Chapter Four: Recurring Events and New Prospects

Disclaimer: Hmm…nothing to say here. I don't own anything, sadly, but perhaps, just perhaps, sometime in the near future, people will be writing FanFictions about MY books and movies! Or not…but one can hope! ^_^

Have you ever had one of those days when you wish everyone would just go away? When you wish that they would all just leave you alone and crawl back to their little holes and stay there forever and ever? That they would somehow, magically, stop everything and slither under a rock and bury themselves alive or something?

Well, as I sat on the living room floor surrounded by wedding catalogues and chattering women, I was seriously considering developing some sort of supernatural power to make them all go *poof* and disappear. Then I realized that would never happen, and unless a genie or witch turned up and granted me three wishes, I was out of luck and stuck suffering through hours of mindless ranting of the people I used to call family and friends.

Not anymore.

Until you have spent four hours oogling wedding dresses and flowers, you have no idea what it's like to despise your mother and the color white so much that you wish you had never been born…and the torture, oh don't even get me started on the distress and misery that one afternoon put me through…

I swear this is what hell is like.

"Ooh, look at this one, Kel!" Freddie squealed and pointed at yet another dress in yet another magazine. "Isn't it just so cute?"

I just nodded and muttered the same thing I'd been muttering since the beginning of this little escapade: "Uh huh. Yeah. It's real nice."

I'm going to kill Cleon when he gets back.

"Oh, and look here. It says you can get bridesmaids dresses in the same sort of pattern, but in pink! That would be so cute! Oh and wouldn't it be cute if we did our hair the same way and I had a flower from your bouquet in my hair? And then we could…"

Blah, blah, blah…

"This is gonna be the cutest wedding ever!!!"

I swear to God, if she says the word 'cute' one more time, I'm gonna tie her tongue around her neck and shove that magazine up her…

"Hey! I'm back!" The cheery voice I had grown to hate was like a call from heaven.

The front door slammed open and Cleon stumbled into the house, his arms laden with bags and bags of what I assumed to be food. But I really could have cared less if it had been a bag full of explosives at the moment. I jumped up from my spot on the carpet and ran over to him.

"Cleon! You're here! I've missed you! Great, now that you're back, we can talk about that…that thing I mentioned earlier." I grabbed his arm and began pulling him toward the kitchen.

"Thing? What thing?" He was almost falling over from the bags he still held, so I took pity on him and grabbed one.

I stared at him. "You know, that thing." I nodded my head in the direction of where my mother, Mrs. Kennan, and Freddie still sat giggling over catalogues.

Cleon's eyes grew wide with understanding. "Oh, right. That thing. Um…kay, why don't you help me put away these groceries, and then we can…talk…" He said with barely suppressed laughter in his voice.

You are so dead, I said with my eyes and let him follow me into the kitchen.

I said nothing to him as we put all the stuff away, mainly because we both knew that our families had their ears pressed to the kitchen door, but really, there was nothing to say at the time anyway. When everything was put away, I gestured to the back door, and we walked outside.

He walked over to the wooden swing seat thing in the corner of the porch and sat down.

I closed the door behind me, and waited a couple of seconds before throwing myself on the deck swing beside Cleon.

"You have no idea what I've been through! How could you leave me alone with them for the whole day? How? You knew what it was going to be like, and that's why you left! You left me at the hands of…of…THEM, and you don't even care!" I sobbed the last two words and curled into the farthest corner of the swing away from Cleon.

He said nothing. I glanced over at him and I swear my ears had steam boiling out of them when I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

"Are you laughing? You're laughing, aren't you? You think this is funny. How can you possibly find this funny? This is so not funny!"

He let out a burst of laughter. "Kel, this is hardly something to get so worked up about. You're just having wedding anxiety."

"Wedding anxiety? WEDDING anxiety? Try lying anxiety, or…or…God, I can't even think of anything else to say to you! I'm so mad." I crossed my arms and pouted, one of my better skills.

