Charcoal Tears (9 page)

“I guess.”

“Take a seat, Seph.”

I sat on of one of the closest desks and he moved to the front of his desk, leaning back and folding his arms. “You’re smiling more.” He watched my face, apparently not expecting a response, and then kicked off his desk. “Anything you want to talk about?”

I shook my head.

“Good,” he said, “Off you go.”

A little shocked by the uncharacteristically short meeting, I collected my stuff and moved to pass him. His familiar scent caught me before I could move away, powerful and calming at once; it was citrus and wood, a light breeze carried on the spray of a playful wave, like I was at the beach. Strangely, it was much more powerful
now
, than it had been at any of our previous meetings. I swayed, the classroom wavering before me, and he caught my elbow as I leaned slightly into him. He turned, nudging me against the desk so that I could lean against it. He stepped hastily away as soon as I was supported, his eyes troubled.

“Are you okay?”

I frowned, confused at the scratchy feeling that had taken me by surprise. It was more uncomfortable this time, boiling up in my blood like poison. “Y-yeah.” I shook my head rapidly, trying to clear the haze that had descended. “I’m fine. Sorry, I was a little dizzy.”

I walked away before he could answer, my arm burning. The end of the day came too quickly. I almost couldn’t bear to part with Noah and Cabe, which didn’t make sense at all. I had known them a matter of days, and they were quickly beginning to turn the normal world into something dark and empty. As soon as they were out of sight, I transformed. My smile faded away, my heart grew cold. I was afraid.

I was myself again.

They walked with me to my car and I saw Tariq waiting, so I switched directions and moved to their jeep instead.

“Bye,” I said, feeling miserable. I tried to smile, but I was pretty sure that I failed, and I hated myself for it.

Cabe turned so that the people milling around the car park had nothing to stare at but his broad back. He pressed a finger to my chin. “You’re making that face again,” he warned. He wasn’t joking; he was serious this time.

Noah turned to the side, almost boxing me against the car as he looked down at me. “We should follow her home and make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble with that asshole.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but it didn’t come out. Should I be insulted that Noah had just called my father an asshole? I wasn’t sure. I thought he was an asshole, too.

“What time do you work?” Cabe asked.

“I have a few hours,” I hedged.

His finger had slipped against my chin when I spoke, and he traced it along my jaw now. He seemed very focused, his eyes sparking with a glare of intensity. Noah nudged him, and he dropped his arm, looking up at the sky for a moment.

“Good.” His voice was gruff. “Tell Tariq to drive home, and then get in the car”

He backed off me and I swallowed, a nervous feeling brewing in my stomach and making me feel sick. My legs were shaky as I approached my younger brother. I didn’t trust my voice, so I simply held out the keys to him. He flicked a look over my shoulder, his brows drawing together.

“You sure, Seph?” He sounded like he didn’t know whether to be worried or not.

“They’re fine,” I assured, but my voice came out a squeak. He narrowed his eyes on me, and I cleared my throat. “They’re fine,” I reiterated, with a little bit more steel. “Can you go shopping and hang out a while? We’ll still go home together in a few hours.”

He nodded and I handed him my battered purse. He unlocked the car and I turned back to the jeep. They saw me heading back to them and Noah jumped behind the wheel. Cabe opened the passenger door for me, and then climbed into the back.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Home?” Noah shrugged. “Unless you want to go somewhere in particular?”

“Home sounds fine.”

He offered me a smile and then turned on the radio. I curled my knees to my chest, looping my arms around myself. As we pulled into the apartment building, Cabe was there to open my door again and I fidgeted all the way up to the top floor. Noah caught my hands, pulling one of them away. He held it and drew me into the apartment. Cabe closed the door and they headed straight for the kitchen. It seemed a routine of sorts; Cabe grabbed an armful of snacks, and then they both walked down the sunken living room and Cabe kicked open one of the doors. This room looked back onto the city, and there was a grand piano set against the glass wall. Bookshelves hugged the inside walls, and this room had another sunken part, boasting the piano and a few couches. The raised part held the bookshelves and a comfortable armchair, as well as a computer desk littered with electronics.

The door to the apartment banged open as Cabe put down his snacks, and Noah’s grip on my hand turned to iron. He sent a panicked look at Cabe, whose expression had gone blank.

“I forgot to tell him,” Cabe muttered. He raced out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Quiet male voices drifted to where I stood and I rounded on Noah.

“What was that? Who’s out there?”

His thumb brushed over the inside of my wrist, his turbulent eyes distracted. “Miro,” he said. “He doesn’t want to see you right now.”

“Huh?” I started to pull away, wanting to peek through the door, but Noah swooped me back with a chuckle.

“Hey, little ghost. You wouldn’t leave me here alone would you?” He planted his hands on my hips and shifted my back against the side of the piano.

I pushed him lightly, warring feelings of panic and solace seizing me and making my head spin. There was some part of me—an
alien
part of me—that recognised Noah and Cabe as familiar, and comfortable. But the
real
me was afraid. “You can’t distract me. Who’s Miro?”

His mouth hooked into a smile and he captured my other hand, tugging my arms together and tucking them behind me, effectively forcing my body forward and fitting it into his.

“I can distract you.” His voice was both amused and breathless, his head nudging mine to the side.

He was switching on the compelling gravity of his personality again, and I started to forget what we were talking about. My head fell to the side and the now familiar haze descended over my mind, filling me with an elation that wasn’t quite mine, and sedating me with a weakness that confused my senses. The air crackled with electricity and he grunted, pushing against me.

I blinked my eyes open and my head snapped up. Did I just zap him?

