Chapter 4
Glancing over at Dimitri, I saw him taking in the same conflicting picture I had just observed, and grabbed his arm. Startled, he looked at me questioningly. I shook my head and led him through the girls' room out to the balcony. Once we were out on the balcony, and definitely out of ear shot from the others, I turned on him, and had to force my eyes away from his body and up to his face. Even his eyes were cool. The black pupils were surrounded by icy blue, which were then ringed with black.
"Is there any particular reason you dragged me out here?" His deep, dulcet voice jerked me from my ogling, and into the real world.
"Not really, just wanted to show you the view. This place is supposedly for our use only, so we can work on plans…and stuff." I don't know why I added on that last bit, and felt my cheeks start to show a rare blush. Before he could notice, I turned toward the balcony, and leaned on the rail. The sun was setting, and it lit up the sky in a way that should have been on a postcard. After my last idiotic comment, I expected him to shrug and go back inside. Instead, he stayed right where he was, and the next time he spoke, I could here a smile in his voice.
"So, you just wanted to get a head start on work, or you wanted to get away from that terrible mess in there. Honestly, I don't see how were going to get that sorted out." I risked a glance under the cover of my hair and saw that I had been right about his smile.
I didn't know what to say, and later wished I had something professional sounding, because right then, Lissa walked up to the doorway. I jumped away from him. It's not like I wanted to give him the wrong idea, but Pack members of the same Klasse were specifically forbidden from having relationships. Something about genes not mixing well for the same Klasse, but with Guardians, it was especially forbidden, because if the relationship ended badly, we still had to work well together. There was also the possibility that the relationship would cause us to make irrational decisions on the battlefield, and we couldn't do that. Anyways, I didn't want anyone getting the wrong impression. I clearly hadn't succeeded though, because she waggled her eyebrows at me over Dimitri's shoulder, and I blushed again. What was with me?
"Hey um, we were just wondering what you guys wanted for dinner. The pantry and fridge are fully stocked, so we can have anything from stir-fry to fish." I mumbled something about 'one minute', and looked at her with what I hoped was an explaining look. I wanted to stay out here with Dimitri, don't get me wrong, but my hissing stomach told me otherwise. She nodded and left, and this time I shut the door.
Turning back around, I saw that Dimitri also had a hungry look in his eye, and I silently cursed Lissa for ruining what had been some really good alone time with a really hot guy. Oh well. Sighing, I remarked with an unwilling voice, "We should probably go back inside." He nodded, and walked back in through the guys' room. I went through my room, wishing there were eight more Dimitri's in there.
We ended up having fried rice and spicy chicken for dinner, and I thanked God that we had Abby, who was a decent cook. Crowding around the coffee table in the middle of the living room, we all shared a little more about ourselves. Kylie was in an on-campus animal wellness club, Nick loved camping and outdoors activities in general (really what was with these two?), and Paul loved soccer. Littman didn't have a chalked field or anything, but we did have some goals set up near the Gate, and he and his friends had apparently bought a ball during some field trip. Abby spoke 5 different languages fluently (my overachiever sensor was screaming), Sam was the president of the book club, and Jean was on the student council, which didn't surprise me considering her natural 'charisma'. I already knew everything about Lissa, but she shared her love of music with the rest of the Pack. Matt knew a bunch of famous people (and by people, I mean humans. Talk about gross), and Dimitri played lead guitar in a band. Really, the guy had to be a demi-god, at least. When it came to my turn, I shrugged and said there was nothing special about me. They all looked at me like I was crazy, and I felt the need to ask "What?" at all of their stares.
"Nothing special about you? We all knew your name as soon as we saw you!" Kylie told me in exasperation. "You're like, legendary!" I was helplessly confused, and hoped that I wouldn't have to ask why. But after a few more moments of squirming in my seat, I cracked.
"Um, why? I know I have a reputation for getting in fights and all, but how's that cool as being able to speak 5 different languages fluently, or playing guitar or soccer? The biggest accomplishment I've had in the last few weeks is making Guardian. What does that have to do with talent?"
"First of all, because you're the first girl to make Guardian in like a 100 years, and second of all, you're not famous for your talents. You were best friends with that Alex kid. It was you who found the note right? Anyways, we want to know what he was like. I mean, you guys were dating, so I figure you could give us behind the scene details."
The happy meal had just taken a turn for the worst, and I resisted the urge to punch my new Pack member. I needed an excuse to go to bed, fast. My mind went through all of the possibilities before realizing that I had to tell the truth. Ugh. The truth made me look so weak. Thankfully, Lissa stepped in, excusing my weakness. "Um, that's still a really fresh wound, so could we like, change the subject or something? And also, they weren't dating. They were just friends." They skulked a little, but agreed to change the subject, and the rest of the night ended up being relatively enjoyable.
We stayed up late talking, laughing at each others jokes, and, get this, Dimitri couldn't keep his eyes off of me the entire time. I was all, Does he like me? But then, why wouldn't he like Kylie, or one of the other super goddesses? I mean, they do all this cool stuff, and I have this reputation for beating people up. He probably doesn't like me. But what if he does? We couldn't go out, but we could still have this connection thing in secret. That would be so awesome! We could be Romeo and Juliet with the whole forbidden love… on and on it went, the whole time my face completely animated by whatever joke was being told, not showing the flood of thoughts going on in my mind. I got the idea that maybe it wouldn't be such a terrible time after all. Things were looking up in my future.