Cleon sighed and slid his arm around the back of the swing and, tentatively, touched his hand to my shoulder. "What are you so mad about? The fact that I left you alone with them, or the fact that I got you involved with this?"

"Both!" I glared at him and then turned my head away to stare out across the lawn. "It's all your fault."

"How, exactly is it my fault?"

"I'm not talking to you."

"That is such a typically female response!" Cleon huffed and pushed himself away from the swing to pace across the deck.

I gaped at him. "Female response? How about you, Mr. I'm-too-good-to-talk-to-Keladry? What about last year when you wouldn't even look at me at your little going-away party? Huh? What about that?"

He spun around to glare angrily at me. "That was a completely different situation! I was so overwhelmed with the acceptance letter, and you were wearing those little shorts and that bathing suit…you have no idea how hard I was trying to keep myself from touching you, from feeling that smooth skin behind your knees…" He broke off, as if he just realized what he had said.

I raised a brow. "Really?" I drew out the word as I rose and slowly walked over to where Cleon was frozen with a horrified expression on his face.

"Um…" He backed up a full step. "Did I say that? I meant…"

"I know what you meant. You meant exactly what you said." I trailed a finger down his chest. "So, what is it that makes me so irresistible to you, Cleon? Is it my legs?" I took a step closer. "Or is it my lips?" I traced the outline of his. "Or maybe it's my…"

I broke off as he crushed me against him. "Maybe it's that uncanny ability of yours to analyze things to bits."

"Maybe it's that," I was having trouble concentrating with those sexy lips so close to mine. My eyes kept being drawn to them, and I couldn't seem to stop from gasping as he ran his hand down my back. Those wonderful tingles had rushed back into my system the minute he had grabbed me.

He nipped at my bottom lip. "Or maybe it's because I'm so totally and completely in love with you that I can't see anything but you."

You see, it's things like that, when he says things like that, it really puts a damper on my mood.

I pushed away from him and raked a hand through my hair. "Look, Cleon. I know I agreed to this whole engagement thing, but do you really have take it that far? I know you're just playing with me…right?"

Say yes, say yes, I silently pleaded.

He sighed. "Keladry, when are you going to accept the fact that I really do love you? I love everything about you. Your legs, your lips, you analyzing, your mind." A smirk played on his lips as his eyes traveled down my body and rested just below my neck. "But most of all, I love your – "

Just then, the back door slammed open and both Cleon and I whipped our heads around to glare accusingly at the interrupter. And encountered the most beautiful male specimen I had ever seen before in my entire life.

His hair was a golden brown, a tawny color that offset the almost startling emerald green of his eyes. His skin was deeply tanned, like he spent every spare moment at the beach, and he was six and a half feet if he was an inch. And under those jeans and that Harvard sweatshirt, I was positive there was a finely sculpted and perfectly muscled body that screamed to be touched.

Cleon let out his booming laugh and sauntered over to the newcomer to grasp his hand and slap his back. Typical male behavior.

"Joren! Hey, man, it's great to see you! Kel, this is my friend Joren, from university! Joren, this is my fiancée, Keladry Wilson."

"Hey," Joren said, nodding his gorgeous head in my direction.

I smiled seductively, or so I assumed, and offered my hand as would a princess. "Charmed, I'm sure," I said airily, though I was giggling like a lunatic in my head. He pressed his lips to my knuckles like Cleon had, except this time it was so completely different. Joren's lips were so soft and so gentle. His eyes were so green, so dreamy, so…

Then Cleon elbowed me in the stomach. "Ow! What was that for?" I shot him a death glare as I rubbed my side.

He frowned at me. "Hey, Joren. How about giving us a little privacy here?" Cleon didn't even glance at his friend.

"Sure." God, even his voice was sexy…

And as he turned and walked inside, the only coherent thought that tumbled through my mind was, Damn, that is one fine piece of ass.

I must have stood staring at that door with a dopey grin for quite some time, because I barely even noticed when Cleon grabbed my arm and began dragging me back to the swing. I snapped out of my trance and tried to pull my arm out of his grasp.

