The Magic Makers

Chapter 23

Ariana skipped along, making Phillip feel extremely weightless. He tried to keep up with her. She was very pleased today, maybe because she was going home. What am I gonna say to them, Phillip thought, frowning a little. Would they mind me? Would they ask me to break it off with Ariana? He couldn't do that, but somehow he felt that that was essential for Ariana's safety. Maybe he could convince her to stay at her parent's place while he went on. She wouldn't agree. He wasn't sure wether even he agreed to that. "What're you thinking?" Ariana asked, kissing him on his cheek. "Um.. nothing.." Phillip stuttered. The intensity of the kiss had him reeling. I should get used to this now, he thought, smiling to himself. Ariana slipped her arm through his. "Don't worry so much, Phillip." She said softly, looking into his eyes. Phillip smiled down at her gratefully. "I'm not worried at all, Ari." He lied, swinging his arm around her. "Liar." Ariana muttered and pushed him away. She expected him to fall right back into her, but he stayed away. She looked at him curiously as he sighed. "Yeah.. I'm a liar." He whispered. In every sense of the word.. a voice echoed in his head and he gulped. "What is wrong with you, Phillip?" She asked him softly, without attempting to go close to him. "I don't know Ari. It's just that.. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by dragging you away like this. It's not right." Phillip said, grateful for the soft touch of Ariana's hand on his cheek. "Phillip. I love you. I would follow you into hell, okay?" Ariana whispered. But the place I'm taking you to is worse than hell, Ari. Would you follow me there? Phillip thought, but for Ariana's sake, he looked into her eyes and smiled. "Okay." He nodded softly. Ariana smiled and kissed him. It was difficult not to enjoy Ariana's kisses. They reminded him of wonderful things like.. well, like Ariana. It literally was like she was caressing his lips when she kissed him so softly. Phillip's guilt washed away every time she kissed him. He kissed her back with equal passion, lifting her off the ground and wrapping her legs around his waist. "I love you, Phillip." She mumbled against his lips, making him grin. He reminded her of home made chocolate chip cookies and the feel of the wind rushing through her hair.
Phillip wished they could've stayed that way. No responsibilities. No hurry to get anywhere. Just frozen in that moment. But Ariana decided to put her feet back on the ground. Literally. "Let's go. We've got a lot do." She said and started walking, Phillip tailing her. He was getting more apprehensive as they approached her house. He had to act like nothing was wrong.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Ariana's house was a big one. Set in a friendly neighbourhood, it's front porch was decorated with lights and trees. The house looked warm and inviting, giving the feeling of being home even to Phillip, who didn't belong there. His trepidation ebbed away a little.

