ELENI
Eleni held her body tense as Dwayne lifted her into an extended leap. She reveled in the experience. She had progressed to doing full length pieces with a partner including supported movements and lifts and was now moving on to the more technically challenging lifts with some tosses. She pushed herself as far as she dared; she needed to master partnering to gain a decent role in the annual performance, and most of her still longed to do that.
Get through the auditions and then to the performance, she thought to herself mechanically, as her dedication momentarily failed.
It was getting harder to get through the days, even with the visits DownMountain. In spite of her determination, a small part of her questioned whether she would ever make it to the performance, and Eleni had adopted the mantra to keep herself going. It was often followed by 'don't even think about it,' the mantra that had haunted her for her entire life, though the 'it' was now Matthew. She avoided acknowledging that fact.
Dwayne brought her down on the point of her toe, and after leaning her forward for a pose, they moved in tandem across the stage, where he then supported her for a series of relevés, pirouettes and smaller leaps. As the piece came to a close, Eleni braced herself for the exit. Finishing a turn, she stuck a pose with one leg elevated above her head, her arms outstretched. Dwayne picked her up and carried her off stage into the wings. Eleni's heart soared with confidence and accomplishment. They'd done it and done it well.
As Dwayne put her down in the wing, she turned to thank him, as was her way, only to find him much closer to her than she expected. Suddenly his lips were on hers, and he was pushing her back into the wall.
Shock stilled her for a moment, though later she would be furious with herself for that reaction. She had known something like this was probable. The increase in sexual propositions at the school since Matthew had disengaged himself from her life had been a clear sign. She had even redoubled her practice of the self-defense she knew. She should never have let her guard down.
Dwayne pulled his head back for a moment.
"C'mon, baby. Show me what got Summers so hot and bothered over you." Then his lips were on hers again, and his hand was between her legs. That, more than anything, broke through her shock, and she reacted automatically. She lifted her leg, turned it out, and brought her heel down on Dwayne's instep, hard.
The man shrieked and was suddenly staggering away. Eleni took the opening, and shot through the curtains, back to the stage and to reality.
Her mind grappled to understand the situation as people turned to her in surprise. This was no anonymous assault in some back alley. Sure, there were no witnesses, but there were plenty of supporters. Just not for her.
Madam P spoke, a concerned look on her face.
"Is everything alright, Eleni?" Dwayne limped out from behind the curtain.
"This whore just pushed herself up against me, only to step on my foot a moment later and run off!" His eyes were fury made incarnate. Eleni schooled her face to nothing and spoke her side quickly.
"He pushed me up against the wall, kissed me and put his hands between my legs against my will." She pushed down how that made her feel, the violation, the wrongness of what had been done to her. She had to stay in control. "I defended myself."
Madam P's concern had dissolved into fury, but Eleni also saw frustration in the woman's eyes as she looked back and forth between Eleni and Dwayne. The other students were whispering to each other and casting dirty looks in Eleni's direction. She had expected that.
When she saw Adam walk up to Madam P and speak to her quietly, she remembered Matthew. He hadn't been there earlier, and it seemed he was still absent. That was a small relief.
The room was buzzing. Madam P turned to the other students.
"This is a very unfortunate incident. If it reaches the tabloids, it will severely diminish my opinion of this year's crop of dancers up for the annual performance." The whispers stopped. Madam P turned back to the stage.
"Both of you are suspended from dancing until I find a way to resolve this situation." As Dwayne sputtered his indignation, Eleni simply turned away, her heart heavy. She wasn't surprised. Things had been the same in the Citadel; people had just wanted to incident to go away. It had usually meant the woman rescinding her story or being berated into obscurity and a different life from the one she had led before. Eleni supposed, bitterly, she was about to find out whether the Montagne was the same.
As she left the stage, staying as far from the other students as she could, she made for Adam.
"Mr. Summers, please don't tell Matthew," she said when she got there. "I don't want him to worry. He shouldn't, but…there's just no reason to bother him with this." She held the man's eyes as she said these words. She didn't want to deal with Matthew's reaction to the assault. She didn't think she could deal with Matthew at all.
Adam looked at her for a minute, then nodded. "That is probably a good idea. He won't like it if he finds out." Eleni shrugged that comment off and thanked Adam, then returned to the house, as she could no longer dance.
Once Eleni reached her room, her sanctuary, she didn't immediately study as she had intended. She sat, repressing her tears, and distantly let herself feel what the whole incident had done to her. She felt disgusting and disgusted, violated and violent. She allowed herself a scream of fury and frustration. Her eyes squeezed together, and tears dripped out the sides. After the attacks she had suffered at the Citadel, this assault was nothing, she told herself. She found that did little to assuage the hurt inside her.
"Eleni, may I come in?" Eleni looked up in surprise. Madam P must have stepped away from the class. She opened the door room when Eleni indicated in the affirmative. "Oh, child, that was terrible what happened to you!" The tears came again now, as the older woman embraced her without question.
"It's not a big deal," she whispered. Madam P just held her tighter. After a few minutes, the woman pulled back.
"I think I have a way to take care of this, Eleni." The teacher's face was determined, but she didn't explain further. "I have to get back," she said as she turned away.
"Madam P," Eleni called, sniffling.
"What is it child?" Madam P looked back.
"Please…don't tell Matthew." The ballet teacher's brow furrowed.
"Eleni, I know something happened between you two, but you don't keep something like this from a friend. And I refuse to believe you are no longer friends."
"But it happened to me, and I want to decide who knows." It then occurred to her that the entire dance school knew. She sighed, and added, "And I don't…I don't want to deal with his worry on top of everything."
Madam P breath out in dismay as she looked at her charge. Finally, she nodded.
"That is your choice."
The teacher left, and Eleni was again alone with the aftermath. She wrapped her arms around herself and lay down on her bed bidding her mind to think about nothing.
For the two afternoons following the incident Eleni was relegated to the house after school, but on the third day Madam P asked her to come to the main office of the dance school in the afternoon.
Eleni arrived to find Dwayne there with Adam, Madelyn and Madam P, as well as three more people, a man and two women whom Eleni didn't recognize. One of the women stayed close to Dwayne and gave Eleni a vicious glare. His mother, she guessed.
Madam P cleared her throat. Eleni noticed she was dressed up and recalled the woman had mentioned she would be out that evening.
"Ah, Eleni, thank you for being so prompt." Eleni simply nodded in response. It appeared Dwayne had been speaking, and he continued after a glare at new arrival.
"Madam P, the injury to my foot is serious. Why are you prolonging this? This bitch should be expelled. It should have happened two days ago. You've heard from my parents I know you have."
"Yes, your mother and I had a…discussion." The dance teacher responded dryly as her eyes flickered to the woman at his shoulder. "But I told her what I told you. By coincidence, today I had a previously scheduled appointment that will help us clear up this…disgusting incident." Eleni saw the teacher's eyes harden on Dwayne for a brief moment and took courage from that. She didn't like being so close to the man again.
Madam P assured them they would be waiting for only a minute, although she refused to say for what. Eleni thought Adam seemed to be in the dark as well. That impression was confirmed when his expression showed shock as the door opened and another man entered. Eleni turned to observe the new addition to the group.
He was middle aged, and moderately tall. His features were strong and long. His eyes were blue, and his hair, which was mostly hidden by the hat he wore, appeared to have gone white prematurely. He had an entourage with him: there were two people standing in the hall behind him, waiting.
Madam P's greeting made her stomach turn to stone.
"Head Lensherr, thank you for agreeing to do this favor for me. You know I would not usually ask." The man nodded.
"Natalya, I don't believe you have ever asked me for a favor. I do not mind at all." As he surveyed the room, he nodded towards Adam, Madelyn and Dwayne's mother. They all greeted him, murmuring 'Head Lensherr'. He did the same for the other two adults and seemed somewhat familiar with them as well.
