Enchantment ch 9
Caleb set down his phone. Tyler was still glaring at him "you think she's another Chase?" said Tyler accusingly. "I never said that," said Caleb. "You just did, we heard it" argued Tyler. "Tyler will you let me explain for a second" said Caleb. Tyler glared "hey man no ones saying she's another Chase" said Pogue from the back seat. "But your thinking it, why?" said Tyler "what has she done that's so Chase like, make friends with us" said Tyler angrily
"Baby boy we are not saying that, we just want to be careful is all" said Reid. Tyler laughed, "when have you ever been careful" said Tyler. Caleb and the others were surprised baby boy was actually standing up to them. "Look we just have to know if she can be trusted," said Caleb. "I see this is about seeing Reid use, or is it cause she wouldn't obey you Caleb" said Tyler angrily. Caleb gritted his teeth Tyler wasn't making this any easier. "Its not that" said Caleb. "Then what is it why don't you guys like her?" said Tyler
"Hey we never said we didn't like her, we just want you to be careful" said Pogue. "Careful of what, careful of finding some one who might actually like me for me" said Tyler. "Easy baby boy no ones trying to tell you to dump her or anything" said Reid. Caleb sighed, "all we are asking is that you think before you trust her" said Caleb. "I am thinking and stop calling me that, I never liked it and you know it," said Tyler.
Reid looked shocked for a second; baby boy developed a backbone somewhere. "Fine, Tyler we just want to be sure is all, you can understand that" said Caleb. "Sure about what?" said Tyler "about whether or not she can be trusted" said Pogue. "Fine I'll talk to her," said Tyler. "We will all talk to her," said Caleb.
"And if she can't be trusted?" said Tyler his jaw tense and glaring defiance at Caleb. Caleb sighed, "then we'll deal with it" he said, "deal with it how?" Tyler said. Caleb was getting angry now. "Any way we have to" said Caleb. "You will not hurt her," said Tyler. Unusually he met Caleb's gaze and didn't look away. "Tyler" said Caleb. Tyler held his gaze and repeated. "You will not hurt her"
Caleb was expecting Tyler to break eye contact first. The guys in the back seat even expected him to. Tyler was never this outspoken, what had gotten into the boy. Surprisingly Caleb was the one to break the eye contact. "Fine we won't hurt her," said Caleb. He pulled the keys from the ignition and handed them to Tyler. Tyler got out of the car. Reid and Pogue did the same. Last to get out was Caleb. Tyler walked away from them without saying a word. Caleb and the others watched him go for a few seconds.
"Ok that was weird," said Pogue breaking the tense silence. "Tell me about it" said Reid. He was watching Tyler walk away. "It could be a problem," said Caleb "don't worry bro it'll work itself out, so baby boy found his backbone" said Pogue patting Caleb on the back. Caleb frowned but didn't say anything. "Well night" said Reid heading for the dorm building. "Don't worry so much it'll be fine" said Pogue before heading towards the dorm himself. Caleb watched them go for a second. He was unsure how to deal with this new development. Then he headed for his own car. Got in and slammed the door in frustration. His anger finally taking over for a few seconds. He calmed down after a few minutes and thought about it. To be fair he had been thinking ill of the girl, and she hadn't really done anything to deserve it. Yes she stood up to him; to be honest it did bother him a little. She was a little weird but Tyler seemed to be ok with it. Maybe the whole Chase incident just made him paranoid.
He started the car and put it in reverse. He was still going to have that little talk with her though with or without Tyler there. He thought determined to resolve this one way or another. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Tyler, but if it came down to the girl or the covenant, the girl would lose.
Reid approached the door with caution. He heard some slamming and banging. He opened the door cautiously and peered around the corner. Tyler was pacing the floor and swearing. Reid closed the door behind him quietly. He had never seen baby boy so livid. When Tyler used to fling a trashcan into the wall. Reid decided to intercede. "Whoa there man, the neighbors will complain," said Reid. "I don't care," said Tyler sullenly.
"Come now you know how Caleb is by now, he's just being his over cautious paranoid self" said Reid. Tyler ran his hand through his hair. "Reid he compared her to Chase, Chase man!" he practically yelled. "First of all calm down cause you ain't gonna do yourself any good ranting about it" said Reid. Tyler stopped pacing and stood still for a few seconds. He was trying to control his rage and only half succeeding. "Look you know I won't let Caleb hurt her, she's a friend to me too you know" said Reid. "Thanks Reid" said Tyler now a lot calmer. He was glad Reid was on his side at least. "Besides I like her she's got balls standing up to Caleb when he's that upset, I say about damn time someone did" said Reid
"Yeah that was kind of funny if you think about it," said Tyler. "If you want I'll run interference for her and make sure Caleb behaves" said Reid. "Thanks, and I'll talk to her if you guys are really that worried" said Tyler. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. "Yeah might be a good idea to at least assuage Caleb's worries," said Reid.
