Chapter 5: How to Conjugate 'To Love'
Damien
My eyes fluttered open. I looked at the clock. 2:33. I assumed it was A.M, since it was still dark outside. I felt pressure on my right shoulder—or, it was more in the area between my shoulder and my collarbone. I felt a head, and I didn't want to wake whoever it was, so I just moved my vision down the farthest it would go.
Bella was sleeping—almost snuggling—on me. I sighed. No reason to not enjoy this moment, I thought.
I saw a light out of the corner of my eye. I slowly moved my vision back to the blonde. But I had to look at her chest to see what was glowing, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
The bottle on the necklace I had given her was no longer just a pile of sand. I had to very carefully lift the tiny bottle up. I held it between my index finger and my thumb. Looking closely, I could see a silver-coloured star had formed in it. But the stardust wasn't completely gone. It was moving up towards the star in a swirling motion, as if it were gathering on the star.
I knew I had seen it move!
Bella moved it her sleep. I completely froze, hoping she wouldn't wake up at this awkward sight. But she only moved the slightest, and groaned a little bit. The type of groan you would make when you didn't want to wake up in the morning, but a lot quieter.
I carefully placed the bottle back along her collarbone and raised my index finger to her face. In the lowlight (Olivia had a nightlight in her room), her skin looked incredible creamy, complimenting her golden blonde hair, which looked more like a glistening honey-colour at the moment. I swept her bangs out of her eye, even though they weren't open. I wonder what her eyes look like in the lowlight.
Then I felt the sudden urge to wake her up, but I didn't, not wanting to startle her. I ran my finger down the side of jaw line and rested it on her chin. I wanted to lift her chin and bring her lips to mine, but we all knew that probably wouldn't turn out to well, so I resisted.
She suddenly looked a little bit cold to me. Without moving anything other than my left arm, I stretched it out towards the blanket that was lying across our feet, but my hand wouldn't reach that far. I felt the need to compromise. I could either take my chances with waking her up and keeping her warm, or letting her look cold the rest of the night.
I felt ridiculous all of a sudden, thinking this much about a girl I just met about a week or so ago. But I moved my body a bit forward anyways, grasping the blanket and pulling it up around her shoulders.
Then she moved again, scaring the living daylights out of me. Her right arm moved around my hips and hugged my waist, as if I were her personal teddy bear. Her hands were freezing cold, so I hoped my chest was warm.
Wait, when did I take off my shirt?
It didn't take me very long to fall back asleep. When I woke up in the morning, though, there were no other people, which was weird. I thought at least Olivia and Layla would be here. Olivia would sleep as much as she could when she could. So would I, but I never did as much as she did. And of course Layla would still be sleeping—she was the "star of sleeping" she called it. Nonetheless, I had never slept as late as I had, which was, when I checked the clock, until 12:21.
I stretched, wanting to ask what day it was. It took me a minute to realize that because of the time, it had to be the weekend. It took me a little longer to think about the events that had happened yesterday; that we had work yesterday, and I finally figured out it was Saturday.
I stood up and let my blood flow up to my brain. It made me want to sit back down again. I guess sitting while sleeping wasn't the best idea, since my neck felt like someone had karate-chopped the back of it.
I massaged the back of my neck and my shoulders and grabbed my shirt, pulling it over my head. When had I taken it off? I guessed sometime in the middle of the night. My sub-conscience must have done it. Unless… Bella and I…
I mentally slapped myself for even thinking such a thought. I wanted to turn around and hit my head against the wall repeatedly.
Why had I slept so much though? I thought.
I got outside and it was really sunny. And hot. I felt like I was sweating already the moment I stepped outside.
I walked over to Joel's cabin, where the girls probably were, eating breakfast. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty hungry too.
I heard giggling and laughing inside, typical girl stuff. As soon as I opened the door, all six girls looked at me, and started clapping. They said things like "finally, sleepyhead," and "good afternoon," or "there he is!"
"Finally!" My sister yelled. "We're so hungry."
"Why didn't you eat?" I asked, taking a seat at the table.
"Dae convinced us that we should wait for you before we ate breakfast." Olivia answered.
"What time did you wake up?" I asked. Dae went over to the stove and started cooking eggs. The sudden smell of the yolks frying in the pan made me feel even hungrier.
