Amaranthine

Chapter Twelve

© Copyright 2011 

All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. 

Fixation: (fix-ey-shun)

an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone

to command the attention of exclusively or repeatedly; preoccupy obsessively

 

Orion's Audi rolled into the parking lot precisely as Luke came from behind a building headed in the direction of his car.  Orion cut the engine and turned his body toward mine. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

I smiled, trying to forget about what had happened earlier. “Yep. See you then,” I said and shut the door. Orion winked at me and drove away.

As I approached Luke, his features darkened. “What the hell are you doing, Ireland?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” I got into his car, tossed my bag in the back and slammed my door.

“I told you to stay away from that guy. Why aren't you at school?”

“School's over, genius. And you don't know what you're talking about. He's a good guy.”

“Things aren’t always as they seem, I.Q. People aren’t always who you think they are.”

Luke’s sudden desire to protect me from nothing was wearing thin. He'd almost lost me; I'd almost died, and I'm sure that affected him somehow but he could drop the hero routine. “Luke, he’s my friend, and you’re being ridiculous. You’re acting like an overzealous freak. Relax. He’s never done anything to you.”

“He doesn’t need to for me to know I don’t like him. There is something not right with him, I.Q., trust me.”

I glared at my brother. “Is it really that hard for you to think someone like him could like someone like me? Helena likes you,” I added.

Luke didn’t even attempt to hide the disgust in his face. “Ireland, I’m a guy. I know what his interest in you is, and I don’t like it.”

I gaped. “You're a guy, huh? So you're with Helena just so you can f—”

Luke pointed his finger at me like a weapon. “Don't you dare finish that sentence.”

The rest of the drive was silent, and when we got to the house I headed straight for my room to try and catch up on work I was sure I'd missed that afternoon. Trying to focus on my work was useless. Not a single word on the page was absorbed into my brain. Luke’s discontent with Orion bothered me intensely. I wondered if he saw something I did not. Orion’s temper with Chloe first, then Mona was frightening. More frightening was the fact that it didn’t push me away. His softer side, the one he seemed to reserve for me, was wonderful and kind and everything that was good. It wasn’t unreasonable to believe something so good couldn’t possibly be bad.

I thought about Mona. What did Orion mean, she caused Chloe's bad trip? How did she do it?  Was she into some kind of voodoo or black magic? Was she a science experiment gone wrong? Did I imagine the entire afternoon? Why was Orion trying to buy himself more time to explain? Why was he trying so hard to protect her? What were her secrets? What were his? What the hell was wrong with me?

That last one was easy. I'd become obsessed. It was sick, but try as I might I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to be with him. I reasoned with myself that if I was aware that this was an obsession, I’d be able to control it.