Pride x Familiar (40 page)

I lightly raised a hand, forestalling her before
she could take a step.

“But…I’ve been through this before”—not
completely a lie—“so I know what to expect.” I thumped my chest
proudly. “Hey, this young heart can take it—”

“Liar.”

That one word cut my false confidence in
two.

Melanie walked up to me. “Caelum Desanto, you
are a liar.”

I looked at her and folded my arms. “And what if
I am a liar? What can I do about it? The girl who told me she loves
me on Tuesday is now wrapped in another guy’s arms three days
later.” I leaned forward an inch or so. “You tell me how to get
through this.”

Melanie suddenly glared at me. “I can’t tell you
that. If I had the answer I wouldn’t be hurting so much.”

I snorted in her face. “So you’re as much a liar
as I am. You’re the kettle calling the pot black.”

She inhaled sharply. “Yes, I’m a liar, and I’m
not going to be alright.” She pressed down upon her chest. “No
matter what I do, I can’t get him out. The gods know I have tried!
I have really, really tried! But seeing him together with your
busty
friend is like a knife through my heart.”

I saw her pain and I felt it, after all we were
in the same situation but on facing pages.

I couldn’t look at her, and so I turned
away.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I feel the same
way.”

When I managed to face her again, Melanie was
looking at me with pained eyes.

I swallowed and said, “But at least Duncan has
never lied to you. On the other hand Haruka is a liar. She told me
one thing, and meant something else. She fooled me completely, and
I hate myself for falling for the lie.” I shook my head. “I should
have known better, but I’m so stupid.” I shoved my hands into my
trouser pockets. “Girls can be so cruel.”

Melanie sucked in air. “Guys can be
heartless.”

I gave her a hard look. “I never lied to Haruka.
She knew how I felt. I told her not to leave me again and she
promised she wouldn’t. It was all one big fat lie on her part.”

Melanie slapped her chest. “I’ve loved Duncan
all my life, and he knows that. Yet he picks
her
over
me.”

A thought dawned on me painfully. “It’s because
we’re both Familiars.”

Melanie blinked wildly for a moment.
“Wh—what?”

“We’re both Familiars, and they’re Aventis.” I
clenched my jaw and felt like punching the nearby street sign.
“Fine—if that’s how it is, then so be it. I’m done with them. I am
so done with dealing with Aventis. I will
never
lose sleep
over an Aventis ever again. And I certainly won’t lose sleep over
Haruka ever again. To Hell with her and her cheating kind.”

“Aventis males think they’re so good,” Melanie
grumbled bitterly. “They think they’re the gods’ gift to girls.
Screw them.”

I nodded. “The Aventis aren’t good enough for
us. Familiars know best. Familiars belong with Familiars.”

She nodded heartily. “I’ll tear up the next love
letter I get from them, and throw the pieces off the rooftop.”

“Good for you,” I supported her. Then I blinked
and leaned forward sharply. “You get love letters?”

“Yes, at least one a week.”

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“Really? That’s awesome.”

“No it’s not,” Melanie complained. “They’re all
full of empty words. They say they like me but they don’t know
anything about me.” She growled and pulled at her hair. “I’m so
sick of it. Duncan’s the only one who knows me and understands me,
and yet this is how he treats my love for him.”

“What a bastard.”

“Absolutely.”

“So teach him a lesson.”

“Huh?” She lowered her hands slowly. “How?”

“Accept one of those love letter invitations and
go out with a guy. Make Duncan see that he can’t hurt you
anymore.”

Melanie frowned. “He would just congratulate me
for
moving on
.”

“Yeah, that’s a problem.”

“But,” Melanie said as she pounded a fist into a
palm, “what if it was someone he doesn’t want me to be with.”

My eyes widened a little. “Yeah. I see your
point. Someone he has a grudge against. Like a rival on the
basketball team.”

Melanie shook her head quickly. “No, those guys
were never interested in me. Trent and Micah are the only real
rivals he has, and both have steady girlfriends.”

“Then it has to be a rival in love.”