"We all woke up between nine-thirty and ten," said Layla, looking bored.
I looked at Bella, who was sitting to the right of me. She was staring off at nothing in particular, twirling her necklace between her index and middle finger.
"How many eggs would you guys like?"
We either shouted out one or two eggs. I said two; Bella mumbled one. She seemed pretty distracted as DaeSung cooked the eggs. She was pretty amazing, by the way. She cooked eight eggs at a time, two in each pan. The other girls went conversing.
"Hey," I poked Bella, "you alright?"
"Yeah," she murmured.
"Are you sure?" I whispered. "You seem kind of quiet today."
"I said I'm fine!" She snapped back at me, a bit loudly I might add. Everyone stopped talking and looked at us; even Dae was distracted from cooking for a few seconds to see what was going on.
Bella looked a little… What's the word? Worried? Scared? I choked on one word: she looked as if she regretted what she had just said. Was it that big of a deal though?
"Sorry," her voice was so low; it was hard to hear it even after the others stopped talking.
"It's alright," I turned to face forward.
Dae brought us our eggs, and I talked to the others about anything that came to mind. Dae went over to ask Bella if she was alright and such, but she still stayed quiet throughout breakfast.
Bella
I only ate half my breakfast, left early, and went to go take a nice long shower. I wasn't sure why I was so nervous around him now—just over what had happened last night. I woke up in the morning snuggling with Damien's bare chest, and I hope he hadn't seen that. It wasn't your normal boy-girl-falling-asleep-together scene where the girl's head is resting on his shoulder, and his head is resting on hers. My hands were wrapped around his waist, his arms around my back. My face felt really hot.
Why had I hoped he hadn't seen that? Why did it matter so much?
And I really didn't need to snap back at him like that.
I took my necklace off and set it on the counter. Stripping off my pajamas and putting them in the hamper made me realize that today was the day we had to go down to the Laundromat. I didn't feel like leaving my room though. I ended up taking a bath instead of a shower—quite a long one, I might add. I didn't bother to put my hair in a bun. I just let my straightened hair turn back into ringlets and sunk my body into the water. I guess I would say my hair was a mixture of ringlets, waves—
Crash.
I heard glass break on the floor. I quickly sat up, listening closely to see if it were my imagination.
Thud. Thud.
Something against the walls that time, I could hear it. I stood up, sweeping my hair to the side and squeezing the water out of it. It had already become pretty curly. I grabbed one of the white towels, quickly dried myself off, and wrapped it around my body.
I slowly opened the door and looked into my bedroom.
At first I didn't see anything. But then, turning my focus towards my bed, something hit me straight in the forehead. A little silvery object fell right in my hands, as if it knocked itself out. I examined it in my hands for a second.
It was a little silver, shining, star.
Not like me—I mean it was actually shaped like a star. That wasn't what really scared me, though. It really freaked me out when the star blinked its open eyes that I hadn't notice before, looked up at me, and it seemed happy.
It didn't even have a mouth to smile with!
"What the hell is this!" I shrieked.
Lily
I sat on my bed, watching TV and bouncing. I was still smiling and giggling about the dinner with Ace. I played it over in my mind over and over again. I hated the awkward parts, but it was still funny.
Knock, Knock.
I heard a knock on the door and squealed. Layla looked at me like some sort of idiot.
"What?" I tried to not smile at her (and failed), "I'm just happy he's coming over."
Layla rolled her eyes and I answered the door.
Ace looked as good as usual. Despite the heat, he was wearing a shirt, and I was pretty sure that was the first time I had seen him in one. He was wearing a nice, sleeveless dress shirt, a black tie, and black shorts. His tan skin glowed and his eyes sparkled. I accidentally let a giggle slip out of my mouth and covered it with my hand.
"Why are you all dressed up?" I asked.
"I can't look nice for you?" He flashed a smile and my face washed over pink. "That and Damien wouldn't let me in here if I dressed as usual," He whispered in my ear.
"Ahem," Damien cleared his throat.
We turned our heads in his direction. He was smirking and waiting for us to finish.
"Hey, Damien." Ace grabbed Damien's hand and did the hand-shake-man-hug thing. "How've you been?"