Before he could say anything about the house and how pretty Ariana looked in it's lights, a little girl tore out the front door. She and Ariana held a striking similarity. She had the same blue eyes, but lighter hair. She ran towards Ariana, mouth open in a grin, and Ariana held out her arms, eyes shining.
"AAYANA!!" The little girl screamed and hurled herself on her sister. "Hey, Anna!" Ariana enveloped her little sister in a tight hug. Phillip's face broke into a grin. Ariana was on the grass, being tickled by her younger sister and laughing her head off. "I miss you, Aayana." The pretty child said and hugged her sister again. "I miss you too, Anna." Ariana said, imitating her sister's voice. Anna pulled away from Ariana. "Who he?" She asked, pointing at Phillip. "Oh, Phillip, this is Anna, my younger sister. And Anna, this is-" Phillip sat down next to Ariana and smiled at Anna. "Hey, Anna. I'm Phillip." He said to her, holding out his hand. Anna put her soft hand into his hesitantly. "Hi Phillip." She said shyly.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Phillip looked adorable playing with Anna. Ariana stared at him as she sipped her hot chocolate. Christmas was on the day after tomorrow and a Christmas tree had already been put up in a corner of the front yard. The decorations were remaining. "So that's your.. ahem.. boyfriend?" Ariana's dad, Mr. James Rivers asked awkwardly. He had Ariana's hair: jet black and straightish. Ariana tore her eyes away from Phillip and looked at him. Her mom had gone in to get some marshmallows. "Yeah, dad." James nodded. "Finally.." he mumbled. "What was that?" Ariana asked, though she had heard him perfectly. "Nothing, nothing." He said hastily, knowing how touchy Ariana was about her relationship status. Ariana took another sip, hiding her grin. "Marshmallows!" Ariana's mother, Mrs Joan Rivers, announced. Ariana had her eyes. "Phillip? Would you like some marshmallows?" She called to Phillip, who was trying desperately to braid Anna's long auburn hair. "No thanks Mrs Rivers!" He called. Ariana took some marshmallows and went to sit next to them. She popped a marshmallow into Phillip's mouth. "Phillip know how to braid hair!" Anna called excitedly as Ariana raised an eyebrow at the mess Phillip was calling a braid. He grinned sheepishly at her. "Couldn't say no to her." He explained, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "It's a good thing she herself doesn't know what a braid is." Ariana said, chuckling. They left Anna to play with her dolls and joined Ariana's parents on the porch. "So Phillip? Where do you plan to go from here?" Ariana's mom asked him the question he dreaded as she poured herself a cup of hot chocolate. "Um.. I don't know Mrs Rivers.. I guess we'll rent an apartment somewhere or something." He replied awkwardly, thankful for the slight reassuring squeeze Ariana gave his hand under the table. "Yes that's a good idea.. but you'll have got to stay here till Christmas." James said. Phillip looked at Ariana, who nodded enthusiastically. "I mean.. if it's fine with you." She added hastily, realising that she couldn't decide their itinerary. "Yeah, sure." He nodded in assertion. "So it's settled then. We'll be having you'll till Christmas. That'll be nice.." Mrs Rivers said, considering. Ariana stifled a yawn. "C'mon. Let's show you up to your bedroom. It's really late. Anna! Time to sleep!" Mr. Rivers called to Anna who was trying hard not to fall asleep. They all went up the old wooden stairs and reached the top floor landing. There were two bedrooms. One looked really small and all it had was a bed and a table which was Anna's. The other room was huge and it had a beautiful bed. There was also an old study desk. This was Ariana's old room.
"You and Phillip are over there." Mr Rivers said, pointing to the big room. "You'll will sleep together, right?" He asked hesitantly. Ariana looked at Phillip. He really didn't want to sleep next to Ariana. He might not be able to help himself. And he couldn't do that. He couldn't sleep with her and do what he was about to do. He'd rather not sleep next to Ariana. "Yeah, we will." He said loudly. What the fuck?! He facepalmed himself mentally. Ariana looked bright and suddenly he was kind of glad he said he would sleep next to her. He would miss not waking up to that face in the morning. "And Anna will be sleeping in the next room so.. you know, don't disturb her with.. whatever." Mr Rivers said awkwardly and Ariana laughed. "Don't worry dad! We'll be sleeping so soundly that Anna will come and sleep next to us peacefully." She assured him. Phillip sighed internally. "We'll be right downstairs if you need anything darlings. Sleep well." Mrs Rivers said and they went off to bed. Phillip and Ariana lay on the bed after a while, and they hardly had spoken a word when Anna jumped on Ariana's stomach. "I sleep with Aayana!" She declared and snuggled into the space between Phillip and Ariana. Ariana looked at Phillip sheepishly. He answered by wrapping an arm around her little sister and closing his eyes peacefully. Ariana smiled and kissed Phillip's nose, making him grin.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"I do hope she's fine, you know." Elsa said worriedly, eating her sandwich. She had already called Ariana twice, but somehow was still worried. "She'll be fine, she's tough." Katherine assured her as she poured dressing all over her salad. Zack nodded in agreement. His arm was slung over Katherine's chair and he was stuffing himself with an éclair. Katherine looked at him disapprovingly. "You could atleast look a little convincing." She said. Zack nodded again, mouth still full of éclairs. Katherine smiled and kissed him, and Zack looked like he had trouble downing his yummy éclair. Elsa looked down uncomfortably, wishing they wouldn't keep doing this. It reminded her of Luke.
"So, any updates on Ariana?" Tyler, a cute blonde, sat down beside Elsa. "You seem really interested." She snapped. "Down, girl." He warned, waggling his eyebrows at her. Elsa snarled in reply. Katherine looked at them affectionately. "You and Tyler look adorable together." The words slipped out of her mouth before she could even think. As soon as she realised, she clapped a hand over her mouth, but Elsa had already registered the comment. Katherine expected her to drown in misery and start saying really deep stuff, but, on the contrary, Elsa said, "Don't be stupid Kath! I don't look adorable with anybody!" Tyler looked at her wistfully. "I wish you could just see how adorable you look with me.." he said dreamily. "Get. Out. Of. Here. Tyler." Elsa said firmly, making Tyler back away in surprise. "Okay, okay girl.." He said, motioning with his hands for her to calm down. Elsa sighed and laid her head down on her desk. Katherine asked Zack softly to leave them alone. "Hey Elsie.." Kath sat next to Elsa and gave her a one arm hug. "I miss them.." Elsa said softly. "Miss who, Elsa?" "Luke and Ariana..." Elsa said softly. Katherine looked at her sadly. "Yeah.. I miss her too.." she said, pretending she hadn't heard the 'Luke' part. "Was he really bad, Kath? Would he have treated me right?" Elsa asked, head still on her table. Katherine sighed. "I don't know, Elsa. I really don't know." She admitted. "Hey, why don't we try helping Ariana? In proving the Auraniums innocent?" Katherine suggested. Elsa brightened up. "Sure! The more we help her, the sooner she comes home. And Christmas's around the corner as well. Preparing for it will help me take my mind off that bastard." Elsa said simply, making Katherine stare at her for a few seconds. "C'mon!" Elsa called, snapping Katherine out of her trance. "We have a lot to do.."

A/N: Waddup fellow unicorns! TMM has hit 536 reads and even though that's kinda slow, it's better than nothing, I guess. Oh, and it also has received 102 votes. So, I wanna thank all those lovely cookies out there for voting!! *Crazy cheering and whooping*
.
.
.
.
.
.
lol I'm so demented XD

So I just got some really valuable feedback from a reader. This lovely cookie told me that my story's getting a wee bit.. boring. You can't imagine how hurt I was.
*sniffs and blows nose on sleeve*
Okay that's disgusting.
So I considered this AUDACIOUS cookie's opinion and I came to a conclusion real quick: I'm gonna burn that cookie to a crisp. MUHAHAHAHA
Just kidding. I swear I don't indulge in cannibalism.

Okay let's get serious here. I really value people's opinions and I wanna know wether you cookies feel the same: is TMM getting boring?

Tell me as soon as possible. I'm dying out here. *choking sounds*

Yours for eternity,
leviosapatronus.

Lol I sound like a 100 year old grandma writing a love letter. XD

See ya cookies soon!!
*blows kisses in random directions like a retard*

That's better ;)