Envious (35 page)

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking as sincere as humanly possible. His chocolaty brown eyes were so encouraging. I didn’t want to tell him what happened, but I didn’t want him to think what he was thinking had happened. I had gotten away. I was alright, sort of.

“I…I didn’t…he didn’t…” I stammered, “I’m fine…I left.” I tried to compose myself, to somehow get my point across. “I got away,” I added, feeling like an idiot, like I had revealed too much.

“Good,” Elijah said, still so sincere. “But still, if you want to talk…to me or Amelia… I’m sure she’d be glad to help.”

“Thank you,” I said, linking the necklace around my neck, closing the clasp easily. It hung just short enough, like any charm necklace, keeping the illusion. I touched it, feeling its coolness against my chest. “Thank you,” I said again, calmness moving through me now.

“No problem,” he said. He looked out the window, still wearing that encouraging look on his face. He was waiting. Seeing if I had anything else to say about it.

I folded my hands together, trying to remember why I had come here.
Aurora and Eric. And Todd.
“I think Aurora is controlling Eric,” I blurted out.

I waited for Elijah’s response. It came slowly, and very mildly, “She can be pretty controlling,” he said. His encouraging expression had faded, but he wasn’t quite as horrified as I expected. He was, in fact, very calm.

“So you’ve noticed it too?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t let him do anything, but it’s not like he puts up much of a fight either,” Elijah said.

“What if he can’t?” I asked.

He looked at me curiously. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if she has some kind of hold on him?”

Elijah shook his head regretfully at me, “It’s called
infatuation
, Sandy.”

“It's more than that. And I need you to help me prove it.”

He laughed. “
Prove?
I don’t think so.”

“Don’t you want to help Eric?” I asked, staring into his deep brown eyes.

“Eric doesn’t want any help. I tried bringing this up to him once before and he didn’t care at all.”

“That’s because she’s controlling him,” I explained.

“
Anyway
, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get involved,” he continued. “You saw how Eric was when she broke up with him. He was a mess. He fell apart.”

“I know a different Eric,” I began, “an Eric without Aurora, who is independent, strong, and brave.”

“And how do you know this Eric?” he mocked.

“I had a dream.”

Elijah burst out laughing, then he looked at my stern expression. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. This drawing proves it,” I stated, pointing across the room to the drawing of my little house where it was laid out on Eric’s table. Elijah’s laughing slowed to a stop. “Does Aurora come here a lot?”

“Yeah. Her new roommate doesn’t give her and Eric ‘alone time,’” he complained.

“And you do?”

He shrugged. “I leave the room whenever she comes in.”

I let loose a frustrated sigh. “So you don’t spy on them…you can’t.”

“Sandy, what are you saying?” he demanded.

“Oh, I’ve got it! A video camera!”

Elijah leaned back in surprise. “You want to videotape them?” he accused. “That’s just weird.”

“It’s the only way to know for sure. It will give us concrete evidence.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you have a video camera?” I demanded, ignoring the insult. Elijah just didn’t understand. But he would. He
had
to.

“No. This isn’t alright, Sandy. You can’t just cut into people’s privacy like that.”

“Do you know anyone who could loan us a camera?”

“No, I don’t,” he said, annoyance grating against his voice.

“Please, Elijah,” I pleaded. “You’re the only one who can help me.”
The only one I trust.
“Please? Do you know anything?” He looked down helplessly. I could see it happening, I could see him beginning to cave.

“I have a tape recorder.”

The world seemed to brighten before my eyes. There was hope. There was a way. I knew I could count on Elijah. He was going to help me.

“I use it for taking notes and stuff.”

“We can use it?”

“Only once, Sandy. I don’t want you obsessing over this. You only get one chance to prove something. If it doesn’t work, you have to promise never to bring this up again.”

I promised. Of course I did, I had no other choice, but he made me swear to even more. We set our plan, and I knew my part. I had absolutely no part. Elijah would wait for Eric and Aurora to return. He would press record on his tape recorder, then leave the room. When he came back, he would listen to the tape. Alone. If there was anything he felt seemed strange or odd, he would let me listen.

It wasn’t a plan I would have made. I would have included myself. But Elijah had all the control. And it was either his plan, or nothing. And so I waited for whichever came first. Elijah, or another vision. A memory would tell me more than a tape recording of a potential conversation. But I couldn’t depend on another memory. They had been coming so sporadically lately that I feared it would take a month to get another one. I didn’t want to wait. Waiting was always the hardest part of everything.

And so my impatient waiting continued. I did my homework. Strange that my main focus should be the education my parents were paying thousands of dollars for. Odd that my work kept slipping to the back of my mind. I still managed to keep my grades at the top I had become so accustomed to, but I didn’t feel like I was really learning anything at all.

I did my schoolwork, slept, got up, went to one class, then another and another after that. When I returned to my room, I realized I hadn’t eaten a thing since the morning before. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich, ate it, and immediately regretted it. There wasn’t anything to drink in Bailey’s fridge, and peanut butter had a way of sticking to the back of my throat, making me want to gag.

I grabbed my coat and hurried to the cafeteria, looking carefully around the campus for any possible attackers, like Mike. I reached for my whistle charm, squeezing it in my hand. Elijah was right. It did make me feel safer. Staying locked inside my dorm would have felt even better, but I needed milk, and there was no place closer that would have any. Plus, there was the possibility that Elijah had gotten the opportunity to record Aurora and Eric by now, and maybe had found something on the tape. I wanted to be there when he came. But I also didn’t want to throw up.