Damien looked at Ace awkwardly, raising an eyebrow. "Good; how about you?"
"Fine, thanks for asking." Ace turned and smiled at me for no apparent reason.
Just then, Bella, Ollie, Dae, and Diane came walking in. Ollie had Bella and Dae linked to her arms, one on each, while Diane was trudging behind them.
"Can we eat already?" Ollie complained, "I'm hungry," she stretched out 'hungry'.
"You people are the ones that are slow," Damien flicked his sister's forehead. Ollie rubbed the now red spot. "Dinner's ready already."
"Fine, then." Ollie sat down to the right of Layla; I sat to her left. Dae, Bella, and Diane sat at the other side of the table. Ace sat at one end of the table, the one closest to me. "Give me my food." She always got grumpy when she was hungry. But then again, so did Layla.
"Fine, then," Damien grumbled, "Let's just get this over with."
"What?" Ace asked as Damien handed him a bowl of clam chowder. "You don't want me here?"
"I don't want any more guys than me here." Damien sat down as he passed out the rest of the bowls and spoons.
"Why not?" Ace raised an eyebrow.
"Because it's almost nighttime." Damien raised an eyebrow back at him.
There was an awkward silence. I sipped my chowder loudly to try and break it.
"It's not like I was going to do anything," Ace mumbled, sipping his soup with me. It made me giggle. "And besides, couldn't you do it if you wanted to?"
I almost choked on my dinner right there when I realized what they were talking about. Ollie just sighed, Layla coughed awkwardly and Bella looked down into her bowl, lips pursed.
"Well, yeah, I could do it if I wanted to," He glared at Ace. He lowered his tone, "it probably wouldn't be that hard."
"Do what?" Dae looked at us innocently. Oh, Dae, I thought. You're so innocent. She never got any of the dirty jokes Layla cracked every once in a while, or at least, she pretended not to. Dae glanced at all of us with a pouting face, trying to get an answer out of somebody. I really wanted to tell her, since she was practically begging and it was so hard to say no to her, but I just couldn't tell her.
More awkward silence.
"Haven't you and Bella already done it?" everyone turned towards Layla at the sound of her voice. "I mean, you're always in her room and stuff."
"No!" Damien and Bella said at the same time. Bella's face flushed pink, and she looked back down at her soup.
"I'm not always in her room!" Damien protested. "And even if I were, that doesn't mean I was doing anything."
"Do what?" Dae looked at all of us curiously. We all sighed.
Awkward turtle.
"And wait a second!" Bella spoke up. "What do you mean 'it wouldn't be that hard'?" She lowered her voice, imitating Damien. She suddenly realized what he meant by 'easy'. She scrunched her eyebrows at Damien, who cleared his throat nervously.
"I was kidding."
Bella look unconvinced, but she turned her attention back to her chowder.
Soon, I was going to meet Ace at the Blue Bar. It made me happy just thinking about spending time with him.
Damien
All it took was one scream from Bella's cabin to get me out the door. It was either a big spider or a giant mosquito eater. I remembered her telling me one night how she hated a lot of bugs, especially anything really big, and she said she was arachnophobic. I asked her how she had a phobia already, being on earth for only a few days and all, and she just said they were really creepy.
I grabbed the Swiffer out of my brother's closet and ran to her room. It took me a little bit to find the Swiffer, though. And to find the spare key to my brother's room since, for some reason, it was locked. And then there was the breaking down the door of the closet (I wasn't sure why that was locked, either). I needed that Swiffer. Even if it seemed like I wasn't exactly scared of spiders, I wasn't really sure how big it would be.
"What's going on?" I burst through Bella's door. I wasn't even sure if it was locked or not.
Her hair was wet and curly, so I guessed she had just taken a shower. Then I realized she was wearing a towel around herself.
Her hands went up and swiped something in the air. "What are you doing in here!" She yelled right back at me. She had her hands curled up and balled around whatever she had grabbed.
"What was that?" I eyed her hands.
"What was what?"
"What are you holding?" I moved closer to her.
"Nothing," she took a step back from me. "Why do you have a Swiffer?"
I glanced at the Swiffer, back to her hands, then back to her eyes. "You tell me what you're holding and I'll tell you why I have the Swiffer?"
