Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series (19 page)

But she was oblivious to his anxiety; his
clothing still entirely entranced her. Reexamining his tunic and
golden belt buckle, she must have caught the lingering floral scent
on his clothing for her smile immediately widened. “I get it …
you’re an elven princess then, aren’t you?”

“I told you--it’s not a dress,” said Ian,
anger rising, aggravated that he was once more on the defensive.
“And I’m not a princess. Why would I ever dress up as a girl?”

Tianna’s smile quickly faded away, as she
pretended to look hurt. “Wow … that was harsh, Ian. I can’t believe
you just said that.”

“Yeah, well it’s not like your comments were
any nicer.”

With that, Tianna just shook her head as she
turned to Eddy with a playful frown. “Hey, man, you need to keep
your friend in line … teach him some chivalry.”

Eddy smirked. “Like I know anything about
that.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side,
Eddy,” said Tianna, looking offended. “Besides, I had a valid
point. Don’t you think your friend looks like a princess?”

Eddy scrutinized Ian and after a few seconds,
started chuckling, “Could be … though, the hair’s a bit too
short.”

“I meant the clothing.” A faint blush on her
cheeks, she faced Ian again as she added hesitantly, “And not to be
blunt, but is that perfume you’re wearing?”

“It’s not perfume,” Ian blurted out,
exasperated, trying to save the rest of his dignity, as he
scratched his neck and then stopped her with a swift hand motion
just as she was about to argue. “It’s complicated; I’m not going
into the details.”

Tianna frowned playfully. “Aw, you lost a
bet, didn’t you?”

“Of course, I did,” he said sharply, a
sarcastic edge to his voice, though he’d never bet in his life.

Her eyes twinkled, the smile of a detective
riding on her face. “You said that awfully fast, Ian … I think
you’re lying. Why don’t you tell me what really happened?”

Before Ian could respond and likely do a poor
job of it, Eddy butted in. “Is Jimmy Ivans behind this?”

Ian looked over at Eddy with paranoid
uneasiness, hoping his friend wouldn’t go off on another tirade
about Jimmy’s weirdness, yet still glad that the awkward subject
was thrust aside. “No, why would he be?”

“Because he’s insane.” Eddy laughed heartily.
“That kid’s got a huge addiction to fantasy and anything that lives
in a castle.” He grinned--a story was coming. “Not too long ago, he
joined a sword fighting league; and even crazier, he’s handcrafting
his own longbow and reading books about royal etiquette. Now
that’s
extreme, even more extreme than my killer
skateboarding.”

Waiting until Eddy’s laughter subsided, Ian
systematically reclasped the brooch on his cloak, brushed off a
cobweb strand from his tunic, and wiped the dust from his boots.
This conversation had to end. He didn’t even care to reply to Eddy.
Not only did he hate it that he kept on picking on Jimmy, he was
also worried the focus would switch back to him.

Uneasy, he pulled out his cell phone and
glanced at the time, before putting it back in his cloak pocket and
stepping towards the doorway. “Hey, I think it’s time to go down
now, guys.”

“Like that?” she asked, a puzzled grin on her
face. “You’re not going to change?”

Her words struck a soft nerve in his heart,
yet Ian knew he could do nothing about it. He couldn’t change back;
his clothing was probably now in the elven palace, being served up
to the elven king and queen as evidence by the palace servants.
Like it or not, he’d have to go downstairs just as he was.

Trying to make the best of the situation, Ian
smiled faintly. After all he’d been through today, couldn’t he
handle a few weird looks? “Of course, Tianna,” Ian replied, after
an awkward silence. “I didn’t wear this just to show it off to you
two.”

She lowered her eyebrows, her eyes pooling
with confusion. “But the girls will tease you,” she argued. “Don’t
think I’m the worst.”

Ian blinked casually, his hands in his cloak
pockets, not a fair substitute for jean pockets. “Since when did I
ever care what the girls thought?”

She just rolled her eyes, shaking her head
around in irritated laughter. “Don’t give me that, man. Of course
you care.”

Frustrated, Ian tried to avoid a
confrontation. “Ok, so you have a point. It may be a bit
uncomfortable at first.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Not really.” Ian gazed at her brazenly, as
he readjusted the brooch on his cloak--it seemed the only thing to
do to ease his nervousness. As he headed towards the door, Eddy
blocked his path, a penetrating look in his eyes.