In spite of the greeting, Adam was scowling. It was a peripheral observation, as the majority of Eleni's energy was being spent trying to keep her own anxiety down. Questions fluttered about her mind, impairing her ability to analyze the situation: why was the Head of the Montagne here, what favor had Madam P asked of him, and how was it that she had the power to do so?
Eleni recalled belatedly, and with a sinking stomach, that she still didn't know what the man's powers were. She hadn't asked Matthew when there had been a chance, and was still debating whether to ask G. The Head was such a distant figure, she hadn't felt a great urgency to do so.
The unnamed man picked up a clipboard with a form attached to it, and a pen.
Madam P turned to Eleni and Dwayne. "Each of you will relate what happened the other day. Eleni, please begin."
Eleni took a deep breath and willed that her voice would not shake. The person holding the clipboard wrote something down, and then looked to her expectantly. She spoke as concisely as possible.
"Dwayne had carried me off the stage in a lift. When he put me down, he pushed me back against a wall. He kissed me and put his hand between my legs. I stepped on his foot to defend myself and get away from him."
The Head had taken off his hat, it was rimmed with a dented top, and she now saw that his hair was completely white. Then she dropped her eyes from his and looked to Madam P who nodded at her.
"Dwayne?" When Eleni glanced at the young man, she thought he looked pale. Nonetheless, he took a deep breath, appeared to get angry and then spoke.
"She wanted it. I didn't do anything the bitch didn't want!" Eleni had looked back at the Head, whose face stayed still.
"We need facts not opinions," said the woman in the room who remained anonymous. The man with her nodded.
"S-she kissed me," he stuttered.
"The girl is telling the truth. The boy lies," declared the Head. He looked at the woman with the clipboard. Dwayne's mother's face twisted, and for a brief moment Eleni saw her glare a look of pure hatred at the man who had just proclaimed her son's guilt. The ruler of the kingdom to which she was beholden.
"Witnessed and recorded," the woman with the clipboard said, handing it to the Head. The man signed it, and handed it to Madam P, who signed it, as did every other adult in the room. The Head turned back to Eleni.
"Child, you have a choice. As your complaint has been found to be true, you can take your assailant to court should you choose."
"Dwayne will be expelled from the dance school regardless of what you do, Eleni. That is the policy," Madam P added.
Eleni looked around the room. She didn't consider the option to go to court seriously. That would likely mean going public, and she had no desire to draw any more attention to herself. Her life had finally settled back to quiet anonymity for the most part, and this event would jeopardize that.
"I do not wish to go to court," she responded. The Head observed her for a moment, then nodded.
"Witnessed and recorded," the scribe said again, but this time the board went to Eleni for a signature, and then Madam P.
His work completed,the Head turned to go. As he left, he glanced once more at Eleni. She looked away, in spite of the tendril of curiosity that unfolded in her belly. It felt like those piercing eyes knew her secrets just by looking at her. The man placed his rimmed hat back on his head.
"Natalya, I will be waiting outside." And he was gone. Eleni breathed out in relief as her emotions settled.
Dwayne and his mother left next, both glaring at Eleni as they went. The two who had recorded and witnessed the truth-telling followed. Madam P spoke quietly with Adam and Madelyn for a moment before they departed. Adam squeezed Eleni's shoulder as he passed.
"I'm glad you found justice," he said. His face was sad, however, almost haunted. He assured her again that he wouldn't tell Matthew and departed.
Madam P took Eleni by the arm when she came over, and they walked back through the halls to the house, linked at the elbow.
"Thank you," Eleni said quietly, knowing the value of what the teacher had just done for her.
"It is nothing, child," she snorted. "They speak of the grandness of the Montagne but ignore the ugliness that they themselves perpetuate."
Even with the teacher's recently expressed support for her, Eleni was surprised to hear this criticism voiced. The woman had always come across as loyal to the world that Magneto had created. Her surprise made her miss the chance to ask how Madam P could be so familiar with the Head. They had reached the kitchen.
"I won't be late. Fix what you like for dinner."
Eleni nodded, and the teacher left. Settling into making herself a simple meal, Eleni wondered at what had just occurred.
Apparently, justice was more than a carrot used to motivate the downtrodden. She knew it wouldn't change her life much, but for that moment Eleni enjoyed the small victory and was surprised to find tears of relief in her eyes.
MATTHEW
Matthew walked into large dance studio, scanning it to see who was there, and only saw the UpMountain crowd. Eleni wasn't in evidence, which brought a mix of relief and disappointment. He hadn't been sure today, as Madam P had specifically asked him to come. Apparently, they were down a male dancer. He made his way over to the barre to warm up.
Alicia joined him a few minutes later, as did Jenna. They moved to the floor to stretch.
The day after the incident at the Cassidy's, Jenna had apologized to him at the dance studio. She said she had thought it would only be a joke because he seemed to be getting back into the circles and promised she wouldn't do something like that again. He had his doubts, but she had only been amiable and supportive since then. He smiled at her as she sat to stretch. It was pleasantly companionable, but then Alicia went and ruined it.
"So, it appears Eleni was all over Dwayne the other day." She sounded smug, as if she had expected it all along. Matthew's stomach turned to stone, but he did his best to ignore his gut reaction and keep warming up. He was starting to make it through the day without thinking about Eleni too much. The emotions he occasionally felt through the bond seemed to have faded, as well, although there had been a spike of fear and anger a few days ago that had caught his attention. Another prank, he had supposed sadly, and had felt responsible.
Alicia was annoyed by his lack of response.
"She couldn't wait for him to—"
"Why the hell do you want to talk about that, Alicia? Aren't there more interesting and important things?" Jenna cut in. Matthew caught her eye in thanks, and she gave a small nod. "Like, this year's performance. They're considering options now." It was nearly November, and the announcement would be made in December. The ballet chosen often reflected the overall ability of the current crop of students. Matthew knew what was coming next.
"What do you think our chances are we'll get Swan Lake?" Alicia asked. It was considered the most challenging ballet, and not just for the female lead. Matthew shook his head, and Alicia glared at him.
"It's not a reflection on you!" he protested. "You know Madam P won't do that one again."
"The Swan's Curse," Jenna intoned dramatically. Alicia exhaled in exasperation.
"They should just let go of that already! We are good and deserve to be recognized for it!" she declared. "I've been thinking, do you think we could sweeten her up a bit? You know, get in her good graces? Mattie, Adam's like a son to her – can't you put a word in? For all of us?" Matthew rolled his eyes.
"It's not just her choice, don't forget," he reminded them, though there was a flippant edge to his voice. While he spoke the truth, the two other large dance schools UpMountain had a say in the decision as well, Madam P was renown as a director, and carried considerable clout.
Alicia glared at him, and Jenna gave him a suffering look which turned in to a fond smile as he chuckled at them. His eyes caught on Jenna's familiar smile and he found himself taking in her face. A glint to the side caught his eye: she was wearing a pair of gold earrings in the shape of birds with ruby insets. Jenna noticed where his attention had gone.
"Remember these, Mattie?" She gently reached up an touched the back of one of the earrings. Of course he remembered: he had given them to her when she had been picked for the lead role in The Firebird. "They're my favorite pair."
Matthew bent back to stretching.
"You know how Madam P feels about jewelry at practice," was all he said in reply.
Cordelia arrived a few moments later and first off informed him that they would be working together that day. Soon after they were called to the center part of the trefoil shaped practice room and Jenna and Alicia left to practice elsewhere.
As he was waiting for Madam P's instructions, a movement to his right caught his eye. Matthew looked up and froze. Eleni had arrived at some point, and was practicing, alone, in one of the side areas. He quickly looked away.
"Matthew and Cordelia. Practice the advanced pas-de-deux, carrying the final lift to stage right." They began running through the piece, and Madam P went over to Eleni.