Sunday morning.
Xandria spent the first half of the morning throwing up last night's dinner. She had gone over everything she had to eat that day and could find no reason for her body to react that way. She wondered if she should risk calling Connor about this or if she should let it go. She felt horrible about ruining yet another date with Tyler. She hoped he would forgive her. She must look awful in his eyes, she wanted to cry. But most of all she wanted her head to stop hurting and her stomach to stop flipping like an otter on sugar. Some one knocked on her door and she groaned burying her head under her pillow.
"Xandria are you all right?" came Sarah's voice through the door. Xandria's first reaction was to tell her to go away. Instead she found herself getting out of bed and answering the door."Yeah" she said bleary eyes as she opened it. "Oh shit girl you look awful," said Sarah walking in like she owned the place. "Gee thanks," she answered. "How much did you drink?" asked Sarah. "I didn't, at least I don't think I did" said Xandria. She sat on the bed and looked at Sarah. "So your telling me you don't remember drinking any alcohol?" said Sarah. "I know I didn't the only things I had were sprites and lemonades all day" said Xandria "except at dinner you had a coke," said Sarah.
Xandria looked confused for a moment, Sarah was right that was the only thing she had done different besides the seafood. At that revealing moment Xandria's stomach decided once more to make its discomfort known and she ran to the toilet. While she had her head hung over the toilet Sarah searched for hidden bottles or cans of alcohol. Only stopping when Xandria asked her a question. Sarah couldn't find anything in the room at all. Not even in Annie's stuff.
She was going through Annie's desk when Xandria appeared behind her "what are you doing?" she asked Sarah responded by yelping and jumping. "Ah I saw this picture and was curious what she had in her drawers", said Sarah. She was holding a picture of Reid. "Oh ok, do you want to see the really good stuff?" said Xandria. She suspected what the girl had been looking for wasn't pictures of the boys but she played it off. Xandria turned on Annie's laptop and entered the password when the screen for the password came up. "How did you know her password?" asked Sarah. "That's easy, it was Reid" Xandria said. The password screen vanished and a huge picture of Reid was her wallpaper. "Eh gawds, how much can she stand to look at him?" said Sarah
Xandria used the mouse to click open my pictures and a small window popped open. Small images filled the screen, including many nudes of Reid. "Oh my gawd!" said Sarah. "That is definitely more than I wanted to see," said Sarah. "You think that's bad you should read the poems," said Xandria. "Oh my gawd does Reid know?' said Sarah. "I don't think so, and I'm not telling him," said Xandria. Sarah was scrolling through the photos until she found one of the guys in their swimsuits. "Ooh I have to have a copy of that one," said Sarah. "Hold on I'm going to get my jump drive," said Sarah. Sarah went back to her room for a second. Xandria sat down on the bed. Sarah's' revelation was running through her mind. It had to have been the coke that made her sick.
Sarah came back a second later and downloaded all the picture files to her small hand held drive. Promising Xandria she would get copies. Xandria was reading one of the poems when Sarah came back. "Wow that's sad," said Sarah reading over her shoulder. "Do you think he's mad at me?" asked Xandria. "Who Tyler, I don't think I've ever seen him mad, why?" asked Sarah. Xandria sighed, "Because every time I try to get closer to him something bad happens" said Xandria. She was sounding very depressed so Sarah put her arm around her shoulders. "I sure he understands don't worry so much Tyler's a sweetheart I'm sure he doesn't hold this against you either." said Sarah. Sarah gave her shoulders a squeeze and patted down her hair. "Sarah do you know which room he is in?" Asked Xandria. "Yeah he and Reid are in 210" said Sarah. "Thanks, I'm going to go talk to him" said Xandria. "Ok then I guess I'll see you later" said Sarah. "Thanks Sarah" said Xandria and started for the door. Sarah followed her out and went back to her room. Xandria had no idea what she was going to say to him but she had to talk to him. She had to at least try and explain though how she was going to explain the alcohol poisoning when she didn't drink anything. She walked down the stairs and went to the left first. Not finding the correct numbers she went the opposite way. Then she found their door.
She hesitated before knocking, what if he didn't want to talk? Reid opened the door when she got up the courage to knock. "Ah come to see me at last?" he teased. "Nope sorry where's Tyler?" she asked, "ah he's taking a shower, and he'll be back in one minute. She could hear the sound of running water in the distance. "Thanks Reid" she said and headed for the sound. "You know you can wait here with me for him" said Reid.
Then he smirked when she went into the shower room. "Oh shit" said Reid. He hoped baby boy was alone in there or she would be in deep shit with the provost. Xandria walked into the shower room it was exactly like the girls even down to the tacky looking tile. Blessedly they were alone in here so she cast glamour at the door. Willing people who wanted to enter into returning later. Then she walked towards the only stall with water running. After admiring his out line through the stall door. She pulled the dress she had been wearing up over her head and dropped it on the floor. Then quietly stepped into the shower.