Never Say Die- Chapter 9

 

Chapter 9

 

 

            “I think that you should just come out and tell him, it would be the easiest way.”

            “And what if he's not okay with that? What do I do when he runs away screaming Flan?”

We were having a heated argument about telling Rhys that I was a demon, I was starting to wonder if I was wrong about it being so great that she knew my secret and that we could talk freely about it.

            “I'm not ready to tell him yet and I'm not going to unless I absolutely have to.” I said firmly crossing my arms over my chest, “End of conversation.”

            “Fine don't tell him, let him find out on his own and see how well he takes it then.” she retorted clearly miffed that I wasn't taking her advice but I wasn't going to budge on this one, this wasn't a bombshell that I could just drop on him and expect it all to be alright.

            “Fine I won't. And don't be pissy about it, I just can't tell him until I'm ready, or at least until I feel that he's ready.”

            “Fine.” she looked so childish that I couldn't help but laugh.

            “And don't you go telling him either.” I narrowed my eyes at her and she feigned innocence.

            “I would never!” I had to laugh at her appalled expression and rolled my eyes at her.

I walked around the bar and went to sit on a stool in front of my laptop where I'd been e-mailing Rhys before getting into the argument with Flan while I was up to get a drink.

            “All I'm asking is that you think about it?” she said stubbornly.

            “And I will think about it but for now I'm not telling him, I've never had a relationship Flan, and I'm well aware that I'm extremely lucky to have such a good one, I'm not ready to blow it all to pieces just yet alright?” She nodded and finally dropped it.

            I turned to the computer to see that he had signed off. I'd missed the last 20 minutes of his class and now he was headed to work. I jumped up, picked up the laptop and headed toward my room so I could get ready to go see him at Marlene's.

            Twenty minutes later I was in my car racing to the coffee shop, I'd pushed the conversation with Flan out of my head and had every intention of just enjoying a nice afternoon coffee while he worked and I watched. The first thing I saw when I pulled up to the curb was a head of red hair just inside the front window. Veronica and a bunch of Rhys's friends were gathered at the table, a few of the guys waved at me as I walked in and I waved back with a smile. When I turned toward the counter I saw that Rhys already had a drink made for me and was just waiting for me to come get it.

            As I reached for it he pulled the drink away, “Wait, you have to pay for it first.” I frowned at him as I pulled out my wallet, like that wasn't obvious.

            “Not with money.” he said and I looked at him quizzically. He leaned over the counter and puckered up. I couldn't hold back the smile as I leaned forward and kissed his lips softly.

            “I missed you.” he said.

            “I missed you too, sorry about bailing on you earlier, Flan started talking to me and I was distracted.”

            “Don't worry about it, no harm done.” He smiled and slid my drink toward me before coming out from behind the counter to lead me to a table.

            Everybody in the shop seemed to be served for the moment so he had a few minutes to visit with me. He pulled out my chair for me before sitting on the other side of the table.

Before he had even opened his mouth we were both startled to find that Veronica had come to stand behind him with her hand on his shoulder, she completely ignored me.

            “Hey Rhys some of the guys were talking about a trip to Vegas, you should come.” I noticed the way she specifically pointed out that he should come, conveniently leaving me out, but before I could ponder or comment on it I realized that she was rubbing her hands over his shoulders in a very seductive way and I stared in shock. Rhys reached up to push her hands away from him.

            “Sure, we'll talk about it and let them know, I’m not going if Saydie doesn’t want to go.” He said with a hint of finality but she wasn't going to budge.

            “Well don't take too long to make up your mind; they want to go while flights are still reasonably priced.” She put her arms around him, rubbing her hands down his chest, he was so shocked he didn't even move but I was ready to jump over the table and throttle her.

            “It should be a really good time; maybe I can show you some of my new moves.” Her lips were so close to his ear and I thought I saw her lick him? Just as he tried to push her away, she looked up at me and her eyes flashed red as she gave me an evil smile. I jumped up out of my seat blazing with anger just a second before Rhys did, he pushing her away and I pushing the table away.

            “What the f-” my profanity stopped short when he grabbed me around the waist as I lunged at her.

            “Touch him again and I'll kill you!” I hissed at her, I knew she was being influenced but I didn't care, she'd been pushing her luck for too long and this was something she'd probably do anyway.

            Rhys stared at me in shock at my declaration as I fumed at Veronica, so much that he completely loosened his grip on me.

            “Rhys and I belong together.” Veronica snarled at me, looking me up and down as if I was something disgusting to look at. I stepped right up in her face before I spoke and Rhys was very close by my side with a hand on my arm.

            “Keep it up Veronica and I will bury you. I will put you so far into the ground that nobody will ever have a prayer of finding your body, do you understand me?” Rhys's mouth dropped open and Veronica stared at me for a moment before turning on her heel with a huff and nearly stomping out of the door. Clearly she didn't take my threat seriously but it felt good to finally say something, influenced or not.