He backed off, his eyes stormy. He slowly allowed my hands to pull back to my sides, and he lifted his brows at me, gradually coming to the same realisation. He seemed confused for a moment, and then he released me.

“Stay right there.” He pointed at me: a warning. He moved to the door.

It was quiet outside, and a minute later I heard the front door opening and closing as well. Whoever Miro was, Cabe had already taken him out of the apartment. I moved to the piano bench and slumped down, pushing listlessly at the keys. I’d never accidently zapped a person before. Was he in pain?

I tried to recall what I had been doing, or what he had been doing, but the memory was off, slightly unfocussed. It took a few minutes for them to return, and when they did, Cabe was almost bouncing off the floor with excitement.

“Show me!” he demanded.

Noah was gruff. “I don’t think she even realised, calm down.”

Cabe made a face, marched to me, and forced me to stand. “Spark up,” he ordered.

“Huh?” I swayed back a little, examining his face.

“Fine. Here… watch.” Noah pushed him out of the way and grabbed my face, his hands fitting to my cheeks, fingers brushing behind my jaw.

My eyes went wide as he swooped down and pressed a kiss to my chin.

“What the
fuck
?” Cabe grabbed his shoulder, on the verge of pulling him off me.

“Shut up and watch,” Noah was mumbling, his mouth still on my skin.

I was shivering, the sick feeling back in my stomach, muted by the unfocused haze rolling through my head. His lips traced from my chin to the corner of my mouth and the air filled with tiny currents. I sucked in a breath and he made a sound in the back of his throat, turning and stalking from the room. He slammed the door and I heard him swearing on the other side.

Cabe smirked at the door and then looked back to me, muttering, “remarkable.”

“The electricity?” I was almost too scared to say it, and my voice shook with the uneasiness that still rocked through me, making me unsteady on my feet, like a
fight or flight
response was battering urgently against my body, trying to seize me in its urgency for action.

His eyes flared. “Yeah, Seph. Can you control it?”

“Usually.”

He grinned. “I almost want to try, but I think I learned my lesson watching Noah.”

“Did I hurt him?”

Cabe’s words rolled out on a laugh. “No, I don’t think so.”

“You’re not surprised?” My tongue was thick, causing my words to tumble out it a shaky way. “You knew? H-how?”

Cabe rolled his eyes and pushed me back down to the piano bench. He walked to the door, opened it, and shouted to Noah.

“Pull yourself together,” he called. “You’ll confuse her.”

Noah muttered something back, but it was too soft for me to hear, and Cabe laughed again.

“I don’t know whether to be jealous or not,” I heard him say, and then they were both inside the room again.

Noah seemed under control once again, his crystal gaze casual and careful. He sat beside me and started to play. I watched his fingers, wondering if they were going to answer my questions. After a while, the melody turned to something simple, repeated over and over, slowly. I watched, placed my hands against the same keys, and copied. It didn’t sound as good, but I hit the right notes. His smile was soft, and he repeated the same process with a different set of notes.

“Are you going to tell me how you knew about the electricity?” I eventually asked.

Cabe sat against the steps leading down, a laptop propped against his knees. “Not today,” he replied. “That is a conversation for another day. There’s no rush, Seph. Trust us for now.”

No rush
… because things weren’t moving too fast as it was.

After a while, Noah stood and stretched, moving to empty his book bag onto the computer desk. He started to work through what I assumed was homework, and I sat in the middle of the stool, poking away at the notes I had learnt.

Eventually Cabe lifted his head and nodded to me. “Homework time.”

I made a face at him, but slid off the piano stool. Homework was easy, and I was done with it in half an hour. I moved straight back to the piano stool, repeating the melodies over and over until the notes ran smoothly together just like how it sounded when Noah played.

Once I had them memorised, I raised my head. “More.”

They were both already staring at me, and I drew back, startled. Noah rose from the desk and sat next to me again. I raised my fingers, ready, and he rearranged my hands, forming a fist and fitting it beneath my palm so that my fingers curled around it and then he pushed down to straighten it on top. He nudged my newly arranged fingers toward the keys and repeated another melody, with more notes this time. It took a few tries for me to get it right, and then he sat and watched as I repeated it over and over. The new hand position took a little getting used to, but it made drifting from one note to the next much smoother. I kept messing up, and eventually I nudged Noah away so that I could practise without him making me nervous.

The monotonous task helped to calm the thoughts that ran riot in my head, but it wasn’t enough to control the sickening clench in the pit of my stomach.

I didn’t know why, but somewhere deep inside, I felt unnatural. I felt as though a spell had been cast over me, and I no longer had any choice in how my life would progress, but that was entirely nonsensical. 

What did it matter if the boys weren’t normal? What did it matter if this wasn’t a normal friendship?

5

The Paired People

I borrowed Cabe’s phone to call Tariq, and they dropped me off at the park he was hanging

out in. I spotted some of his friends as I jumped out of the car and approached.

“Hey!” I called out.

Tariq jogged over to me, a few of his friends following behind. His shaggy hair was dewy with sweat and his eyes were alight with his own unique brand of happiness—a sight I often marvelled over.

I accepted the keys Tariq handed me and his friends all said hello to me, calling me by name. I nodded to them in response, a little uncomfortable that they knew who I was—since they had never paid me any mind before Cabe and Noah switched to our school. Tariq grumbled something, shooting a look at them as we walked back to the car. They still watched our retreat.

“What?” I nudged him.

“Nothing.” He continued to grumble.

We got into the car and I backed out of the parking lot, driving past the jeep. I wasn’t surprised when it followed behind, but Tariq was.