“Hey, not so fast, man. I wanna ask you
something.”

Ian stopped in his tracks, the faintest trace
of fear in his voice: “Yeah, go ahead.”

Eddy stared at him, rather exasperated. “So
how’d you sneak it in here?”

Hands pulsating, Ian racked his brain for
something, anything, and quickly came up with an answer, as a sly
smile grew on his face. “Well, let’s just say I had some
assistance.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. So who was it?”

Ian’s smile widened, then he laughed. “I’m
not saying.”

“And why’s that?” Eddy frowned at him, before
glancing at Tianna and then back at him. “Is it because she’s
here?”

“Nah, I just think it’d be more fun if I
didn’t say.” Sure, it wasn’t the best response and didn’t even make
that much sense, but it was all he could come up with on such short
notice.

Eddy didn’t appreciate it, however. Shrugging
his shoulders, he feigned disinterest. “Ok, you just hold onto your
secrets, man. I don’t even care anymore.”

“Cool,” he said, smiling weakly, seeing the
silent agony on his friend’s face. Though he’d never kept a secret
from his friend before, right now he had no choice. If he told him
the truth, Eddy would likely think he was going insane and would
blame his madness on his new friendship with Jimmy. There was
literally no way Eddy would believe that he’d somehow gotten
teleported to another world.

These thoughts greatly diminishing his guilt,
he jerked open the door and glanced back at Eddy and Tianna. “Let’s
head down, guys.”

Stepping out of the weight room, Ian walked
down the hall and then descended the stairs, a heightened sense of
fear enveloping him. Even though he was glad to be back in his own
world, thoughts about what people would say to him kept cycling
through his mind, terrorizing him. Would they say he was obsessed
with Halloween? That he was trying to get attention? That he needed
to stop taking fashion advice from Jimmy?

As much as he’d been through today, for some
reason, this was even harder to deal with. Even if Hazel had begun
to like him, this might just shred up any chance he had.

Climbing down the last step, his black
leather boots barely making a sound on the maroon rug runner, he
turned a corner that led into the kitchen, where he saw some girls
playing some type of card game. They didn’t even glance his way.
Not relieved, as this only delayed his fate, he took a deep breath
and headed into the basement, hoping for the best.

Eddy flipped the car key into his hands and
put it into the ignition, a wide smile on his face. “That was the
best party ever, man.”

“Same here,” replied Ian, as he hung his arm
out the window of Eddy’s blue sports sedan into the humid night air
washed clean by heavy rain, the sleeves of his cloak flapping
violently in the strong breeze. “Tianna’s really amusing, isn’t
she?”

Eddy paused briefly, as if startled by the
question, before smiling, saying, “Yeah, she’s got a killer sense
of humor.”

Ian nodded his head, thinking back to the
euchre game that he and Eddy had won right before they’d left:
“Yeah, and who knew she could be so funny and yet so annoyed at the
same time?”

A wide smile crossed his face as he likely
recalled Tianna’s agitated face and exasperated expressions as her
and Samantha lost to Ian’s loner. “I can’t believe they didn’t even
get one point though; that’s just pathetic.”

“More like we were just lucky,” Ian corrected
him.

Eddy just stared at him silently. Then, a
strange glint appearing in his eyes, he added seriously, “I can’t
believe she talked to me so much, though; it was kinda weird.”

“Weird?” asked Ian, a faint shadow in his
eyes. “You didn’t like it?”

Eddy looked at him doubtfully. Then just
laughed. “Are you kidding me, man? Course I loved it. It’s just … ”
he trailed off, uncertainty on his face, “she never talks to me
that much. It seems too good to be true.”

Ian latched onto his words. He’d thought
nearly the same thing about Hazel. Today, he’d talked to her during
school, right after he’d come into her house, and during the two
games of chess, while in a normal week, he barely said more than
“hi” to her. Her abnormal behavior was more than just weird; it was
bizarre, almost uncanny. Something was amiss....

A loud honk quickly broke him out of his
thoughts. Turning around sharply, he caught the faintest glimmer of
a black cat scrambling up into an oak tree and hissing at them. As
he refocused on Eddy, still a bit startled from the unexpected
noise, his friend took over the reins of the conversation:

“So what about Hazel, man?” he asked, as if
reading his thoughts. “I knew you were gonna talk to her. Some
trapdoor spider you are.”

