Killed Killers (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter Twelve

    Ere woke with a start, sitting up suddenly. For a second, she couldn't remember where she was, but then she recognized the huge mirror that hung at the foot of her new bed. Wait a second, she though to herself, suddenly remembering the earlier problem with Rian and Gem, how she had fallen asleep in Gem's arms in the ballroom.

    She blushed at the thought. Falling asleep in his arms sounded so much more romantic than it had actually been, right? At this point, Ere was so confused that she couldn't even begin to figure out exactly what had gone on between her and Rian, much less her and ever cryptic Gem. As she thought about it, she sat up, yawning and stretching. She flipped her legs over the edge of the bed, and found that Gem had covered her up. She stood, curling her toes against the hard wood floor of her bedroom. She wandered out onto the deck, not bothering to look around the already too familiar room. She liked her view of the forest much more than her room, and she really needed some fresh air. She leaned against the railing, sighing as she watched the forest shift and change below her.

"Morning." She jumped at the voice, spinning around to face the speaker. She was surprised to find Gem staring back at her from just inside her room. He had changed out of the suit that he had been wearing last time she saw him, and he was now in a white t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans.

"Oh my god, Gem." She put a hand over her heart, trying to slow its rapid beating. "Wait, were you watching me sleep?" What was it with him and watching her sleep?

"Yes, I was." He replied, one corner of his perfect mouth turned upwards in a smirk.

"What the hell?" She burst out. She could feel her cheeks heating to a nice rosy color and by the look on his face, Gem was noticing. His half smile turned into a full on grin.

"Are you embarrassed?" He grinned at her, showing his teeth off in a wolfish manner. He stepped out onto the balcony towards her, his bare feet making no noise against the pavement.

Ere huffed out a sigh and glared at him, hoping that she was very clearly showing him exactly how she felt about his deranged stalkerish habits.

"It's okay, you didn't snore." He looked very solemn, an expression that she wasn't sure she could trust on Gem "That much." He added, his smirk returning.

"Oh my god, I am going to kill you!" She lunged after him, but he had predicted her move and retreated a few steps back into her room.

"Now now Ere," He taunted, stepping back to dodge another attack, "Let's not be brash." He caught her wrists as she jumped at him again, transitioning them so that they were pinned behind her back.

"It's not very nice to attack mere strangers." Ere could practically feel the smirk from his face, even from his position behind her.

"Stranger my ass." She hissed, twisting out of his grip and going at him again. Suddenly, the door to her room from the stairwell banged open, and both Gem and Ere stopped mid stride. Cara was standing in the doorway, and Ere watched as her eyes flicked back and forth from one of them to the other.

"Gem, out." She commanded, stepping aside to make room for him to pass her. He dropped his hands from where they had frozen when she had opened the door and walked past her, turning on final time to throw a wink at Ere before he began to descend down the stairs.

"Okay, now that he's out, it's time for you to prepare for dinner. We figured you would want to eat with everyone else this time." She walked into Ere's bathroom, being impossibly cold towards Ere herself.

"Are you mad at me?" Ere asked, trailing after her.

"No, why would you think that?" Cara didn't even look at her as she rebuked her question.

"Um, because you won't even look at me?" Ere shot back.

"Maybe I just don't agree with what you seem to be doing here." Cara had crossed the bathroom to the walk in closet, and she was threw open the door before Ere could respond, disappearing into the mass of fabric beyond.

"What exactly would that be?" Ere asked, thoroughly preparing herself to be offended by Cara's response.

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Cara spun around to face Ere. Her eyes looked like they had been lit on fire.

"Clueless to what?" Ere shouted back at Cara. She had no clue what Cara was talking about and she was sick and tired of her cryptic messages.

"You have no idea, do you? Rian really likes you, and you're killing him by acting that way around Gem!" Cara yelled,  taking a few steps towards Ere and effectively backing her into a wall.

"N-no, that can't be right. I mean, he can't- I don't-" She stuttered, her mind reeling.

"He really likes you!" Cara yelled at her.

"But he's only known me for like two days!" She whispered, suddenly unable to talk. "That can't be right. You have to have misread something, he can't like me." All of a sudden, she remembered the kiss. No, he just did it to distract me so he could run. Her inner voice told her.

"I don't think that you can misread someone when they flat out tell you, Ere." Cara spun on her heel and stalked back over to the row of dresses.

"Dinners here are formal, so you're going to need to wear a dress, although not quite as fancy as the one you wore to see Monica and Cayde." Cara sifted through the dresses with her hands, pulling out one here and there to give it a better look before shaking her head and moving on. She was making it extremely clear that she had no interest in continuing this conversation any longer.

    She pulled a green dress from its hanger and threw it rather forcefully at Ere.

    "Change." She hissed, stomping out of the room to give Ere some privacy. Ere slid down the wall so that she was sitting. There was no way that this could be happening to her. She didn't even understand exactly why she was so put off by Rian's affection. Maybe, she figured, it was because she didn't return his feelings. As much as she appreciated Rian, even after just this short amount of time, she didn't care for him that way.

    She slipped her comfortable clothes off and slid into the dress, zipping it up as she gazed longingly at the clothes she had just abandoned on the floor. She didn't have any more energy to waste wondering exactly who cared about her exactly which way.

    When she came out of the bathroom, Cara pointed silently over at the stool in front of the vanity. Geez, why is she so mad at me? Ere thought to herself. I mean, it's not like I killed his puppy or anything.

    Ere sat on the stool, and Cara went to work on her face. Half an hour later, she was all ready to go.

    "What time is it?" She asked Cara. She had found that her room didn't have any clocks, which she found strange, but she had learned not to question things here if you weren't sure that you wanted to know the answers.

"Close to dinner time, that's what time it is. Let's go." Cara responded coldly. Why is she so pissed off at me? I didn't do it on purpose, doesn't she understand that? Ere slowly followed Cara down the stairs, leaving the door to her room hanging ajar in her wake.

Word count: 24,024

Words remaining: 25,976