Halo Of Fire: An Angel In Trouble

To Be Honest

Cecily came looking for me after the last class of the day. "Hey, Angel!" She said, "Are you ok? You didn't come to lunch."

"Hey, Cecily! I'm ok, just been dealing with some stuff. We meeting with the others to set up the club?"

"Uh, I think? We didn't talk about it at break so I don't know."

"Have you seen Tyler?"

Her aura tinged in a gentle shade of pink as she shook her head, "Not since break."

I nodded my head, "Ok, then. I have some questions for you then." I looped my arm through hers and dragged her to the cafe's patio. The sound of spoons hitting china swirled in the air with the chatter of bustling people having an afternoon break before extracurriculars.

"What about?"

"Tyler." I said, waving over a waitress that was standing idle at the entrance, surveying the patio.

Cecily's aura blushed a deeper shade of pink. "Oh..." she smiled sheepishly, "Can't we do it some other time?"

"Nope." I said popping the 'P,' then asking the waitress for a cappuccino with no cinnamon. Cecily ordered something as well and when the waitress left, she exhaled deeply. "Ok. Since it's clear that he'll be hanging around for a while I guess you should know what happened," she inhaled. I could tell she wasn't excited about his presence in the group, but the feelings I saw them share, the way their auras touched when they were near and the way they reached for each other when they were far, were telltale to me that this was important and I had to help them figure it out. "Yes... I do like him."

"Oooh! See? It wasn't that hard to admit." I said, in a singsong tone.

She inhaled sharply. "We were best friends since kindergarten and we would always look out for each other. I knew everything about him and he knew everything about me. He would stand up for me when someone would bully me and I'd console him when he had family problems." She bit her lip, "This might sound terribly stupid, but it felt like we completed each other." She said, her eyes distant.

"So what happened?" I asked, hesitant.

"We fought..." she said, frowning. The waitress came back then and placed our orders in front of us. We thanked her with a smile and continued the conversation.

"About what?" Her aura was increasingly becoming bluer. "If you don't want to talk about it it's ok."

"Four years ago his father was in a car accident." She said, in a small voice, "In the other car were my mother and my older brother. She was driving and swerved out of the road to try to avoid him." she paused. "My brother died on the spot..." tears brimmed in her eyes.

I reached my hand out to her and squeezed hers. She inhaled, "Initially I blamed his father for my brother's death, but I didn't blame Tyler, it's just that... one day we had a little bit of an argument, I was still really upset for Connors death and I said terrible things to him... I blamed his father for everything and... and-" She started crying so I got up and wrapped my arm around her trying to soothe her. "Connor was supposed to be twenty in three days."

"I'm so sorry Cecily. What happened to you and your family is terrible." I whispered wishing I hadn't brought it up in the first place.

"Connor was out drinking that night, he shouldn't have been. It was raining, the streets were dangerous and my mom did everything she could to protect him." Cecily said hugging me back. "Tyler's dad called 911 immediately and was with us the whole time. I know he didn't lose control of the car on purpose but somehow it still hurts."

"I understand." I wondered if there was anything I could do to make her feel better, but I could think of nothing.

"And with Tyler, it was my fault we fought," she said, wiping the tears before they could fall. "We never talked again. That is until you arrived..." she said, with a small smile. "You gave me hope that he could probably forgive me..."

I sensed it before I saw him, her aura began pulling back as if there were a gust of wind that could move it back. Tyler appeared in my line of vision then, "I'm not the one that has to forgive you," he said making Cecily snap her head back in a jerking movement nearly taking my head out with it. "You have to forgive me. I'm not the one that lost a loved one that night and I should have understood how you felt." His aura was as blue as the darkest sea.

"Tyler!" Cecily said, standing up and turning away from him to fix herself from the crying. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"Enough," he said, with a sad smile. "I'm sorry Cecily. I didn't know it hurt you as much as it did me. I didn't know," he pointed between the two of them. "I didn't think I could approach you anymore, I didn't think we could work."

She stood looking at him dumbfounded, tendrils of aura shifting from blue to pink at the edges. He embraced her tightly. She let go of her emotions and sobbed in his chest while he soothed her quietly. The crowd of people in the cafe plaza had started to disperse. Though we were making a scene, the people that were left were far enough from earshot that I knew they couldn't hear our conversation. When she calmed down, Tyler reluctantly released her from the embrace.

"I'm sorry for the terrible things I said to you," Cecily said, biting her lip.

"It's ok, CC." He said, smiling ruefully. "Thanks, Angel..." He said, to me pulling Cecily in his side.

"I didn't do anything," I said, leaving some money on the table, picking up my bag, and starting to walk towards the building again. "Do we know whether or not we're due to meet with Jordan today or am I supposed to go try another sport?"

"You did more than you can imagine." He said, smiling and pulling Cecily along with him as they walked with me. "I think we're supposed to meet in Block C, room 345. That's what the text said at least."

"I didn't get a text," I said, looking down at my phone and finding three unread messages. "Never mind."

"Yeah, I saw you, girls, on my way in so I came to get you, which is why I was where I was when you saw me."

"Fair enough," I nodded my head. "Let's go treasure hunting." I said, with an evil glint in my eye running for the door, "I'll race you there!"

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Veronique