Out of the Darkness

101

She hooked arms with her, and walked the few short steps over to us. "This is my friend, Addy. The one I told you about." I stared at her confused. "When did you tell us about her?" Tara rolled her eyes at me. "I've literally been telling everyone about her for, like, 2 weeks now. We met at a photo shoot and I've been trying to get her over to meet everyone, but she's always BUSY!" Tara bumped her with her hip and the girl, Addy, laughed. "I must've missed it," I replied, catching the girl's eye. She blushed and looked away. That actually happened a lot, simply because Sam and I were getting to be more well known. Her eyes were pretty though. A deep chocolate brown with gold flecks. Nothing like Anna's vibrant emerald shade that made it hard for me to breath when I looked into them. "Well, you haven't really been around Colby," Tara said. I shrugged, and stood up. "Yeah, I guess not. I'm not gonna go play ball with Corey and the guys. Anybody wanna join?" "Ooo, I'd love too!" the girl spoke up. I side glanced at her and frowned, as I took in her outfit. "You play ball?" She shrugged and smiled, bright white teeth shining at me. "Yeah, a little. I was on my school's team in high school and college. We won regionals and state championships." I was impressed, not gonna lie, but there was still the problem of her outfit. "You can play dressed like that?" I asked, letting my eyes rake up and down her body. Her face flushed. "Oh...well, I can, but it might be a little revealing at times." I smirked. That was an understatement. She was dressed in a white tube top, with a black and white flannel designed pleated skirt that stopped about mid thigh. Then there were these chunky white wedge sandals on her feet, her toenails painted black with little white roses on them. Cute. "I've got some clothes you can wear," I sighed, then headed towards the back door. I stopped and turned back towards the crowd. The girl, Addy, was still just standing there, staring at me with her mouth hanging open a little. "You coming?" I asked, a little bewildered, and motioned her inside the open door. She snapped her mouth shut and blushed again. She did that a lot apparently. "Yes," she replied, glanced at Tara, who smiled at her, then walked over to me, and inside the door that I was holding open. "This way," I said, leading her through the kitchen area, down the hall, into the entry way, then up the stairs. "Wow, this is a big house. It's nice," she said quietly, following me up the stairs. I shrugged, but felt a little pride. Sam and I had worked hard to be able to afford this house. "Yeah, it's okay. Sam and I bought it a while ago." I opened my bedroom door, without thinking once about Anna, until I saw her form sitting on my bed. She looked up, happy to see me, but her eyes dimmed as soon as she saw Addy. I yanked the door shut before Addy could see her. "Um, my room is a mess. Let me pick up my dirty clothes and stuff before you come in." She laughed, her blond hair glittering in the light, and falling away from her face. "It's okay. I've see messy rooms and dirty clothes before." She took a step towards my bedroom door, but I held my hand out, stopping her. "I'd feel better, if you'd give me just a minute," I replied, then ducked inside my room, closing the door swiftly in her shocked face. When I turned back towards the bed, Anna was nowhere to be seen, but I smelled her soft citrusy scent in the air. "Anna," I whispered, walking towards the couch, but letting my eyes sweep the room for any sign of her. "SHIT!" I exclaimed, when she materialized right in front of me. "Don't do that!" I whisper shouted. "You're going to give me a heart attack."  "Colby? Is everything alright?" I heard Addy call from the hallway. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a minute," I yelled, never taking my eyes off Anna's. Those emerald green rays burned into mine. Her lips were clamped together, her jaw clenched. She looked pissed. "What happened?" I asked, automatically wanting to come to her defense. She sniffed haughtily, and lifted her chin. "Nothing happened. I just felt bad about how I left things earlier so I wanted to see how you were doing. I see that you're completely fine though. So, I'll just go." "Anna, wa-" I said, reaching out to her. Only to have my fingers slip through air, and the lingering scent of citrus in the air. "Fuck," I said, running my hand through my hair. Then I remembered what Ash had said about not interacting. Maybe it was better that she was mad at me. For now, anyway. "Colby," a soft voice said, and I looked over to my door. Addy had opened it a few inches and stuck her head inside. "I'm sorry. I thought something might've been wrong. I heard you talking and you sounded anxious or something," she said, looking embarrassed. I shook my head, not really paying attention to her. "No. Everything is fine. Why are we in here?" I asked, temporarily forgetting. I wanted her to leave and let me just sulk alone in my room. I knew that wasn't going to help Anna or myself. If I wasn't supposed to interact with her, then I was going to do my best. If I were left alone with nothing to do, then I knew that I would reach out to her. "Um, you said that you had some clothes that I could play ball in?" she said, making it sound like a question. "Right. Clothes," I repeated, walking over to my dresser.