KISS (5 page)

“
C’mon Iri!” he said taking
her hand like old times. “But why? My parents and the party,” she
trailed of looking back at her parents.

“
It’s okay dear. Go,” her
mother said smiling at her. Iris eyes sparkled and she gave her
mother a grateful smile, and followed Chester out of the studio and
into the wide open space.

“
Cheese, where are you
taking me?” Dusk was fast approaching and the sky was brilliant in
color—orange, pink and white.

“
You were always
impatient.” He pointed to something in the distance. What she saw
made her heart stopped. He was gorgeous—a black Belgian. He was
thick and muscular, his main flowing out behind him. She raced
towards him. She wanted to climb him immediately, but waited
patiently as he sniffed her. Chester slowly came up and lucky for
her, he had a couple of sugar cubes in his pocket.

“
How did you
know?”

“
It was something you
always talked about growing up. Your parents and I hatched the
plan. You need a car to get around in and I could help get the
horse.”

“
He’s beautiful.” She shook
nervously. “How long are you here for?”

“
I don’t know. I could stay
a couple of months, but it’ll be bad if I stayed any longer. The
paps are always hounding me.” He wondered if he could get her to
leave that school and come with him. There was an elite academy she
could attend, and be herself. He would even return if she came with
him.

“
What’s his name?” he asked
her. Iris looked calmly at the horse. It was a nice change of
subject. She should have known he wouldn’t be able to stay with
her. She was afraid of ruining their friendship and he was always
traveling. Why would he give that all up for her? She wasn’t anyone
special.

“
I’ll call him Blitz,” she
said climbing onto the horse bareback.

“
Iri! What the hell are you
doing! What if you fall off?” She looked down at Chester’s frantic
face, maybe if he stuck around longer she’d be less
reckless.

Jerk. Coming back into my
life. Feeling me with hope. Only for me to worry when you’ll leave
me again. I’ll get through this. After all, my panties are
bigger.

“
I got this,” she said
racing off with Blitz. Her laughter filled the air. She felt like
she was flying. She was free! It was thrilling. Her horse’s hooves
beat against the ground, her hair in the window, and the dying rays
of the sun on her face. This was what she wanted. It was getting
dark and fast. She raced back towards the house. She expected
Chester to be waiting for her but he’d left. She dismounted Blitz
and led him to the stall. She didn’t understand why she expected
more anyway. He was her best friend. Wasn’t she crushing on Axel
anyway? She thought about her earlier encounter with him while
brushing Blitz.

“
What are you doing out
here all along little Iris?”

“
What are you doing here
Jean-Pierre? Shouldn’t you be harassing some other girl?” she asked
blowing him off. Jean-Pierre didn’t know why he was so interested
in the girl. She was a breath of fresh air. It was different from
the lustrous women who were always on the prowl.

“
You sound like a jealous
lover.”

“
You wish.”

“
You ride?” She stared at
him with shrewd eyes. She couldn’t figure out which context he was
using the word, but knowing him it was probably the latter. She was
thankful when Chester showed up. He had gotten her a
coke.

Whoops. Guess he wasn’t
abandoning me. I’ve got to really work on being suspicious of
people. I blame this cold cruel world! And the invisible man hiding
in the corner.

“
I’ll be seeing you around
gorgeous.” He said leaving the two alone.

“
What was that all about?”
Chester asked watching Jean-Pierre’s retreating form.

“
I have no
idea.”

6

Racing Heart

The week had gone by fast and all too
soon Iris knew she would be starting the first day of senior year.
She sighed, she was excited to get back to her friends but she
didn’t like spending time away from Chester. They’d bonded. It was
as if they’ve never spent the last three years apart.

“
I can pick you up from
school.” She glanced at him through her peripherals. His face was
stoic and there was a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the
sky above them. The wind tousled his hair; the strands were
fluttering around in a synchronized dance. His moves graceful—she
knew there was a puppet master with invisible strings manipulating
his movements. He was too graceful and out of her reach. He was a
celestial being forever out of her grasp. Was this how Clyte felt
as she watched Apollo with unrequited love? Did she love him? What
about her attraction towards Axel? Was he nothing, but rouse to
distract her from her true target? She was so confused. How could
she go from having no boy problems to things being overly
complicated? The sad thing—she was the only one who knew about the
complexities of love.

She imagined telling her mother about
her love life. She would stand on some fancy grand stage singing
show tunes and telling her about love woes. Sad music would play
subtly in the background, while Iris would look on with unspeakable
horror; suddenly her mother would launch into a burlesque song
telling her to go after her man. She shook her head at her
dastardly thoughts. There was just one problem, which one was she
supposed to go after? She wanted Chester with a passion but was
afraid to ruin their friendship and rejection and Axel—he was
smokin’ hot. Did she need to say more?

“
You can’t pick me up
Cheese. Then everyone will know I’m wealthy, better yet, friends
with a rock star and they’ll try to become my friend. I don’t want
that.”

“
Why do you do that? Why do
you hide from who you are?” He asked turning on his side. He never
understood her fascination with hiding her identity. She was
skilled in her artistic abilities, she could be earning millions
off pieces of art if she wanted, and she was a genius but hid it.
She strived so much to not be like her mother and find her own
identity, but he found it contradictory that she didn’t want admit
her status was a part of who she was. It was the same as being heir
to a throne but denouncing it out of fear or
selfishness.

“
I’m not doing anything. I
just want to be normal.” Iris said rolling on her side avoiding his
gaze. She felt him scoot closer. He wrapped his arm around her
waist and pulled her closer spooning her from behind, and she
fought the shiver. Why did he fit so well there? Why did he invoke
such feelings from her?

I have got to get out of
my feelings. Mufasa is not dying right now. This is not the Lion
King. Sheesh.

