Chapter 6

Lucas~

What the hell happened today?

I park my car in the driveway but my thoughts are far from home. They're wherever a certain blue-eyed beauty happens to be right now. After what happened this morning I can't stop thinking about her. Something about it just doesn't seem right.

I get out of the car, realizing that I've been stewing over this for almost 20 minutes, and decide to go inside. I walk through the front door and head straight for my room, not even wanting to eat. I climb up the stairs and look at the pictures on the wall, pictures of me, my mother, my dad and... Jenny. I miss her more every day. My little sister who never got to fully experience life when she passed at the young age of 8. I never stop thinking about her.

I walk towards my room, open the door and flop down on my bed, way too tired to do anything else besides sleep. I close my eyes but sleep never comes, instead I'm met with images of Lia, flashing by until they reach the memory I've been stewing over all day.

What happened after lunch?

I saw Lia in pain and my first instinct was to be by her side and see if she's okay. I didn't even call a teacher or go get help, my only thought was wrapping her in my arms. For some reason, I felt protective over her, especially after whatever happened between her and Henry this morning. She was whimpering in pain but the moment I touched her she stopped and then she hugged me. Not how we usually hug but a genuine hug and I couldn't help wrapping my arms around her waist and holding her tight. The part that confuses me is the sparks I felt when I touched her. Waves of energy radiated from the spot where I touched her but I could've sworn I'd imagined it. That is until she hugged me and the sparks exploded from every point we were touching, taking over my body and setting my every nerve on fire.

I wanted to kiss her. Everything in me screamed at me to kiss her. Her lips looked so soft and inviting but I couldn't. Lia's never liked me in that way and I can't risk losing her because of a silly little fantasy.

Lia~

I pulled up to Luc's house probably about 10 minutes ago but haven't had the nerve to get out of the car. After what happened, I'm not sure I can face him, heck I don't even know why I agreed to meet up in the first place. I look at his house and curse under my breath.

This is ridiculous.

I step out of the car and start walking down the pathway, leading to the door. Thank the moon goddess they were able to fix my car this afternoon or it would've taken me even longer to get here by bus. A lot of my friends have asked me why I don't just replace the car but it belonged to my father and I refuse to let this part of him go even if it's older than me and gives me constant headaches.

I knock on the door and Luc answers a second later, smirking at me. I give him a confused look, slightly taken aback by the look he's giving me.

"If I'd known you were going to sit in the car that long I would've brought you a doughnut." he winks and turns around, giving me just enough privacy to facepalm. Of course, he noticed my car out front. It was a striking blue 1964 Aston Martin DB5, my dad's all-time favorite car seeing as it was known as the James Bond car and dad never could get enough of 007.

I follow him down the hallway with a renewed sense of embarrassment and by the smirk on his face I could tell that my cheeks were probably the same shade as a ripe tomato. "So..." I start off not knowing what to say. "did you take a look at the topic list?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we go with global warming. It's pretty easy and we'd have a lot to talk about since it's a pretty wide topic from the causes to the impacts it'll have on future generations," he shrugs and leans against the kitchen island. I take a minute, pretending to think about it when really I'm taking in the beauty of the kitchen. Lucas wasn't a prince so he didn't live in an extravagant castle but that didn't make his home any less breathtaking. It was a four-story white mansion with floor-to-ceiling windows in every room and a beautiful garden out front with an even more incredible backyard from what I can remember the last time I was here. The kitchen is a beautiful sage green with white marble countertops and white cabinets.

"Global warming sounds good and you're right there's definitely a lot we can say about it." Lucas gives me a small smile that nearly melts me but instead of falling to the floor like the complete softy I am, I smile back at him and look anywhere besides those gorgeous emerald eyes." So do you want to get started on the project now or..." I trail off not knowing how exactly I was planning on continuing that sentence.

