IceShine

XVII

Waking up the next morning, the first thing I feel is someone holding me. I remember what happened yesterday and a blush comes on my cheeks, as I slowly open my eyes to see John’s face, near mine, him sleeping soundly.

He looks like a little kid when he sleeps. His mouth is a little open and soft noises come out of it. I try to get out of his embrace, to go downstairs to the bathroom, but, his hold on me tightens.

I sigh, and try once more to get out of his embrace, but this time, not only does he tighten his arms around me, but he wakes up and puts me under him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

His sleepy voice says, and oh my God, that was a sexy voice. I blush when that thought comes over me, just as Johns’s eyes open to see me. He smirks at me. And I close my eyes in embarrassment.

“So? What do you have to do, so important, that you would leave me here sleeping alone?”

I open my eyes, look at him, and put my hands on his neck.

“I just wanted to go to the toilet… I would have come back…”

“Yeah, right!”

Ouch… It seems like my white lie got busted. I was about to go to the toilet, but then I would go to the kitchen. There I would meet Fiona, or Miranda, and then I would come up here…

He looks at me playfully, and goes beside me, on his side, watching me, while his hand remains on my waist. I turn to my side, to look at him.

“Okay, busted…”

He laughs. He just laughs. And like that, my mind goes mush, as if it heard the best song on the planet.

I remain watching him, like a creep while he laughs. When he stops, he looks at me in the eyes.

“I’ll forgive you if you give me a kiss…”

I arch up an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you get your fill yesterday?”

“Absolutely not. So…?”

Ugh… He looks at me with that crooked smile. The same crooked smile that partly made me like him.

“Okay…”

I slowly arch my back until my lips are on his. He kisses me back just as slowly, as if savoring the moment.

When I stop the kiss, he opens his eyes and smiles at me.

“Good morning…”

I smile back.

“Good morning”

He brings me closer to him to hug me tightly.

Then I hear it… Steps in the attic’s staircase, and murmuring. Oh, God!

“John, we must get up.”

“Why? Do you want to go the toilet so badly?”

“No, it’s not that…”

I turn my head up so that I can whisper to him in the ear.

“I heard footsteps on the staircase, and I’m sure it’s your sister…”

I feel him taking a deep breath.

“Baby, please, stop doing that… It makes me feel things…”

I look at him bewildered.

“What do you mean?”

I look into his eyes, and what I see makes my eyes go wide. Desire, l**t… I blush hard under that gaze, but he just sighs.

“I know, don’t worry… when you’re ready… Also, I don’t want my sister to see this…”

He says the last thing with a little laugh, and then lets go of me.

“Come on, get up…”

I get up in a sitting position, like him and stretch my arms.

“Want Miranda to never bother us again?”

I look at him with an arched eyebrow.

“Yes.”

Almost immediately, he asks again.

“Do you trust me?”

I let out a mocking laugh and say.

“Yes.”

“Good!”

And then and there he kissed me… Like his life depended on it. At first I was shocked, but then all thoughts of Miranda, or anyone else for that matter, witnessing this scene flow out of my head and I throw my arms around his neck.

We stay like that kissing for a few moments, until I heard it.

“AAAAAAAA! YUCK, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK! Oh my God! Seriously? No, no, I don’t want to see this!”

Quickly, I withdrew my arms and lips from John, and turn around to see there: Bina, who was looking on shocked. Greghory, who was seemingly disgusted by what he saw, but because I know him, he is happy for me. And then the voice: Miranda in the flesh, looking utterly disgusted!

“You just had to make me see nightmares for the rest of my life, huh?”

I feel John behind me shrugging, and I just laugh at her, as a red color coats my cheeks, for the nth time since the moment I woke up.

“It’s not my fault that you didn’t wait for us down, for breakfast, like you were supposed to… You knew Lila was with me…”

“Yes, but I did not expect to see my brother suck the face of my friend… Oh, God… I’ll be haunted by this image…”

I roll my eyes, and say to her.

“Stop being so dramatic…”

Her eyes go wide, and looks at me menacingly.

“I’m being dramatic? You think I’m being dramatic? Greghory, how do you feel about all this?”

Greghory, seemingly spaced out, comes back to reality. As soon as he realizes what she asked him, he looks from me and John, still hugging on the mattress, to Miranda, angrily pointing at us.

“Yeah, I feel disgusted… I just saw my little sister, with a guy… But, that doesn’t mean that I’ll have nightmares over it!”

She looks at him bewildered, lowers her hand, and turns around to step out of the attic, while shouting.

“I hate you all!”

All of us just laughed at that. Aah.. It’s been so long since I laughed, genuinely, so hard. I’m really into this moment, and I live it, not in my imagination… I always wanted this… People I could trust… People that cared about me…

But why? Why does it feel like all of this is going to change so soon?

…

A week later, and everything seems to be going well… For the most part… Miranda, Bina, and John are getting better and better at controlling their powers… Especially John. At this point, he has the better control of his powers out of the three of them. He usually gets help from Greghory.

At first, Greghory, too, had problems controlling his powers, so he feels obligated to help him. And John is an amazing student. He is always very careful with what Greghory says, and follows it to the q.

As for the girls, they have made amazing progress as well… Miranda uses her flaring temperament as a source of control for her flames. And that’s going very well… if you put aside the few times that people said mean things about me at school, and all of a sudden, the thing that they were holding suddenly burst into flames…

On the other hand, for Bina, it was not so easy… She, too, needed help from Greghory when controlling her power.I'm helping her master it, as light is common to air in many points. She seems to have grasped the right mindset for it, but a few times, she lost control of it, and Greghory had to step on it. But all in all, she is getting better at it by the day.