"Let go!!" But he was holding on too tight, his grip too strong for me to break free. "What's your problem?!"

Cleon pushed me down on the swing and stepped back. His face was frozen in anger, his eyes cold. "What's my problem? I'll tell you exactly what my problem is." And he said nothing, just stood there and glowered down at me.

"Well? Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what the hell I did to piss you off so much?"

He frowned at me. "You know, you really have developed quite the collection of foul language since I last saw you."

"Don't change the subject, asshole. What the fuck is your problem?" Yeah, I was swearing more that necessary. But when a guy manhandles you without your permission, I think a little cursing is required.

Cleon narrowed his eyes. "I saw the way you were looking at him, Keladry."

"Who, Joren?" Joren, Joren with the sexy lips and cute butt. "No, I wasn't."

"Don't lie to me. I'm not blind. And don't even think about trying anything." He crossed his arms and tried to look tough, though it didn't really work.

I widened my eyes in what I hoped looked like shocked innocence. "Try anything? Now Cleon. Why in the world would you assume I'd try anything with one of your dearest friends when I'm supposed to be engaged to you?" I laced my words with poison so thick, Cleon looked stunned. Then he went right back to being angry. Damn him.

"Don't you use that tone with me. You're just as much at fault here as I am. You didn't have to agree to anything."

"Don't give me that!" I jumped up and drilled a finger in his chest. "If you hadn't told all your stupid friends this stupid lie, we wouldn't be in the middle of this stupid mess!" I would have liked to have phrased that better…and handled it more maturely.

He glanced down and then scowled at me. "You're going to want to move that finger."

"Oh, am I?" I poked him again, harder. "What are you going to do about it if I don't? Hit me?"

His scowl deepened and he moved the finger himself. "I don't hit women."

"Why? Afraid I might hit back?"

"No."

"Oh, so I'm just too small and weak, then. Is that it? You're afraid you might break me?"

"For God's sake, Keladry! Listen to yourself!" He ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

"I am, and let me tell you something buddy. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than one tiny punch from the likes of you to break me." I was shocked to hear my voice waver.

Cleon gently took hold of my shoulders and tilted my chin up. "Don't you think I already know that? Your strength is one of the reasons I love you so much." He drew me into his arms and for some reason, I didn't pull away. "I love you more than I love life itself."

I closed my eyes and breathed him in. He had an odd smell, like a jumble of aftershave and spices, mixed with a dash of spring and vanilla.

And yet again, Cleon ruined the moment, the perfect moment, by opening his mouth and letting words spill out like acid rain.

"Why don't we just move the wedding date up a month and a half so we can get this whole sex thing over with. I'm getting kinda antsy."

What the hell, I mentally screamed. I pulled back and, with out thinking of what I was doing, drew my hand back and slapped Cleon across the face. The crack of flesh meeting flesh, and the squeal I let out in shock, drew our families and Joren to the screen door.

I didn't have to look; I could hear them falling over each other and scrambling to get to the door. And even if I had wanted to look, I wouldn't have been able to. My eyes were locked with Cleon's, on the look of hurt and guilt that flashed over his face. And the squeal I had let out had been a result of that same hurt and guilt that had washed through me.

"What's going on?" My mom asked alarmed, as she took in my hand (which hurt like a bitch in heat, by the way) that I was cradling with the other, and Cleon's red cheek. "Did you hit him, Keladry?"

Why did I do that? Oh God, I thought. I just slapped Cleon.

I glanced at his shocked, pained face one last time before spinning around to push past the crowd at the door and race up the stairs.

Keladry!" I heard Cleon call after me. "Wait!"

I panicked. I didn't know what to say, so I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Fuck you!"

I barely heard it, but I swear he muttered, "I'm working on it."

The bastard.

Author's Note: Ha ha. Okay, seriously, I have no idea what goes on in teenage guys' heads, so if this chapter is completely off, please tell me so! And if you're a guy, please tell me what you would say in a situation like this, how you would present the idea of having sex with a girl without coming right out and saying it. Thanks a bunch! ^_^