Blue Violet (10 page)

Ellie shivered
and Griffin added, “They’re long gone now. It’s freezing out here. Let’s go
home.”

When Ellie got
back to her bedroom, she saw she had a text message from Alex:

“Can’t make it in the morning. Sorry
to flake.  See you later
.
”

Ellie shook
off a feeling of disappointment. If Alex couldn’t make it, he’d have a good
reason.

After school
Friday, Ellie headed home to get ready for her night out with her friends. It
was only the movies, but still, she could sometimes be a girly-girl and wanted
to look nice. The theater was situated in the shopping center just below the
Stanley Hotel. Ellie adored the old hotel that had been built by the maker of
the Stanley steam engine many years before. It was also the hotel the novel
The
Shining
had been based on.

The setting
was idyllic. Mountains rose up behind the gleaming white buildings with their
red tile roofs, and she could easily imagine holding a beautiful wedding there.
Suddenly, an image of Alex popped in her head…his charming but slightly goofy
smile, strong arms, eyes that crinkled around the corners when he laughed.  The
way he listened to her with total focus, like she was the most interesting
person on the planet. The way his laugh made chills run up her spine.  She’d
missed his company on her run the last few mornings. More than she wanted to
admit.

  Brian had
caught her coming out of calculus earlier that day and offered her a ride to
the movies. Since they both lived in Carriage Hills, Ellie accepted. She knew
he was going to ask her on a date, just the two of them this time. But this
worked out anyway. It would give her the chance to establish their boundaries
as just
friends
.

“Explain to me
why you’re going out with these high school kids again,” Griffin said. He was
leaning in the doorway of her bathroom watching as she primped.

“I do happen
to
be
in high school, Griffin,” she said. She put down the curling iron
and fluffed out her hair.

“But you’ve
never done
this
before,” he complained, gesturing to the abundance of
grooming paraphernalia scattered around the bathroom. Ellie grinned as she got
up and grabbed her jacket and purse.

“I’ve never
had to before, and it always seemed safer to stay in the background.  But I
have to admit it’s kind of nice to spend time with people other than my
brother.” She poked her index finger in the center of his chest.

“Hey!”

Laughing, she
hugged him to take the sting out of her words. “You know I love you. But it’s
been just us for such a long time. Do you remember when we had family? A whole
clan of people around us? It’s just nice to have something a little bit like
that again. That’s all.”

“Yeah,” he
grumbled. “I guess I get it.”

“Tell you
what,” she cajoled. “At our next place, you can go to college and you get to
have the friends.”

“I’ll hold you
to that,” he said, finally smiling back.

Brian knocked
on their front door right on time.

Griffin
deliberately made himself scarce, heading back to his own bedroom before she
opened the door. It was just easier not to have to try to defend their
relationship until they had to, despite having had years to rehearse the
plausible story they used when questioned.

“I’d invite
you in,” Ellie greeted Brian, “but no one else is home, and I’m not allowed to
have friends here on my own.”

Brian smiled
and held out a hand. “That’s okay,” he said, taking her arm. “We need to get
going anyway.” 

He acted the
perfect gentleman, escorting her to the car and opening the door for her. Ellie
hadn’t been on many dates, but knew that she did like old-fashioned manners,
and appreciated Brian’s attempts at chivalry.

 Almost as
soon as they started driving, he turned to Ellie and said, “Maybe sometime,
just the two of us? Like a date?”

“Wow, Brian,”
she stammered, trying to sound both surprised and sincere. “That’s so nice of
you to ask me. I’m really flattered. Really.”

“I hear a
‘but’…” He sounded resigned but somewhat amused. Ellie felt relieved. Brian
seemed to be a very confident guy. Her rejection was not likely to do much
damage to his ego or his feelings.

“Well, there’s
someone else…” she trailed off suggestively. As she said it, an image of Alex
worked its way into her mind. She mentally shooed it away.

“In Texas?”
Brian asked, hitting his turn signal as they came up to a stop sign.

“Mmmm…” He
could take that as confirmation if he wanted to. She wouldn’t correct him.

“He’s a lucky
guy,” Brian finally muttered after a long moment of silence.

Ellie gave a
little laugh. “Well it’s nice of you to say so.” She gave him a sideways look.
“Friends?”

