him again

POV Lydia:

In my life, logic and facts were my gods, and none came before them. Anything denouncing or seeming to go against them just made me twitch with fury. Yet when Jay made fun of the "Tennis Court Oath" which we just finished vomiting out a paper for in history lessons, all I could seem to do was give a weak half smile.

"Come on, Lydia, they must have used a tennis racket as a gavel!" He then adopted a faux voice of poshness with the worst French accent in history. "'Hon hon, we are proceeding with ze next policy, no?'

He suddenly appeared on the other side of the table, bearing a white extravagant wig. 'I object to that principle and I find that it-' And then they just spike a tennis ball at them when they say something wrong like 'BE SILENT, YOU OLD LUMMOX!' Am I right?"

After pretending to spike an air tennis ball, he braced himself against the table with one hand holding his aching stomach as he laughed himself breathless. The Danny West dining hall is not my favorite place and this was one of the reasons why. Jay started to turn blue as he struggled for breath in between his fits of laughter. I grew tired and calmly leaned over and pinched him hard on the arm, no doubt digging my nails into his skin. He immediately recoiled and ceased his laughing. He rubbed his arm with a very pained expression. And the wig disappeared.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Don't have to pinch me."

I ignored him and just looked up at the clock in the corner of the room and attempted to stand. When I say attempted I mean it because my butt had hardly lifted off the seat when Jay suddenly appeared on my lap in the shape of a black cat.

Katty, who had been sitting to the right of me lightly dozing off stood with a start.

"Beware the ides of March!!! She screamed quite spectacularly and threw her hands into the air. "Beware!!"

It took me a moment of just staring at her to understand her suddenly hysteria. But then it dawned on me that it was five days before Halloween and I had a black cat on my lap.

"Oh, no honey its it's just my idiotic boyfriend. Not a bad omen. Sit down." I said reluctantly scratching Jay's head as he purred.

Kathy sat slowly still staring at Jay as if he might suddenly lerch from his spot sprawled across my lap and tackle her to the ground. After taking a couple deep breaths she finally laughed off her nervousness, well as much as she could with a light hesitant laugh that sounded more like a hurriedly suppressed sobs.

"What was with the Caesar reference? Nightmare?" I asked pushing Jay off my lap.

"Oh, ya." she said her face lighting up. "it's the new play for next semester, there turning it into a musical and I'm trying out for the lead." She puffed out her chest proudly at the realization of her own genius.

"Well, aren't all the leads male?" said Jay startling the heck out of me as he appeared back on my lap still in cat form.

Kathy hesitated as she pondered this fact. And I watched dismayed as her excitement slowly faded.

"Well," I interrupted "In the shakespearian era men played all of the women's parts. As time changed women gradually began to play there own part and even take on leading roles of their own. I see no reason why they would not have evolved to allow women to take on Male roles by now."

I spoke quickly in a frantic attempt to not have Jay the cat demon interrupt my sad attempt to cheer up my only friend. And to my surprise it worked and Kathy jumped up from the table once again, her bright red hair bounced as she leaped from the table and took a bow.

"I will dazzle the audience with the best performance the world has ever seen!" she bowed once more to me before waving goodbye and skipping out of dining hall.

Once we were alone, well as alone as you can be in a college dining hall, I gave Jay the cat the scariest glare I could muster. Even in cat form I could almost see the color drain from his face (fur, whatever). This time I shoved him off my lap and stood quickly swinging my bag onto my back. It wasn't just what he said to Kathy when he knows she has a fragile personality, it was also the dream that haunted me as I made a hasty retreat for the door. The feeling of terror as he had yanked my head up. The almost natural feral smile that has slid across his lips. As if that was really him. It made me wonder. Do I actually know this man at all or am I only fabricating the feelings of love in order to feel less alone. I hear quick footsteps behind me. I take a deep breath.

"It's almost time to go back to class. Come on," I said in a tired and well disguised voice. Underneath that, I was terrified. I walked out of the cafeteria without a look back in his direction, but I could hear him following.

"I'm sorry, okay? Wow, what is wrong with you today?" He ran in front of me, blocking the hallway.

I quickly tried to push past him not wishing to be in his daunting presence any longer,whispering hurriedly that I was late. He simply held out his hand and appeared for a moment to grab something out of the air. With a somewhat showy wave of his hand, he placed in mind a glassy flower with curling petals, dark lapis lazuli and silver stars infused in it like a galaxy in my hand. I gazed with wonder at the simple beauty of the object and held is close. I looked up at him and for a moment my frantic draughts faded. He just gave me a cocky half smile.

"Am I forgiven?" He asked.

"Possibly." lie such a stupid, stupid lie.

"Possibly?"

He wrapped his right arm around my waist and pulled me to him and said again in a whisper about an inch or two from my ear.

"Possibly?" He asked again.

For a moment and just a moment I forgot about my nightmares and just looked at him, the way I know he will always be.

My own.

"Definitely." I whisper back to him. Though convincing it was still a lie.

I smiled up at my magician. My powers have always had something to do with math or science, give or take a few times when I could predict the future, but Jay had the power of imagination. Anything he could think of he could make. Sometimes they wouldn't stay forever and fade with time, but other times he just imagines them coming from one place to the other. Each creation of his is just as unstable as the capricious, rapid works of any other human mind. As I thought of that, I peered down at the flower. Would this to disappear once his mind wandered?

"It's-" I began but the bell rang the hour and halted my words.

I looked up at him again in panic. To be late to class for me is to be late for everything. He just winked at me and said "Enjoy AP Chem." With that he vanished and soon I did the same. I reappeared at the door to my class. I hate when he decides to transport me without my permission.

For a moment I just stand there clutching the flower tightly in my hand. This morning alone was giving me the creeps. I shoved all of my unhappy thoughts into the back of my head and took a cautious step forward.