Chatoyant College Book 2: Initiates

Chapter 48: A Quiet Evening

When Dawn knocked softly on Rico's door, he opened it almost immediately and grinned to see her. "There you are," he said in a quiet but relieved voice. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me."

She grinned too. "It's been a crazy night, actually."

He motioned her in. "Duncan's in bed, so we can't watch the rest of the movie, but we can talk quietly."

She happily followed him in, curled up with him on the bed, and then, less happily, told him what had happened since she'd left to see Roe and Professor Strega. He was quiet while she talked, only stroking her hair comfortingly, for which she was grateful. When she was finished, there was a pause, then he said softly, "At least it all turned out well. I wish I'd been there with you."

She sighed and turned her face into his shoulder, letting his shirt absorb the slight wetness that had gathered about her eyelashes. "Next time you offer to go somewhere with me, I'm going to take you up on it."

She felt him smile. "Good. Everyone is okay, right? No permanent damage done?"

"Well, maybe psychological, but that's all." She lifted her head--the tears were gone--and looked up at him. "I think we signed up to lose our minds when we agreed to go to this school, though."

He laughed silently, still stroking her hair. "That's probably true." He paused for a moment, his expression becoming more serious. "Dawn..." His voice was even softer. "It's late. Would you like to spend the night?"

Conflicting emotions ran through her at that question. It sounded really good, comfortable, and relaxing. It would have been nice to not have to go upstairs. But on the other hand, she wasn't sure if it was so comfortable after all. While she really cared about Rico, and it was apparent that he really cared about her, they'd only been dating for a week. And then there was her reputation to worry about. True, this wasn't high school, and probably almost no one would notice or care where or with whom she spent the night, but Naomi would. She didn't look forward to Naomi's knowing smirk. But it was the fact that she really hadn't known Rico for all that long that decided her. Besides, she couldn't really complain about a walk of a single flight of stairs.

She gently pushed away from Rico and smiled to show him she wasn't offended. "Not tonight," she said softly. "Maybe another time."

"Okay," he said. "Just make sure to take care of yourself."

"I will." She leaned in and kissed him softly. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the kiss, then broke it and got up. "Good night."

"Good night, Dawn."

She closed the door softly behind her and made her way up the stairs in the quiet, dark building. There were narrow windows in the stairwell and she looked outside when she came across one. The campus was dark, but looked peaceful. Still, she thought, she wouldn't want to go outside after dark again. Not on her own.

Naomi was in bed by the time she made it to their room, which was good--she still hadn't decided whether to tell her roommate about the faeries or not, which naturally had the result that she hadn't told her. With what Professor Lal had said about them being in more danger due to knowing about the faeries, she realized, they really shouldn't tell anyone who didn't already know or who didn't really need to, like Roe. It was too late to protect Rico, but at least she could protect Naomi.

She'd thought she would have a hard time sleeping, but she'd relaxed after talking to Rico. She settled into her bed with a sigh and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a new day, and hopefully one that would be completely free of faerie-related complications.

She dreamed, but while they were confused and stressful, they were obviously inspired by the day's events, and she was able to dismiss them as little more than the random firing of neurons.