“
What is normal? It’s so
overrated. I like you as you are.” He could sense her discomfort
and like always he conceded. “Are there any guys you’re interested
in?” He hated asking the question. His jealousy making the pits of
hell look cold.

“
What?” Her heart galloped
at an unprecedented rate in her chest. It was the prize winner in
the Kentucky derby and even broke world records, she was going to
set another new record—her heart was going to launch itself out of
her chest and lie on the ground exposing all her dark secrets.
Eep!

How did he know? Did she slip up and
say something? She sat up, running her hands through her hair she
glanced at Chester. He laid there smirking at her. He did know?!
What the hell?

“
You jerk!”

“
Iris, calm down. What did
I do?” he said sitting up. Now he was bewildered. What was she
exactly accusing him of?

“
You know?”

“
What do I
know?”

Wait a minute…was her secret safe? She
hunched over secret similar to the golem that kept his ‘precious’
away from others; hissing at anything that was a threat. She was a
volcano exploding, the magma devouring everything in its wake.
Burning its way into her heart, her mind, the ground and her
cheeks…because they were on fire. She hated boys!

Chester stared at the blushing young
woman. Was there a guy she fancied? Someone that she was interested
in? He suddenly felt like he had a case of heartburn, and it wasn’t
pretty. Would it be unsightly to snarl…to snatch her and hide her
away in a cave while he marked his territory. Pretty
barbaric.

“
I don’t know if I want to
answer that question Cheese. I mean it’s different now that we’re
older.”

“
No it’s not. Nothing has
changed,” he bit his tongue. He sounded desperate. He didn’t want
their relationship to change. He didn’t want her to change. He
wanted her to remain his forever, to be enamored by him…to love
him. He wouldn’t be happy knowing she chose another; maybe he
should leave sooner than he anticipated. If he did that, he would
be running away. He didn’t want to leave her alone. What if she
fell into the hands of a pervert? He would keep everyone away from
her and when there was no one left but him, he would wait with open
arms.

“
Cheese, I don’t like that
look.”

“
Hmm?”

“
It means trouble. C’mon we
better go in. I have class tomorrow. What will you do
tomorrow?”

“
I don’t know. Work in the
studio. Do you still have the studio here?”

“
Of course. You know how
dad is,” she said smiling.

***

The first day of class consisted of
freshmen trying to find their cliques, stereotypical athletes
pulling pranks, teachers rushing through the halls, and of course
there was Iris who knew a little bit of everyone. She was an
asteroid drifting along an undefined path until there was a
gravitational force strong enough to pull her in. Every now and
then she would get an occasional tug which leads her to her
greatest predicament, Axel. She felt a pull from him but she was
still confused about Chester—more like terrified of him rejecting
her. Still, she couldn’t deny the attraction she had for
Axel.

“
So what did you guys spend
the summer doing?” Crystal asked as the group met up at the front
of the school. Iris’ mind flashbacked to her first encounter with
Axel. Would he find her? She wasn’t so sure. She had on blue skinny
jeans, long sleeve collar shirt that stretched beyond her waist and
golden sandals.

“
Nothing much, you know how
I am.” Iris was grateful when Natasha came to her rescue. “I was
stuck watching my bratty sister all summer long.”

“
What about you Amie?” they
all turned to look at the shy girl who in turned looked at Crystal
as if she was asking for permission. “I didn’t do much. Went to
cheer camp.”

“
I didn’t know you were
interested in becoming a cheerleading.” Natasha asked genuinely
surprised. “Yeah, I’m going to try out this weekend.”

Just then the bell rang signaling that
class would be starting soon. Iris glanced up when the girls in the
group stopped. It reminded her of that cliché moment in the movie
when the hot guy enters and everyone freezes, and bow down to his
sexiness and prowess. She was grateful that there was no awkward
moment of her running into an open clocker or slipping and busting
her butt.

Thump.

Uh oh. Her heart was doing that weird
thing again and it felt like she had a stomach ache.

“
Hi Axel.” Iris rolled her
eyes at Crystal’s antics, at least she was braver than her. She
felt Natasha elbow her in the side. Ugh! She hoped she didn’t give
her away. She finally looked his way and watched his eyes widen
slightly before he gave her a smirk. Did he recognize her? Why was
he looking at her like that? Oh god…he wasn’t coming over here. Was
he?

“
Look, I don’t want to be
late. I’ll catch you guys later.” She scurried away.

Iris sat in history twiddling her
thumbs. She didn’t know why she had this nervous habit. She
imagined her mother busting onto the scene shrieking like a mad
woman and setting the place ablaze when Iris began to bite her
nails. She shudder at the thought, pushing it away, she focused on
the task at hand. History…bleh.

She didn’t understand why any teacher
would want to give sleepy deprived students another sleeping pill.
She yawned and slunk further into her chair when Natasha came in.
Crap. She forgot she had this class.

“
So you wanna tell me what
that was about?”

“
What?” Walking over to her
desk she watched Natasha slam her palm down. “You know what,
McDerman.”

“
Okay, okay,” don’t cause a
scene she whispered yelled to her friend while her eyes darted
around the classroom.

“
Is there something going
on between you and Axel?” Natasha asked. Iris body became hot. Was
it her or was it getting hot in here? What was up with all the
questions? This wasn’t the Spanish inquisition.

“
Umm, there’s not much
Tasha.” She said as her face was set aflame. Damn this girl. Iris
hated to be caught off guard. She didn’t know what that smirk from
him was about. She was looking down at her desk hoping that Natasha
would go away. Shouldn’t class be starting by now? Why was everyone
moving slowly? Giving up on the notion she faced Natasha. She was
startled and suspicious by Natasha’s behavior. She didn’t like the
smug look on her face.