The teacher returned a few minutes later and drilled them on the final lift in the piece. Matthew raised the blond woman up in front of him with confidence, focusing only on her and her safety. Grasping her legs tightly, but maintaining an air of ease, he carried her to the side. Then he carefully let her slide down until he held her at a point where he could ensure her balance.
As he set her down, she seemed to fall into him for a moment. He determinedly pushed her back and stepped away, knowing she was safely on the floor now. Cordelia smiled at him, communicating more than her appreciation with her eyes. He ignored her and returned to the center of the practice floor, hoping they had performed well enough to be done. Unfortunately, Madam P asked them to perform the sequence again.
Stunts like Cordelia had just pulled were becoming more common, now that he apparently wasn't with Eleni, and wasn't going back to Jenna. Men and women alike would stand closer to him than necessary or touch him for no reason. All when Jenna was absent, of course. It was worst when he was dancing with someone, like just now with Cordelia, because they were already in close proximity. He was determinedly putting off all the advances, but they kept coming to his great annoyance.
His eyes fell on Eleni and lingered as she ran through the piece Madam P had assigned to her. He soaked up her dancing for a moment, but then Cordelia stood close and laid her hands on his arm. Reluctantly pulling his eyes from Eleni, he pulled his arm from Cordelia's grasp, and took the opening pose.
Madelyn entered the practice room and sought out Madam P. A moment later the two women left together. Matthew and Cordelia continued to dance. They reached the final lift, and he again carried her off stage. As he lowered her down, he found himself suddenly off balance. Putting one foot back to keep himself from falling, Cordelia, who was standing on the floor now, turned, pasted herself against him and pushed her knee between his legs. She pulled his head down and kissed him.
Irritation flooded him, followed by hurt and jealousy. The ghost of tears pushed at his eyes.
What? The unexpected emotions delayed his reaction for a moment.
"Stop that!" he exclaimed, belatedly, pushing Cordelia back and shaking his head in confusion. The room echoed with hoots from the few dancers sitting in the chairs and calls for more. Matthew stepped back, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He looked up and found Eleni.
She was practicing as if nothing had happened, her emotions behind a veil. Matthew's brow furrowed.
Cordelia pushed against him, supposedly apologizing.
"Come on, Mattie. It was just a bit of fun."
"It wasn't fun for me," he growled, again pushing her away. His thoughts were still on Eleni.
"Matthew, Cordelia. Have you already perfected it? Show me then." They snapped to attention as Madam P reentered the room, and quickly complied. When they finished, Matthew was chided for a lack of finesse, but to his relief the teacher dismissed Cordelia.
"Eleni, please come over."
Matthew breathed, trying to keep his reaction calm. The situation between himself and Eleni suddenly felt delicate, and more malleable than he had thought.
"Eleni, Matthew, you two both know the practice pas-de-deux." They nodded. It was the first piece partners learned at the school, and a short piece with several moderately challenging lifts in it. "Excellent, practice the lifts until I return, then we shall run through the dance. I expect to be impressed." Matthew received a pointed look at that. Madam P called a student from the seats as she left to work with them.
Matthew looked at Eleni. She looked back at him, all business. He searched for signs that she felt the tenuous atmosphere between them but found none.
"Well, let's start with the first one." He nodded, and they took their places.
While he focused on keeping his feelings neutral, his happiness at dancing with her again simmered beneath his uncertainty. He tried not to feel it, knowing she would feel it as well. The restraint only made his dancing awkward. After a few minutes, he gave up, focused on the dancing, and he let himself enjoy the experience.
To his surprise, he felt Eleni relax as well. A soft sense of safeness emanated from her. Moving together started to feel natural again. After practicing the lifts for a few minutes, they decided to run through the entire piece. His emotions settled on bittersweet contentment, but in that grey area, the dancing came easily and he simply experienced having Eleni in his arms and at his fingertips. Meeting her eyes with his.
"Good!" Matthew looked up in surprise. He and Eleni had just completed the dance. They had made a few mistakes, and he was surprised by the compliment from Madam P. Jenna was standing behind the woman, her face far less appreciative.
Matthew moved away from the final pose behind Eleni and stepped up beside her. She glanced up at him, solemn. He looked back at her for a moment. She nodded, then turned her head towards Madam P. He did the same.
The teacher did grill them for the errors but was otherwise impressed.
"You two brought a natural grace into the dance that was sublime. Poignant even. Whatever you did, keep doing it. Again!"
They danced again, though whatever had let them achieve that state of naturalness was not reclaimed. Matthew, nonetheless, continued to enjoy the opportunity to be close to Eleni. He allowed himself to forget their circumstances, and his feelings subsided to a soft happiness.
They practiced the piece a few more times before Madam P said they were done for the day. Eleni looked at Matthew.
"Thank you," she said quietly. He blinked, surprised.
"Uh, thank you, too." She started to turn away, then stopped.
"Matthew, have you learned anything new about…the bond?" she asked quietly. His heart fell. He shook his head. He had finished the last book from the university library and stopped there.
"Let me know if you do." He nodded and spoke before she could turn away again.
"Eleni, I've missed dancing with you." Surprise registered on her face, and longing pierced through the bond. It quickly vanished. She nodded after a moment, but then turned and walked away. Disheartened, Matthew watched her go.
Three days later, Matthew walked through the tall stacks in the lower levels of the university library. Small, narrow windows let limited light in from the interior of the UpMountain, making the LED lights in the long corridors a necessity. The books here ranged from memoirs to personal diaries. Matthew glanced at the paper in his hand again, and then moved on to the section just ahead of him.
The past couple of days, he had spent a lot of time thinking. Thinking about his conversation with G. Thinking about what Eleni had said to him in their fight. Thinking about what had happened in the studio. Thinking about what it all meant.
She had handed him the solution in bringing up the bond. If he could find some information on removing it, it would provide an excuse for them to meet privately. Then he could talk to her. He was thinking a lot about what he would say.
Finding the volume in question, he pulled it off the shelf. It was old, but the binding appeared to be in pristine condition, as if no one had ever opened it. He looked for the author on the outside but found none. Lifting the cover, he found a message engraved on its inside.
Gifted by the Greys, 2896.
That meant the book was over a hundred years old. The Greys, as in Rachel Grey, were a small UpMountain family. They kept quiet, the more ambitious branches of their family having been subsumed through marriage and the endless grab for the Montagne's scarce assets. Jenna was distantly related to them through her mother.
Matthew started flipping through the book. Having exhausted all the informational books that addressed telepathy directly, he had gotten creative: now his search included texts that mention telepathy, even as fiction, and had already discarded several books that truly were fiction. This one, however, was different.
It appeared to be a memoir, and as Matthew flipped through it, he saw that it did indeed address telepathy. Extensively, even, and possibly accurately. Snapping the book shut, he decided to take it home and evaluate it further.
As he left the stacks, his message mote vibrated. Pulling it out, he saw the note was from G. Got lost at university again. U still here? Matthew shook his head in amusement. The military had provided message motes for G and Bright in an effort to help them make their meetings. No luck so far.
He had mentioned to G that he was coming to the university for an interview, so the man wouldn't go to the dance school expecting to find him. Eleni was DownMountain today.
Messaging back, he told G to meet him at the entrance to the library.
"I had no idea there were two entrances to this place!" G complained in feigned exasperation. "And it looked completely different coming in from the west entrance as opposed to the north entrance." Matthew choked on a laugh and ended up coughing. The university consisted of a march of buildings surrounding a large grassy yard which looked nearly identical from every side.
G pounded Matthew on the back, harder than necessary.
"You know there is a south entrance, too."
"Oh, is that right?"
"It leads up from the military campus." G nodded sagely.
"Good to know."