“Hey,” he argued, a bit embarrassed. “You
were the one that made that analogy. And, besides, she talked to me
first.”

“Yeah right.”

“No, really, she did.”

But Eddy just smiled, amused by himself.
“Quit defending yourself, man. I don’t blame you for talking to
her. If you haven’t noticed, she
is
rather pretty.”

Blushing, getting upset, Ian decided to
switch the conversation to something else. The first thing that
came to his mind was chess. He plunged into it awkwardly. “Yeah …
so anyway, what’d you think of the chess games?”

“They were closer than I’d thought,” Eddy
said, still chuckling. “You’re not bad.”

“Yeah, I know. Who ever thought I’d be good
at chess?”

“Good? You lost both games. Though I see what
you mean. You nearly had that last one.”

“Yeah, I only made one dumb mistake,”
murmured Ian, shaking his head in frustration. “I should’ve
won.”

Laughing at him, Eddy turned on the radio and
lowered the volume. “I don’t know about that--I think she was
taking it easy on you. Still, you did surprise her by taking her
rook with that elaborate knight trap. If only you’d seen that your
king was in danger by her queen.” Grinning, he placed one hand on
the steering wheel, and turned it sharply, whipping it onto the
road.

A disgusted look came into Ian’s eyes. “You
sound like you play chess a lot,” he grunted, as he closed the
window and slouched back in his seat.

“I’ve played a few times online.” That was
all he would say on that subject, though he was far from done
talking. He spent the next few minutes summarizing the highlights
of the evening, going into great depth on some points and staying
surface level on others. After he’d finished talking about himself,
he glanced at Ian, a humorous look suddenly emerging in his
eyes.

Ian instantly caught it, expecting the worst.
“What?”

“What?” He laughed. “Don’t give me that, man.
You know what I’m gonna say.”

Not wanting to face the inevitable, he
hesitated for several seconds, before muttering, “You mean the
costume?”

“Touchdown!” His eyes lit up with burning
zeal, before he continued, a little less frenetic, fortunately, not
readdressing the touchy issue of how Ian had gotten the costume to
Hazel’s house, “So why’d you wear it, man? That was one of the most
random things you’ve ever done. It totally threw everybody for a
loop.”

Nervous, Ian sat motionless, his heart
beating wildly. Part of him wanted to tell Eddy the whole truth,
but he couldn’t get the words out. So instead, he made up
something: “I thought it’d be funny,” replied Ian, a serious look
on his face. “You didn’t like it?”

“Course I did.” Eddy chuckled. “That totally
made my day.”

Relieved upon hearing Eddy’s high praise
where he’d expected a mild censure, Ian grinned as he gazed out the
window at the bright stars. “So, what was the final tally?”

Chuckling, Eddy pulled out a piece of paper
from his pocket and flipped the car light on. As Ian’s costume had
been the talk of the night, Eddy had decided to ask everyone what
they thought he looked like; he got varying responses: “Ten elves,
six noblemen, four vampires, one druid, five unknowns, and … two
elven princesses.”

He sighed. “Tianna and Hazel with the
princesses, I assume?”

“Yeah, though you know they did it just to
annoy you; I mean, you don’t like one or anything.” Eddy laughed as
he turned off the car light and repocketed the paper as if it were
an important memento. Then he looked at Ian, snickering under his
breath, adding, “Though you kind of do smell like one.”

Ian, expecting this comment from his friend,
only experienced weak embarrassment, which he covered up with a
laugh. After all, there was not much he could’ve done about the
perfumed water, the rose wild berry shampoo, or the floral-scented
elven garments. Not feeling responsible took much of the shame from
him. “Thanks, Eddy. I feel really manly now.”

Ignoring him, though still smiling, Eddy sat
in silence for a few seconds and then, as if suddenly remembering
something, punched Ian hard on the shoulder.

The blow startled him. “Hey, what’s that
for?” Sure, he sort of deserved it for all the times he’d done the
same thing to his friend, but still...

“You never picked up your phone,” replied
Eddy, in a half-amused, half-annoyed tone. “What, did it die on
you?”