Dean. “I felt very protective of you.”

              Lola sighed, controlling herself. “Thank you for saving me.” She shook her head. “This is all too much to handle, though.”

              “Don’t do this. Please. You don’t know what you are talking about,” said Dean.

              Lola didn’t say anything. She walked to the front door and opened it, refusing to meet his eyes. “Just go. Don’t come here again.”

              Dean slowly walked towards her, the pain slowly returning once more. “Lola…”

              “Please,” she whispered.

              He shook his head and walked out, the door slamming behind his back. He got into his truck and began slamming the steering wheel. The pain was becoming unbearable at this point and he had no idea what to do to make it stop. It wasn’t fair that they both had to go through this.

              It wasn’t fair that he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Katherine Baker sat with her husband, Frankie, in front of the fire that evening as they talked and sipped their wine. It was definitely an occasion to remember in the history books considering their son had brought back the gift. Of course, they knew exactly where he was at the moment.

              “Is she beautiful?” asked Frankie.

              Katherine stared against the wall and nodded. “She is.” She stared at the marking on her hand. “He is in pain, though.”