Fourteen

The car ride home is silent between Amira and Calix, the unspoken words of their kiss bouncing between them. Isaac threw yet another fit when he saw the scene and had to be held back by fellow pack members to keep from yet another fight breaking out between them, knowing how riled up they both were. He was taken to go for a run with the others while Calix helped Amira escape back to the car. 

      He had left her for a few minutes to grab his shirt and jacket from the pack house before returning to the car, where they started their silent ride back to her place. He stops the car at the end of her driveway and keeps it on, telling her he doesn't plan on staying long. 

      "Thank you for tonight, I had a lot more fun than I expected," she mutters into the dark silence. She nibbles on her bottom lip, unsure of what to say now. 

      He gets out of the car and comes around to open the door and help her out, keeping a hold of her hand after he shuts the door. She expects him to go in for another kiss but surprises her by kissing the back of her hand instead. The scene of them practically making out by the river rushes to her mind and she feels her cheeks flare up. 

      As she is about to find an excuse to cut the conversation before she does or says something stupid, Calix spins around on high alert of something, looking toward the direction of the small swamp area that sits behind her house. She watches as the corner of his lip twitches into a snarl, seeming to sense something beyond the shadows of the trees. 

      "Is something there?" she whispers. She tries to peer into the darkness herself but sees nothing move. 

      Calix stays like that for a second longer before relaxing and pushing her back slightly. 

      "It's nothing," he mutters. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." 

      "I'm all right, but I should probably get inside before my parents worry and come out to check. I've suffered enough embarrassment for one night," she jokes. 

      His face remains serious. "I promised you wouldn't shed another tear because of him, I'm sorry I've already broken it." 

      "It's not a promise you could keep, you never should have made it in the first place. No one can control how another one feels, and even I can't manipulate the amount of time it will take to get over this." She reaches out her hand to caress his cheek, finding herself wanting to comfort him even though he is apologizing. 

      He leans into her touch and closes his eyes. 

      "I assure you there is one promise I can make," he says. "I promise to one day erase your memories with him and replace them with ones you'll never regret looking back on." 

      She has to bite her lip to keep it from trembling as the emotions swell in her chest, his words once again striking her in the heart and leaving her speechless. She still can't believe a man like him exists and wonders where he learned to say the perfect thing in every situation so effortlessly as he does. 

      When she doesn't respond, he turns his face to kiss the inside of her hand before putting it down. "You should get inside now; I wouldn't want to worry your parents." He smirks. 

      She returns his smile and nods. "Again, thank you for the memory of tonight. I'll see you Monday?" 

      "I'm never far away. I'm here when you call me, sweetheart." 

      Yet another strike to the heart. She mutters something that sounds like 'goodnight' and turns on her heels to rush inside. She pauses at the door to grab her keys and fumbles with them, hearing Calix chuckling behind her as he climbs into his car. She doesn't dare turn around until she hears the honk of his car before it takes off, then lets out a deep breath and picks up her keys from the ground. 

      As she is turning through them, she hears the crack of what sounds like wood breaking from next to her, her head snapping in that direction. There is nothing but dark shadows blanketing anything beyond her porch, the light above her too bright to see anything else around her. She wants to move closer to try and make out if there is anything when she sees something move around the closest tree to her. 

      Every cell in her body stiffens and her gaze glues to the spot, watching to see if anything moves again. Blaming it on the trick of the light, she shoves her key into the lock and rushes inside, telling herself over again that it's just an animal. 

~*~ 

      Come Monday morning, Amira is a zombie, barely getting any sleep all weekend after the events of Saturday night. She knows she has to face Isaac this week and she has her class with Calix to start it all off, the scene of their kiss replaying in her head every time she closes her eyes. It was her biggest obstacle when trying to sleep, putting her close to a catatonic state. 

      Pulling into her parking spot, she starts a prayer in hopes that nothing bad happens today when she feels a heavy bump from the back of her car that shakes the whole thing. She opens her car door and checks behind to see someone has backed up right into her trunk. 

      "Of course, even God is laughing at me," she mutters as she gets out to assess the damage. As she does, the owner of the other car climbs out, a guy who looks to be around her age with shaggy dirty blonde hair and a tall posture. 

      "I am so sorry about this, I am such an idiot, I thought I needed to pull out a lot more to make the turn and I underestimated the distance from your car. Is there any damage?" he says in a rushed voice. 