She froze and then frowned at me. “What are you
talking about?” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Yes—yes, I understand.
That could work. Ha ha, that could really work.”

I blinked a few times, then realized what I’d
just said. “Oh no, oh no.” I felt my insides turn over slowly.
“Melanie…you shouldn’t take me seriously.”

She grinned like a feral cat. “Why not? It’s
perfect.”

Now I felt my insides drop. “No, it’s far from
perfect.”

“But this could work. This is guaranteed to
light a fire in Duncan’s briefs.”

“Eh?” Again I shook my head madly. “No, no, no.
Haven’t you seen those holovid dramas where the jilted lovers try
to get back at their ex’s by pretending to date and make them
jealous.”

I reached out and grabbed her shoulders.

“It never works. At best they end up falling for
each other and live happily ever after.”

I shook her by her shoulders.

“But this is reality. No script. No holocams. No
audience.”

Melanie said, “Well, there is an audience, but
go on.”

“What I mean is…no happy ending.”

Melanie arched her delicate eyebrows at me. “Why
not?”

“Because I could fall for you, but there’s no
way you’d fall for me.”

Her eyes widened slightly and she made an ‘oh I
see’ expression. “So that’s what you’re worried about.” She nodded
firmly. “Yes, there’s absolutely no chance I could ever fall for
someone like you.”

“Ugh, do you have to be so blunt.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But why would you fall for
me
?”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t I?”

“My breasts are small. You like them large.”

“Breasts aren’t everything.”

What the Hell did I just say? I was going
horribly against my grain.

Melanie’s eyebrows steepled. “Really? So when
you look at a girl, where do you look at first?”

“Her breasts.”

“Gah—you see? You lied.”

“And then her butt followed by her legs.”

“Really…?”

“And you’ve got an awesome butt and fantastic
legs. I noticed them when I saw you walk up to the balcony in the
cafeteria.”

Even in the evening light her blush was
noticeable. “You…you think so?”

“I’m being completely honest here.”

Melanie scowled. “So you have no interest in my
face.”

“No, I saw your face alright. I mean, I told
Duncan that apart from your small chest you looked perfect.”

Melanie’s face grew blank. “You…you told…you
said that to Duncan?”

“Hell yeah. The moment you stepped up to the
railing I thought I’d seen a vision. Haruka’s a brunette and
gorgeous and all, but I prefer blondes over brunettes any day of
the week. Blondes are special. Especially natural blondes.” I
paused. “Melanie?”

Wow. Her face had turned really red. I thought
her ears would start to glow like hot coals in the dark.

I noticed she was breathing a little
heavier.

“Melanie…are you alright?”

“You—you say that to me and expect me to be
alright
?”

I reviewed the last few sentences in the
conversation. “But it’s all true.”

Melanie groaned and pushed me away with
surprising strength. “You are unbelievable.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you have no shame. You can’t just say
that to a girl.”

“Why the Hell not?”

“You have no idea how to properly flatter a
girl. No tact. No style. No anything!” She pressed down on her
meager chest. “Girls have feelings. When a guy says that to us, we
take it to heart. Calling me a vision is something I can accept
from Duncan, but not from you.”

I clenched my jaw and forced myself to
relax.

“Oh, I get it. Because Duncan’s just that much
more of a man than I am. Oh, that’s right—he’s an Aventis. Gosh how
special.” I inhaled sharply. “Well I don’t give a crap what he is.
I’m not taking anything back. I meant every word I said about you.”
I bowed to her formally. “And now, I will bid you good night.”

I turned on my heels – less than smoothly – and
marched away in the direction of the mag-lev station.

Heartbeats later I had a feeling something was
headed my way so I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting Melanie
to have run into the apartment complex.

But she was standing on the sidewalk, leaning
forward, and wearing only one shoe.

That’s when her other shoe connected with my
face.

I didn’t even get the chance to over-clock and
avoid it.

My sense of danger was totally nil.

“Guh!”

My head rocked back and I felt my nose complain
loudly as I fell on my backside.

Somehow I managed to use my hands and arms to
cushion my fall, but it hurt nonetheless.