When I paid for my drink, I gulped down nearly half the bottle. That was when I noticed Elijah through the busy cafeteria. He looked right at me, then turned away as if he hadn’t seen me at all. I stalked over toward the table where he sat with two other people. He stood and threw away his garbage.

“Well?” I demanded.

He walked to the door and I followed intently. Once outside, I asked again, “Did you get the chance yet?” He didn’t say anything, which I took to mean yes. “Did you listen to it? What did they say?”

He didn’t answer, just pulled his arms through the sleeves of his black leather jacket, zipping it up in silence. I watched his blank expression and lost all hope. There was nothing, nothing at all.

“I think you had better listen to it,” Elijah said grimly.

We went directly to my room. Aurora and Bailey were both in class, and Eric was in his room. We had to be quick. We didn’t want Aurora to get out of class and somehow overhear our recording. I sat down on the floor and Elijah pressed play on the small recorder.

We heard giggling. Aurora’s girly laugh came through the speaker. I’d know that high-pitched squeal anywhere. “Hang on,” she whispered. Then I heard the door slam. Elijah’s departure. The recording was surprisingly clear, a little scratchy, but everything was understandable. There was no sound for a moment, but then Aurora asked, “What’s this?”

“That’s my project for drawing one class,” Eric responded with a hint of excitement in his voice. He truly loved his new major.

“Why did you draw
that
?”

“I don’t know, just came in my head. Why?”

“It sucks.” There was silence for a moment. “You should do it over. Draw something else.” Her voice came across cold and unsympathetic. “Who draws ugly old houses anyway?”

“
What?
” Eric sounded hurt and confused.

“Say you won’t draw it again.”

“Fine,” he said, his voice edged with annoyance.

“Good.”

Eric said, “Sandy liked it.”

Elijah stopped the recorder. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Is it over?”

“Well, no. But…” he answered, his voice trailing off, eyes shifting away from my gaze.

“Why don’t you want me to hear this?” I demanded.

“What?”

“You were avoiding me, and now you cut the tape short.”

“I don’t want you to get worked up, okay?”

I held out my hand impatiently, ordering him, “Give me the tape.”

Elijah sighed heavily, leaned back against my bed, then pressed play again.

“You showed this to Sandy?” Aurora’s voice asked, clearly struggling to keep calm.

“Yeah, she came by earlier,” Eric answered.

“What did she say?” Aurora asked, sweetly.

“You should be happy. We’re getting along again.”

“Great,” she said, her voice devoid of feeling.

“Yeah. I hated not being able to talk to her,” Eric said. Hearing him say that made me grin like a giddy little girl.

“It’s good that my best friend and my boyfriend are getting along. What did she say?” Aurora urged Eric to answer.

“Nothing much really.”

“Come on. Tell me.”

“It seems she’s not with Mike anymore. She must have listened to your warning. Isn’t that great?”

What warning?

“W-What?” Aurora stammered. “Mike didn’t tell me-” she mentioned.

“Since when are you and Mike friends?”

“We’re not.”

“Then why would he-”

Aurora cut him off quickly. “Don’t ask questions, Eric. I’m glad. Mike didn’t deserve her. He’s so slimy,” she said with a laugh. “So she liked the drawing?”

Aurora kept going right back to the picture. She must know exactly what it depicts.

“Yeah, I think…” Eric answered. “Do you know her cousin? Todd?”

“No,” Aurora answered.

No? Of course she knows Todd. She’s known him for years.

“He seemed to know you,” Eric said.

“Oh, I think I remember him. A real loser,” Aurora added. I could almost see her sneering.

“When did you sleep with him?” Eric asked accusingly.

“What?” she exclaimed. “I never-”

“That’s not what he said.”

“When did you talk to
him
?” she snapped.

“Yesterday.”

Todd went to Eric.

Why would you do that Todd?

“Well he’s a liar. I can’t believe you would accuse me of something like that!”

Eric’s voice hardened even further, “Then how did he know about…”

“What?”

“
That
, you know. How would he have known,” Eric began before she cut him off.

“Eric…” she said seductively.

“Don’t Aurora. Don’t lie to me and then…” His words trailed off.

“Eric…my Eric… Tell me how you love me?”

“I…”

“Mmm, my strong, handsome man…” she purred.

“Stop, I’m…” he began to say.

“You want me. You need me. You want me, Eric. Say it.”

“I
want you,” Eric replied. His voice had lost all its life.

“You need me?” she whispered. “Say it.”

“I need you.”

I heard some movement and then Elijah turned off the recording. “That’s all,” Elijah explained. “They don’t talk much after that.”

I looked at his vacant expression. “You heard that,” I accused. “That whole conversation. If that doesn’t sound strange, how does it sound, Elijah? You were going to let that go? You were going to hide it from me?”

“I was going to handle it,” he explained. “I didn’t want you to-” he paused as I stood up. “Where are you going?”

“To find that bitch,” I spat.

Elijah hopped up, grabbing my arm. “Don’t. Leave it alone.”

“I thought,” I began, “that of all people, I could trust you. Now I know I was wrong. Let go.”

“Sandy, don’t be stupid. Nothing past
infatuation
has been
proven
. I only thought the part about the drawing was strange. That’s all I thought you should hear. Because you mentioned the drawing before.”