      "Well, you need to pull your car away from mine before we know that." She holds back a bit of laughter. 

      "Oh, true, I guess." He jumps back in the car and parks back in his spot before getting out again. Amira looks at her bumper and sees nothing more than a little dent as damage. 

      "That's nothing, my car has been dinged all over and most of it is my fault," she says. 

      "So, does that mean you aren't going to like call the cops or ask for money?" 

      She waves him off. "That's ridiculous, it was an accident. Just drive a little better next time. It was nice bumping into you," she teases and gives him another wave goodbye. 

      "Hey, wait! Do you mind if I ask you for a favour?" he calls out. 

      Amira stops and turns back toward him, for some reason getting an eerie feeling from the situation, but he doesn't seem like that bad of a guy. 

      "That depends on what it is," she says. 

      He laughs. "It's nothing bad, I promise. I'm a new student this semester, my name is Evander and I'm a little late for my first day," he chuckles nervously. "Would you be able to help me find just my first class? I only know the room number from my schedule, but I can't seem to get the link for the virtual map to work." 

      "Oh, yeah, I have a solution for that." Amira takes over her bag and digs around until she finds a folder, taking out the hard copy she made of the school map during her first week, in case the same thing ever happened to her with the online version. 

      "You can use this until you get the virtual map going, it works pretty well, I've tried it out myself," she says. 

      He holds it up and smiles at her. "Thanks, this is great." 

      "No problem at all. I hate to cut this short, but I have a class to rush off to. I hope that works for you." She gives him a wave and runs off before he has the chance to continue the conversation. The entire time there has been a prickling feeling at the back of her neck and it grew worse the longer she seemed to stay there. 

      Shaking off the feeling, she runs off to her calculus class and dives into her studies to distract herself from the weird and eerie things that are happening lately, remembering the incident on her Saturday night. 

      Come her usual lunch time, Amira heads to the cafeteria and sits down in the same spot as always, this time hoping Calix comes to interrupt her lunch as he usually does. About 10 minutes later he hasn't made an appearance. 

      Just when she thinks she will enjoy her first lunch alone in a long time, she hears her name being called from the entrance and turns to see Evander running toward her. He takes a seat in front of her with a giddy grin on his face. 

      "I was hoping I would run into you before the end of the day," he says. He puts his bag on the table and starts rummaging through it. 

      "Is there something else you need help with?" She assumes he came to her since she is the first person he has spoken to here and might not have had the same chance with others in his classes so far. 

      He takes out a piece of paper and slides it over to her. 

      "I wanted to give this back to you. You were right, it led me right to my class with no issues, but I got the link to work on my phone now," he says. 

      She shakes her head and slides it back. "You didn't have to do that, I didn't expect it back, I gave it to you." 

      Evander shrugs. "It was a good excuse to talk to you if I did ever run into you again, this time it wouldn't be literally," he teases. "I realized after you left that I never even asked for your name before I asked for a favour from you." 

      "It wasn't really a favour, you just needed some help, no shame in that." 

      He shakes his head defiantly. "It was pretty rude of me to ask for your help in anyway after running into you like that. The least I could've done is ask for your name." 

      She can see he isn't going to give up until she gives him her name at the very least and doesn't see the harm in revealing that much before she potentially has to let him down. For all she knows he is just looking for a genuine friend in a new place, but she gets a sense that he is feeling her out for other intentions. 

      "It's Amira, and I've already forgotten about this morning, I assure you. I was happy to help a fellow student, and you're welcome to keep the map until you get to know the school. I've been here long enough to know where I'm going, it's pretty useless to me now."

      He slides the paper away and perks up. "How long have you been studying here?" 

      The prickling, eerie feeling from before comes creeping back, something telling her she shouldn't reveal any more information about herself to this guy, no matter how bright and cheerful his attitude might be. She can't explain this feeling or why she feels the need to be on such high alert around Evander and she wonders if this is the feeling of foreshadowing that characters experience in horror movies when they meet a serial killer, having no other explanation for it. 

      She keeps getting the thought that something bad is about to happen and she needs to come up with an excuse to leave again. Just as she reaches for her phone tucked in her pocket, a shadow washes over them on the side of the table and she looks up to see Calix towering over them with a menacing look on his face.