Chapter Six
"Hey 'Liss, what's your hurry? Classes are over for the day." Aqua looked up from her perch on one of the recliners in the common area, where she'd been leafing through what looked like a textbook.
"I'm meeting Ryan in Magix in…" I glanced up at the clock, "twenty minutes. And yes, in hindsight, scheduling a date with such little lag time was probably not such a good idea, but this was the only time that worked with his schedule for the next week."
"Wow. See, now this is the kind of thing that makes me glad I don't have a boyfriend." Aqua laughed, but I caught the trace of sadness underneath her words.
"Who's going on a date?" Mel popped her head out from her and Aqua's shared room, a pair of old-school headphones around her ears, the white wires twisted around her skinny, red tank top-clad torso.
"Alyssa; who else? She's the only one of us that has a boyfriend, after all."
"Where're you guys going?" Ivy asked, looking up from watering her plants, which sat on the windowsill, providing them plenty of access to natural light.
"Magic Teacup," I called from inside Miriam's and my room, where I was digging through a pile of clothes, trying to find something cute to wear. One by one, rejected outfits piled up on my bed. White sundress? Too summery. Cute new gray sweater? Too winter-y. Blue halter top? Too skimpy. Pink daisy-print skirt? God, what was I thinking with that one?
"Anyone want this skirt?" I asked, chucking it into the middle of the room, where it landed on Dee's head rather ungracefully. Poor Dee, who'd obviously just come back from the computer lab, stayed frozen in place as the offending garment slid off her head and onto the floor in a puddle at her feet.
"Why are there flying clothes?" she asked finally, her clipped, British-sounding accent only adding to the ridiculousness of her statement
I struggled not to laugh. "Sorry, Dee! My bad!"
After a couple more minutes of deliberation – and several more rejected outfits lying all over my half of the room – I finally decided on my new studded leggings and a long, loose, slouchy white top with drapey short sleeves that said YOU MAKE MY HEART GO BOOM BOOM BOOM in shimmery metallic gold block letters. "Now what do we think?" I struck a pose in the doorway.
"Ooh la la," Aqua cooed, reaching up to touch the shirt. "Adorable times ten."
"Agreed," Mel echoed.
The door slammed, and I looked up to see Lola striding through the common area towards her room, her pink messenger bag slung over her shoulder. "What do you think, Lola?" Ivy asked, twisting her bracelets around her wrist.
She stopped in the doorway. "Think of what?"
"Alyssa's outfit."
Her jaw clenched slightly, but quickly relaxed, as her brown eyes scanned me up and down. "Pretty," she said finally, before throwing open the doors to her room and then closing them shut with a loud bang.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today," I heard Mel mutter under her breath to Aqua, who nodded.
It had been a couple days since Lola's and my fight, and since then our interactions had been minimal at best, and only ever when there were other people around. Thankfully, she'd always been perfectly pleasant and polite, if a bit more aloof than usual, but we'd never really sat down and talked about all the issues that had led to us screaming at each other, and at this point I doubted we ever would. The fight had become this big pink elephant in the room, and even the other girls were starting to notice that something was going on between us.
Trying my best to put it out of my mind, I walked back into my bedroom and slid on a pair of platform wedge sandals with studding on the straps that matched my leggings. Running a comb through my red-gold hair – which had somehow curled itself into perfect, frizz-free, beachy-looking ringlets – I slicked on some eyeliner and lip gloss, and, after a moment's hesitation, added Ryan's necklace.
"Okay, I'm off," I announced, dashing through the common area, only stopping to scoop up my purse.
"Have fun!" Ivy called as I shut the door behind me and raced down the halls.
"So what's good here?" Ryan asked, as he pushed open the heavy glass door of the café, holding it open for me to walk through. Inside, the Magic Teacup was a funky little place, with cozy conversation nooks peppered throughout and antique-looking wooden furniture. All the couches and armchairs were warm, inviting colors, and looked well-loved, with blankets tossed across the back, presumably for when the weather was colder. The walls were a pretty burnt-orange color with dark brown trim, and there were strands of twinkling white Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling all year round. The menu was written in chalk on an old-fashioned blackboard, and they had virtually every coffee concoction you could think of and then some. Best of all, though, in my opinion, was the nearly five-foot long glass counter that held all their delectable baked goods. My mouth watered, and I remembered how long it had been since I'd scarfed down a bowl of yogurt and granola at breakfast (I'd skipped lunch to work on an extra-credit project for Advanced Transformations).
