I love him, I love him not...

I love him, I love him not...(Ghost story) - Part 10

A long while later, Belinda was watching the stars from her balcony again. She knew Keith knew there was something wrong but she had managed to convince him she was trying to distance herself so she could pull this off better. And maybe it would be easier if he thought she was getting distant for another reason. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard this time, knowing that they weren't really together. 

Her sad eyes turned up to the moon, she allowed herself a moment of pity. What if this was all one massive prank? How would Andrew feel knowing she had betrayed him, made fun of him? Not that it was really an option, given the consequences if he was a genie. She couldn't afford that risk and she knew she had no dignity left. The only thing she wanted was for this to be over. 

As she dressed for bed, she thought she saw something move. Instinctively turning, she pulled her shirt on and dove for the bed. Looking at the balcony, she saw Andrew standing beyond the door. Stifling a scream, she shrank further into the blankets. And then she remembered her part in the coming week. She needed him to believe that she believed him. 

Standing shyly, she unlocked the door, smiling mischievously at him. As he stepped into her room, quiet as a cat, she mock punched him on the shoulder. 

"Jerk, you scared the living daylights outta me. What're you doing here?" 

Andrew seemed to be considering something, whether or not to keep playing the love sick boy card or to go for a new tactic. So Belinda leaned forward and kissed him softly. Just once, sweet and short and then she pulled back and looked up nervously. As if she was scared he had changed his mind. 

"D-does this mean you..." Andrew said, his eyes lighting up gently. He took a breath and continued, "you like me back? Does it?" 

"What do you think?" She whispered back, letting him lean in and kiss her. She could feel the wrongness of kissing someone other than Keith but she buried that. She couldn't afford to think of Keith, not when she was with Andrew. It would break her again. 

"But what about Keith?" It was like he could read her mind. She tried to look as hurt as she could, which wasn't difficult. He had hurt her, beyond what she could have ever pretended and she let that part, and that part only, show. 

"He lied. I thought...I should have never listened to him. He started saying you weren't human! I couldn't believe him. I couldn't, not with the way I felt about you..." 

She caught a triumphant smile on his face before he turned sympathetic. "How could I be inhuman? God, is he jealous or something?" 

"Or something," Belinda agreed. She held onto him, not letting him see much of her face. She stepped back suddenly, looking at him with wide eyes, full of innocence. She had never known she could act. But now that her life possibly hung in the balance some buried fear was making her calm. 

"Sorry for coming around so late. I wasn't sure if you'd still be awake but I was hoping...and I guess my prayers reached somebody. I love you, you know." 

And Belinda was thrown out of her certainty. If he was human and she did this, she was condemning herself to a life alone. Worse than that, she would be embarrassing the poor boy in front of the whole school. But she tried to hold on to her conviction, with frightening tenacity. And then she bid him goodnight. 

She didn't know what made her do it. She just knew that he needed to leave and she needed to think. And he left, easy as anything, smiling dopily. But before she could think, she was on the bed, fast asleep. 

Across town, Keith was pacing his room. What was he going to do? She obviously didn't trust him anymore. He could see it in her eyes when he looked carefully enough. But there had been - something - when they had kissed, there on her bed. Everything had been perfect, her small body, her lips, the way she fitted to him...but then, unfairly, she had pulled away. She had left him wanting more, almost as if she had abandoned him at sea in a boat with no paddles. 

His teeth worried his bottom lip as he thought back to the way he had felt. He shouldn't have lost it like that, he knew. He should have been able to pull away leaving her wanting more. That's what he should have done but he had lost his objectivity, left it somewhere in her house when he had laid down with her. And he hadn't been grateful when she had pulled away, giving him an excuse. No, the word that had run through his head was 'tease'.  

And he had almost demanded more, had almost lost his head for her. The only thing that stopped him was the miniscule voice of reason, telling him he was there on a job. She was part of the job and nothing else. She should be nothing to him and he had to get his priorities straight. And now he had to avoid her like the plague so that Andrew wouldn't get suspicious. And he was imagining what it would be like once Andrew was gone. 

She's not really yours, a snide voice said in his head. She never will be. Once you tell her the truth about what's going on, she's going to freak. And even if you don't tell her, someone else will when they find out. He ignored the voice but went to sleep restless.