Bloods Gem (9 page)

Since I was little, she had dressed me
up in what she had created and half of
the
dresses
were not bad considering I wasn’t much into
dressing girly. She hand crafted me a ring when I was ten and I had
never took it off.

I often told her anything and everything
happening in my life, but when we moved to Arkansas and I was in
driving distance of her.

We did not spent much time together, but I
knew that would change. I wanted a closer friendship with her and
planned on doing something, which was why I agreed to work in the
shop when I had time.

I admired my sister. She was
successful, beautiful and creative, but looks nothing like
me.
She had shoulder length black hair
and
big green eyes. I often wondered if we shared the
same father, or if either of us were adopted. I never asked mom
about it, because I knew she would flip. Not that it mattered much,
our father was never around. He had left when I was only five, but
we never brought it up. I figured the less we knew the better and I
believed Tania agreed with her silence.

On Monday I decided to work
o
n mine and Chris’s essay that we were
assigned on my first day of school. It was not due for another
month but there was not much done on it yet.

So I got on the internet to research the
history of vampires. There was a ton of crazy stuff on there.

Jotting down notes on everything I thought
relevant, I also remembered to cite references, but was interrupted
when the house phone rang,

“
Crap!” The internet disconnected and
the ringing rattled my brain.

Mom answered the phone. “I'll go check,” she
said.

“
Knock, knock,” she said, at my
door.

“
Yeah?” I answered.

She cracked the door so I could barley see
her eyes through the crack, “Phone call for you.” Before I could
ask who it was she shut the door.

I marched to the living room and picked up
the phone. “Yeah?” I answered.

“
Faith.” I froze, thinking this was
the only person in my unlucky life that I wanted to hear from right
now.

“
Please open your front door” he
asked.

“
Why should I? Give me one good
reason.”

He sighed in the phone. “Because I love
you.”

I gasped.
No
guy had ever said that to me, and Chris didn’t really know
me.
I decided to open the door to explain
to him why I was so upset.

He stood there, a mountain of roses covering
his face. I smiled. Looking down, I blushed.

Stepping outside I let the door close behind
me. He set the roses down, and took my hand, looked me in the eyes.
“Faith, I’m truly sorry for what I said and will never bring it up
again until you do. Accept my apology?”

I was speechless, and also surprised he knew
why I was angry. His apology was the best I’d ever heard. How could
I not forgive him?

I decided to tell him my reason for avoiding
the subject and why I was so angry. He stood listening, not phased
when I told him that I had never been intimate with anyone
before.

“
I had a few days to think and I
realized I made you uncomfortab
le,” he
said. “I’m not worried about it faith. I just want to be with
you.”

I smiled and he held out
his arms for me to come to him. He held me a moment, then mom
stepped out. “Faith?”

I jumped, startled and
turned around. “Hey mom this is my boyfriend Chris. Chris, my mom
Darla.”

She looked down at the
roses. “Well he must be doing something w
rong or
right,” she said laughing. We all started laughing and she invited
him inside for dinner.

Faith

Weeks flew by. Maybe because Chris and I
spent so much time together and it still did not seem enough. I
wanted to be with him every moment. I knew it was probably
unhealthy, but found it difficult to break out of the daze he had
me in.

I tried to fill my emptiness with his
presence and it was working, though I still had the feeling there
was more to life. I felt anxious, as if waiting for something and
tried not to think about it much, because I figured it was just the
new environment and people.

I had become more open to friendships. It
seemed easier some how. Kate and I became closer and our first
night out, she wanted to take me to poker night. She wanted to go
eat dinner first. Excited about the event, I had never went out
much with other girls and thought it might be fun.

I was trying to find something cute to wear
for the night.

I found a blue, long-sleeve blouse, and
grabbed a pair of pants from the laundry. Spritzing them with good
dose of raspberry body spray, I threw them on.

After a little eyeliner and lipstick and
pulling my hair back, I was good to go. “There,” I said, smiling at
my reflection in the mirror.

Picking me up at six, Kate was excited. She
looked ready to jump out of her seat. “Guess what!” She yelled,
looking at me as if I knew her secret.

I looked at her shaking my head and gestured
with open palms. “Mike wants me to be his girlfriend!” She
squealed.

“
Wow awesome,” I said
enthused.

Driving around Fayetteville trying to find a
good place to eat, I endured her high-pitched chattering. I
daydreamed about Chris and wondered if he would come to poker
night.

I had not talked to him
all day, figuring a little distance would be good. We stopped at
Logan’s Steak House. After we gorged ourselves we headed to poker
night.

Pulling up to Mike's house, we could see
David, Melissa and Drew standing outside. I guessed Mike was inside
getting the poker table ready.

Kate checked herself in the mirror, fixing
make-up and fluffing her hair.

Melissa and Drew were arguing out front
about an essay for English class, while David sat on the steps
holding a beer whistling, seeming amused.

Inside, Mike wore dark glasses. A
cigarette hung from his lips and he seemed entertained counting
poker chips in stacks and mumbling to himself. Hearing us walk in,
he stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, walked
up
to Kate and picked her
up.

“
Hey sexy thing,” he said, picking her
up as he kissed her.

She giggled and straddled Mike's body with
her tiny legs. They plopped down on the sofa making out.

Feeling uncomfortable, I went outside to
give them some alone time.

Injected myself into Melissa and Drew’s
conversation, I suggested topics they could agree on. Thanking me,
they finally agreed on one of my suggestions. The group began
walking back into the house so I followed.

Kate and Mike were already sitting at the
poker table as came into the kitchen. Taking our seats, Mike began
dealing.