They walked through the quad in silence for a minute. As they passed by a stone building with the impression of the Helm visible above the grand doors, flanked by two phoenixes, G snorted.
"I suppose that place is packed on the Holdays?"
"Not as much as you might think. It fell out of favor after the Polaris Reborn incident." G took that information in, then glanced at him.
"You been in one?" Matthew nodded.
"Just for events that friends were holding." G grimaced.
"I am sorry to hear that."
The building in question belonged to The Cult of the Magnetist, a religion centered on Magneto that had arisen after the Devastation. It was credited for keeping the Montagne stable during the early centuries, when the population was alternately ravaged by illness and food shortages. It had also kept the Lensherr's in power, lending a divine blessing to their place at the head of the Montagne.
That was, however, until another magnetist had used the Cult to stage a coup against the family. It had nearly succeeded, and Cult had been downplayed ever since.
Matthew noticed G looking at him.
"What is it?" he asked
"You don't know, do you?" Matthew gave him a look of exasperation.
"Um, yeah, unless you tell me. You know I don't just read minds." G grinned.
"Ah, you're a good one, Mattie." Then the grin disappeared. "It's about Elle." Matthew tensed.
"What?"
"She was attacked." Matthew stopped walking altogether. Again? How had he not felt anything? Had the bond faded that much? G saw his reaction and assuaged Matthew's fears.
"Not like what the cadets did. Travis told me his uncle did a truth telling for Madam P that involved Elle. He asked the Head himself, but his uncle wouldn't share the details. So, he asked around." G stopped and looked away as anger darkened his brow.
"And?!"
"Dwayne sexually assaulted Elle back stage. Most of the other students don't see it that way of course, but there was a truth telling and he is no longer at the school, so…" Matthew barely heard for the fury that rose in him. G's hand on his arm stopped him from storming off in his anger.
"Hey, for once, justice was done. I just thought you'd like to know. I know you worry about her." Matthew nodded. He was grateful, otherwise he might never have known.
"Thanks, G." They walked on. "I hate this," Matthew said. "We're not even friends anymore." G looked at him sideways as they walked. He understood.
"It is kind of strange. What exactly happened, Mattie?"
"I kissed her and told her she was the one I wanted." G's brow furrowed.
"A bit, bold, perhaps? This is Elle we are talking about. It took months of dancing in silence to get her to have a conversation."
"She…she set Bright and I up, and I was a bit worked up over that." G nodded, folding his lips in.
"So that's what happened to Bright. They have been looking a bit down. I'm sorry, Mattie."
"What, you're not going to tell me it's for the best?"
"We already had that conversation. I wasn't going to rub it in." Matthew appreciated his friend's rare moment of consideration.
"I still think about her a lot. How long does it take to get over someone?" He asked out of frustration. "And she's getting hurt, she's vulnerable…"
"I don't know what to say, Mattie. She's made her decision. You need to respect that."
Matthew bowed his head, acknowledging the truth of what G said, but not liking it in the least.
Later that night, at dinner, he confronted his father.
"I heard about Dwayne attacking Eleni. Why didn't you tell me?" Adam met his eyes and paused in his eating.
"Eleni asked me not to. And I think she was right to do so." Matthew looked at Adam trying to understand.
"Why would she do that?" Why wouldn't she want him to know? Did she want distance between them that badly? His plan to talk to her suddenly seemed doomed to fail.
"She didn't want you to worry." That made Matthew pause.
"What did she mean by that?" Adam shrugged.
"It seems straightforward to me. If you want to know more, you'd have to talk to her." The hazel-eyed man looked at his son. "Matthew, she's been clear about her feelings. Don't push things, now." Matthew made a noncommittal response to that. The only thing his father had said that made sense was that he would have to talk to Eleni. He decided he'd go ahead with his plan.
After dinner, he spent some time doing just that. Back in his room, he added to the things he needed to say to Eleni. He kept getting angry when he thought about what Dwayne had done, and not just angry at Dwayne. His feelings for Eleni aside, this not-being-friends situation was no good.
Settling down a bit, he opened the book he had picked up that afternoon. He had intended to focus on the parts that discussed psychic bonds but found himself reading all of it.
The author had been a telepath himself and of considerable power. He had controlled hundreds with minimal effort, and with the assistance of a device he had created, his telepathy reach had spanned great distances. Matthew wondered who it was and came to the conclusion that they must have worked for the military. Mutant enhancement, such as that device, was part of the military's directive, and they were secretive about their results.
Compared to the other texts Matthew had read, he found it a bit naive, ignorant of information about the ability that was now common knowledge and leading him to the conclusion that the book was far older than 100 years. It must have been reprinted over the centuries. However, it also had a depth of thought to it that Matthew found compelling. He realized as he read through it, that much of what the author wrote was based on intuition.
There was a section on psychic bonds. It turned out the author had himself had a psychic connection with another individual, though the name had been redacted. The man described the link as having a mental manifestation that he could see when he focused on it telepathically. In his case, it had been a long tunnel, ornate and beautiful. When he had touched it telepathically, he was pulled through it and instantaneously connected to the other individual, regardless of the distance between them.
The idea of a mental image peaked Matthew's interest. While he didn't know what the bond between himself and Eleni looked like, he felt instinctively that he would know it on sight. Or thought, he corrected himself. He would need greater access to Eleni's mind than the last time, however. If her desire to remove the bond was as strong as it had been, which he suspected was the case, that wouldn't matter. Decided, he closed the book and got ready for bed.
The next Tuesday, when he arrived at the dance school, he spotted Eleni warming up on her own.
"Mattie!" Matthew waved to Jenna but didn't immediately take her up on her offer to join the group of dancers sitting in the seats. He made his way over to Eleni. She saw him coming but kept stretching. Her emotions, which had felt idle a moment ago, went obscure as she clamped down on them.
"Eleni." She stopped and tensed. They had partnered a few more times in the last week, and now Matthew looked forward to it. Eleni was herself when she danced, not closed off and distant. Not like she was now.
He shook off his dismay at her reaction. Making sure no one was nearby to hear, he nonetheless spoke quietly. "I might have found something for the bond. I'd need greater access than last time, but I have more confidence that this would work."
Her eyes widened slightly, and he felt surprise peek through. She hadn't expected that. He briefly outlined the idea that the bond could have a mental image he could find, and that he would need greater access to her mind. That put her to pause for a moment.
"Would you need to rummage through my thoughts and memories?" He shook his head.
"No. You can hold things in, but the last time you focused on one memory. It created too narrow a space for me to work in. This time you could still hold things back but let your…" he searched for a word that would make sense, "…your mind would need to be at rest and open."
The resting mind was a concept found in nearly all the texts he had read, except for the one that had given him his current idea. The states of the mind were divided and subdivided throughout the literature, with facts and hypothesis about how each state could be affected by a telepath.
The resting state was when a person was thinking idly, with no specific purpose to their thoughts or actions. It was actually a fairly difficult state to hold, as the mind sought purpose as a rule, but it was a valuable state for a telepath as it created an openness that was otherwise absent.
Eleni was taking in this information and responded after a moment.
"We would need time alone again." Matthew nodded, remembering the last time they had tried to remove the bond. She breathed in deeply, thinking. "Madam P does errands every other Holday. This weekend she will be out. Let's do it then." Matthew nodded glad they wouldn't have to wait long. "Come by around 10."
Four days later, just after the start of November, he arrived at Madam P's in the morning as scheduled. The teacher had already left the house and Eleni was alone. She was stiff and formal with him, saying little as he entered.
He wasn't much better. He had not brought up Dwayne's attack at the dance school, but did intend to mention it today, and was tense in anticipation.
Sitting on the couch in Madam P's living room, as they hadn't done in over a month, Eleni started to ask about what she needed to do so that he could search for the bond. He stopped her and composed himself.
