Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It (42 page)

“I suppose.” Varrin sighed. “Now will you marry me, or not?”

How can he act so cool and confident when he’s basically offering himself to me on a silver platter?
she wondered.
I wish I could just fling my arms around him and never let him go. That’s what always happens in fairy tales. The prince and princess get married and live happily ever after. He might be a prince, but I’m no princess, and this isn’t a fairy tale.

“I’m mad about you, Varrin. I don’t deny it,” she said, gazing deeply into his eyes. “But I can’t marry you.”

43

V
arrin leaned back, fixing Eris with a bewildered look. “What do you mean?” he demanded. “You just admitted you love me.”

“That’s right.”

“But you won’t marry me.”

She reached out to take his hand, but he jerked it away from her. “Varrin, that’s not what I meant. I don’t want to marry you, but I—”

His cold expression stopped her short. “I get it,” he said. “No explanation necessary.” He stood abruptly. “I’ll leave you alone,” he added, backing away.

“No, wait!” Eris cried, scrambling to her feet. “That isn’t what I was trying to—you’re getting it all wrong!”

“It certainly seems so,” he said coolly. “So sorry for imposing myself on you. Don’t worry. You’ll never see me again.”

Eris knew that behind his façade, he was deeply hurt by her rejection. But before she could say another word, he turned, sprinted toward the trees at the edge of the lawn, and was lost in the darkness.

“Varrin!” she called desperately.

Eris raced after him even while thinking,
I’ll never find him! He’s dressed all in black, not to mention he’s the stealthiest person I know.
She searched for several minutes but couldn’t even find a trace of which way he’d gone.

Exhausted and completely miserable, she stumbled back to the oak tree, collapsed to the ground, and dissolved into tears.

Eris felt someone roughly shake her awake. Opening her eyes, she saw it was just past dawn, and Lisa was crouched in front of her, a disgusted look on her face. Eris propped herself up against the rough bark of the oak tree and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Did I fall asleep out here?” she mumbled. “I look like a mess, don’t I?”

“You do,” Lisa agreed. “But that’s not the point.” Although apparently it was part of the point, because as the blonde settled down beside Eris, she reached out and began rearranging Eris’s tousled locks. “Tell me about the guy,” she commanded as she worked.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Eris grumbled.

“I
was
heading to hapkido practice, but I saw you sleeping under the tree, and extensive outdoor exposure is murder on fair skin like yours, so I decided to come and tell you that, except you were crying in your sleep—”

“Wonderful.”

“—so I figured it must be a guy problem. Most likely that scrumptious guy you brought by last night.”

Eris rubbed her temples tiredly. “Yeah. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Tough. You made me late for practice, so now you have to fess up. No secrets among friends!”

“Oh, fine. If it’ll make you go away.”

“Awesome! So, what happened?”

Eris twisted her fingers together. “He … okay, this is going to sound really strange, but he proposed to me.”

Her roommate’s jaw dropped. “O-M-G.”

“That’s what I said. Who just proposes to someone out of the blue like that?”

“Men. Ugh.”

“Right? So then I explained to him that he’s way too flighty to possibly commit to married life, and he promised to change, and that was great and everything, but I’m
seventeen
, for God’s sake, I can’t get married right now, and I tried to tell him that, except he wouldn’t listen.”

Lisa winced. “You love him, don’t you? Oh, honey, you’re in way over your head.”

“I’m aware. So when he asked me one more time if I’d marry him—”

“You said no,” Lisa concluded for her. “Of course you did. You’re clearly nuts about the guy, but it was all way too quick, right? Did you tell him you wanted to take things slow?”

Eris winced. “Actually, I never got to that part. He stormed off as soon as I said no.”

“That jerk!”

“He’s not a jerk. He just doesn’t take rejection well. I don’t think he’s very used to it.”

“The idiot should have known better than to propose. Girlfriend, yes. Wife? Where was he born, the moon?”

“So … what do I do?” Eris asked despondently.

Lisa frowned. “Hmm … Does he live nearby?”

“Not in
any
sense of the word.”

“Has he left town yet?”

“Probably.”

“Is he coming back?”

“No.”

Lisa slapped Eris across the face.

Shocked, Eris demanded, “What was that for?”

“You’re being a fool! The man of your dreams is leaving you forever, and all you can do is cry about it? If you really love him, then go get him!”

“But he thinks I hate him!”

“That’s because he’s a moron. All men are. And since you’re the intelligent one in the relationship, it’s up to you to track him down and explain things.”

“But what if he—”

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks! Get off your butt and go declare your everlasting love!”

Inspired, Eris jumped to her feet. She started to leave but then stopped. “Lisa,” she said. “Thank you. I guess I just needed some sense knocked into me.”

“It’s the job of girls like me to help those less practiced in the ways of men,” Lisa responded primly. “Now go get him!”

Eris gave Lisa a quick hug and then sprinted off up the hill.

Eris hung up the payphone. She had a few minutes before her cab would arrive and decided she’d better call her mother before she left Earth again.
I don’t know when I’ll see her again
, she thought.
I should at least tell her I’m okay and that I love her.

