The Elemental Trials

Fourteen

Marcus

I woke up with a sickening sense of dread deep in my stomach. 

It was like the instant my eyes opened I remembered Aurora, and how I'd forgotten to go back to her room last night. I felt unbelievably guilty, but underneath that guilt there was a sensation that hadn't gone away since she'd saved me from my fall. I'd been worried about it the entire day yesterday, and for some reason I thought that sleep would make it go away; which obviously wasn't the case.

I had the distinct, mind-boggling, terrifyingly wonderful sensation that I might be in love with Aurora. 

I'd suspected it since I first laid eyes on her, but when I was eight I watched a TV show about a really sexy woman who seduced men then killed them and that concept had stuck with me a little - so I decided back then that I would get to know her first. I'd been preparing for rejection since the start, and I think a tiny part of me wanted her to be a psycho or something so I didn't have to go through that. But at every turn, Aurora had met and succeeded my expectations. 

Even worse than that, I now had the creeping suspicion that she might feel something towards me too. 

I didn't think it'd be as strong as my own feelings - naturally - but that moment in the bed last night...I would've bet all my money that if Luke and Skye hadn't come in at that moment, we would've kissed. Maybe that was a sign that it shouldn't have happened. Maybe Aurora was just caught up in the moment, and if it had gone further then it would've messed everything up between us - and that was the last thing I wanted. 

I couldn't speculate too much about the previous night's events. Regardless of what might've happened, the one thing I knew for sure was how I felt at that exact moment. 

And if what I felt in my heart wasn't love, then it didn't exist. 

I glanced over at Luke's bed, finding it empty as usual. That guy got up so early and myself so late that I didn't think there would ever come a morning where I actually saw him in his bed. I sat up on the edge of my mattress, scratching my scalp as a yawn overtook me. 

I had no idea what I would do when I faced Aurora. I actually didn't think I could bring myself to. She'd want to talk about last night, I knew that for sure, even just as innocent a question as 'why didn't you come back?'. But I knew that I would crumble the second I looked in her eyes, and the words would just come spilling out before I could stop them.

It's happened before. In school there was a really cute girl who gave me a flower once - though in hindsight I'm pretty sure she'd been dared by her friends - and then out in the playground everyone was playing tag except me, and she was running away from the tagger, and then she bumped right into me and we were both on the ground, and then before I knew it I was asking her to marry me. 

It wasn't my best moment, but I don't think she had to look so disgusted. 

After that moment I promised myself I would never fall in love with anyone no matter what. I'd stay a lone wolf for life; no matter how many girls threw themselves at me, no matter how many bribes, barters or bargains people threw my way, I would never leave my heart in such a vulnerable position ever again. 

I think Aurora is the ninth girl since then that I've fallen for. 

But to be fair, she was the closest I had ever been to a girl in my life. And she was also a lot nicer than all of the rest. And I had also never felt anything remotely close to what I felt for her at that moment. All the girls before were reduced to smidges; a miniscule, momentary tug at the heartstrings that blew away like a leaf in the breeze. What I felt for Aurora was more real than all of them combined.