Sorry 'bout not updating sooner. R&R and enjoy:
-A few hours later-
We were all pretty much avoiding Ember since the whole kitten claws thing. I mean, we knew she had a temper, but what she was about to do to Jack…
Right now I was just out in the gardens taking in the scenery. I know it may sound really girly, but I still like walking through them and taking everything in and thinking about everything that had happened.
And as I thought, I started thinking about Ember's bag. That big black bag that she either takes everywhere with her, or leaves it but puts a bajillion locks on it.
Just then Clay came walking in. I wasn't sure what he was doing. Perhaps looking for me, I think it was dinner time.
"Hey partner." He said and walked over when he spotted me. I waved back.
"Hey Clay…" I started.
"Yeah?"
"Never mind." I didn't want to tell him about my "plan."
"What is it?" Clay persisted.
"Fine." I sighed. "Okay, you know Ember's bag?"
"The one that she carries with her all the time?"
"Yeah that one."
"What about it?" Clay asked.
"Well don't you want to know what's in it?" I asked.
"Whatever it is, it's Ember's business. Besides, it's probably just her clothes and things."
"If it were clothes then why would she put three padlocks on it when she leaves the room?" I shot back.
"True. But what are you saying? You wanna break into it?"
"Yes! I think if we use the kitten claws we can pick the lock." I explained my plan.
"Yeah , well there's some problems with that partner. One, that may not even work. Two, Ember's been wearing the claws ever since she won them. And three, there's a combination lock on it to. And I don't think she's the kind of person to make her combination her birthday." Clay told me.
"Good point." I sulked. It may seem nosy to you, but I REALLY wanted to know what was in there. "Well maybe we could just rip open the bag."
"She would notice that. Besides, it's her stuff, let's just leave it alone."
"Fine…Hey hold on! How did you know she had a combination lock on it? YOU'VE BEEN SNOOPING!" I yelled pointing an accusing finger.
"Yeah well…Well…Uh…It's dinner time. I'm starving let's go." Clay stuttered then ran off towards the temple.
I ran after him and we went to the dinning room for dinner. Omi and the girls were already there and the food was out. It was Spaghetti. SPAGHETTI! We never get spaghetti! It's like a delicacy at this place! Perhaps we were only getting it because we had a visitor, Ember.
I sat down and started eating, the others had been rude enough to start without me. Master Fung and the others monks weren't there. We never ate with adults, they always had an early meal by themselves. I was never sure why. I mean don't you think it's a little ridiculous to have a children's table, for a bunch of teens?
As we ate I couldn't help but watch Ember. She wasn't very lady-like at all. She wasn't a complete slob or anything but she slurped her noodles and got a little bit of sauce on her chin. Thankfully she wiped it off. As I said, not dainty or lady like. I guess she really was one of the guys. Whereas Kimiko dabbed at her mouth with her napkin after every bite.
After dinner it was dark out and the stars were shining. It was too beautiful to pass up so everyone headed out to the gardens to relax and watch the sky. Everyone was kinda spread out, me and Ember were together.
Lying there, watching the stars was kinda like being back at home on the beach. Except we were lying on blankets not beach towels. And we were on grass not sand. And instead of an ocean there was just a little fountain. And instead of a…You know, maybe it isn't quite like the beach…
"How's it goin'?" Ember asked stretching out on her blanket.
"Good I guess." I responded. I turned so we were looking at each other. I noticed she still had the kitten claws on. "Are you ever gonna take that off?" I asked nodding at it.
"I dunno." She said holding it up. "Since I left my other glove in the forest where we found them, I guess I'm stuck with them until I find another glove. I guess I'll take them off when I take a shower." She answered.
Yeah, I guess she would take them off when she took a shower. Boy, it must be really steamy in the bathroom when she takes a shower. Or maybe a bath too. That must be weird. It would be like bathing in boiling water. It's so weird that her body gives off heat like that I mean…WAIT! Why am I thinking about Ember…naked…in the shower? AH! BAD IMAGES! I MEAN GOOD IMAGES! BUT LIKE…AH! NEW SUBJECT!
"So what's your favorite color?" I said the first thing that came to mind. Anything to change the subject and get me away from "those" thoughts…
"Red, orange, and yellow. And I bet you'll never guess why." She said with a smile.
"Hmm…Could it be the fact that they are the colors of fire?" I said back.
"You're just to smart for me!" She gasped.
"I guess I am." I said, continuing to play along. She just giggled back and we started laughing.
"Hey look!" She said excitedly getting up. "Fire flies!" She pointed. (A/N: I never said this before, but it's suppose to be summer.)
"Cool." I said getting up. I wasn't to excited though. We get fire flies all the time.
"I love fire flies. I mean not only do they have the word 'fire' in it, they are so fun to catch! It really brings back memories of my past…" Her voice trailed off. "We used to go out all the time, back when I was little. We used to catch the fire flies and bring them home. And then we'd release them." She reminisced.
"Sounds fun." I noted.
"It was. My life was great until that fateful day when that car hit my mom." She sighed.
"I'm sorry." I said and put my arm around her. He neck was of course warm, but I wanted to support her. "Hey wait a second, didn't you say your parents were killed by Jim?"
"Uh…they were! Jim was driving the car!" She retorted. If only I caught the slip-up then…
"Oh, okay. Why is he after your family anyway?" I asked.
"Look I don't want to talk about it!" She snapped and I pulled my arm away.
"Sorry, I'm just a little curious." I apologized. "You don't have to get all angry."
"I know." She huffed. "It's just my whole life I've always been short-tempered. And the whole thing with Jack today just kinda through me over the edge."
"Sorry…" I said again, though there was no need to apologize.
"I'm tired. I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed, kay?" She said, still sounding annoyed.
" 'Kay." I nodded. I bet it would get really steamy when she took a shower. OH GREAT THE SHOWER THOUGHTS ARE BACK!
The shower parts always crack me up! Anyway, point of this chapter was to establish a friendship before pouring on the romance and then comes the big plot twist…WHICH I BLABBED TO EVEN MORE PEOPLE! I'm horrible I know. REVIEW!