Coma (Paranormal Romance) (22 page)

“I’ll come with you,” he flipped my ponytail
over my left shoulder.

“Not this time,” I smiled. The truth was, I
needed time alone with Maya and Helen to try to mend what was left
of us. I couldn't do that with him listening. “And no secret
lurking, either!”

He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes, then
said, “Damn! You don’t allow me to have any fun,” he made a fake
pout.

I threw my arms around his neck, and said,
“You can have fun later.” He turned his head away, as if offended,
but really just hiding a grin. “Besides, you’ve got Ethan now to
keep you company.”

Zack's head darted back. “You look beautiful,
by the way,” he kissed my neck, igniting that spark deep inside my
gut.

“Thanks,” I said, and then went
downstairs.

Dad took me to Brad's, informing me that Mom
would pick me up later. Unease gripped my chest as I was walking up
to my friends. Their sour smiles added to the anxiety. As if I
wasn't lonely enough, their cold shoulders made me feel utterly
unwelcome. We exchanged superficial hugs, and then they carried on
chatting with other people, pretending I wasn't there. With nothing
better to do, I reclined in a chair, thinking I probably deserved
it anyway. It wasn't their fault, I could have made an effort to
include them in my
other
life, and I didn't.

An hour and a half later, I took out my cell
phone, wanting to call Mom to come and get me. It was obvious Maya
and Helen wouldn't even talk to me, so what was the point of being
there. Just as I was about to push dial, Zack startled me by
saying: “Don't,” behind my back. I winced, surprised he was there
after all.

“Didn't I tell you not to come?” I tried to
scowl, but I couldn't. I was glad he didn't listen.

“I was bored,” a small smile tugged up one
side of his lips, “And I didn't plan to make my presence known,
but...I have an idea,” a wide smile reached his eyes.

I goggled mine, and said, “I'm all ears.”

“Let's play,” he extended his hand for me to
get up. I took it with a smile. “By what I've seen, Brad isn't
happy with the way they're acting.”

“I didn't notice,” I averted my gaze toward
Brad. He smiled at me, then bowed his head, repentantly. Zack was
right.

“Go to him, and ask him to get your friends
somewhere private. And make sure they bring their drinks!”

I nodded. Wasn't sure where he was going with
it, but I trusted he had a solid plan, so I did as he asked.

A couple of minutes later, on the back patio,
Maya and Helen came up to me. Their faces expressed anger and
aggravation. I swallowed a knot, looking at Zack. He just nodded
with a smile like everything was going to be alright.

“What?” Helen said, gruffly, placing her
hands on hips.

“Tell them there's someone who'd like to meet
them,” Zack instructed me.

I cleared my throat, and said, “I'd like you
to meet someone.”

Their eyes rounded. Without warning, Zack
swooped their drinks out of their hands, and they shriek in
horror.

I chuckled, “Meet Zack.”

Maya turned pale white, and Helen jerked her
head around looking for the perpetrator. “This isn't funny, Lyra,”
Helen hissed.

“It's not supposed to be funny,” I said,
suppressing a grin. They both looked like someone who didn't
believe in ghosts, and then saw one.

At that moment, Zack put their drinks back
into their hands, emptied of its contents. There was a piece of
paper stuck in each glass. Helen looked at me, completely
perplexed. Maya giggled. I didn't know what was written, but their
faces lost that angry edge once each of them had read what was
written. They exchanged papers, and looked at me, softening their
gaze.

“Okay,” Helen said, a smile creeping up on
her face. And just like that, both of them edged closer, giving me
a hug. I looked at Zack, confused. He was grinning wide,
victoriously.

“What did he say?” I asked them,
flabbergasted.

“Oh, something cute,” Maya pressed a little
piece of paper on her chest.

Zack put another piece of paper in Helen's
glass, and waved goodbye to me, blowing a kiss while walking
backwards.

“This one says he's leaving us to catch up,”
Helen read the contents, smirking.

“That explains it,” I said, “He just
left!”

“Come on,” Maya motioned for us to follow
her. “Let's sit over there.”

Crashing down on a chair, I asked again,
“Aren't you gonna tell me what he said?”

