The Mark of Arella(Book One of the Dragonfly Chronicles)

Chapter Two

The girls made their way to the ticket booth and saw the guys waiting for them. "Finally! Ryan said, "We've been waiting for like 30 minutes". Shannon crooned, "We had to get our hair right. Don't we look pretty?" "Of course!" Ryan said. "You always look hot". They gave each other a quick kiss and the six of them headed to the doorman with their tickets. Sam snuck up on Lilly and whistled, "Wow, I never knew how great your legs looked in such a short skirt!" "Shut up Sam! Lilly hissed, "You see them all the time in my mountain bike shorts." "I know, but the knee high boots and frilly pink skirt add a little bit of sexiness to them." He winked. Lilly shoved him in the arm and glared. Then they both instantly burst out in laughter. Sam took her arm and said, "Let's go get this party started."

The Fox Theater was a really cool place to see bands. It was pretty old and from what Lilly could tell from its history, a lot of great local and regional bands have played there. The six made their way towards their seats and Sam asked Lilly if she wanted to go get something to drink. She nodded and the two walked away. "Man", Sam said, "those four can't take their hands off each other. It's disgusting". "I think it's sweet", Lilly said. "Besides, if you had a girl to lock lips with on a regular basis, you would be doing the same thing". "Oh come on Lilly, I could say the same about you. You are one of the most beautiful girls in this place. You could lock lips with anyone you want". "Oh please Sam, I'm the one who gets glares from all the girls around us. With your bulging biceps and rock hard abs they all seem to flock to you like mindless twits." "It's annoying actually, why do they glare at me like that. It's not like we are together". Sam laughed. "Maybe we should be for all the attention we get". He looked at Lilly and smirked.

Lilly was temporarily shocked by his comment but quickly shrugged it off and said, "Well we have been friends since we were eight so of course they would see a connection between us". Sam leaned into Lilly and stared directly into her eyes. Their faces were so close their noses were almost touching. His voice got a little husky and he said, "I mean it Lilly, maybe we should". Lilly wanted to pull away, she knew she should but damn his eyes were so beautiful. She had never noticed the little brown rings circling his golden eyes before. And he smelled so good. Her heart started to flutter as Sam leaned closer and brushed his lips onto hers. She felt her toes curl and heat flared into her cheeks. His lips pressed harder on her mouth. I should pull away she thought, I should really pull away but his lips were so tender and his arms were so strong. Wait, when did she get so close to his body? She could feel his hands on her hips and his hard chest pressing onto hers. This was so not going in the direction she wanted. "There you guys are!" Ryan yelled out, breaking their kiss and pulling them back to reality. Sam groaned and looked over at Ryan with a glare. "The concert is about to start, you guys need to get back to our seats." Lilly had never been so glad to see Ryan before and quickly blurted out, "sorry, yes let's get back to our seats" and quickly followed after Ryan.

The rest of the night went by without disruption, it was awkward for Lilly but no one else seemed to notice what happened between her and Sam so she tried her best to be normal. Sam kept looking over at her with trepidation but having four other people around them helped normalize the situation. When the concert was over they decided to go out for some dessert which was a short walk away. As they were walking down the street, Sam grabbed her arm and said "hey, are you OK?" "You seem pensive". "I, I'm fine Sam, I was just thinking about how great Helio Sequence is and wishing I could sing like that". She smiled at him. Sam grimaced as though he didn't believe her but he decided not to push the issue. He grabbed her hand and said, "Let's go get you some pecan pie, I know it's your favorite". Lilly smiled at him and couldn't help but think how he could take any situation and make her so comfortable.

"Wow", "that concert was awesome!" Shannon said to the group. "Ya, Kyle said, I can't believe they aren't more popular. I know they come from Oregon and the music scene in the Northwest is great, but you would think they would be more main stream". Lilly said, "I kind of like that they aren't super popular, it makes them more special for us. I'm really glad we were all able to go tonight. It was a lot of fun and I will always cherish nights like this guys. You are my best friends" Sam smiled at Lilly and said, "I'll never forget tonight". Lilly knew what he was referring to and was inwardly cringing. That kiss with Sam was really nice, but it also felt really weird and she hoped he would come to the same conclusion after a bit of time.

After dropping off Shannon, Robyn and Lilly drove home and started walking to their apartment door. "So", Robyn said, "did something happen between you and Sam?" "What?" Lilly said, completely embarrassed and wanting to avoid the conversation. "Well, Ryan made a comment about seeing you guys kissing! Did you? Did you finally kiss? How was it? Oh my gosh, I bet he is a great kisser!" Lilly moaned and said, "He did sort of lean in and try to give me a kiss and then Ryan interrupted him thank goodness." "Why would you want him to interrupt you guys Lilly? We've been waiting for you guys to finally get together for 10 years", Robyn said. "It's not like that between us Robyn, I mean I do find him very attractive and I do love him, but I'm not IN love with him. I just hope he realizes that he feels the same way. I think he was just testing it out you know." "Hardly", said Robyn. "I've had a crush on him for years and he only ever looks at you."

"What?" Lilly said. "YOU like Sam? Why didn't you tell me? I could have tried to hook you guys up".Robyn just sighed and turned the key into the doorknob. When they entered their front room, Lillyheard some scraping to the side of her and just as she turned around Robyn yelled, "Look Out!" And blackness surrounded her.

-What do you think of Sam?  Isn't he awesome?  I can't wait to see how things end up for him.  And what do you think happened to Lilly?  Will she be OK?