“Caelum!”

I rubbed my face painfully as I heard the sound
of running footsteps.

Melanie dropped to her knees beside me. “Are you
okay? You weren’t supposed to turn around? Why’d you turn around?
How stupid can you be? Once you walk away you don’t turn
around!”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Why’d you throw
your shoe at me?”

“Cause I was angry. You made me angry.”

I rubbed my nose and winced. It was bleeding a
little.

Melanie saw the dark spots on my fingertips and
pulled out a handkerchief from her skirt. “Here, let me.” She
licked the handkerchief before dabbing at my bleeding nose. “Damn.
I don’t think it’s broken but it’s bleeding a lot.”

I winced again and gently took hold her hand,
stopping her. “I’m fine. I’m a Familiar. I can take this
punishment.”

Her hand felt a little cool in mine, but that
wasn’t really important.

What was important was that her concerned face
was a mere foot away from mine.

I forgot about my surroundings and lost myself
in her visage.

The sound of people walking by on the sidewalk,
muttering something about young kids this days, barely succeeded in
distracting me.

“Ah, Melanie. It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Cause…cause I think I lied.”

She stood up stiffly. For a moment I thought she
was going to say something, but then she pressed her lips together
in a thin line. She bent down and picked up her shoe, then turned
and ran back to the apartment complex.

I watched her runaway, then looked down at her
handkerchief in my hand.

“Ah damn,” I muttered.

I stood up, and used the handkerchief to stop
what little blood trickled out.

Should I tell her she had cute feet?

#

(Caprice)

Training continued through the weekend.

Little by little we were coming together as a
team.

Maya had a good eye for detail, identifying the
shortcomings in our attacks.

She was also fairly critical of her own
performance.

Rina kept up her training, sticking to cardio
work and salads with a helping of vitamins. Constance kept an eye
on her, refusing to give the girl any slack.

As for me, I underwent specialized combat
training with one of the male instructors.

I can’t lie. The whole experience was eye
opening and utterly exhausting.

Thankfully we stayed at the company dorms which
meant we avoided the hourly journey to and from the training
habitat.

While at the habitat I couldn’t use my
palm-slate because communications were banned. So I had no way of
contacting or talking to Caelum.

Even if I could, what would I say to him.

Outside of our Artemis training, what could I
talk to him about?

But I wanted to see him, and resolved that I
would call him on Monday. I realized that I’d been avoiding him,
relying on text messages to communicate with him. I felt like such
a fool. Why hadn’t I called him? I wasn’t angry at him anymore. So
why was I holding back?

Saturday was a full day’s training.

I expected Sunday to be much the same.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

#

(Caelum)

It was early Sunday afternoon when the dorm
manager called me up while I was in my room studying.

I had a visitor, and when I came down to the
entrance lobby I found the Countess waiting for me. She was dressed
in black slacks, an apricot blouse, and wore heeled sandals on her
feet. My eyes didn’t miss the sight of her painted red
toenails.

I noticed she had pretty feet like Melanie.

Needless to say, she attracted attention
wherever she went. A number of my fellow dorm residents were making
excuses to cross through the lobby in the hopes of peeking at
her.

I received a few glares which I ignored.

“Countess?”

She smiled at my approach and stood up
gracefully. “Caelum, I’m sorry to call you out.”

“It’s no problem. What can I do for you?”

Her smile wavered. “Well, I was hoping you could
join me for an early dinner.”

“Ah—huh?” I glanced around hoping no one else
had heard her.

No such luck. A number of male students gave me
withering glares.

I grimaced inwardly. “Ah, I need to change.”

“No need. There’s a burger shop nearby.”

“A burger shop?”

“Yes. I like their roast beef burgers.”

“I never imagined that.”

She planted her hands on her hips and leaned
forward. I couldn’t help noticing how her breasts swayed forward
under her blouse. “Hey, I can indulge every once in a purple
moon.”

“You mean blue moon.”

“Purple moon. Here in Island Three we have a
purple moon. Island Two makes use of a blue moon.”