Painfully Ordinary Special Edition (4 page)

I took the
mug gratefully and deeply inhaled the delicious aroma. Sometimes, I think the
smell of coffee is almost as good as drinking it.

“
Ooooh
, thank you.
How did you
know?”

Mom shrugged
one shoulder and said, “Oh, you know. I was making one for myself and thought
I’d bring one up for you, too.”

“Oooo—kay,” I
said eyeing her suspiciously. She was up to something, but I knew she wouldn’t
come right out with it until she was good and ready.

She walked back
to the door, pausing at the last moment to glance back at me. “You look really
tired. Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

I grimaced. “You
wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

She put her
hand on the doorknob. “You’d be amazed at what I would believe. I’m here if you
want to talk.” She closed the door behind her.

Mom always
knew how to let me know I wasn’t alone, without smothering me. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t see how I could talk to her about this last dream. She had refused to
discuss them when there was one woman. What would she say now that there were
three—not to mention the mystery man?

A headache throbbed
behind my eyes, and I rubbed my temples briefly before I finished getting ready
for school. That would be another adventure altogether.

Chapter 4

Her Eyes

It had been
a little over a week since Talon and Jace had transferred to our school, yet
they seemed strangely content to spend most of their time with Leah and me. I couldn’t
remember the last time I laughed so freely at school. I was typically so
worried about where the next crisis was going to come from, with Ryan usually being
the primary cause.

When Leah
and I got to school each day, Talon and Jace were there waiting for us. Additionally,
we had at least one of them in each of our classes. We frequently joked about
our super-hot bodyguards.

I noticed Ryan
and Tami seemed to be enjoying each other’s company, which was just fine with
me. Maybe if they focused on each other, they could leave me alone for a while.
It was nice to look forward to going to school.

Thankfully, it
was Friday, and we only had to get through one more day before the party. Leah
and I typically rode to school together on Fridays; it was a symbol of the
start of our weekend.

This morning,
mom was playing DJ, and had set up a special playlist for us. Sometimes that
woman cracked me up. I mean, how many people drove to school in the morning
with their mom, listening to custom “TGIF” playlists?

Leah and I
were sitting in the backseat, bouncing around and enjoying life in general. When
we pulled up, Talon and Jace were doing their usual routine of propping
themselves up on whatever was nearby. They managed to make leaning look
positively hot. Leah and I made eye contact and sighed. Mom glanced over at
Talon, and he bent his head slightly toward her. At times, his mannerisms were
so foreign. It appeared as if he was bowing to her. Leah and I jumped out of
the car before they could come over and open the doors for us.

Talon reached over with one
finger and caressed the delicate skin under my eye. “Did you not sleep well
last night?”

Crap, him too?
I couldn’t believe the dark circles were still showing; I thought I had covered
those up.

I threw Leah
an accusatory look. She should have told me I had bags under my eyes. She examined
me, confused, shrugging her shoulders.

Leah mouthed,
“I don’t see anything.”

I couldn’t
really be mad at her though. Talon always seemed to notice things that other
people didn’t. Jace shot me a grin and threw his arm over Leah’s shoulder. Talon
put his hand in the middle of my back, and the now familiar heat spread
throughout my body, soothing every nerve. He let out a low growl and my cheeks heated.

We’d never
talked about it, but I strongly suspected Talon was completely aware of my
reaction to him, and it was a little embarrassing. I was still very unsure of
myself where he was concerned.

Jace threw
his other arm around my shoulder and said, “All right—so are we on for tomorrow
night?
Dinner, dancing and bonfires?”

Leah rolled
her eyes at him.

I answered,
clearly amused. “Yes to dinner and bonfires, but where does dancing come into
the picture?”

Jace seemed wounded,
“You mean to tell me you can sit by the bonfire and do nothing? For centuries,
my people have danced around bonfires to celebrate life.”

Leah was extremely
curious at this point, and I knew her next tactic would be to start grilling
him about his past. They hadn’t offered information on their histories so far,
and I didn’t want to pry. Normally, I would be just as curious, but something
stopped me from asking too many questions.