He gives me a sly smile and walks through the sliding door, motioning for me to follow. It's a beautiful day and the backyard looks even better than what I remembered. Now, when I say backyard what I actually mean is paradise. Meaghan Maxwell, Luc's mother, put her heart and soul into creating her own little paradise and she succeeded. Tall trees lined the pathway and the fences, casting shadows all over the place and the cobblestone pathways are surrounded by flowers of all colors, leading to a huge pool with a waterfall designed to look like natural architecture. All in all, it was a place you'd want to spend your every moment just relaxing in the shade. I walk along the path, smelling the scent of roses and lilies, two of her favorite flowers. In fact, I'm so enticed by the flowers that I fail to notice Lucas standing right behind me. "You look really hot so I thought I'd help you cool down." the feeling of his breath on the side of my face is enough to distract me before he picks me up and jumps in the pool fully clothed with me still in his arms.

We hit the water and the freezing cold shocks my body so much I gasp and swallow water. My eyes sting as I break the surface and start coughing, throwing a glare in his direction. "What the hell, Lucas? I wasn't ready for that! I could have died!" I get that I'm being very dramatic but I hate the feeling of wet clothes clinging to my body especially my very expensive cashmere sweater and black jeans, not to mention the fact that I'm wearing suede boots. Lucas chuckles and it takes me only a second to realize that his arms are still around my waist, holding me close to him. My sweater rides up in the water and his fingers graze my stomach. For a split second, I feel a spark radiating from that spot but it's gone before I can process what it is, and judging by the look on Luke's face, he definitely felt it and is just as confused. "We should- um get out of the water," I whisper softly, noticing his eyes staring into mine.

He blinks, almost as if coming out of a trance, "Yeah we should." He says but makes no move to remove his hands from my waist and I don't force him to. The moment is too intense to break.

"Lia, is that you?" and with that, the moment is broken.

"yes, it's me, Mrs. Maxwell." Luc's hands jolt away from my waist as his mother comes walking towards us. She gives me a bright smile and I can see so much of Luc in her. They have the same green eyes and dark hair but her skin is fairly lighter than his.

She waves me off, "None of that. I told you a long time ago you can call me Meaghan." I smile at her and she returns it. When she smiles she looked so much younger and with the right clothing you could mistake her for a college student.

"Okay, then Meaghan." she looks at us and starts chuckling under her breath.

"Deary, do you mind explaining to me why you both are in the pool, fully dressed?" She lets out another laugh and it causes her tiny figure to shake from the force of trying to hold it back.

"Well, why don't you ask your son that." I raise my brow and shoot him a look at says go on explain yourself. I look over to Meaghan who's giving him the exact same look and almost laugh at the look on his face.

"Wow, is there a secret class where they teach women looks like that or what because it can't be a coincidence?" I laugh at him but stop when I see the look on his face. He's being 100% serious and this makes me laugh even harder.

"There's no class," I smirk, "It's just a natural female talent," I say in an exaggerated British accent. Meaghan laughs along and helps me out of the pool.

Lucas whines when she does, "Awe come on, we were just having a swim." He stares at me and for a second my breath catches. The look in his eyes is something I've never seen before and there's a sudden stirring from one of my supernatural parts but before I can figure it out, the feeling vanishes. Meaghan gives me a peculiar look that I can't seem to place. I smile at her while she looks back at Lucas. I take this opportunity to take a peek into her mind.

"I've only ever seen that look in the eyes of his father. It doesn't make sense for him to feel it when it's no longer a part of him."

This causes more confusion than answers given. What does she mean by that? I shake off the bad feeling and wave them goodbye," Well as productive as today's been, I have to get home so I'll see you at school, Lucas." I turn around to walk away but Lucas's voice stops me.

"Wait, Lia, did you hear they moved the ball to tomorrow night?" I whip my head around and stare at him dumbfounded.

"They did what?" I try and keep my voice level but it's clearly not working. Out of the color of my eye, I notice some of the flowers losing their color and dying which sometimes happens when my emotions are out of wack. I recite a quick spell under my breath and bring them back to life, hoping no one noticed my little slip-up. I take a deep breath and calm myself. "I can't believe they did that."

Lucas scratches the back of his neck, a habit he has whenever he's nervous. Why would he be nervous? Maybe I look crazy or something. "Well apparently there's a big game next Friday and they didn't want it to clash so the ball is tomorrow night and all rules are out the window."

A blush creeps up his cheeks and he smiles shyly at me, "And well, I was wondering if you'd want to be my date?"