"Eleni, why did you keep Dwyane's attack from me?" Eleni's eyes opened wide in surprise and then irritation set it.
"Why? Because it had nothing to do with you."
"Nothing to do with me? Nothing except that I'm the one who brought you up here and I feel responsible."
"Well, don't. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I didn't want you to feel that way. Anyway, as I said before, you gave me the chance to come up here, but I'm the one who chose to take it."
"It was a gesture of friendship. We were friends. And as a friend, I wanted to know what happened to you, Elle!" Matthew struggled to stay calm.
"This is not helping, you know, you insisting we talk about it!" He threw his hands up in frustration at the sharp words. He didn't know how to do this, or even what exactly he was trying to do. He grasped for the words he had practiced.
"It hurts that you kept this from me. I needed to know!" They didn't sound so good when he spoke them out loud.
"You needed to know?" she said archly. He decided words were useless. "Why? Because you wanted to go bash his face in? We already talked about jealously, Matthew. There is nothing to be jealous of and I don't need you to defend my honor! Or are you going to start telling me what I can and can't choose again because you've done so much for me?" He clenched his teeth.
"Look, I'm sorry for those things I said. They were wrong. And…Tracy." He gritted his teeth, not wanting to admit this part. "You were right, there was some jealously. She's…she's the one Jenna cheated on me with, so, yeah, it brought up some unpleasant feelings and I reacted badly." He pushed that all to the side. "But I want to do better! By the Helm, Elle, I'm your friend, and I just want to help you! I want to be there for you, like I used to be!" Those words burst out of him, unintended. The next ones he held back. And I want you to want me to be there.
Her control through the bond was almost a physical thing. He felt nothing but a wall. It was almost as if she wasn't there at all.
She swallowed but didn't look at him and didn't respond.
"We should move on to the bond," she finally said.
"Now? But-" He couldn't believe she would just end it there. That was no resolution.
"Or you can go." He closed his eyes in frustration. He looked to the side and took a deep breath to calm himself. He gave in.
"OK." He was silent for a minute, trying to put his emotions aside and focus on the task at hand.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked. The wall through the bond eased, though only focus and determination hovered on the other side.
"Um, well," he reluctantly gathered his thoughts. "I'll need you to relax and let your mind wander. As if you were staring into space." She started to feel worried, and he added, "You can hold things back. I don't need your entire mind. However, I need it more relaxed than it was last time. I think it was too closed off then." Eleni took a deep breath.
"Let me try before you start looking for the bond."
She closed her eyes, and a moment later indicated she was ready. He put his hand to her temple and entered her mind.
He found himself floating in a shadowed world with images occasionally floating by him. Images of dancers, old conversations, her homework. G appeared, his eyebrows raised in an expression of skepticism. Matthew almost laughed at that, then recalled where he was.
Yes, this was good. He sensed there were areas he would not be able to approach, and he hoped what he could access would be enough. He mentally retreated and opened his eyes.
"That's good. Do you think you can sustain that for a while?" She shrugged.
"I have to, don't I?" If you want to get rid of the bond, he thought, bitterly, but outwardly just nodded.
"Let's go upstairs," Eleni said. "The last time took longer than I expected and I don't want Madam P to walk in to find us here in the middle of it. She should be back around 4."
Matthew followed her up the floating staircase with curiosity. He had never been upstairs at Madam P's before. The staircase opened to a landing which spread to the right and left. Corridors, bordered by a railing that looked down on the staircase, spread back down the length of the staircase on both sides.
Eleni curved around to the left side, then entered the first door to the right. When Matthew followed her, he found himself in a medium sized bedroom, with windows across from him and to the left, and doors on the wall to the right.
Eleni grabbed a blanket from the bed which she then spread out on the floor for them. Matthew sat obligingly. She sat behind and to the right of him, with her back facing him, and they both lay down with their heads close and their legs pointed in opposite directions, as they had before. He turned his head to her, and after a moment of preparation, she to him. Their foreheads touched, and he was in her mind again.
Matthew floated through her mind, careful not to apply mental pressure of any sort. Thoughts and memories drifted past, all mundane. On the edges, he again sensed the walls where she was closing off things that were private, things that she didn't want him to see accidently. Recalling her control from the past, he knew that was unlikely to happen. He set his mind to finding the bond.
At first, there was little that would indicate a bond of any sort, and for a long while he sifted through various mundane scenes, mostly relating to the Montagne. Then, in a memory associated with dancing at the school, he saw several threads, glowing with luminescence in his mind's eye.
Moving closer, he saw that the memory was of himself and Eleni dancing together. He watched for a moment, which was disconcerting as he met his own eyes and had the sensation of being lifted. He was reassured to find the memory a pleasant one for Eleni, a fact he held onto. He focused on the threads.
Matthew was fairly certain that this was the bond, though other than a set of threads it took no form that he could identify. They were only part of a whole and they were still incomplete; this he knew intuitively. As it was all he had to go on for now, he decided, and began to follow them to discern their root in Eleni's mind.
More memories and thoughts passed by, and the threads transected several of them. He featured in every one which made sense. He started to notice that the number of threads, which had maybe been around 10 to start, was diminishing. Soon there was only one thread. This development concerned him, although, he thought sadly, it would probably make removing the bond easier.
He was distracted by this thought as he went and didn't see the memory that he was approaching. Not until he heard the voice, and realized that he had left himself open, too open.
Don't leave me! The thread went right through the memory. He didn't understand how he had missed it the last time he was in Eleni's mind, until he saw that the memory was not just of Eleni's mother but that a version of his own trauma was playing in parallel beside it. It was Eleni's memory of seeing his memory. He suddenly had double vision, as his own nightmare sought to take control. The waking world disappeared.
Matthew!
Where was that voice coming from? Matthew, hidden under a rock above a ravine where his friends were suffering, couldn't move but still registered the voice. Not able to place it, he went back to his terror, to watching his mother edge forward. Was that something to the right? He had to call her back! She turned, her head slapped forward, blood started to flow down…
Matthew! Look!
Terror now mixed with terrible guilt, pain and loss. There was a gaping hole in his mind where his mother's presence had resided. He barely noticed the people in uniforms who were climbing onto the ledge, then grabbing him. STOP!
Matthew! Here, here, look at me!
There was a woman in front of him. He knew she didn't belong there, but she was forcing him to look at her. How could she do that? It didn't matter, he had to make this all STOP! The men around him flinched. His mother was gone. Where were Jalisa and Tara? Where was Jimmy?! He needed them!
Matthew! Look at his arm! As much as it felt wrong to look, he was unable to pull his eyes away from the woman. She was trying to grab the arm of the man she was next to, but her hand passed through it. It passed through the white armband the man wore. Again and again.
Matthew! SEE IT! He focused on the armband. Everything finally stopped.
Coming out of Eleni's mind, or pushing her out of his he realized, Matthew brought his hands up to his head in shock. An image, clear now where it had always been fuzzy, was forefront in his mind.
The symbol on the armbands.
The insignia of the Montagne burned into his mind's eye.
They had killed his mother. They had taken him, Jalisa, G and Tara. There had been no bandits.
He ruthlessly shoved all thoughts away, unable to deal with the implications, and pushed himself up, grasping for some semblance of control.
"Matthew, are you ok?" His head snapped up to look at Eleni who was sitting up in front of him. They had failed to remove the bond again, but in light of what had just happened that barely registered with him. She was watching him intently, and his unmoored emotions coalesced on her.
"What did you do?" he demanded. She started, the concern on her face turning determined.
"Did you see the armband?" she asked, insistent.
"They were from the Montagne," he said weakly, his eyes going distant. No, don't think about that! He focused on her again. "Why did you do that? What did you do?"
"You needed to know. I helped you." Now there was a stubborn, almost indignant, set to her face, and her emotions were tightly pulled in.
