Faults

Chapter 4: Taylor

"He's mine!" Caitlin screeches at Emmie.

Emmie scoffs. "Says who?"

The girls continue to bicker at each other, arguing over me. Music, sweet music to my ears. While I don't particularly like either of them, watching this is highly entertaining. They dragged me down to the lake, thinking they would get an equal share of me, but in reality they were a bit off.

Just to get a rise out of Emmie, I put my arm around Caitlin's waist during the walk here. I thought it would be fun to mess with her, and damn I was totally right.

Caitlin pushes Emmie into the water, making her squeal. Caitlin thrusts out her hand, sending a wave crashing over Emmie's head. "Bitch!" she yells.

Bursting into her trademark fit of cackles, Caitlin sends a larger wave to Emmie. It's decently impressive and even better since Emmie has no defense against it. While Caitlin isn't paying attention, Emmie trudges her away out of the shallow water and sloshes over to her competition, giving her a hard slap to the face.

Caitlin gasps and returns the favor, her hand connecting with Emmie's cheek, making a resounding smack. I lean back on the grass and laugh quietly to myself, enjoying the show. I love seeing girls fight over me, especially these two.

There's only one winner out of the three of us, and it's me. They have no idea that I'm never going to choose either of them, so they're just wasting all their efforts on nothing. Unfortunately for them, they mean almost nothing to me. Fortunately for me, I get everything I need without committing to anything.

Of course, I don't kiss and tell. Or maybe I should, it would sure create some nice ripples in this "calm" pond of friendship the girls share. Emmie is prettier than Caitlin, which is why I hang around her a lot more. I've kissed her a thousand times, and never once kissed Caitlin. I might have to share that with my dear Caitie.

However, Emmie lacks promise in the fighting area, for obvious reasons. It seems that her fiercest attack is slapping her opponent in the face. She's done that five times in the last three minutes. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me.

A weird feeling suddenly distracts me from the fight for a second. It's almost like what Aydin and Archie were talking about last week, a feeling of dread. Or maybe someone watching me. I can't put a pin on what it actually is, but I dismiss it. I'm not using my ability, so things should be fine.

The fight is starting to get boring now, if you dismiss the fact that Caitlin just collapsed. Emmie rushes to her side, despite the fact that they were trying to slap each other into oblivion seconds before. I stand up and walk over to them, curious what's going on.

Caitlin is still awake but she's clutching her head.

The headaches.

Well, I guess I was wrong. Things aren't fine. Caitlin was totally alright and then she just wasn't. Maybe there really is something bad going on. I'm not one to dwell on the matters of things that affect other people, but this is making me curious.

It's starting to affect my daily life, as well as the people around me. If anything, it's just plain annoying. It's not like I'm going to do anything about it–I'll leave that to the "good Samaritans" of the kingdom.

Even in the midst of this little crisis, I take an opportunity to make one of the girls mad. I kneel down and grab Caitlin's hand, brushing my thumb over her skin. Emmie shoots me a glare and pushes me away from the two of them.

I smirk and stand up. Glad Emmie has that covered because I don't know how long I can act like the doting boy. No time to wonder about that, now I'm too focused on what just caught my attention on the other side of the lake.

This part of the lake is relatively narrow, making seeing things on the other side fairly easy. I walk to the edge of the water to confirm that I'm actually seeing that my eyes are telling me I am.

I'm not sure how I didn't notice these two before, but it looks like they're about to kiss. There's no way, I think as one of them leans in closer to the other. I squint, making sure that my eyes aren't playing tricks on me. Tch, they don't even know I'm watching them, I think.

Well, now they do.

Caitlin's cries of distress cause the two people on the other side to notice me and the girls. Damn you, Caitlin. This would've been some really good blackmail.

Now that the two are facing me, though, I can pretty much make out their features. No optical illusions here, these two are exactly who I thought they were.

I ponder what I just saw for a moment. Perhaps I still can use this as blackmail. Granted, it would've had more leverage if they have actually kissed, but I can work with this.

I think I'll have a chat with one of them later on tonight.