2 Deja Blue (18 page)

Brennan and Anya just looked at the sand,
shuffling their feet around,
not saying anything.

“Uh.
It kind of is, Jeremy.
Remember,
i
f I lose, then Celestine can’t marry
Bexin
. They’ll have to break up
. And
,
if they do stay together
,
they’ll
be exiled from Fey and their families
forever!
B
eing cut off from Fey forever might just kill them!”

“
Ohhhhh
…might, might, if
, if
…There’s so many ‘maybes’ Ruby.
You can’t worry about
what
might happen
if
you lose. Just do your best. You’ll be great!
And, you’ll have your debt repaid to the
Mermaid
.
” Jeremy soothed.

Yeah, e
asy for him to say.
He wasn’t the one with two other people’s
fate
in his hands
.

Chapter 18

The next few days went by in a whirlwind of activity.
Anya and Brennan wanted to work with me right away, and often.
They wanted me to learn to use my “gift” to the best of my ability. They told me that in order to swim faster, I had to increase my propulsion, increase my tempo
,
and learn to decrease my resistance in the water. Ugh. Whatever! What am I, a fish?
W
ith my dragon-
like
swimming skills
,
was I supposed to be part amphibian now?
T
hey
also
had me working on
surface diving, in case I had to
retrieve stuff as part of the
Challenge
…Everything from
head-first dives, pike-position dives, strokes and kicking patterns.
I never knew how many different kinds of kicks there were in swimming…Slide kicks, dolphin kick
s
,
flutter kick
s
, butterfly kicks
,
reverse fly kicks, switch kicks…
my head was spinning.
I usually just
kicked
my feet back
and forth
and I was done. Now
,
all of sudden
,
I’m doing all
of
this crazy stuff. I felt like I was training for the Olympics
!
 

Between swimming lessons
,
work, plus my chores at home, I barely had time to see Nick. I was really missing him. I had to turn him down twice, making up different excuses as to why I
couldn’t get together with him.
But
,
when the phone rang today, I just couldn’t do it again.

“I really miss you Ru
b
e
s,” he said
with a pleading voice
. Hearing him say that made my heart melt, “
Are you sure you can’t get out of whatever your mom’s got you doing now?” he pressed.

I could get used to this…t
he idea of
Mr. Hotness missing me and
begging
to see me.
That was it. I couldn’t say no to him again. Besides, it had been four days since I tasted those yummy lips of his, and I just couldn’t wait another four days.
And
,
I
also
couldn’t face another day of all those kicks and drills and dives.
I needed a break. I wanted to see my boyfriend.

“I miss you too, Nick. You kno
w, I think I can maybe weasel m
y way out of
my mom’s
project. What are we
gonna
do
,
and what time should I be ready?” I answered.

“Excellent!” I could hear the smile in Nick’s voice, “How about we go catch a movie
,
and then we’ll get dessert or something after? I’ll pick you up around seven?”

“ ‘Kay
. I’ll be ready! See you then!” I was already getting excited at the thought of seeing him, and it was only ten in the morning. I still had to work my shift at the Craft and Hobby store, and figure out how I was going to ditch Anya and Brennan tonight. They were not going to be happy with me. But
,
at the moment, I didn’t really care. I was going out with my boyfriend tonight and
,
as far as I was concerned, t
hey could just deal with it.

My shift at the store seemed to be the longest of my life. I fixed the coloring book display for the fourth time that day and
walked up to the regi
ster to finish out my shift
before I left for the night.

I sat on the wooden stool behind the counter where my elbow was propped up, resting my head on my hand while I mindlessly doodled circles on the notepad in front of me.  I daydreamed about seeing Nick. I forgot to as
k him what movie he had in mind.
As long as I was sitting next to him, sharing popcorn, I didn’t really care what was showing up on the screen. A few minutes later, I heard the bells jingling at the front door of the store
,
alerting me to yet another customer entering. I glanced up lazily from my doodles to see who had come into the store.
Uh-oh.

Brennan came bounding up to me, full of energy as usual, hair sticking up every which way and smiling.
“Hey Kansas!
Ready for some more swimming tonight?
You get off in
,
like, fifteen minutes or so, right?”

Crap. I guess it was time to tell him
that
I wasn’t going to
be
training for the
Challenge
tonight.

“
Uhh
.
Actually, I can’t tonight.” I said slowly, afraid of how he was going to react.

Brennan looked puzzled. “What do you mean?  Are you working late tonight? We can just do it afterwa
rds.” I started shaking my head, g
etting more nervous to tell him
that
I was ditching them to see my boyfriend.

“No.
Not exactly.
I’m not free tonight. I’m going out with Nick.”  Whew. I said it.
I sat there, trying to keep a look of calm confidence plastered on my face, even though I was secretly scared of how Brennan would react.

Brennan leaned over the counter, and when he was about six inches from my face, he spoke in a hushed, but fierce tone
, “What the hell
,
Kansas? You
need
to do this.
This
is important. You can see your
pretty boy
little Nicky as much as you want
after
the
Challenge
.”

