The House of Grey- Volume 5 (15 page)

Taris let out a second giggle, this one a little bit louder. Monson wrapped his arms back around her.

“There we go. That’s the girl we all know and love.”

Taris continued to stare at the ground, starting to rock back and forth slightly. “Monson, there is a lot I need to tell you; a lot you don’t know about me and my—”

“Taris….”

The sound of her name pacified her. He was not sure why, but it did all the same. Her eyes grew big as she looked up at him.

“Hey ex-girlfriend.”

The comment induced another smile, this one more natural. She sure did have a great smile. “Yes, ex-boyfriend.”

“Would you like to dance?”

Taris jerked back in disbelief, her green eyes regaining some of their shimmer. “I can’t believe you!”

“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for.” Monson popped up and proffered a hand. “Ms. It Girl, my Augustana, would you do me the honor of a dance? One…last…dance?”

Taris shook her head, resigned. “Sure, Mr. Grey. I would love to dance with you.”

***

“I feel like I should say something to you,” said Taris quietly.

Monson and Taris walked hand in hand through the endless curving hallway, passing many a gawking student. Confused, he leaned into her. “You’d think they’d never seen us hold hands before.”

“They’re probably looking at me,” she said, sounding angry and embarrassed. “I was sort of screaming at Damion right before I—”

“Slapped him?”

Taris’ breathing grew heavy again. “You heard, then?”

Monson shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything. Well, not from anyone else at least. I saw your handiwork and heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.”

Taris’ body went rigid as she turned a deathly pale. “He told you that I slapped him?”

“He said that you had a mean right hook but thankfully you only slapped him.”

“I think I might kill myself.”

Monson reached up and touched his face pensively
. “Hmm…
do you think you could wait until after we dance? I feel the sudden need to get my groove on.”

Taris was not listening but staring at the door of the girls’ bathroom. “Monson, do you mind if I go and freshen up before we head down?”

Monson gave her hand a squeeze. “Of course not.”

She quickly ducked into the bathroom. Monson watched her until the train of her dress disappeared from view, leaving in its place a mix of potent emotions.

He turned to face the window and the night. The air felt calm and peaceful but held a soft blend of sadness and regret. These last two emotions truly confused him. He attempted to wade through the emotional tossed salad but gave up after a few minutes. The sadness was not altogether a bad feeling.

“Thanks for waiting.”

Monson circled to face Taris, his eyes instantly going to her face—a vast improvement. He shot her a warm smile. Traces of her tears were still evident under close inspection, but were no longer so obvious. He offered his arm to her—for some reason the hand seemed inappropriate—and they walked back down to the dance.

The dance hall, a world in and of itself, slammed into them as they reentered it.
Kylie’s voice greeted them over the speakers and spared them any discomfort.

“Ladies and gents, make sure you grab that special girl or guy, because this is the last song of the evening.”

Casey’s guitar flair was followed by the sweet pull of Kylie’s violin mixed with a rumbling baseline. The music tugged at Monson in a gut-wrenching way as he and Taris inadvertently glanced at each other at the exact same time. Side by side, but no longer touching, they moved to the dance floor. Monson stepped right into the middle, where the footsteps and whispering voices did not penetrate, and into his own world. Taris joined him, but made no attempt to grab onto him, instead opting to look on in discomfort.

Their world felt like it was ending.

Monson took a step towards her in concert with the music. She mirrored him, taking a step back. She took a step forward, and
he took
a step back. So close yet so far apart, Monson and Taris continued in this manner until he proffered a hand and she took it. He felt her tremble at his touch. He spun her slowly, allowing the movement to deepen and unfold. When she returned, she clasped onto him whispering a plea.

“I need you to listen to my story. There is no forgiveness for what I did but I at least owe you an explanation.”

Monson shook his head, “Taris, you don’t need to—”

“Please Monson.” Taris gripped him
tightly,
gathering bunches of his shirt in her hands. “I need you to hear this.”

He nodded reluctantly.

Taris’ voice took on a slight tone of despair. “I don’t even know where to begin. I’m not who you think I am. I’m not who I want to be. I don’t even really recognize the person you’re dancing with right now. I’m—”

“Different?”

She smiled ironically. “Yeah, I’m different. I told you once that my first love was gone.”

Monson
thought back to the conversation they had in her special place, when she talked of her first love and first kiss
. He said nothing, allowing her to continue.

“Damion was my first love. Actually, he was my only love. I’ve loved Damion Peterson since we were kids. But he was different then. He was a bit of nerd, incredibly goofy, and a complete klutz.”

Monson pulled Taris a bit closer as the tears formed once more. She smiled as she saw what he was doing. “About half way through our freshman year, Damion changed. I can’t even begin to explain it. He just changed and ever since, well, ever since that time, Damion has seemed to be searching for something. For what, I’m not sure, but I thought that whatever he was trying to create, I was going to be a part of it.”

“So Damion pulled away from you?” asked Monson, finally breaking his silence. “And that’s why you decided to become—”

“Taris freakin’ Green?”

Monson gawked at her in surprise. Another genuine smile, one that was still sad but becoming progressively warmer, spread across her face. “I overheard Arthur.”

“Hey,” interrupted Monson playfully. “Don’t call him Arthur.”

Taris swatted his shoulder. “You know you were off about the limelight thing. Well, I guess to an extent you were. It might be hard to believe but I’ve always liked singing. It’s something I truly love. I used to sing with Damion and some of our other friends when we were younger. I had a huge karaoke machine in my house. I think some of my old videos are still on YouTube. They’re pretty embarrassing; I was pretty bad.”

