A Twist Of Magic

Chapter Fifty Five

A few days had passed since Daniel's outburst. Neither Jack or myself had seen him since. I couldn't help but feel relieved that he was staying away from us. Even though it had been a few days I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said. It was bad enough that he didn't trust me, but for him to question my account of what happened with Graham had torn me apart. I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to forgive him for what he'd said. No matter how angry I was at him, I would never dream of saying anything so hurtful to him.

I quickly closed my gym locker and picked up my bag, I'd been going to the gym for the last few days and was determined to get my figure back. As I slung my bag over my shoulder and began the long walk home, I gasped as I almost walked into someone.

"Merritt!" I cried in shock.

"Hey Mia, it's really good to see you." he grinned.

"Yeah you too." I said quietly, glancing at my watch, concerned that I would miss my appointment.

"Do you have to be somewhere?" Merritt asked.

"Yeah, but you can walk with me if you want?" I offered.

He nodded and quickly fell into step beside me.

"So how have you been?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm good, you?" I answered.

"Fine, I miss being one of the horseman though, you get a taste of the high life and then all of a sudden you're normal again and it feels weird." he sighed.

"Couldn't you keep doing your hypnotism?" I suggested.

"I've been doing a bit." he told me.

"I heard that Daniel went mental the other night." he tried.

"No offence Merritt, but I really don't want to talk about Danny." I said quickly.

"I understand." he smiled sympathetically.

"So how come you're getting a tattoo?" he asked.

My eyes darted to him for a moment, slightly in shock from his words, but then I quickly recovered when I remembered that it was Merritt I was talking too. He always managed to figure out what was going on.

"To try and cover up my scars." I replied.

"First the gym and now covering up scars, are you on the pull or something?" he chuckled.

"No of course not." I said quickly.

"Well it certainly seems like it." he grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that he was winding me up.

"I guess I'm just fed up of feeling bad about myself, I want to get my confidence back and be the way that I was before Graham did what he did." I sighed.

"Good for you." he smiled, sounding genuinely pleased for me.

"Anyway, I have to go." I stated as we reached the tattoo parlour.

"Yeah no problem, it was nice to see you." he replied.

I nodded and quickly walked into the tattoo parlour.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I couldn't help but smile to myself as I climbed the stairs to the flat. Even though having the tattoo done had been painful, it was worth it. I no longer had to be self conscious about my scars, they were barely visable anymore. Only people that knew they were there would notice them. All they would see is the beautiful feather that now swirled across my lower abdomen.

I took the keys out of my pocket and quickly entered the flat.

"There you are, I've been waiting for you to come back!" Caitlin exclaimed as soon as she saw me.

"What's happened?" I asked, quickly dumping my gym bag on the floor.

"We're going to a ball!" she squealed excitedly.

I frowned and glanced at Jack who  slowly shrugged at me.

"Who's we?" I asked her.

"Me, you and Joanne." she stated.

"It's a masquerade ball." she added.

"Oh god, I can't dance." I said quickly.

"You'll be fine, it'll be great fun." she insisted.

"And plus it gives us all an excuse to dress up." she added excitedly.

"I don't have anything to wear." I pointed out.

"I thought you might say that." she grinned, quickly picking up a bag and handing it to me.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" I sighed.

She giggled and shook her head.

"Mark is going to drive us." she told me, referring to her boyfriend of a year.

"When is it?" I asked.

"Tomorrow night, so you have plenty of time to practice your dancing." she giggled.

"Oh, and I've arranged for Robyn to take care of Cameron for you." she added. I sighed and nodded slowly. Even though Robyn had lived in the flat above us for years and I trusted her, I still hated the thought of leaving Cameron.

"I can take care of him if you want?" Jack offered.

As tempted as I was to take him up on his offer I knew that I couldn't accept. Jack had been helping out with Cameron a great deal recently and he deserved some time out too.

"No, it's fine, you deserve a break." I replied.

"So do you really not know how to dance?" he asked.

"I haven't done it in years." I admitted.

"Come here then, we'll practice." he grinned, quickly standing up.

"No..." I protested.

"Come here." he insisted, pulling me towards him. I tried to resist but he was too strong for me.

"You need to stand closer than that." he stated, placing his hand on the small of my back and pulling me closer. My eyes flickered to his before my cheeks flushed and I quickly looked away.

"Now put your left hand on my shoulder." he told me.

I quickly did as he asked watched as he took my right hand.

"Okay and now the most important thing is that you let me lead." he explained.

I nodded slowly, glancing up at him as I felt him watching me closely. My eyes darted to his lips as his face gradually inched closer to mine.

"Please don't." I whispered, quickly turning my head away from him.

"Why not?" he muttered, gently resting his forehead against mine.

"Things are complicated enough as it is, can't we just dance?" I asked quietly.

He nodded slowly, a sad expression on his handsome features, smiling slightly as we began to dance.