Okay. The “little Nicky” comment pissed me off. Now he was using Leo’s stupid nick-name for
my boyfriend
. And
,
how dare he come in here and tell me what I could and couldn’t do! He wasn’t the boss of me! I stood up from my stool and leaned over the counter, shoving my face right in front of him,
closing the distance so that our noses were almost touching.
“Listen here Prince Not-So-Charming,
you
are not the boss of me. If I
wanna
see my boyfriend, I will. It’s been four days
,
and I’ve been doing all of your stupid
,
little swimming drills. I need a break. And where the hell are your shoes?! This is a
store
,
you moron. No sho
es, no service!” I snapped back, and stood up straight, daring him to defy me.

Brennan leaned back, just slightly
,
and glanced down at his bare feet
. H
is chest was still heaving with annoyance. “Whatever
,
Ruby,” he said throwing his hands in the air, “
You’re
the one who’s go
ing to
feel guilty if you lose. Do whatever you want,” he said
in
an icy tone
as he walked away from the counter. He pulled the door open and turned to look back at me, his face full of disgust, “Oh,
and
have a good time with little Nicky tonight. Hope he’s worth it.” Then he stomped out of the store, with the door silently swinging shut behind him.
If he could have slammed it, I’m sure he would have.

Now I felt guilty. Maybe I
should
cancel my date with Nick. But it’s been forever since I saw him. I really missed him. One night off from swimming wasn’t go
ing to
kill me, was it?
I tried to focus my thoughts on Nick’s gorgeous smile and got butterflies just thinking about holding his hand again.
As I rode my bike home
,
I got more and more excited at the thought of seeing Nick. Brennan can go suck it. I’m not going to let him ruin my evening with
my boyfriend. I changed out of my grubby clothes
and slipped on a little sundress, even though I usually never wear them. I wanted to look extra nice for Nick tonight.

The movie was so-so, but I didn’t really care. Nick held my hand the entire time. I had to use my other hand and reach across myself to get popcorn out o
f the bucket he held in his lap. T
here was no way I was letting go of Mr. Hotness’s hand. It felt too good.
We strolled out of the theater and walked to Nick’s car. He opened the door for me
,
and I smiled and sighed. He was perfect. This was definitely better than swimming around the lake with Anya and Brennan tonight.

We drove to Dairy Queen for dessert
,
and I ordered the Triple Chocoholic Blizzard. Nick ordered
a s
trawberry
one. We sat outside at one of the picnic tables and laughed and talked and ate ice cream. It was just what I needed.
Screw Brennan, I th
ought. He doesn’t know how I
feel or
what I need. And why am I still even thinking about Brennan right now? I am sitting right across from Mr. Hotness, himself, enjoying my most favorite food in the world…ice cream. I shouldn’t even be worrying about
stupid
,
bare
foot
Brennan. But
,
I had this nagging little feeling tugging at my insides.
I knew what it was.

My mom calls it a guilty conscience
.

Ugh. I sighed while I ate my
ice cream
and then plastered a fake smile on my face.
Fake it
‘
til you make it. That’s what my mom always says.
I will not let thoughts of Brennan ruin my night. It’s been too perfect.

My night with Nick ended with us steaming up the front windows of his car. Sitting in my driveway,
sprawled out in the front seat
with Nick’s beautiful, strong hands all over me and mine all over him, I lost every single bit of that nagging feeling. All I felt was how attracted I was to this guy, and how much I wanted to keep kissing him all night long. Things were heating up fast
,
and I couldn’t breathe.
Nick ran his hand up my thigh, under my sundress and I shuddered. His kiss deepened
,
and I grabbed his shoulders tighter. He had his hand wrapped around my hip, his skin on my
skin
,
and I felt him tuck his thumb into
the top of my pantie
s and start to inch them down.
I was so
start
l
ed,
I jerked my knee up in surprise.

“
Owww
!”
Nick lurched back
grabbing his crotch with one hand. I started inappropriately giggling as I covered my mouth and put my other hand out to touch his leg, “
Ohmygoshhhhh
! I am
soooo
sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” Nick started chuckling, “
It’s
okay,” he shook his he
ad, “You get me carried away Ru
b
e
s.” He smiled flirtatiously at me. I coyly smiled in return and leaned towards him again. “I didn’t mean for you to stop. I just…I just was surprised, that’s all,” and I began kissing him again.

Between kisses, he said,
“ ‘
S
’okay
. Front seat of my car probably isn’t the most comfortable place anyway.” His hands roamed my back
and he gripped onto a handful of my sundress. Every
inch of tension melted from my body.
He finally pulled away. “It’s late. Your parents are inside, probably watching out the window with my luck. You should probably go.” His emerald green eyes burned into mine with such intensity, I didn’t want to look away. But I knew he was right. It was late. And I had another long day of work and swimming tomorrow. I gave a big sigh, “You’re right. I should go. Just one more
kiss
?”