Shift

ELEVEN.1

Kayden woke up in a fairly good mood the next morning, which was a miracle considering that her back was in knots and she smelled like dust and mothballs. She took one of Blaze's button-down shirts and a pair of pants from his messenger bag and dressed herself quickly, rolling up the bottoms of the jeans into cuffs without her usual scowl.

"Someone's happy," Lexi noted with a mischievous smile. She was blow-drying her hair in the tiny bathroom as Kayden brushed her teeth with her finger and the expired toothpaste supplied by the motel.

Kayden spit into the sink and raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "You're going to electrocute yourself."

Lexi pouted and took a step backwards, keeping the hairdryer cord away from the running water. "Happy?" Her grin doubled in size. "Speaking of happy, someone is looking extra chipper this morning. Any reason?"

Kayden scrubbed at her teeth, picking at the space between her two molars with her nail. "Blaze's book still has spells in it," she said, looking at her cousin in the mirror. "I already told you that."

Lexi rolled her eyes, running her fingers through her wet hair. "Oh come on, Kay. I woke up at six to use the bathroom. I saw him in your bed."

Kayden blushed. She involuntarily looked at the closed bathroom door where she knew Blaze was waiting outside; he didn't want to stray too far away for fear of triggering another spell-induced stomachache. "There's this weird connection between us."

"A love connection?" Lexi prodded.

"No!" Kayden snapped. "A magical one. It's the reason we're in LA, remember?"

Lexi shook her head. "A spell doesn't force you two into bed with each other."

"Yes it does," she persisted, rinsing off her finger. She was happy that the hairdryer was so loud; it meant Blaze couldn't hear any of their conversation. "The spell makes it hard for us to be apart. It makes our stomachs hurt. A lot."

"Uh huh," Lexi said, but Kayden knew she wasn't convinced. "While you were sleeping you had this big smile on your face."

"Maybe I was having a good dream," Kayden offered.

"I think you like him."

"Like him? Blaze? Lexi, that's just weird."

"How so?"

"He's a wizard!"

"Kay!" Lexi said exasperatedly. "What does that have to do with anything? Helio's a wizard too, and he's such a nice guy."

Kayden thought back to when she had first met Helio. If you were trying to magic up a girlfriend, you could have at least given her some Ds. "You're funny."

"Kayden!"

"What?" Kayden was sick of the subject. She really didn't need Lexi butting into her personal life right now. "Can't we talk about something else?"

"Don't you at least think he's cute?" Lexi ignored, turning her head upside-down to dry the nape of her neck.

Kayden conjured up Blaze in her mind's eye from the night before. He had been shirtless, which had definitely been distracting. And his dark brown eyes...

She shook her head before she could get carried away. "You need more than looks to get me attracted."

"I'm sure he's a nice guy." Lexi paused. "You know, I think that's why Helio and I have been getting along so well the past few days. He's so sweet. Remember when he turned the chalk dust into gold flakes for me back in New York?"

"Sorry, I can't remember anything except for you two eating each other's faces on the plane."

When Lexi flipped her head back up, her face was red. "You saw that?" She took a breath. "It was just a little bit of kissing. We were watching the movie, and he was just being so sweet, and then when we kissed, there..." She hesitated for a second, and then whispered, "When we kissed, there were sparks."

"Well that's... nice."

"No Kay! Like real sparks." She pursed her lips remembering. "It's the magic. I mean, you can just tell he's a wizard from one of those kisses. It felt so nice." She gave her cousin a sly look. "Now if you kissed Blaze..."

"No, no, no!" Kayden shook her head. "It's not like that. I don't like guys as easily as you do." I don't like anyone as easily as you do, she added to herself silently.

Lexi frowned. "I don't like guys that easily."

"You kissed him after knowing him for an hour," Kayden pressed.

Lexi opened her mouth to say something, and then stopped. She turned off the hairdryer and hung it back up on the wall. "You should at least give Blaze a chance."

"I don't like him that way," Kayden said. "Promise."

"Okay," Lexi said, raking her fingers through her hair, but she didn't sound convinced.

Kayden stared at herself in the mirror. Any makeup she had been wearing a few days earlier was completely gone by now, all remnants washed down the drain. She felt bare, exposed. But she didn't think it was just because of the lack of makeup.

She had never really had guy issues back home. Her three best friends were guys, but one was gay, one already had a girlfriend, and the other was out of her league. She had never really made an initiative to meet too many other people at school, let alone be interested in dating any of them.

And this is an extenuating circumstance, she thought. Her entire view of the world had changed overnight, and it just so happened that the guy who had shown it all to her was somewhat nice and fairly attractive.

But you don't actually like him, a voice in her head chided.

Kayden ground her teeth. What did she actually know about Blaze? Nothing much. And once the spell warp crisis was over, she would never see him again; she was almost sure of that.

So why bother thinking about it? the voice continued. You don't even know if he likes you. In fact, he didn't even want to get in bed with you last night! What would he possibly see in you?

She analyzed herself in the mirror. Nothing, she answered silently. Absolutely nothing.

Kayden ran her fingers through her hair and exited the bathroom, leaving her cousin to finish up. As soon as she stepped out of the door she saw Blaze sitting on the bed, staring at a hole in the carpet and prodding it with his shoe. He glanced up when he heard her enter. "Hey," he said, "is your cousin almost ready? We should head out soon."

She appraised him. Black shirt, black dress pants, slightly ruffled hair. Cute, but was there anything else?

No, she decided solidly. Nothing else.

So she just nodded. "Yep," she said. "She'll be out in a little bit."