Hours flew by and it came down to me
and Drew. Eventually we decided it was a draw, though we were
both
very competitive and neither of us
wanted to give up.

Mike suggested we each put ten dollars in to
make the game more exciting. Digging into our pockets and purses to
donate, a loud thump from outside attracted our attention. A sound
like the bass from a car stereo, but it stopped in front of the
house. Mike went to the window, looking out.

He looked back at us and smiled, then opened
the door for whoever was interrupting our game. A tall platinum
blond girl walked in.

I became self-conscious. She was beautiful.
Skin tanned, as if she had just returned from some far away island.
Bright blue eyes and the perfect body.

Behind her, stood Chris. My stomach
knotted.
What was he doing with
her?
I felt myself sinking into my seat, hands
clinging to it. He threw his arm around her, as if she was a trophy
and began greeting everyone.

I tried to hide. Everyone greeted them.

“
Jasmine!” Drew yelled picking her up
twirling her around.

I had no clue who this was and why my
boyfriend's arm was around her.

He found me quickly and smiled. Came towards
me with open arms.

I shot him a glare and he
shook his head, his lips tightened. H
e reached back,
grabbed the blonde and introduced us, “Faith this is Jasmine.
Jasmine, my girlfriend Faith.”

She smiled her pearly whites and I had to
shield my eyes, returning the smile. ”Nice to meet you,” I
said.

Glancing at Chris, she looked back at me.
“Chris has not shut up about you since he picked me up from the
airport,” she said, laughing.

I wondered who she was to him, faked a smile
and acted like I was checking my phone for a missed call.

Chris put his arms around me from behind and
whispered in my ear, “She’s my cousin.”

My breath came back to me, instantly
relieved. “No one compares to you,” he whispered again.

I turned around and rolled my eyes, gently
slapped his arm and he chuckled. “I thought you were going to jump
out of your seat and kill everyone in the room” he laughed.

I held my fist up, shaking it at him. “Just
you,” I said smirking.

He bit his bottom lip, leaned into me and
pulled my face closer to his. He put his lips to mine. I melted in
my seat, no longer cross with him.

I was in his world of easy
persuasion.
Losing myself in his kiss, Drew
interrupted with the clearing of his throat followed by a comment.
“Okay guys, go get a room.”

In the dark room again, I knew someone
inhabited the room with me. Hearing his hypnotic voice, I couldn't
make out the words. An unknown language sounded. The man's voice
summoned. Engulfing me, the sound vibrated within my veins. My
heart thundered in my chest. Blood slowly climbed into my throat
causing me to sit up. It spewed from my mouth in a gush.

Bright green eyes drew closer to me. His
lips suddenly on mine. Pressing his tongue to my lower lip, licking
the warm flow. I touched my tongue to his unconcerned. Kissing, he
gently laid me down on the bed. Our clothes tossed away, our bodies
entwined. As he entered me I woke.

Gasping for air, I clawed at a constriction
around my throat, found nothing there, but still felt deprived of
air. Dazed, I moved into the kitchen for a glass of water, gulped
the sweet liquid urgently, as if starved for the stuff. I stood
there, as the images of my dream overcame me. Glancing down at the
glass I gripped, I noticed my hand shaking and placed the glass in
the sink and tried ridding myself of the flashbacks. Still half
asleep, I stumbled back to my room and climbed into bed. I tossed
and turned the rest of the night thinking about the man in my
dream. The feelings of lust wouldn't depart.

Faith

For weeks I thought about
the dream man, his voice haunted me. My body yearned for him. The
thought of his body on top of mine excited me. I wanted to see him
again.

When it came to Chris I
did not have those feelings of lust. I
t worried
me.

I had not seen Chris in
weeks. When he tried to get together I told him I was sick. I
pretty much pushed everyone away after the dream. I overheard my
mom talking with Chris one night on the phone telling him that I
had a nightmare, which resulted in me being distant from
everyone.

I hoped he would not give
up on me. I needed a little more time to understand what I was
feeling before being alone with him again. I was scared the
feelings of lust I had would result in me making a bad decision to
go all the way with Chris. I was also afraid the desires were only
for the mystery man in my dream, if acted out with Chris it would
be deceptive on my part.

After weeks of trying to avoid him, in and
out of school, I was finally ready to be alone with Chris. I
decided to let him pick me up. I knew he wanted to hold me again
from the way he spoke on the phone.

Picking me up from my house, we drove
to a resta
urant in Fayetteville. Shogun,
was a Japanese restaurant structured in glass. Walking in, the host
showed us to our table upstairs, overlooking the city. “I think
this is the nicest restaurant I’ve been in,” I
whispered.

He smiled taking my hand.
“I’m glad you're feeling better,” he said, looking at
me.

I nodded. “Me
too.”

I did miss him. Missed his
hand on mine. I missed talking to my friend everyday, and the
comfort he gave me.

We ordered our food and
admired the view until it arrived. I tried to eat slowly trying not
to over eat.

Chris cut into his steak,
put it in his mouth and I watched as he repeated the process. I
felt my body respond, focusing on his lips.

I saw my dream man's face
again.

“
You okay?” Chris asked.

I closed my eyes tightly and opened them
trying to get my mind back on the here and now. “I’m fine,” I said,
putting a piece of chicken in my mouth and chewing.

He chuckled under his breath shaking his
head and continued to tease me as he ate.

We drove to a look out point above the city,
where a huge cross attached to a solid piece of concrete stood
towering. Lights winked into existence as darkness fell, looking
like a string of tiny stars.

The mood was set and Chris leaned over
pulling me close to him. He put his arm around me and we just
looked over the city.