"Can't you just–" She started, but whatever was in her hands had broken free. A little silver thing was flying in the air, about the same diameter as your palm, maybe a little smaller. It had eyes, and wherever it flew, sparkle trailed its path. Bella's hands went to hold up her towel. I looked a little closer at the silver object as it moved towards me. It was in the shape of a star, which I wasn't sure how I missed.
"What is this thing?" I said, bemused as one of its points landed on my index finger.
"I don't know," Bella said as she bent down to get something off the floor. She held it in her palm and showed it to me. It was the glass bottle that had been filled with stardust, and the star had been growing inside it. But one side of the bottle had been broken; I was guessing it had let itself free.
"So this thing came from that?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"It's not a thing!" She said angrily as the star went flying back in her direction. "His name is Starfy!"
I think I looked at her with the most confused face I could possibly make. "Why would you name it that?"
"Because it was in an ad I saw earlier." She said, giggling as the silver star swirled around her head. I had remembered that ad, too. The Legendary Starfy. It was a little star that saved the world or something like that, in a game or comic or something.
I felt a sudden impulse.
"Let's go to the library," I said suddenly.
"What?" She looked at me confused. "Why?"
"To, you know, look up some stuff on the star thing."
"You really think we'd find stuff?" She asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Yeah," I grabbed her wrist. "Come on! Let's go!" I was getting impatient.
"Wait a second!" She pulled her wrist away from my hand. "First off, why are you so anxious? Second off, I'm not even dressed!"
"Fine then!" I turned around. "Get dressed."
"Ugh," she grumbled. I heard her take off her towel and go through her drawers.
Oh god, my man instincts were getting to me. Just take a deep breath, I told myself, letting out an audible sigh.
"If you can't handle it, then go outside, pervert." Bella said in an annoyed tone.
"I'm fine," I said, taking another deep breath.
"Really?" She asked sarcastically. Her voice was closer than before. My heart sped up and I gulped in nervousness.
"Really," I replied. I kept my eyes on her front door, not letting them wander around to room.
I felt a hand on my left shoulder. Don't turn around, don't turn around, don't turn around.
Her hand slid down my arm and grabbed my hand.
"What are you doing?" I whispered, closing my eyes. I could either turn around and do what I wanted to do, but that could either lead to her kissing me back or my death. Or I could just stand here, eyes closed, and see what she was doing.
I liked the first one better, but the second idea seemed safer.
The blood was pounding in my ears and my face grew hotter. My man instincts were going to get the best of me soon if she didn't stop whatever she was doing.
"Damien…" She whispered; her voice was at the nape of my neck.
And that was about the end of my rope.
I whipped my body around so that it was facing hers, grabbed her shoulders , and pinned her against the wall. Both our breathing quickened. My forehead was pressed against hers, our mouths only an inch or so apart. She was already fully dressed when I looked down.
"What are you trying to do?" I whisper-yelled at her.
She stayed quiet. Her face flushed pink as she looked down.
"It's driving me crazy!"
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I just was wondering what it felt like."
"What what feels like?" I leaned my head back a little from hers.
"You know…"
I thought about it for a moment. "You know I didn't mean anything by that conversation with Ace—"
"No, not that!" She looked down in embarrassment.
"Then what?" I let my hands up from her shoulders. She was still looking down at her feet, blushing.
"I've seen people love others… And watched them fall in love with one another…"
"You want to know what it feels like to love?"
"Not exactly…"
"Then what!" I was getting so anxious. There was a silence. An excited chill ran through my body as I realized what she might've been talking about. "To kiss?" I leaned into her.
Her head flew up in my direction. I smiled, leaning in closer, slowly. She smiled slightly too, glancing down at my lips.
Then I slowed down. Man, I was going to kill myself for what I was about to do.
When my lips brushed hers lightly—so lightly that she probably didn't even feel it; so lightly that it probably wasn't even considered a kiss anymore, I backed up from her. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave me a confused look.
"You can't just kiss someone," I told her, "it has to be someone that you really like."
"I really like you," she said, getting an inch closer to me.
I chuckled, "But not that way," and I turned away from her.
Thanks so much to whoever reads this, because I know I don't get very many readers! And thanks to my editor, Nganny. I lahv you! :D
