You'll Be Seeing Me In Your Dreams

Chapter Eleven

Jude

As I get ready for the dance I think about Cardan. More specifically, I think of his back, his beautiful skin marred by thin white scars, some more recent than others.

Moreover, I think of the unending rage the sight brought me.

There's a knock on my door, and I smooth out my face before whoever is there enters. No one else needs to see my emotions.

"Come in." I call.

Madoc pops his head around the door. "You ready? Your date is here."

The words seemed to be painful for him to say. Leaning close to my mirror, I take a brush and blend out my eye shadow some more.

"Nearly." I tell him. "Give me three minutes, tops."

He retreats. I uncap a tube of lipstick and swipe it across my lips, the same blood-on-snow shade as my dress. With one last look in the mirror and a sigh, I slip out of my room and down the stairs.

It's the second time I've seen Cardan, in all his other-worldly beauty, in the normalcy of my home, but the sight still unnerves me.

Instead of being sat on the couch like last time, he's leaning against the stair railing, absently picking at his nail polish.

When I start descending, he looks up and sucks in a breath, smiling. Instead of his usual gold, his cheekbones are smeared with ice blue glitter, his eyeliner is smudgy and his hair carefully messy. He wears a deep black blazer over a white t-shirt and black jeans.

I didn't think anyone could pull that off. Of course he could. He was perfect.

He takes my hand as I come to a stop before him, bringing it to his mouth and kissing the back of it lightly. Right there, in front of Madoc and Oriana. The former of which looks absolutely murderous.

My cheeks heat ,but I leave my hand in his. The red string connecting us is shining brightly where our hands meet, whatever that means.

"Have fun." Oriana says, eyes boring into my back. "You know what I'm going to say."

I wave a hand at her. "Yes, yes. You say it every time I go out."

She looks troubled. She probably should. Last time I went out, I got drugged at a party.

Madoc's eyes follow us as I pull Cardan toward the door. I don't want to be under my "parents" watchful stare any longer.

Outside, Balekin's Mercedes, gleaming white in the winter sun, sits next to the sidewalk. There's a major part of me revolted to be riding in the car of Cardan's abuser.

"I'll be driving," he clarifies "because last time you drove, you crashed into me."

The car doesn't bare any trace of that crash, not a scratch on its perfect paint job. I almost want to crash into it again, just for fun.

He opens the passenger seat door for me and I slide in. The seats are smooth leather and it smells like vanilla and tangerine, the latter of those smells emitting from the air freshener. Cardan gets in and revs the engine once.

"That's dramatic." I roll my eyes

"I am nothing if not dramatic." He says, checking for oncoming traffic before reversing out of his parking spot.

There's a beat or two of silence while he manoeuvres

"I like the dress." he comments once we're safely on our way to the school.

"I'm not surprised." I say, shifting so the slit up the side of my leg is more visible.

His eyes flicker to it and then back to the road. His cheeks turn pink.

"Taryn said she had a date too," I say, just to fill the silence "but she left before I could see who it was."

His hands tighten on the steering wheel but he says nothing.

"Do you know?"

His mouth twists "I do."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"I promised not to."

I slump in my seat. "God, that's annoying."

He smiles. "I exist only to torment you, my dear."

"I can tell." I say, my heart beating rapidly at the small term of endearment.

When we pull up, we're not the only ones with flashy cars. The parking lot is usually full of the fancy but not as expensive cars rich parents give their spoilt rotten kids.

Cardan parks up next to a Chevrolet in a rather alarming shade of orange.

"The school is going to freak out, you know." I say before he opens his door, voicing a thought that has troubled me for a while.

He lifts an eyebrow and gives a grin that could start fires "Let them."

He gets out and I leave the car as well, careful not to shut the door on my dress. My heeled boots click on the sidewalk as we walk toward the entrance to the school.

We're late and there are no other students at reception. The receptionist, a haughty woman named Asha, stares at us before giving us directions to the gym, which we follow.

"I can still feel her eyes." I whisper to him. He snickers and it echoes along the hallway. The closer we get the gym, the louder the cheesy Christmas music gets.

I groan as a thought hits me. "You don't expect me to dance, do you?"

"You could just stick to your shadow skulking, but that wouldn't be any fun."

"It would be fun for me."

"Shall I rephrase? It wouldn't be any fun for me."

I kick him in the shin. He shuts up.

He puts an arm around my shoulders before we go in, like it's the most casual thing ever, which I pretend it is. I pretend it doesn't make my heart skip a beat.

At first, no one notices as we walk in, but then the whispers start, hushed at first, but growing louder and stopping conversations. Neither of us made a secret of our distaste toward each other over the years of school, so this must be confusing for them. It's confusing for me too.

I let him guide me toward the refreshments table.

"Drink?" his words set off everyone else, and the volume returns to normal.

I take the drink he offers me and lean against the table.

"That was the worst thing I have ever experienced." I whine and take a swig of the drink, which tastes vaguely of cinnamon.

He puts a hand on his chest in mock offence. "Being seen with me in public?"

I elbow him in the ribs. "Being stared at, asshole."

"I don't know why people don't stare at you more. You're lovely to look at."

I blush and hide my face.

"Shut up."

He laughs.

Someone taps my arm.

"You just keep getting yourself into these situations." Van says, with barely masked glee.

Garrett is stood behind him, Liliver by his side, holding his hand.

"I wouldn't class this as a situation."

"I certainly would." Garrett tells me.

I stick my tongue out at him "No one asked you."

"I asked myself."

"Maybe tell yourself to shut up."

He grins. Liliver grabs a hold of my arm. She's dressed in ruffled green and, with her white hair and red accessories; she looks like a Christmas tree.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" she demands

"I forgot." I tell her, which is true. I really didn't think to inform my friends, even though I've been ditching them to hang out with Cardan.

She's momentarily distracted by something "Wow, Nicasia looks like she's gonna kill you."

I follow her gaze. Sure enough, dancing with Locke, Nicasia is glaring at me, looking like she's practicing telekinetic assassination.

I smile and wave at her jokingly, and she turns her head.

"Hey, Jude." Taryn's voice says. I turn back to our little group, to find Taryn lacing her arm through Garrets.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but mainly, I'm hurt because she didn't tell me.

"Dance with me?" Cardan asks. He must've sensed the tension and is now intervening.

Shooting my sister a special Jude Duarte I'll kill you later glare, I let Cardan lead me under the strobing red, white and green lights.

I don't think what we did counts as dancing, per se, but I enjoyed it. We jumped and laughed and yelled Christmas songs that'll be going 'round my head for days on end.

When I looked into his eyes I could see why that string had brought us together.