"You entered my mind. Through the bond." Her eyes widened in shock, and then hardened again. He vaguely registered a moment of surprise from her.
"I just focused on the men, and made you look at them." Her eyes challenged him, and he understood. She hadn't realized what she was doing, she had just gone ahead and done it. The former fact failed to assuage his growing anger the latter exacerbated it.
"Why did you think you had the right to do that?"
Anger entered the set of her own face and the bond, the emotion breaking through her control. She stood up.
"You needed to know that, so I took the opportunity to get you to see the truth! You were keeping it from yourself, and you just got angry when I tried to tell you! You may not be in the sort of danger I was in at the Citadel, but the Montagne is not your ally! They think they own you! It's wrong. You needed to know that they took you." She turned away and walked over to her desk. Her voice shook. "You do now, so you can make better decisions for yourself. We're done here anyway. You should go. I won't ask you about the bond anymore."
No way. His anger wouldn't let him let her let this go. He stood.
"You went into my mind and changed my memory and that doesn't bother you at all?" She refused to turn around and he spoke at her back.
"I didn't change it, I just made you see what you were stopping yourself from seeing! And why are you getting angry at me? You should be getting angry at the Montagne!"
"Did you think at all about what you were doing? It could have been dangerous! I could have obliterated your mind in my panic!" She looked back over her shoulder and a flicker of her eyes told him she hadn't realized that.
"Maybe it was dangerous, but nothing happened and you needed to know that information! Why aren't you even reacting to the fact that they killed your mother? It was no random attack! The person who killed her is living somewhere in this pretty cave!"
That thought stopped him. The person who had shot his mother lived somewhere in the Montagne. Probably in the UpMountain. Several of his neighbors worked in the military. Their faces flashed in front of his eyes.
He dropped to his knees holding his head in his hands, not wanting to know this truth, wanting to forget that his mother had been shot in the head in front of him by someone he might know. His anger evaporated and his breathing became strained. Tears dripped down his cheeks from his tightly closed eyes.
He didn't know that Eleni was beside him until he felt her hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry it's causing you so much pain. I see that what I did was intrusive, but I still believe you should have known." Matthew wasn't sure and turned his head away trying to bring himself to some kind of calm, wishing he had Eleni's self-control.
"I'm so sorry, Matthew," she whispered again. She laid her arm across his back and leaned her head on the back of his right shoulder. He gave up on trying to avoid her and turned into her letting his head fall to her shoulder.
The pain of his mother's death assailed him. The thought that someone within the Montagne was responsible made him sick. The distance between himself and the woman next to him made him deeply sad. He hit bottom. Two of those things he was powerless to change.
"Why are we impossible?" he whispered, broken. He had nothing left and thought maybe in this answer he could find something to bring him back. Eleni gave him silence.
Knowing it was the last time he would be this close to her, he turned his face towards her neck, and buried it in the join at her shoulder. His tears smeared and wet her skin.
She started to pull back, but he didn't move. He wouldn't until he had to. He knew she was saying good-bye.
Her lips brushed against his.
It was so light he barely knew it had happened. Then she was withdrawing again, for good this time. He raised his hand to cup the side of her face and stop her as he lifted his head from her shoulder. His thumb felt wetness on her cheek as he pulled them back together.
EBONY
Ebony Darkholm saw her prey approach the table and hid a bitter grin of satisfaction. The distraction nearly made her miss Travis' silly objection in the conversation they were having.
"Ebony, I don't understand why you insist on playing devil's advocate and making the magnetist a person. It makes more sense as a metaphor for the Montagne." Ebony clenched her teeth in annoyance.
"It does not make more sense! In one of the prophecies, the Magnetist influences another actor, and 'rends the diamond city.' The Diamond City is well established as the Atrium. If the Magnetist is the Montagne, what does that mean? The Montagne is going to rend itself? And why? Not to mention it borders on breaking one of the rules of prophecy: 'Actors can have more than one reference across prophecies, but within a single prophecy an actor is described by only one reference throughout.' And as I just said, 'Diamond City' and 'Magnetist' both show up in that prophecy. And another one, for that matter." Travis looked at her like she was crazy.
"This is why I don't delve into prophetical theory. The only thing it is good for is a headache when you want to get out of class."
"'His heir in blood and power'?" she countered, quoting. "That's pretty clear. It's going to happen."
"Yes," Travis conceded, "but not this generation. Sorry to let you down. You'll just have to wait like everyone else. Unless, perhaps," his tone became pointed, "you accept the Magnetist as a metaphor."
Ebony sighed out and muttered her reply as the reason she was putting up with this debate came close.
"We're idiots if we ignore a potential disruption, and it could very well be a constructive disruption, you just need to make sure you are on the right side."
Travis rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Ebb, you are forgetting that magnetism has disappeared completely from the collective genetic makeup of the population." He grinned at Eleni as she sat, and she briefly returned the gesture, though Ebony saw a question in her eyes. Rumor was the woman must have been living under a rock, she was so behind in her studies. She no doubt didn't understand what Travis had been talking about. Ebony didn't provide an explanation.
"It could always reappear. Randomness is at the heart of mutation."
"It was, but not anymore. We get the same abilities over and over again now." Travis, tired of the topic, turned to Eleni.
"How was the morning, Elle?"
Ebony didn't bother to wait for the woman's answer.
"So, you're holding hands with him now. And kissing him," she said it as if she was commenting on a new outfit, and one that didn't pass muster. Eleni shrugged.
"The morning was fine, Travis. And," Eleni focused on removing her lunch from her bag as she spoke, "that's usually what you do with your boyfriend as I understand." She glanced up at Ebony and gave a half smile with no warmth. "Right?"
"What happened to 'impossible'?" Ebony countered flatly. Eleni gave a slow shrug and said nothing.
In the past Ebony had suffered this woman out of her own curiosity, but this time some of Ebony's other friends had sent her over. The sight of Matthew Summers being cozy with this woman was simply too much to bear, and the circles were becoming increasingly aggravated as the days passed.
"You didn't do it before," Ebony pointed out. What was this woman's aim? Ebony's friends had labeled her an ice-queen, with no ambition beyond getting her hands-on Matthew's wealth. But Ebony's gut didn't agree.
"He wasn't my boyfriend before." Eleni focused on her food. Ebony stared for a minute, not satisfied with that answer.
"Or you're quite the actress." Eleni was ready for that.
"Takes one to know one," she murmured. Travis, sitting between them, looked back and forth as if he were watching a close tennis match.
Irked, Ebony dropped her questioning and began eating. She considered whether she should be direct or not. Her friends wanted her to scare the woman off, but Ebony didn't particularly care if Matthew Summers was intent upon continuing the ruination of his family name that his father had started. Something about the woman in front of her still bothered her, however, and she welcomed the opportunity to get under her opponent's skin.
"Hey, Ebb, what does Craig think of our chances against Frost?" Ebony complied with Travis' questions about the upcoming football game but didn't forget her mission.
When the subject died down, she decided to be direct.
"Why? Why go through all this abuse? Why go through it when you say you weren't even together before? Are you some kind of masochist?"
"Interesting thought." Ebony held Eleni in her eyes after her noncommittal comment, though the woman bent back to her food ignoring the glare.
"You two have no future together," Ebony stated bluntly. "It's going to end badly." This time Eleni stayed silent, but her eyes flickered up for a moment. The resigned acceptance Ebony saw there only confused the dark woman further.
CITADEL 3020.11.10
DAVE
Dave idly swirled his drink as he listened to the conversation blending around him.
"Bored?" Isabella Kondo was beside him, leaning in closer than he liked.
"No," he lied. "Just taking in the atmosphere." It was another law college mixer, he'd been to several already, and while he found the distraction pleasant at times, tonight his mind refused to settle on lighthearted conversation and drinks.