They exchanged looks, and smiled, then Maya
gave me her piece of paper, biting her lower lip. It said “
I
love her more than anything in the world. Don’t hold it against her
if she loves me back.
” Officially, I melted into a pile of
gooey. Helen giggled, and handed me her piece that said, “
This
love transcends space and time. If I died tomorrow, it would have
been worth it. Imagine saying no to that.
”

“Aww,” my heart was thumping fast. I wished
he was still at Brad's. At that moment, if it was possible, I loved
him even more.

“That’s THE cutest thing a guy could do,”
Maya commented, grinning mouth wide.

“Is he like that all the time?” Helen asked,
leaning elbows on her knees, supporting her chin.

“Actually, no,” I clasped my hands in my lap.
“He went out of his comfort zone on this one.”

“What happens when he disappears?” Helen was
back to her initial worry. My well-being.

I chewed on my lip, pondering whether to tell
them the latest developments or not. I decided to say, “I’ll come
and visit you on campus to get a speedy recovery.” They smiled, but
I saw they didn’t buy it, so I said, “It will be hard, but as he
said...It was worth it.”

“Still, you didn’t have to ditch us
completely,” Maya shifted in her seat.

“I’m sorry. But he could have disappeared at
any given moment, and I didn’t want to––” I stopped to choose
words.
Waste time
wasn’t appropriate although it was true,
“––to lose any minute with him.” I bowed my head, and stared at my
fingers, twirling them around.

“This stunt could have been done in the
beginning,” Helen swished her finger through the air. “The whole
summer, Lyra...Gone!” She snapped her fingers.

“It hasn’t crossed our minds,” I admitted,
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t know he was gonna pull that off
tonight,” I said, wondering when he had a chance to write those
notes.
Was it premeditated?

“Such a shame,” Maya added. “Let’s get back
inside. We have to go home soon.”

Things weren’t back to normal, and I wasn’t
sure they were ever gonna be, but Zack saved the day, and now at
least we were back on speaking terms. Brad and Shawn smiled seeing
us come inside together, they even seemed relieved. The rest of the
evening, both guys did their best to keep us laughing.

~*~

Mom picked me up after her shift. She was
dead tired, barely keeping her eyes on the road, and I kept to
myself thinking maybe this whole rift in our friendship was for the
best. At least they wouldn’t miss me if I decided to go with Zack.
Mom, on the other hand, would be devastated. I kept glancing at her
while she was driving. There was nothing I could do to make her mad
enough to take the edge off of pain. Maybe I didn’t have to die for
her, maybe I could suddenly develop an interest that could be
fulfilled only by going away on college? Somewhere far away.
Preferably on the other continent, and different time zone. That
stirred some hope.

As soon as we came home, we both retired in
our rooms. I was slightly taken aback finding mine empty. I took it
for granted that Zack would be there when I came home. At least I
didn't have to worry he would die on me, but the temporal war issue
did cause some level of anxiety. I'll have to ask for that bracelet
thingy since he didn't use cell phones.

Safely tucked in my bed, I drifted off into
sleep. Not sure when, I felt Zack hop into bed, and curl around my
body, sliding his arm over me, and tucking his fingers under my
belly. I smoothed my hand over his, saying, “You came.”

He tugged me closer, deeply inhaling my
scent, “It's where I belong,” he said, blowing out air.

As if tasered, my body jumped in overdrive. I
turned around in his embrace. Moonlight peering through the drapes
lit his face just enough so I could see his magical gaze. At that
moment, I knew. I was going away with him. Nothing could stop that
from happening. He traced an outline of my face, then leaned in,
and kissed me. The softness of his lips and the warmth of his body
so close to mine were bringing me dangerously close to the point of
spontaneous self-combustion. He started off kissing me slowly,
pausing after every kiss to look into my eyes, then sped up,
tugging me tighter and tighter against him, breathing heavily with
each tug. I pushed him on his back, and climbed on top of him. He
stared at me, bewildered, then traced his fingers from my mouth,
down my chin, over the hollow of my neck, ending on my navel. His
fingers curled around the hem of my sleeping shorts. I pulled his
T-shirt up, exposing his chest, smoothing my palms over his torso.
He lifted slightly, allowing me to take it off. Fire in his eyes
matched mine. Tango could begin.