I made a
decision and quickly stepped in. “Okay, Jace. You got it. I will save the first
lap around the bonfire for you. Who cares what anyone else thinks, right? Leah
says it’s time that I start letting myself be happy. It begins now.” I winked
at him, while Leah beamed at me like a proud parent.

Talon gently gathered me into
his colossal arms and placed a soft kiss on the top of my head. “I’m glad to
hear that. It’s time for you to be happy.”

I was
speechless. He had never shown that kind of tenderness before. He was always
very polite and chivalrous, but tender is not a word I would have ever thought
to use to describe him. Jace, too, was clearly shocked – he stood perfectly
still with his mouth hanging open.

Leah grabbed
me by the hand and dragged me toward the bathroom. “Caiti, let’s go do one last
makeup check before the bell.”

I shot a
glance at Talon and Jace and shrugged one shoulder.

Jace waved
us off. “No worries, we will wait for you here.”

***

He spun to
look at Talon. “What was that all about? You’re always strictly
business
. You’re the one always reminding me of my duty and
the seriousness of its nature.”

Talon scratched
his chin before letting his hands drop to his sides. “I didn’t expect any of
this. Jace, everything about her speaks to me. Her eyes are the green of the
Highlands and her hair is the red-gold of a newly minted copper coin. There is
definitely strength under her fragile exterior, but she built a wall around
herself to keep people from getting close. Does that sound like someone else
you know?”

What was he
going to do? This was never supposed to have been part of the deal.

Jace choked
back a gasp. “By
ah-ah-ha'-ya
!
 
By the gods!
You’re speaking in colors.
Talon, do you think she is the one? Is she a true light?”

Talon glanced back over his shoulder in the direction of where
Caiti and Leah had headed.

“I can’t say for sure. All I know is I would lay down my
life for this girl and it has nothing to do with duty”. For once, he found
himself unsure of his own emotions.

Jace shook his head ruefully. “Funny enough, I seem to have
the same problem. I have always enjoyed just existing, but Leah makes life so
much more. You do realize, though, that the longer we stay with them out in the
open, the more danger we pose of exposing what they are?”

Talon sighed. “Yes, and I cannot allow that to happen.
We’ll figure something out. I’m not ready to give up the fight just yet.” But
what exactly was he fighting
for
?

***

“See? I told you I couldn’t see anything,” Leah said as we examined
our reflections in the mirror.

She was right. I couldn’t find any dark circles either. I really
had done a
pretty good
job of covering them up. How in
the heck did Talon know I was having trouble sleeping?

“It’s just my luck to find someone who is too observant.” I
grimaced. “Now, I’m going to be paranoid that he’s going to notice every single
blemish, every hair out of place.”

Leah sniffed. “Uh, Caiti, after that little performance out
there, he would probably think any imperfections of yours are charming. It was
so sweet that I felt myself tearing up. You have no idea how long I’ve waited
for someone to treat you that way. You always seem to fall for the wrong people
– like Ryan. Either you feel like you have to save everyone, or you are dating someone
you know isn’t going to be long term. I swear you do it on purpose.”

A wave of guilt washed over me. “I know.”

Ryan had seemed nice at first, but then all he ended up
wanting to do was control me or change me. Conversely, Talon was protective
without being obsessive or suffocating me. I wanted to be with him all the
time, but I was so self-conscious around him. My stomach stayed tied up in
knots because I kept waiting for him to look at me and realize that he could
have so much better.

Leah gave me a bear hug. “Cay-bear, there isn’t anyone
better than you. What would I do without you? You are the best friend anyone
could ever ask for, and I think he sees the same things in you that I do, so he
can’t be all bad.”

I hugged her back just as fiercely. “Okay, you win. We
better get back to them before they disappear back to wherever they came from
in the first place.”

We headed back to where we had left the boys waiting. They
were talking earnestly in low tones. When they saw us coming, they stopped and
moved apart, but it left me wondering what they had been discussing.