            A thunderous round of applause arose from the table by the window, they all stood up and came to surround Rhys and I, clapping me on the back and shaking my hand. There was a chorus of “It's about time!” and “Way to go Saydie!” I felt the blush spread across my cheeks and smiled, Rhys looked at me as if he was searching for something on my face as I pressed my lips to his.

            “She deserved it.” I told him firmly.

            “I just can't believe you actually said that you would kill her.” Oh Rhys, if you only knew that I actually could. I thought grimly.

            “I guess it was a little extreme but it just came out before I'd even thought about it.” I said sheepishly. “I'm sorry.”

            “Don't apologize to me, you seem to be a hero.” he laughed and I smiled, enjoying being the center of attention for once.

            A guy I remembered from the river to be named Aaron touched my shoulder, “Hey Saydie you guys totally have to come on the trip to Vegas, hell we can leave Veronica here, or let her come so you can kick her a*s. What happens in Vegas right?” he smiled and winked at me before walking in the opposite direction.

            I looked up at Rhys, “So what do you think? Are we going to Vegas?”

            “Do you think we should invite Flan?” he asked me and I nodded immediately.

            “It wouldn't be the same without her.” I grinned up at him. “I'm going to go home and tell her about it alright?” I needed to talk to her about what had just happened anyway.

            He kissed me one more time before I got in my car and left with the promise that he'd be by after work.

            I pulled into the driveway and ran into the house, not bothering to go at a human speed, “Flan! Where are you?” I hollered and she rushed down the stairs.

            “Saydie what's wrong? You're back already? Did something happen?” She looked like she was going to panic and I held up a hand to calm her down.

            “Everything is alright, I just had a little run in with Veronica at the shop thanks to Malcolm.”

            Her shoulders relaxed and she sighed, “Already?” I nodded. “He's not wasting any time is he?” she said more to herself than to me.

            “You should have seen what she was doing Flan, it was sick, rubbing herself all over him like she owned him, it was everything I could do not to fly across the table and kick her a*s.”

            “I'm surprised you didn't, what the hell was wrong with her?”

            “She was being influenced; even she's not that brave, not in front of me anyway.”

            A look of understanding crossed her face, “Still that was pretty bold, what did you do?”

            I smiled, “I told her I'd bury her if she ever touched him again.”

            Flan laughed, “I'd have done the same thing.”

            “Well, it got us all invited on a trip to Vegas in a month or so, I told Rhys I'd go if you did.” I raised an eyebrow at her and waited for a response.

            “Sure, why not, clearly you need a chaperon to keep you under control anyway.” She winked and I laughed.

            “Guess what this means? We get to go...”

            “SHOPPING!” We yelled together excitedly as we hugged and laughed like kids going to Disneyland for the first time.

 

            Rhys showed up as planned after he closed the shop, I warmed him up a plate of leftover spaghetti that Flan and I had made for dinner and sat with him at the bar while he ate.

            “You made quite an impression today you know.” he said with his mouth half full of food and I smiled at him.

            “I don't think I did anything more than anyone else would do if someone else was all up on the person they loved.”

            “I have to admit that it was kind of hot seeing you get all worked up like that.” he winked and shoved another fork full of spaghetti into his mouth.

            When he had swallowed he turned to me very seriously and I started feeling worried. “I actually wanted to ask you about something. When you jumped out of your seat, I thought I saw your eyes turn red, that was why I grabbed you and held you back.” I stared at him Oh S**t! I thought, I hadn't even noticed.

            “I don't know why you would have seen that.” I lied, praying he would just drop it.

            “Maybe your eyes just change color with your mood, it happens.” he looked at me expectantly, waiting for a logical explanation.

            “Yeah, maybe that's what happened.”

            “Saydie I think there's something you're not telling me.” my heart was pounding in my chest, what did I tell him now?

            “I don't know what else to say.” I swallowed hard and looked down at the floor.

            “Fine, then I’ll say it, I think you're a bit of a hot head when it comes to Veronica, you should have seen how fierce you looked.” Suddenly he laughed and I relaxed a little bit. “I've never seen anyone react the way you did, like a lion ready to spring. You love me more than I deserve.”

            I felt relief wash over me as I finally relaxed some more and smiled up at him, “You deserve to be loved so much more than anyone could ever love another person.”

            “I deserve to be loved only as much as you can love me. I don't need anything more than that.” he smiled and pressed his lips to mine.

            He finished his dinner, put his dishes in the dishwasher and pulled me to him with a serious look, “You know you don't need to be jealous, you're everything to me, Veronica is just water under the bridge.” Despite the fact that I’d never doubted what he was telling me, I felt a little more secure in my confidence now that he'd said it out loud.