Stepping back into the booth, she dialed home but got the answering machine. She waited for the beep and then said, “Hey, Mom, it’s Eris. Obviously. Who else would call you ‘Mom’? Anyway, I’m leaving again. This is going to sound really strange, but I’ve fallen in love. His name is Varrin, and he’s not exactly from around here. I wish I could tell you this in person, but our flight leaves really soon, so this message will have to be it. I love you so much, and I’m sorry for all the worry I caused you the last time I disappeared. You’re probably screaming at this point about how I’m too young to run off with a man, but I can tell you that I’m happy. I’m really happy.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Eris saw the taxi pull up.

“I’ll talk to you again but probably not for a while. I love you. I’ll miss you.” She hung up the phone and hurried over to the cab.

Although the taxi driver drove quickly, Eris felt like the trip back to the field where she had left the shuttle took forever. When they pulled up at the side of the gravel road a few hundred yards from the clearing, she shoved all the money in her wallet at the driver and flew out of the cab. She sprinted down the deserted country road, eager to get back to the spaceship and see Varrin again.
The longer I leave him alone,
she thought as she ran,
the more likely he is to confuse himself even more
.

Bursting into the clearing, Eris realized something was amiss. The field was completely empty. No spaceship. No Varrin. Just grass, and dirt, and two squirrels chasing each other.

Is that it? Is it all over? Is he really gone?

Eris stood, stunned, in the middle of the field.
I can’t believe it! I lost my future with Varrin over such a stupid misunderstanding?
She collapsed on the grass and buried her head in her hands.
This is so unfair!

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The vaguely familiar noise brought Eris back to reality. Her vision blurry from the tears pooled in her eyes, she dimly noticed her communication wristband was glowing. “Why are you glowing?” she demanded of the band, angrily wiping away her tears. “As if my life wasn’t miserable enough without you going all radioactive on me.”

“Eris, please stop babbling and listen,” a voice said from the device.

“Miguri?” She was elated to hear his voice, even if it was just through a communicator.

“Varrin is currently moping in the engine room, and he is driving us insane,” the Claktill informed her. “From what I have been able to discern from his ramblings, he proposed marriage to you, fool that he is, and you said no.”

“Yeah, I did. But then he ran off before I could explain why I turned him down!”

“That is what I guessed, based on my limited knowledge of human and Rakorsian romantic interactions. Knowledge that I would prefer to remain limited, by the way. In any case, I absolutely refuse to spend another minute with him in this condition. And Grashk is becoming … perturbed.”

“There’s not much I can do, Miguri. The ship’s gone! You’re probably halfway to Saturn by now.”

“Do not be ridiculous,” the Claktill snorted. “It would take over two days to reach Saturn. And besides, we have not even left Earth yet. You, my friend, are in the wrong clearing.”

“No, I’m …” she trailed off and looked at her surroundings more carefully. “Oh.”

“We are a hundred yards to your left, beyond the copse of trees,” Miguri instructed. “Hurry up. The Rakorsian’s mood is dark enough to blot out your sun.”

Her heart racing, Eris pushed her way through the thicket separating her from the correct clearing. “Can you tell if he’s in a listening mood?” she asked Miguri anxiously. “Will he even talk to me when I get there?”

“He has been sulking since he returned last night,” Miguri replied, “but I am sure you will be able to talk some sense into him. Ah, I can see you on the monitors now.”

Breaking into the clearing, Eris saw the red shuttle. As soon as the hatch slid open, she hastily climbed aboard and headed toward the cockpit.

Miguri met her halfway down the hallway. “The Rakorsian is in there,” he announced, gesturing toward the small engine room at the back of the vessel. “Be cautious. Do you want me to find you a striker in case he turns violent?”

Eris waved her hands reassuringly. “It’s not going to come to that.”

Marching up to the engine room door, she tried to open it, but found it locked. “Varrin! Open up!” When there was no response, she smacked the metal door loudly with her hand. “Ow.”

A moment later the door unlocked. Eris opened the door and slipped inside. She saw Varrin sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall. He had a black bottle in one hand and a gloomy look on his face.

“Hey,” she said softly, kneeling beside him. “I need to talk to you.”

He looked straight past her, as if she were invisible.

He’s not drunk—Rakorsian metabolism and all—but I want him to pay attention to me,
Eris thought
.
“Give me the bottle,” she commanded, attempting to wrestle it from his grip. His fist tightened, and she toppled backward from the effort. “Fine!” she snapped, rolling over onto her knees. “I came all the way here to explain myself, but since you’re clearly more interested in that bottle than me, I’ll just be on my way.”

“Be my guest,” Varrin said flatly. “You’ve made your feelings more than clear. Go back to your happy little terrestrial life and leave me alone.”

“Stop brooding for a second and listen to me! I need you to understand what happened last night.”

“I understand just fine,
Eris
.” He said her name so harshly that she knew he didn’t understand at all. “I remember you saying you loved me and then rejecting me for no good reason.”

“There
was
a good reason,” Eris snapped. “If you hadn’t stormed off, I could have told you!”

“Oh, really?” he drawled. “And what might that be?”

Eris rearranged herself into a cross-legged position. “In case you’ve forgotten,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “I’m very young. I’ve never been in a relationship before, let alone been proposed to. I said no because I’m not ready to commit to marriage right now.”

She saw a flicker of hope appear in his eyes. “Meaning what?”