~*~

If I had known how hard it would be to shift
my consciousness into Zack's realm, I would have started on it
sooner. Now it was already Christmas time, and no matter what I
did, nothing happened. Zack seemed to be amused by it, and not at
all worried that I wouldn't succeed. Ethan said something about a
deadline. He didn't say when that deadline was to keep the pressure
off Sophie and me, but he did say they couldn't stick around
forever. He made it sound as if it weren't up to them to decide how
long. When I asked Zack about it, he wiggled out of answering, and
only muttered something about a chain of command.

During practice, the only prerequisite Zack
insisted on was to lie down, because once I managed to shift my
consciousness, my body would collapse in semi-comatose state. He
said it wasn't dangerous, and I believed him. Everything he had
said so far proved to be right; I had no reason to believe it
wasn't this time.

“You have to stop stressing over it,” he said
after my trillionth attempt. “You have to relax. It'll come to you
naturally.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grimaced, tucking my
arms behind my head. “I don't even know what I'm doing!”

“It's like standing up. You don't think about
doing it. You just do it,” he stood up from a chair a couple of
times to demonstrate.

“Sure. Now it is. But I had to learn it first
as a toddler. I need that middle step,” I straightened my arms
again, and went back to trying to
stand up
.

“You body already knows how to do it. It's an
automatic mechanism.”

“I wasn’t particularly bright as toddler,
either,” I chuckled.

It didn’t work. Nothing was ringing any
bells. I let out a sigh of utter frustration.

Zack smirked, and said, “We better call it a
day. It won’t work while you’re trying too hard.”

“It’ll never work,” I sputtered.

Zack hopped on the bed next to me, tapping
the tip of my nose lightly, “We have time. There’s no rush.”

“That’s new,” I giggled. “Time wasn’t what we
used to have.”

Zack’s lips grew into a smile, “True. I
suppose I could be bad, and hop into the future to see when you’ll
get a hang of it,” a devilish grin flashed over his picture perfect
face.

“Will you?” I said, gazing at him
hopefully.

“Nope. That would change the outcome,” he
pulled my sweatshirt collar, exposing my shoulder, and placed a
kiss.

“You just have to rain on my parade,” I
formed a pout, pulling back my collar.

“It’s not like that,” he traced my puckered
lips with a tip of his finger. “Besides, I want it to be a surprise
for me, as well.”

“Why on Earth would you want that?” I
snorted.

“Things rarely surprise time travelers. It’s
refreshing when it happens.”

“Speaking of surprises... You never asked me
what I decided,” I propped myself onto the elbow. I’ve known for
months, but didn’t tell him.

“I didn’t know you have,” his eyes widened,
colored by curiosity and worry at the same time. “Do I even want to
know?” His eyes narrowed, as if suspecting the worst.

I smiled, and nodded, “I’m coming with
you.”

His mouth fell open, eyes blinking. Faster
than light, he grabbed me into his embrace, kissing whatever came
close to his mouth, then rolled me over onto my back, gazing into
my eyes. I’d never seen him happier.

“This is huge,” he brushed the back of his
hand down my cheek, and then his face went back to serious. “Are
you sure?” He asked, and I nodded, smiling. “Absolutely,
undoubtedly certain?”

“Yes,” I said. “Come to think of it, it was
long decided. I just didn’t realize it.”

“Asking you to marry me would be nothing
compared to this. You know that, right?”

“What? I can’t divorce a temporal guard?” I
purposely quipped.

“You can. That wasn’t the point,” his brows
furrowed. “It’s the level of commitment I was referring to.”

“I know,” I giggled. “That’s what tipped the
scale,” I winked.

He threaded his fingers through my hair, and
placed his hand on the back of my neck, then pulled me closer, “I
love you,” he murmured against my lips, and dived in.

Practice was officially over. Our commitment
was about to be consummated.

~*~

Sophie wasn't making any progress either. For
reasons beyond me, Ethan and Zack were certain we would do it
eventually, so they were busy scanning the area for best cryobox
hideouts, and looking for materials to build them. Every day, we
would meet for coffee at Mario's after my shift. Ethan was rather
blunt about his interest in Sophie, but she would brush him off
just as bluntly. She had one goal, to become a temporal guard, and
nothing could stand in the way of her private crusade. In my
opinion, she liked Ethan more than she let any of us know. He
seemed to enjoy her nasty bites, or at least wasn't bothered by
them.