“Of course!” 
He’d taken her rejection so well, if Ellie hadn’t known better, she would’ve
been a little miffed.

“Cool.” She
nodded, satisfied. “You’re a good guy Brian.”

“I won’t argue
with you,” he agreed with a wink.

She rolled her
eyes. “You might want to work on that ego, though,” she teased back.

“I’ll think
about it.” He cocked an eyebrow and Ellie laughed again. They couldn’t find any
space in the movie lot, so they parked in the larger lot up by the grocery
store and walked down to the theater. The rest of their friends were already
there, waiting outside despite the cold. Most of the people from their lunch
table plus a few others had come. Adelaide, Lila, and Nate included.

Ellie noticed
a few raised eyebrows among the group as she and Brian walked up together. High
school drama could be really fun when you didn’t take it too seriously. Kayla was
clearly pea green with envy.

“Hey!” Ellie
greeted Adelaide, Lila, and Nate all with her usual careful hugs.

“Are you on a
date?” Nate asked bluntly, never shy about asking what everyone else wanted to
know. Ellie considered it to be one of his more endearing qualities, even if it
rubbed some people the wrong way.

“No,” she
said. “We’re
friends
. We live in the same neighborhood. He gave me a
ride. That’s all there is to it.”

“Are you
sure?” Nate teased, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Ellie
chuckled. “Positive.”

“Hey, who was
that guy at the pizza place the other night?” asked Lila.

“Griffin’s my
brother,” Ellie answered, aware of Adelaide’s power. Hoping to head off
additional questions about him, she added, “He… takes care of me.”

She saw Lila
and Adelaide exchange a meaningful look. Once again, she resisted using
Griffin’s power on the sisters. She’d also avoided using her own power on them,
making sure to limit any physical contact. They were already suspicious. What
if one of her powers caused Adelaide or Lila to find out her true identity
before she was ready to tell them? Griffin still maintained that it was too
early to share that secret. And she respected her brother’s wishes. Although
her patience really was wearing thin.

“Everything okay?”
Adelaide asked her quietly.

“Oh!” Ellie
had forgotten to think of an appropriate emergency. She stuck as close to the
truth as she could.

“We thought
there might be an intruder, but we didn’t end up finding anyone or anything.”

“That’s
scary!” Lila exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Ellie
agreed. “We checked everything though, and so it looks like we’re okay.”
…For
no
w.

Brian held out
his arm.  “Ready to go in?”

While they
were buying tickets, Ellie noticed that Brian actually blushed when he talked
to the girl behind the counter. Feeling slightly guilty, but too curious to
resist, Ellie tapped into Griffin’s power and tried to see what the connection
was.

“Damn, she
is so hot. I should just man-up and ask her out, but she’s not interested in
me,”
Brian’s thoughts came through loud and clear.

The girl,
named Juliette, was a bit harder to read, keeping her thoughts close in to her
heart. But after poking around a bit, Ellie heard,
“Why do I act like such a
clumsy moron when he’s around. I should just get over this stupid crush. He is
soooo not interested in me.”

Juliette was
adorable, with silky pale blond hair that fell to her shoulders and pretty
green eyes. Ellie offered her a friendly smile, and despite the fact that Juliette
seemed to be under the impression Ellie was Brian’s date, she returned it.

Nice, too. 
 A thought began to form in Ellie’s mind…a little matchmaking could be a
fun distraction from all the drama.

She was just
figuring all of this out when she noticed Adelaide giving Juliette and Brian a
speculative look. The same curious glance that she herself had received just
the other night, right after Griffin had showed up at the pizza place.
Not
the time to worry about that. Shake it off,
she scolded herself.
But
maybe Adelaide can help me with my matchmaking idea.

The movie was
really good, but Ellie spent most of it trying to come up with ways to throw
Juliette and Brian together. The only plan she could come up with was
befriending Juliette herself. They didn’t share any classes, but there had to
be some way.

When the movie
finished, they all decided to head to the Dairy Queen downtown. As they were
leaving the theater, Ellie noticed Juliette leaving as well. “Adelaide,” Ellie
called her friend over. Nodding toward Juliette she said, “Do you know her?”