            “Promise?” I asked and he leaned down so that his lips were millimeters from mine.

            “I promise.” he whispered before our lips came together.

 

 

 

            The trip to Vegas came all too soon and suddenly it was four thirty in the morning on the day we had to leave. I was still sitting in my bed when Flan came shuffling in, rubbing her eyes.

            “It's way too early for this crap, why did I agree to this again?” she asked as she fell onto my bed.

            “Because it's Vegas and it'll be fun after we get some sleep.” I laughed and she looked at me like I was full of crap.

            “You'd better hope so.” she grumbled, pushing herself back up and heading for her room.

I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled for the shower, grabbing things I'd need from my already packed suitcase.

            I felt better once I was clean and dressed; suddenly I found that I was even excited. Rhys and Aaron would be showing up soon to pick us up so I hurried and packed the little bit that I still needed and hauled my suitcase down the stairs. Right on time at six I saw headlights flash across the living room windows and Flan and I headed outside to put our suitcases in the back of Aaron's Chevy Avalanche before climbing in the back seat.

            Traffic on the freeway was terrible with all the morning rush hour traffic but we still made it on time and got checked in fifteen minutes before check-in was over. Then, to all of our horror, security seemed endless with person after person weaving around poles with straps sectioning off the maze that they called a line, but we chatted happily while slowly inching our way to the front of the line and it wasn't as bad as it had looked.

            Once we had all stripped down to just shirts, pants and socks and put our belongings in the bins to go through the x-ray machine, we took our turns going through the metal detector.

            “Will the person who owns this backpack please come back through?” someone suddenly called and I whipped around to look at him. Of course it was my bag, I went back through the metal detector to where he was standing with my backpack.

            “You have fluid in your suitcase miss, we need you to remove it.” I had to come all the way back because of liquids? I shrugged and pulled my small bottle of lotion out of a side pocket before they put it back through the x-ray machine. This time I passed through the detector and to the end of the x-ray machine without a problem, pulling on my shoes and jacket before hefting the backpack onto my back and heading for our gate.

            We picked up some motion sickness pills for Flan, grabbed snacks and drinks, made one last trip to the bathroom and then settled ourselves in to wait to board. Slowly most of the football team and their cheerleaders wandered to the gate to sit with us, our group seemed to be the majority of the crowd waiting to board.

            I saw Veronica and a couple of her groupies sit at the far end of the waiting area, very carefully not looking at us.

            “Gonna be a killer trip huh Rhys?” Aaron asked, clearly excited and ready to go. Rhys smiled and nodded, “Should be a pretty good time.”

            I smiled up at him just as he smiled down at me, “Any trip is a good time with you.” I told him and he leaned down to kiss me gently. I heard a loud throat clearing sound coming from the area where Veronica was sitting and rolled my eyes, Get over yourself I thought.

            Just then Flan pulled at my elbow and led me toward a bathroom intended for families, once we were inside she locked the door behind us.

            “You need a bathroom buddy?” I asked and she looked at me with an almost severe look on her face, “I've seen trouble on this trip, Malcolm has a few tricks up his sleeve. Try to stay by Rhys's side as often as possible and things should be alright.” I groaned, of course this couldn't just be a fun trip.

            “Okay fine I'll do my best to keep him with me at all times.” I assured her and reached for the doorknob, pushing the door open just as Veronica was reaching for it. She glared at me with unconcealed hatred as I walked past her and smiled.

            “Especially keep an eye on her.” Flan hissed in my ear and I nodded. As we got back to our seats they were just starting to let people board the plane, Rhys, Flan and I were among the first to board, taking our seats together in the same row. I breathed a sigh of relief when we found that Veronica was sitting quite a few rows back, “Is she driving you crazy yet?” Rhys asked with a smile.

            “Does she ever not?” I responded.

            “You know you have nothing to worry about right?” he looked at me seriously, staring into my eyes.

            “Of course I do, I've never doubted that for a minute.” I assured him, taking his hand. The plane was completely boarded in about 20 minutes, I pulled my mp3 player out of my backpack, ready to put on my headphones and relax the whole way but I should have guessed that it wouldn't be that easy. Since our group seemed to take up most of the plane it was more like one big party. People were loud and talkative, shouting at one another across the plane, at one point there was even a beach ball floating around, bouncing from person to person, everyone seemed to be laughing and having a great time once the plane was in the air.

            There was music coming from somewhere and things got even more rowdy when the stewards came through with drinks, there seemed to be an alcoholic beverage in the hand of every person in my line of vision. I did manage to relax and just enjoy hanging out with friends, holding Rhys's hand and chatting away with him and Flan about their homework, upcoming football games and who they did and didn't know on the flight.