Chapter 13 – Cat Got Ya Tongue

Tyana stared at him like the cat had her tongue. If she was truthful with herself then she could admit that since she had forced him off her mind earlier before she and Shadow had paid Clem a little visit she hadn't thought of him. But now he was standing just a few paces away, staring at her as if he was as shocked to see her as she was him. Tyana resisted every part of her body that screamed at her to run and embrace him, knowing that he still didn't know her and that would ruin all chances of getting his memories of her back. She took the calm approach to it all a smiled; "Hi" It was a simply greeting, universal to some extent.

The youth continued to stare at her as if as he couldn't believe she was standing before him and then took a few careful steps forward. "Um, hey" he replied uncertainly, staring at her face hard, trying to place it. He took in her apparel and the black wig in her hands and realized she had been the girl he had watched in the lobby earlier. His head began to pump with confusion. But he willed it to stop because first and foremost she was the girl from his dreams. The one he was supposed to know and yet didn't. Jeff inhaled deeply, stopping his eyes from trailing over her for any longer period a time and forced his eyes to meet hers. Violet stared back at him, making him melt. How on earth did he know her? By the way she was standing there, her face expecting and hopeful, it was obvious she knew him. There was no harm in asking. He sighed again before opening his mouth, "Ok, um, this is gonna sound like some corny come on or something, which it's not, but, do I know you?"

Tyana smiled a little when his brow creased at the end of his sentence. His eyes continued to roam over her face, still trying to place it, so she nodded. "Yeah, we met once…" she didn't want to scare, overwhelm or confuse him. she decided to let him think it was only by chance that he remembered her face in particular, "in a club I think." she smiled warmly. "And, um, well, I spent some time in Cameron too last year actually, maybe you saw me around"

Jeff nodded, relieved that he wasn't losing his mind. So they had met it seemed. And his sub-conscience remembered her. So why was it he couldn't actually recall meeting her? God knew, a woman like that, he would remember. His eyes narrowed a little momentarily when he suddenly felt as if there was more to it than some club or bumping into one another round town. But what? He smiled to cover up his tiny nagging of suspicion, "that's good to hear, for a second I thought I had lost it; you just seem familiar you see"

Tyana felt herself going weak at the knees. He remembered her! Well, no, not entirely. But something inside of him recalled her face; that had to be a plus, right? Maybe she could get him back after all. She felt herself going dizzy just thinking about it. She had to force herself to pay attention to what he was saying and then giggled a bit, "No, you haven't lost it, you're familiar to me too. Like I said, Cameron no doubt"

"Yeah" Tyana watched him look her over again and then became very aware that what she was wearing wasn't exactly her usual ensemble. Now she felt like an utter whore. She shifted from stiletto to stiletto nervously, not knowing whether the conversation would branch out or had ended.

Jeff laughed at her little hopping from foot to foot thing she was doing, "D'ya need to pee or something?"

"What?" she realized what she was doing, "Oh" Tyana giggled, "no, sorry, I, just, um, realized what I'm wearing…don't get the wrong idea, I don't usually dress like this. I was, um, playing a joke on a friend of a friend, they have this feud of practical jokes going on, it's, uh, a long story" she laughed nervously at her improvisation, wishing she had come up with something more believable than that. But Jeff only laughed and seemingly took the bait.

"Ok. Well I should probably, uh, get going…" he began, not knowing what else to say to her. He trailed off when he realized she hadn't told him her name,

"I'm sorry, Tyana, Tyana Maleé" she stuck out a hand and he accepted it gracefully, surprised at how firm and yet soft her shake was. She smiled brilliantly. He nearly fell over at how gorgeous she was. "Well, have a good night then"

"You too" He stood there for a minute just staring at her, still stunned that he had some how managed to forget such a woman, even more stunned over how she was even prettier in real life than in his dreams. He hadn't known such a level of beauty existed. He snapped out of it when her eyes peeled away from his and stared down at her hand which was still locked in his. He let go, embarrassed, mumbling an apology. She merely giggled and said it was fine. They bid farewell again and then Tyana ducked inside her room and Jeff wandered down the hall to his. He gazed back down the corridor at her door for a moment before he, too, stepped inside.

That night Tyana felt it hard to sleep knowing Jeff was in the hotel, knowing he was so close and yet so far. Unreachable. She tossed and turned in bed, kicking the covers off her hot form, then pulling them back up over her and snuggling deep into them. Into their safety. He was on this floor; that much she knew. He must have been, otherwise why would he have gotten off on this floor? Maybe Matt or Amy are staying on this floor, maybe he's come to see them. Or maybe he's found someone else and he's staying with her tonight. Tyana immediately kicked that thought straight out of head because of the pain it caused. Finally when the digital clock on the nightstand lit up with the numbers 3:20 she clambered out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to cool off.

Tyana splashed her face with clean, cold water straight from the faucet then patted herself dry and wandered back out into the bedroom. The window, through which the moon was shining on her pink haired companion, was wide open and as she decided to take a walk she closed it to prevent the draft that swept through the room from chilling the woman in the bed near hers. Tyana pulled off her bed clothes and threw on a pair of baggy black pants and a white tank top. Her black bra straps hardly went with it but she didn't really care. It was far too early in the morning for anyone worth seeing to notice her so her appearance wasn't really a concern; not that it usually was. On the way out of her room, picking up a knife that was on the dresser below the mirror, she noted that her hair had grown since it had become short after her first jump. Now was the first time she realized it was creeping past her chin and down her neck. In true spur of the moment style she decided she would no longer cut it and would instead allow it to grow long. Tyana slid on her boots and then carefully slipped the knife inside, tired but not stupid enough to leave the security of her room without some sort of weapon as there were people out to kill her. She left silently.

Tyana took the stairs down to the lobby, seeing no point in taking the lift as she wasn't tired and by all means had no time of which to be somewhere. When she got to the lobby she slipped out into the pool area and let the door close silently behind her, ignoring the curious looks of the two people on staff at the reception desk. Tyana inhaled the fresh and cool night air deeply, savoring the feeling of it swirling in her lungs then out into her veins, cooling her rapidly.

"Cool black" she observed of the sky happily before she wandered over to the pool and sat on its edge. She pulled off her boots and sat them next to her, making sure her knife was only a flick of the hand away. Satisfied that it was as such, Tyana dipped her feet into the cold depths of the swimming pool's water and watched contently as the ripples she formed floated away from her, each kissed tenderly by the moon's light. She intended to stay put until all thoughts of Jeff's closeness and yet distance were far from her mind. But at the rate at which his face was pumping through her, she accepted that she would be there a long, long while yet. It didn't matter; at least she had the moon to keep her company.

***********************************************

*A/N* I love the next chapter *cheers* lol, I'm not sure why, I just do. Anyway, Thank you Shadow for reviewing, you sweetheart, you. But no girl, you and Ty kick ass, lol. *sings 1000 miles*