Saturday afternoon, but nobody was there, and then Uncle
Tony wanted me to work all day Sunday so...” He looked
down. “Sorry, you must think I'm a real jerk for not calling
you.”
You – a jerk?
That settled it. I'd rather be with someone who
apologized when he wasn't being a jerk than someone who
refused to apologize when he was one.
“No problem,” I said. “I figured I hadn't given you
my number or anything, so I wasn't hurt. And I had a lot of
homework to do. Aeros history is hard when you've only
been living here a couple of days. I feel so behind.”
“Nah, don't worry,” he said. “You'll catch up. But –
um – hopefully – do you think maybe you'd catch up enough
in time to take a couple of hours off tonight?”
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“I doubt it! I've got so much...” Then I realized what
he was saying. “Unless you have a suggestion for how I
could better spend my time.”
Varun brightened immediately. “There's so much to
do here on Aeros,” he said. “And so little time!” He smiled
shyly at me. “You know, Mac,” he said. “I had a really great
time with you the other night. Only you could make a
twelve-year-old kid's party so much fun! Well, that and
pizza, at any rate.”
“I'm really glad I came,” I said. “It was a good start
to the year.”
“So maybe we could do it again, sometime?” Varun
looked up at me hopefully. “Maybe without all the kids
running around?”
“Again sometime?”
“Well, I was thinking more of again tonight,” said
Varun. “Maybe I could take you out on Uncle Tony's boat.
We could go to a cove I know about five miles east of here.
You can't get to it by walking; the path's too steep. Maybe I
could bring a picnic – a bottle of coconut cider, some fruit
and cheese, maybe I can even steal us a meal from the hotel
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buffet.”
“Yeah,” I said. “That sounds nice. I'd like that a lot.”
A romantic moonlit picnic certainly sounded a lot more fun
than getting chased by bulls and threatened by warrior men
on a mountaintop. And I would be going with someone who
seemed to actually want me around.
“Wow,” Varun said. “It sounds like I managed to get
a date with a pretty girl. No idea how that happened. You can
back out now, you know. If you're not sure.” He grinned at
me.
“I don't know,” I said, flirting back. “I feel like I got
a pretty good deal, too.”
As I spoke, Varun put his arm around my shoulder.
He smiled as he leaned in, his lips lightly brushing mine.
Then he pulled me close, his kiss soft and romantic, his hand
lightly cupped behind my head, stroking my hair with
infinite tenderness.
“No, definitely me,” said Varun. “I got the better
deal! You'll just have to settle for me, I guess.” I loved the
way I looked in his eyes – he made me feel beautiful.
Desirable. Wanted – from my hair to my toes. Someone that
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a guy would be proud, would be happy to want. Not someone
to be insulted, to be turned away. I wanted to feel this way
all the time: like there was somebody out there who made
me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. Somebody
out there I could rely on.
“I'm happy to settle,” I said.
“How about I pick you up at eight?”
I couldn't believe it – I was actually blushing. Giddy,
even. Varun's charm and gentlemanly flirtations were going
to my head.
“Eight sounds good,” I said. “Gives me time to finish
my homework first.”
“And you'll bring a bathing suit, this time?”
“I've got loads,” I said.
“And I'll bring the food,” he said. “Expect to have the
best night of your life.”
He leaned in and kissed me again, leaning me gently
against the lockers and running his fingers through my hair.
I sighed with delight as Varun lightly touched my tongue
with his.
“Bye, Mac,” he said, kissing me one more time as he
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left.
To my surprise, I spotted Chance out of the corner of
my eye. He was standing at the end of the hallway, his face
angrier than ever as his eyes followed Varun down the
corridor, glaring so furiously that his eyes seemed to turn red
with anger. His gaze fixed on me, and immediately I felt as
if I could not breathe – as if all his anger, his wild lust, his
desire, were flooding through me, as if our minds had
connected and I was feeling not only my own desire, but also
his.
He turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving me
alone and still breathless.
“Mac kenz-ee!” A familiar female voice made me
turn around and catch my breath. Haven was staring me
down, flanked by her friends. “Mackenzy, how've you been?
I haven't seen you all day!”
“I've been around.” I looked Haven up and down
warily. “Trying to get used to Aeros. What have you been
doing?”
“I've been at a meet all weekend,” said Haven. “We
all have. The public school across the island has a pretty
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tough team to