“Juliette?”
Adelaide seemed a little surprised by the question. “Sure! She’s in my English
class.”

“Why don’t you
ask her to join us at the Dairy Queen?” Ellie suggested.

“Alright,”
Adelaide drew out the word. “What’re you up to?”

“Just
following a hunch. Trust me. I think it could end well.”

Adelaide
remained inquisitive, but shrugged it off. She went over to Juliette who was
headed to her own car. They had a short conversation and Juliette walked over
to the larger group, clearly having agreed to join in.

“Juliette,
this is Ellie Aubrey,” Adelaide introduced them.

“Hi,” Ellie
said, offering her hand to shake. “I’ve seen you around school.”

“I’ve seen you
too,” Juliette shook the proffered hand. “You’re new here right?”

Ellie grimaced,
shifting on her feet. “Yeah,” she pretended to look around as the others headed
for their cars. “Hey, why don’t you ride over with me and Brian,” she offered.
“We can drop you back at your car on the way back.”

Juliette
looked somewhat reluctant. “Okay,” she finally agreed.

When they got
to the car, Ellie insisted that Juliette ride in front. “But you’re his date!”
Juliette protested.

“Oh!” Ellie widened
her eyes in feigned surprise. “No. Brian and I are just friends. He lives in my
neighborhood and offered me a ride… He’s really the nicest guy. If I wasn’t
already interested in someone else, I’d definitely go for him.”

She flashed a guileless
smile and hopped in the back seat. The ride to the Dairy Queen was very short;
they could’ve walked if it hadn’t been so cold outside. Ellie started chatting
about this and that and then sat back as Juliette and Brian took up the
conversation and talked between themselves. Ellie crossed her arms, feeling a
little smug. They seemed to have a lot in common. Ellie muffled a small giggle.
And was that a bit of flirting going on?  Who knew that matchmaking could be
so fun in an oddly satisfying sort of way?

After hanging
out at the Dairy Queen, the group broke up to head to their respective homes.
They got back to the theater only to discover that Juliette had a flat tire, and
Ellie knew immediately who had been responsible. Nate could barely contain
himself, to the point that his mental laughter was loud enough for Ellie to
pick up on with very little effort to tap into Griffin’s power. Apparently
Adelaide had put him up to it, doing a little matchmaking herself.

“It’s too late
for you to bother dealing with it now,” Brian insisted to Juliette. “I’ll bring
you back for your car in the morning if you’d like.”

A shy blush
stained Juliette’s cheeks. “Thanks.”

“Where do you
live, Juliette?” Ellie asked. After hearing her reply she said, “Drop me off
first Brian. I’m on the way.”

When Ellie
unlocked her front door and walked in, she immediately met Griffin’s disgusted
glare.

“You seriously
used my powers to set those two kids up?” He looked so disgruntled Ellie had a
hard time not laughing.

“What’s wrong
with that?” Ellie brushed past him and headed to the kitchen.

Griffin just
shook his head, clearly baffled. “Do you want first shift?” he asked, changing
the subject. After Griffin’s sighting of the wolves, they’d agreed to take
turns watching the Jenner and Pierce properties through the night. Even Griffin
agreed that the danger the Vyusher presented was too great to ignore.

“Sure,” she
replied, patting him on the shoulder as she walked by. “I’m still fairly
wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.”  With that she headed upstairs to change and then
took off to man her post. She kept her inner-most thoughts hidden from Griffin
as she left. Somehow watching the byplay between Brian and Juliette tonight had
brought to mind what wasn’t happening, what she wanted to happen but knew was
impossible, between her and Alex. And what really sucked was now she got to
spend hours watching over him. So close, yet not close enough. It was going to
be a long night.

Another six
weeks passed without incident. No sightings of the wolves. No more suspicious
looks from Adelaide or Lila. But there was Alex, or more specifically, Alex’s
disappearance from her life. The first few days after hanging at the pizza
place, he texted to say he couldn’t run with her the next morning. Then one
night, the text said that he wouldn’t be able to run with her for a while, and
nothing since then. Ellie had seen him when he dropped his siblings off for
school, and when he picked them up afterward. But he’d only given her a nod and
a half smile. He didn’t get out and talk to her. And he didn’t show up in the
library on their study nights again.