"We could go somewhere else," Isabella suggested, moving closer, though Dave wasn't sure how that was possible.
"Ah, no, I'm meeting a friend here later." Damn. Now he had to get himself out of the situation. He should have been paying more attention. He smiled at his companion, then shifted back into the group conversation.
Several minutes later, Isabella had become engaged with another classmate, and Dave quietly stepped away to get some fresh air out on the courtyard. The cold didn't phase him, and he stared into nothing for a long moment.
"Not too impressed with Isabella, huh?" a familiar voice prodded him. He turned to Sahira, glad that his excuse that he was waiting for a friend had unexpectedly turned out to be true.
"I'm not impressed with…" He made a general gesture towards the party. Sahira looked at him speculatively as she came over to join him next to the railing that edged a small garden, mostly brown in preparation for the winter months.
He was glad when she didn't speak. They couldn't speak of their plans here – it was too risky. And he was not in the mood for small talk.
Then she did speak.
"Um…before I ask this, I am going to put myself on the line and say that I really don't care what your answer is. It won't change how I think about you, and I won't tell anyone." Dave glanced over to find her looking at him sideways, clearly tense. What could she ask that would make her so uncomfortable? They were working on a plan for mutant amnesty together. "But…do you…not prefer…the company of women?"
Dave was silent for a moment first as he discerned the meaning of her question, and then out of shock.
"Ah…no! No. I like…women. I liked you." He smirked and laughed to emphasize the joke, and Sahira gave a small smile in return, though doubt lingered in her eyes. He looked at her sideways. "But, people like that don't bother you?" The woman remained tense.
"No. You?"
"No." Sahira relaxed. "Why…why did you think that? Just because I maneuvered away from Isabella there?" Now it was Sahira who smirked.
"Well, there was the incident with Heather Desjardins." Dave winced slowly, making Sahira chuckle. "And did you and Corella ever do anything other than walk next to each other?" Dave shrugged at that.
"Her family is highly conservative. We were making a concerted effort to understand each other's philosophies." Sahira actually snorted.
"Everyone at the Academy was so angry with Heather for getting you, then messing it up, then so appalled when you started dating Corella."
Another sideways look, bereft of humor this time, and Dave had the feeling she hadn't believed his professions that that relationship had been an exercise in open-mindedness on his part. He didn't reply, and the silence became heavy.
"It seems like there must be some kind of reason, Dave. Your behavior is not typical, and you have just denied the first semi-logical conclusion. You could have had your choice of girls from the Academy." Dave thought fast and tried to stick to the truth as much as he could.
"There was someone. I still care about her," he said, looking down, "but we can't be together." When Sahira spoke, he looked up to find her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Her mind was as quick as ever.
"I suppose your father allowed you to meet…others…through you sister and her mother." Dave clenched his jaw at how Sahira, as shockingly openminded as she was, still held a tone of disgust as she addressed this topic. Dave gave a noncommittal grunt.
"I don't really want to talk about it." Sahira backed off. In a way.
"So, those relationships were for show. Or sussing out potential wives – you were planning to pull another coup like your father, no doubt." Now Dave got angry. He stepped close to Sahira.
"I did not even THINK of doing such a thing!" he hissed. Sahira didn't flinch or back down at his outburst, but she surveyed him and he felt she found him wanting. She turned back to the railing, unconcerned.
"It's too bad we didn't get together. It would have worked out perfectly, and you would have avoided the scenes you created with Heather and Corella." Dave narrowed his eyes at her.
"What about Natal?" Sahira just shrugged.
"I'll see you in there." Dave watched her go, confused. He wondered at the risk Sahira had just taken bringing up homosexuality in a conversation but didn't dwell long on those thoughts.
Instead, he gave a bitter laugh at the irony of her last statement. Sahira was right; if only his original plan had worked, and they had gotten together, it seemed that considerable pain would have been avoided. Recalling his encounter with Heather only weeks earlier, he knew the pain to be lasting as well.
Dave smiled down at the girl by his side, hoping it was convincing. Her return smile, made through her long lashes, told him it was. She squeezed his hand.
He had been dating Heather for nearly a month now. Once Eleni had left him, he had asked Sahira out, only to discover that she had started dating another classmate of his. Temporarily at a loss, he had held on to his anger towards Eleni's stubbornness and realized that Heather was also another viable option: he knew she had been interested in him in the past, and she was currently not dating anyone. She and her previous boyfriend had parted a month prior, though it was unclear as to who had left who. Anyway, Heather had noticed him hanging around, and started being close again.
They were dating within three weeks of him breaking up with Eleni.
Things seemed to be going as Dave had expected. His father had won his re-election bid at the start of November, and with the campaign over Dave had a bit more time to spend with his new girlfriend. Nonetheless, as she had her field hockey, and he was student council president, they were busy, and rarely had time alone. That suited Dave. They walked together, hung out with their friends after practice, and kissed a bit, but it was all very limited.
"Dinner tonight," she reminded him as she got up to go to practice. He wished she hadn't. It would be the second time he had gone to her house for dinner. The last time, they had somehow ended up alone in the games room. He had found the situation distinctly uncomfortable, though nothing much had happened.
Sure enough, later that evening, he found them once again alone in her games room. He tried to keep them talking about sports, an interest they shared through his lacrosse and Heather's field hockey and basketball. His efforts met failure as she spoke across his impression of their school's soccer team.
"My brothers have gone to do their homework upstairs. They'll be a while." She had three older brothers, two of whom still attended Dave's school. "My mom and dad rarely come down here, and we'll hear them on the stairs…" Dave said nothing, not sure what she was suggesting.
"We have hardly had any time alone," Heather continued, as she moved closer to him. "Dave, it's ok to kiss me you know? Like, really kiss me. I'm not going to get pregnant or anything."
Unable to think of a believable excuse he could use to leave, he obediently put his arms around her and kissed her briefly. That wasn't what she had meant.
"You need some lessons," she declared, and then her lips were on his, her tongue in his mouth a moment later. He pulled back.
"Hey, Heather, I don't know about that."
"It's what everyone does. It will feel good, trust me!" Dave was horrified and felt his plan of staying true to Eleni start to fall apart. He had long ago dismissed the stories his friends shared as bragging, but now he started to suspect that some of those stories had been true.
"Well, maybe they do, but I don't." Heather looked at him, speculative, then with an edge of disgust she said,
"Do you not like girls?" Dave froze.
"What?"
"Well, before, I was giving you all the signs, and you went and played with the boys. Some of my friends said you might be…different." She looked uncomfortable as she said this.
Dave's stomach turned to ice. He couldn't allow people to think he was attracted to men. He forced himself to talk.
"No! I like girls," he swallowed. "I like you."
"Then show me." Seeing no other option, he obliged.
Later, he determinedly ignored how his stomach felt. There was a strange tenseness throughout his whole body, like after being taken by surprise. They hadn't done anything he hadn't already done with Eleni, and hadn't gone as far as that relationship had, but he hadn't wanted it, and that was leaving a lasting impression.
As the weeks passed, he tried to maneuver to limit the time he and Heather had alone. The family dinners, which became a regular occurrence, proved to be the most difficult to control; he was slightly shocked that the adults didn't try harder to keep an eye on their children's activities.
He found a solution at his parent's houses fairly quickly; he claimed his mother was strict, due to his father's infidelity. Dinners with his parents had already been limited to Angela Kelly's residence, and wanting to make a good impression, Heather backed off then.
When he couldn't avoid a dinner at Heather's house, however, he knew he would have to deal with her apparently amorous nature. He was able to keep things at the same level for a little while, but then she started doing more. The last straw was when she put her hand down his pants without his permission.
They had been together for only two months, but that moment ended the relationship.
"Heather, this isn't working! We're done."