As for John and I… well… I really like him, and I love spending time with him. And he seems to feel the same. No more, am I left alone, even for a millisecond. He is always by my side. But not everyone is happy for us. Yesterday, when I went to the toilet, a girl that I didn’t even know existed confronted me, because “I was stealing her boyfriend” and “There was no way that he was interested in a freak like me.”

At first I got confused, because I didn’t know who she was talking about. But then, John’s name came out of her mouth, and I understood. I stopped her talking, and went to get out of the bathroom, but she grabbed my hand, and told me to shut the f**k up, like the b***h that I am. Hearing this, I turned my coldest gaze that I could master towards her, but before I could answer her, John burst open the door. I get the chills just thinking about that scene.

- Flashback -

“What the f**k did you say?”

I turn my gaze to John in shock. This is the first time that I’ve seen him THIS mad! The girl in front of me, who was still grabbing my arm, made a sound of total horror in the back of her throat.

“Let her go… now!”

At his command, the girl dropped my arm, but not before I felt her tremble. I turn to look at her, and she had a horrified expression on her face. I feel John’s arms take me in, and bringing me into his chest.

“Ever say that to my girlfriend again, and I’ll make sure YOU regret it…”

He took me with him, and pulled me out of the bathroom.

- End of flashback -

Wow! I still get chills when I think about the angry look on his face. Apparently, he got worried when I got late in coming back to the classroom, and came to look for me, when he heard our conversation with the girl. It was kind of hot, too… To see him this angry for my sake, sure made me go like liquid… Every day that gets by, I like him more and more.

But back to the serious stuff… The next day when all of this happened, I spoke to Jason about the books that I took from my father’s office, and we both started reading them, searching for something that could help the others train, but also help us, defeat the Black Wizard’s ancestor…

And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now…

We're sitting in the living room, armed with a big mug of coffee each, and read the endless pages of books. The others are downstairs, and train under Greghory’s supervision. From time to time, I hear some booms and debris falling on the floor. So, I guess everything is going smoothly.

I bring my mug of coffee to my lips, when I hear Jason clearing his throat.

“Lila?”

I turn my attention from the book to him.

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?”

I give him a questioning look.

“Yes, of course, what is it?”

He heaves a sigh, puts the book he was reading on the table, and takes off his glasses.

“I may not look like it, but I understand more than I let on…”

He pauses for a while and I continue looking at him. Where is he going with this?

“So, even though I think I know the answer, I need to ask you… Are you and John… like… together… a couple?”

My eyes go wide. I was not expecting him to begin this type of conversation. We didn’t exactly talk about telling his parents about our relationship. And we didn’t want to hide it either, from them. We just didn’t find the right opportunity. So, Jason, here, telling me about our relationship, is kind of shocking to me.

After the initial shock, I understand that I have to answer him, so with a blushing face and a small voice, I answer…

“Yes…”

He laughs at me and seems to find the whole thing amusing.

“But, don’t take it wrong, we just didn’t find the right time to talk to you and Fiona, about it.

That just makes him laugh louder. When he calms down, he addresses me again.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell you to leave my son alone… Also, I know you would tell us eventually… But, it was so obvious…”

“What do you mean?”

I ask completely speechless…

“You mean to tell me that you would find it completely normal, if, suddenly, he changed his seat so he sits beside you on all meals, he asks you more than 10 times an hour if you’re okay, and you always find an excuse to touch each other. It really reminded me of when me and Fiona started going out.”

He looks out of the window with a nostalgic gleam in his eyes. But as quickly as it comes, it goes, and he turns back to me, still looking at him speechless.

“Also… I know you’ve slept together in the attic, two times since last week. I saw you go up together while on my way to the bathroom.”

I give him an embarrassed look, and take my face in my hands. I feel it burning up, and I know for a fact, that I’m as red as a tomato. The truth is, that me and John have slept together a total of four times together this last week. We go into the attic, put the projector on, and stay hugged under the duvet, talking about everything and anything, till sleep takes over.

The fact that Jason has seen us going up there, only two times, makes me realize that we were not as discreet as I thought we were.

Jason laughs at me, and continues talking.

“Don’t worry, and don’t be embarrassed… I’m happy for you. And the only reason I decided to talk to you about it, is so that I can share a memory of mine with Arthur.”

Immediately, hearing my father’s name, I take my hands out of my face and turn to look at him, smiling at me.

“When John and Miranda were born, your mother was in her 9th month of pregnancy. They didn’t want to know your gender, so that it could be a surprise for them. But Arthur had told me, secretly, that he was hoping to have a little princess, that he could spoil. And marry my son too.”

At that he laughs, while my eyes get out of their sockets and my mouth hangs open.

“What???”

“Yes. He said that when you grew up, you would meet, fall in love and marry each other. So, he asked me to raise my son well, and not become a, quote-unquote, bastard, so he would deserve his little princess.”

At the end, his voice takes a girly turn, and I laugh, knowing very well, that my father always called me princess, with the most girly voice he could master.

“At the time, I was shocked that he even had the audacity to say that, but look what fate brought us… you two together… And seriously, Lila, I wouldn’t ask for a better girl for my son.”

I smile thankfully at him and cup his hand with mine.

“Thank you…”

I feel my emotions going to my eyes. I feel them well up. Seeing this, Jason smiles again, and says to me.

“Now that the sad stuff is out of the way… Let’s continue our reading.”

I nod and get back to reading.

…

After going through several books, I finally get to the last one. Jason still has a few, but this is the last out of the half that I took. I start reading and after some time come across something… something very disturbing.

I get up from my seat, and turn to look at Jason, to see him already looking at me, startled by my getting up.

“I found it.”