That night we got back to our roots and had a girls-only
night. We hadn’t done that in a long time. My mom ordered pizza and we camped
out in my room and watched a marathon of our favorite movies. It originally
started out as Princess Night
,
then around
age eight we graduated to Barbie Night, and eventually the movies morphed into
a mix of comedies and romances. We would stay up almost all night and then sleep
for most of the next day—or at least until Brady came barreling in with donuts.

***

Saturday evening, Leah met my gaze in the mirror as she was
straightening the back of my hair.

“Are you as nervous as I am?”

I stared at my reflection. “I thought it was just me. I’ve
been looking forward to tonight for a week, but I just can’t shake the feeling
something bad is going to happen. I feel sick to my stomach, but it’s probably just
me being paranoid again.” I smiled but it didn’t reach all the way to my eyes.

Leah shook her head, making her blonde hair dance around
her face. “No, that’s just it. I feel it too. It’s weird, like there is a big
storm coming. Does that sound stupid?”

“No, I learned years ago not to ignore your premonitions.”

Leah had an uncanny knack for knowing when we were in for a
big storm, acting nervous and jittery a day or so before it hit. I always teased
her about her internal barometer. We looked at each other anxiously. Finally, I
broke the silence.

“I know that the problem is.” I gave her a crooked smile. “We
need some music. One sec.”

I plugged my Zune into the dock and flicked it to one of
our playlists loaded with a little bit of everything we loved: all of our
current favorites combined with the guilty pleasures of our past. Scrolling through
the list, I found one of our all-time favorites. I poked my head through the
bamboo curtain separating my bedroom and bathroom and sure enough, Leah was
already bouncing around in time with the music.

“You are truly magical—you know that?” Leah started laughing,
and soon she had her arms wrapped around her sides and was gasping for air.

Sometimes when she got like that, I could almost see twinkles
of light float around her head, like dust motes in early morning sunshine. I
walked back over and sat cross-legged in front of my full-length mirror so she
could finish the back of my hair. When she was done, we traded places.

Then we sat awhile listening to the music. That was one of
the best parts about our friendship; it was simply effortless. Finally ready,
we stood side by side in front of the mirror to assess our workmanship, smiling
at our reflections.

“We did a pretty
good job.”

I nodded “Yes, we did.”

Leah spun, facing me with wide eyes. “What did you say?”

I shrugged. “What? I just agreed with you. We did a pretty
good job.”

Leah’s mouth dropped open. “Caiti, I didn’t say that out
loud. I was only
thinking
it.”

My reflection looked back at me, shocked. Leah and I stared
at each other until we
were interrupted
by the sound
of the doorbell ringing.

I took a deep breath. I knew she didn’t want to let it go,
but we would have to talk about it later tonight.

“Okay, well, here we go,” I said

I reached over and flicked off the light before we headed down
to meet our dates. When we got to the top of the stairs, Talon and Jace were talking
to my mom, expressions of great seriousness on their faces. They both bowed
their heads toward her, and took a quick step back. I decided to pretend I
didn’t see that. I didn’t want to have yet another unanswered question bouncing
around my head.

“Hey guys!” Leah called brightly, skipping down the stairs.

Mom smiled before heading back to the kitchen calling,
“Have fun!” over her shoulder as she went.

Leah was already halfway down the stairs by the time I
finally snapped out of it and looked toward the entryway. Talon’s eyes were
flashing an electric blue.

No, that can’t be
right.

I blinked to clear my vision, and when I opened them, his
eyes were the beautiful brown I had come to know.

It was just going to be a
really strange
night. There was no way around it.

Leah was looking up at me, her perfectly manicured eyebrows
drawn together in the middle. I gave them all a smile and took one careful step
at a time. I was painfully aware of Talon’s eyes on me as I tried to
concentrate on not falling down the stairs.

“Hey pixie girl, look at you,” chuckled Jace as soon as my
foot left the last step.

Leah giggled and smacked Jace on the back of the head. I raised
my head shyly and looked at Talon. I didn’t know what he was going to think
about the way I had dressed. I had let Leah talk me into something that was
very different from the T-shirt I usually wore to school.

He gazed at me with softness in his eyes and a tender expression.
“You look beautiful tonight.”

I found myself blushing furiously. Talon and Jace opened
the front door and motioned for us to go through.