Heather looked alarmed and then angry.
"What? What's wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me! I told you I don't want to do that stuff! What's wrong with you that you don't understand that?" Heather's face went pale, and her anger became brittle.
"Don't you dare leave me, Dave Kelly."
"You can't order me to stay with you! Maybe if you had listened to me, I wouldn't be leaving!" He ignored what she said next, turned away and stormed out.
That was a mistake.
The next day at school, his classmates were giving him looks, some sizing him up, some not so much.
"A bit too eager, huh Kelly?" one called from the crowd as he walked by. Then Jamal "J.J." Warner, Heather's former boyfriend, grabbed him roughly by the arm.
"What's wrong with you? If you were looking for someone easy, you should have come and talked to me about Heather first. I would have told you that getting Heather to do anything is like waiting for ice to melt on a winter's day. It took me forever to get her into my room, and then my mother caught us! I broke up with her because it wasn't worth the trouble. And I would have told you all that if you had asked! But forcing her to do things she didn't want to do? That's wrong, man!" He pushed Dave back roughly, and with a final glare, left his classmate with his mouth hanging open.
By the end of the day, Dave understood that Heather had been busy the previous night, messaging her friends and telling them that she had made him leave because he had been pressuring her sexually. The news had quickly spread to the boys.
Sure enough, after school let out, the girls were nearly uniform in their sudden disgust of him. Most avoided him. However, apart from a few male students who disapproved of his alleged behavior, it didn't change much for him at his school, and he decided to ignore it until the whole episode blew over.
Then, the story got around to the adults. A week later his mother stormed in late one evening while he and his father were watching TV. She barely wasted breath on greetings.
"Are these rumors true, Dave? That you pressured Heather into sexual acts she didn't wish to perform?" Dave's father looked from his wife to his son, alarm dawning on his face, then turned the TV off.
"No!" Dave responded immediately, standing up, and the questioning began. Dave tried to hold out for a few moments, but eventually he broke down and told them everything.
"She wanted to do things that I wasn't ready to do, and she thought…she said I liked boys! So, I did the stuff she wanted, but then she kept pushing for more, and she pushed too far! So, I broke it off, and then she spread these lies!" He was shocked to find tears on his face. His mother's face went from stern to shock to sympathy, and then she was holding him.
"I believe you," she said, and Dave felt immediate relief.
"As do I, Dave," came his father's voice, somewhat strangled. "What Heather has done is despicable. I will—"
"I'll handle it," Angela cut her husband off, then met him firm gaze for firm gaze. "Her mother is talking the incident up at the club. But she seems to have forgotten some key facts. Now that I have the full story, I know exactly what to do."
She turned back to Dave, determined, and grasped his face in her hands. "No one attacks my son." Then, she ruffled his hair as if he were five again, and, repeating that she would take care of it, she left. Dave looked at his father. The man looked unhappy and spoke with reluctance.
"It is probably better if your mother deals with this incident." His expression turned sympathetic. "How are you doing?" They settled back on the couch.
Dave didn't find out exactly what his mother did until weeks later, but things at school changed within days. The looks of approbation and disgust went away for the most part. So did the looks of approval, and those were replaced by teasing. Somehow, he became the 'bashful baron.' He didn't care, so long as people no longer thought he would force himself on someone.
The next time he was at the townhouse for dinner, he asked his mother what she had done, she simply said she had stated the facts and let the audience decide. The conversation fell into a lull after his question, and when Dave looked up he found his mother's eyes on him.
"She would have destroyed you," Angela said. Dave found the gaze intense and felt as if he had done something wrong. "I defended you." He nodded.
"I know. Thank you." It had made his life easier. Her gaze remained.
"Dave, I may have destroyed her. You need to know that. How she threatened you was wrong. And the lies she spread. But the price she may pay in return…" His mother took a deep breath, and looked away, shaking her head. "She should never have suggested you were an abomination. She always struck me as a smart girl. I suppose now we'll see if she really is."
Dave stared in confusion, but the woman dropped the topic.
At school, Dave noticed that Heather, who had previously been one of the most popular girls, now walked alone.
They entered the holiday season, with parties every Rest Day Eve, and Dave struggled to keep up a happy and confident front. He thought things would start to get better. He thought of Eleni and worked up his courage to return to the 22nd floor.
She was dancing in the conference room the day he went back. Standing in the doorway, he watched her, not wanting to interrupt her, and enjoying the calm he felt at seeing her dance again.
He reflected on her and what she was to him. She knew things about him that no one else ever could, and he never had to hold back with her. She was clear about what she wanted, and challenged him, but he had never felt that she put pressure on him beyond that or tried to manipulate him. She left him to make his own decisions, as stupid as they might be, but still accepted him. He wanted that back.
A deep certainty started to settle in him that she was the only one for him. He just had to find a way they could be together.
Then she caught sight of him as she was coming out of a turn in the choreography. Her face snapped closed, and without hesitation, without a word, she turned and walked away. His spirits, barely risen, plummeted. He didn't even try to follow as she disappeared into the lounge and locked the door.
He did stay at the office until she left with her mother, but she ignored him the entire time. He went home feeling wretched and depressed, a state that refused to lift as the days went by. The holiday cheer echoed hollowly in his ears.
That was how Corella Crawford, daughter of an influential Humanist pastor, found him just after the Christmas holidays. He was surprised when she sat down beside him in the courtyard at school, and after a bare greeting, decided to ignore her. It was a cold day, and Dave had gone outside purposely so he could be alone. Around them, workers were taking down the decorations to store for next year.
Corella didn't speak right away, but she didn't go away either as he had been hoping.
"Heather DesJardins treated you very badly," she finally began.
He then found out how his mother had "handled" things. A few weeks back, there had been a rather public confrontation between Heather's mother and his own at the club they both frequented. Heather's mother had come out flying on her anger over Dave's supposed infraction. Angela Kelly had shot the woman down with a powerful weapon: the undeniable truth.
She had pointed out that Heather had been in two relationships before Dave, while he had been in none. Further, the mother of one of those boys, another club member, had apparently once complained about finding Heather and her son in his bedroom. That mother had been dismayed at their precociousness.
Dave's mother had then presented the story as he had told it, minus Heather's suggestion that he liked boys instead of girls but including key aspects of his emotional reaction. She had topped her pile of facts off with a nasty quip that, if Heather was so interested in acting like someone's bitch, why didn't they just get her spayed and be done with it. The way Corella related the last part, there could be no doubt that she agreed with Dave's mother's assessment.
Dave was astounded and somewhat dismayed to learn exactly what his mother had done. He recalled Angela's warning, as he thanked Corella for sharing the story and settled back into staring disconsolately at the courtyard.
Instead of leaving as he had expected, Corella made him an offer.
"I admire that in you, Dave. You respect who you are with and expect the same. And you have a sense of propriety." Her next sentence nearly made him choke. "I think we would be good together."
She went on, making her case. Yes, at first, they would be an odd couple, Dave wasn't known to be particularly religious, but it would be an opportunity to learn about each other's philosophies. It was already established that they had similar wishes when it came to relationships, so they could be more comfortable with each other from the start.
There was more, but Dave started making connections of his own. Corella would actually stick to a chaste relationship; she wouldn't be all over him like Heather had. And he could take control of his image again. While he appreciated what his mother had done for him, it did chafe at his independence.
What decided it, however, was seeing Eleni come out of the girl's academy. Though he couldn't see it under her long coat, he knew she didn't wear his bracelet at her wrist. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to take off the earring she had given him, but as it would have looked odd, he didn't. He did turn to Corella and accept her proposition. That was how he began dating a Humanist.
Yes, there was much pain that would have been avoided had he dated Sahira instead. He knew it was pointless to dwell on past events that couldn't be changed, but he spent the rest of the evening imagining what life might have been like.