"Everything, really. Get whatever you want. They make awesome lattes. Oh, and order me a caramel macchiato."
"I'll think I'll pass on the lattes; I'm not really a fancy-coffee-drink kind of guy." I studied his profile as he placed our order (a regular drip coffee for him, my caramel macchiato, and a luscious-looking fudge-frosted brownie to share). Ryan was already a certified hottie, but summer had made him even cuter, if that was even possible. His skin was a couple shades darker, his hair had fresh sun-streaked highlights, and his arms looked buffer. Just staring at those arms – on full display in a plain black polo shirt, which he'd paired with dark jeans – made me start to fantasize about having them wrapped around me, his lips against mine…
"Alyssa? Earth to 'Liss? Hello, anyone home?" My cheeks burned as Ryan snapped his fingers in front of my face. "What were you thinking about there, space cadet?" he laughed, pulling me into his arms.
"Hmm, doing this," I replied easily, sliding my arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him. Mmm… kissing Ryan always tasted like heaven.
"Number twenty-two? Number twenty-two, your order's up."
Ryan pulled away, and I pouted. "That's us," he explained sheepishly, and turned around to collect our drinks.
We settled in at one of the tiny tables in the corner. "Just one fork?" I arched one eyebrow as Ryan set the tiny plate with the brownie in the center of the table.
"Open up," he said teasingly, forking off a piece and holding it up to my mouth. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and swallowed it happily. Whether it was the chocolate or simply being with Ryan, I had no idea, but the sheer magnitude of my happiness was enough to overpower the part of me that loathed the thought of being one of those couples (you know, the kind that seem to be unable to spend a minute in each other's company without some form of PDA occurring?).
We sipped our drinks and fed each other bits of brownie for a while, making small talk about our classes, our friends, being back in school in general. I told him about Miriam, but deliberately didn't mention my fight with Lola. He talked about his dad, but thankfully didn't try to bring up Taylor. Neither of us said anything about Alexa.
It was like our conversation was a badminton game – light, airy puffballs of information being volleyed back and forth. Anything too hard or heavy stayed firmly out of bounds.
Finally, I decided enough was enough. "I have to ask you something," I started, licking the last bit of frosting off the fork and then setting it down on the plate.
"Uh oh. This sounds serious," Ryan joked, taking my hand. "What is it, 'Liss?"
I took a deep breath and pulled my hand out of his grasp, reaching up to undo the clasp on my necklace. "Did you know that this is a locket?" I started, fumbling for the lock.
Ryan looked at me oddly. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"It has to do with everything." I opened the locket and shoved it in his face. "Do those people look familiar? Hint: They aren't you and me."
He stared at the picture for a minute, until something seemed to click. "That's… my dad and your mom."
"Exactly." I closed the locket and set the necklace on the table. Somehow, I didn't feel right putting it back on just yet. "Did you know about them?"
"Not really… I know my dad had a girlfriend in high school that he gave the necklace to and she gave it back, but I didn't know that it was your mom. Wow, that's kind of… weird. To think, we could've been brother and sister." He shuddered.
I sighed. "And why didn't you tell me about the meaning of this necklace? Why did I have to find out from my mom, of all people?"
"I really did mean to tell you. If not for Alexa, I would've told you the night of the dance." I flinched at the mention of Alexa.
"So… do you really mean it?" I couldn't force myself to say the complete thought – do you really mean I'm the girl you want to be with forever? – but luckily for me, Ryan seemed to understand it.
He picked up the necklace and draped it over my collarbone, fastening the clasp in the back. "One hundred percent." His fingers intertwined with mine, and I stroked my fingers along his palm absently.
Then he tugged me into his lap, and proceeded to kiss me until I forgot all about Alexa, our parents, and even my own name.