Monson conjured up a sudden image of a young Taris dancing around the room singing Britney Spears at the top of her lungs. He almost broke out laughing.

“I’ll have to look those up.”

Taris gave him a sharp look. “Don’t you dare; they are so embarrassing.”

Monson gave her an innocent yet mocking smile. “I’m sure they are totally fine and not embarrassing in the least.”

Taris started to laugh, an exciting development considering the nature of their discussion. Monson felt her body relax slightly and he picked up the conversation.

“Do you mind if I finish this story? I think I know where it’s heading.”

Taris bit at the edge of her lip, which Monson took as a “go ahead.”

“You guys came to school here, after which Damion changed. He became the Diamond, the legendary figure that we all know. So he transformed himself and with this change, his feelings for you changed, too. And of course, you being the wonderfully mindful person that you are, thought that if you changed with him, you could be still be together. Damion, however, had different plans.”

The final piece of a puzzle he did not even know he was working on fell into place; the reason for it all, this whole crazy, mind-boggling girl experience. Taris had pursued him. Flirted with him the first day of classes. Sat next to him in Mr. Gatt’s class. Gave herself that stupid name—“My Princess”—in his phone. Teased him with her every available power. Planned the outing to the cave and the attempted kiss. Her question about love and war; it was all towards this end. Monson was even willing to bet that she was the one in the Student Senate who had backed him as a royalty candidate. Who else could have pulled that off?

Monson wanted to kick himself. Why had he not seen it before? He had always felt that there was something wrong, something…off with Taris Green. Now he knew. He knew that everything, everything she had done was for Damion Peterson…to win him back.

“Taris, you’ve been working towards tonight, a chance to confess your love again, since the moment you met me. Maybe even before. Part of your plan was using me to try to make him jealous in the hopes that he might realize what he had lost and it had to be me didn’t it? It had to be me, because I was the one who beat him—the only one to ever beat him. You even shared the one place that you’d never even think of taking someone else. You told him
about
it didn’t you. You took me to your place and then let him know that you were moving on. Most of your actions have been towards the culmination of that plan.”

Taris jumped as Monson laughed ironically. “I am such an idiot. You’re hand…your hand always felt like an instrument.”

“Monson, I am so…I’m so…I can’t…I’m sooo very sorry. I’m a horrible person.” The pain in her voice echoed with the mistakes of her past. “I can totally understand why you would never want to talk to me—”

Monson threw caution to the wind, letting his desire reflect in his actions. He took Taris in his arms and drew her to him.

“I am so sorry for the pain you’ve experienced. I’m sorry that you have it and that I could do nothing to relieve it.”

Taris squeezed him back, then instantly tried to push him away. “No.”

She let out a sniff, trying to hold back the waters. “No. This is not how you’re supposed to be. This isn’t what you’re supposed to do.”

She struggled against him, pounding him twice on the chest. “You’re being too nice, Monson. Don’t you understand? I’m a selfish, devious little sneak. I used you. I used you for my own personal gain and I didn’t even care what happened to you. I didn’t give a damn—”

Monson pushed Taris away from him, which cut her off. Once she was at a comfortable distance, he bent down slightly so she could look into his eyes. Monson prayed that she would not look away.

In that visual embrace, he witnessed the reopening of long-endured wounds. She had been alone in her suffering for so long that she was not even sure how to face it, how to move past the pain. He saw in her eyes that she had lost anything resembling hope.

Monson let two things, and only two, reflect in the intensity of his gaze. The first was a goodbye, a simple yet grateful farewell. He knew deep down her state of mind, knew that after this night, no more texts would be delivered, no phone calls returned. He knew from the bottom of his heart that Taris Green was going to leave him and never return.

The shared realization led them to a solemn place among the dancing couples
;
a secluded space where they had time and privacy. Monson felt Taris’ emotions charging the air around them
, helping
him to understand that distance was inevitable. As long as she clung to her painful, undying love, there was nothing he could do to help, protect or heal her. That change could only come from within her. Even so, there was something more he wanted…no, needed to communicate to her. Monson looked at Taris and tried to convey his feelings of compassion and understanding, the words for which she would not understand or accept.

Taris Green, the dimpled, green-eyed goddess of Coren, looked into the eyes of her Hero one last time. She looked and found something that money and sex appeal could not buy
;
one of the rare unconditional things in this world. In the eyes of Monson Grey, Taris Green found forgiveness.

Monson offered her his parting words. “Unconditional love is the true virtue that we should all hope to gain. If only we could all learn to love as you do. I hope that one day the love you give will be returned.”

A final chord marked the end of their dance and their time together. Monson felt it. The magical yet weird night was over. It was time to go.

Taris’ hands traveled down Monson’s arms, moving slowly until she caught hold of his hand. She stared at him warmly but seemed hesitant to speak.

“I have to apologize, Monson.” She buried her fingers once more between his and gave them a nervous squeeze.

Monson squeezed back. “You don’t need to apologize, Taris. I’ve learned something from you. I will forever be grateful for what you—”

Taris shook her head. “No, Mr. Hero. I’m not apologizing for what I did.”

She let go of his hands, moving towards him. “I’m apologizing for what I’m about to do.”

Taris took his face with gentle, quivering hands. In the middle of Coren University, among hundreds of people, Taris and Monson’s lips touched. Monson did not know how long he and Taris stood locked together, but he did know that the only thing he would remember about that moment was the softness of her lips.