WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??

Eighteen

BECKY CORNER'S POV

I watched the diamond studs sprinkled over the dark midnight sky, as I snuggled beside the open window. The icy breeze stroked my bangs off my face as I counted the stars above me. An enchanting smile took over my lips as my mind spun back to the events of the past few days. My dark eyes flicked over the peaceful sleeping figure of my best friend, Kimberly Jones.  Her auburn curls were wildly dashed around her face, her innocent blue eyes closed.  Lately, she'd been feeling satisfied because of our act to keep Silvia's brain occupied with imaginary stuff.

I ran my thoughts down the events, but I wasn't pleased since we haven't achieved the main goal of getting Chase to talk to Kim. For that we'd have to break a space between Chase and Silvia. Only then he'd clear his head from his present blind state. Deep down my heart, I know that Chase cannot be that bad to ignore his own sister. This seems pointless and I don't understand why I think so, but somehow I end up trusting Chase in this.

Maybe if Chase slips away from his current girlfriend's grip, he would see things without any blurs and realize his mistakes. For that, he'd have to see the real face of Silvia, which he probably wouldn't like after all. And for that, he'd have to get to know Silvia better. We'd have to put them in complicated situations to deal with, and let me see how Chase deals with his girlfriend.

***

"Becky," Kim called from behind her in haste. Kimberly and I have been spending the Sunday in her room doing random stuff, some video games, and intimate girl talks.  It was around seven in the evening by now.  "I guess we should go to the den and watch another movie like we did last week." I was prepared to sleepover with Kimberly that night as the coming Monday was going to be a religious holiday. A smile morphed its way into my face, and she lit up. We headed downstairs to the den. We kept bumping into each other in our way, inspiring a lot of giggles and laughs.

I heard noises from inside the den as we approached.  There must be someone in there already, and obviously it was Chase Jones and Silvia Matt, holding hands and slouched on the couch.  Kim and I groaned identically.   

I was ready to turn around and leave, but Kim tugged at me arm and led my inside.  After unconcerned greetings, we seated our bums on the floor and sat Indian style.   Silvia crossed her hands around herself and cuddled into Chase's arm, while surprisingly he seemed not at ease.  Kim raised an intrigued eyebrow at me after sensing Chase's discomfort, but she quickly recovered and zoomed her sea blue eyes over the scenes on the TV, which was currently racing the cars of Fast And Furious.  My eyes hovered over Paul Walked on the TV, but my mind was rooted somewhere else; pondering upon the inconvenient look on Chase's face.  I watched his expressions from the corner of my eyes, and to my shock his dark eyes were roaming over my face.  I looked down, then once again peeked at him just to check, and YASS!  His eyes were clamped to me and he wouldn't look away anywhere.  We were playing a who-can-stare-better game for a whole minute before we gave up abruptly.  What's happening?  A herd of butterflies sprang up in my tummy.  Blood rushed to my cheeks.  Seeing me redden, he himself flushed pink.  

I racked my brain for a sensible explanation for the question marks drawn all over my head.  What was he trying to do?  What was Chase Jones trying to do?  What was 'the-maybe-Hunt' trying to do?

A flicker of scenes tossed along my mind.  Cassie (Storm) had come to warn me, and she'd said this with narrowed eyes.

 "This is definitely not the way a responsible witch behaves. Above all, you were about to get caught in front of another one of the magical society who owns powers".  

So, just in case he was Hunt, and just in case Cassie had set her foot on Hunt's vicinity too after my foolish magic-incident, he'd probably have guessed something about me possessing special powers.  

I glanced at him once again, with a look that questioned "Do you know?".  I tugged a loose strand of my dark hair behind my ear, waiting for an answering look.  But my question didn't seem to have reached him since he blinked with a blank face.  All I could figure out from this was, I don't know if he has powers or not, but even if he had, he doesn't know to read minds.  

Around twenty minutes later, the movie was over and the credits ran down the screen.  Chase gave a low, tired moan and stretched his arms with an adorable yawn on his mouth, which I secretly enjoyed watching.  Silvia shifted and snuggled closer to him.  Her eyes quivered on my face, and she smirked.  I returned the look with a smother.  

I felt awkward disturbing the love couple during their alone time, but Kim didn't seem to give a damn about sitting in the same place as her brother and his girlfriend.  She was comfortable leaning on the pillow she had.  

Chase stood up and plodded past me in his evening clothes; a navy t shirt with a V neck and some old stripped lowers, to slip another CD in the disk, his irresistible smell of mint taking away my breath for a second.  His streak black hair was tousled as usual, sculpturing him more handsome than usual.  "Ugh!" I shrugged, irritated with myself for letting him affect me.  

"Let's order pizza."  Silvia asserted with a pout, and Chase nodded after a moment of thought.  

"A big one."  he assured her with a big smile, then he turned to me.  "What about you, Rebecca?"  he stressed on the last word.  "I'm gonna order pizza.  Anything for you?"  The smile stayed canvassed on his face and his eyes twinkled wildly with the pleasure of calling me by the name I don't prefer.  

I gulped audibly as I registered that killing smile on his face.  "F-french fries?"  I mused toppling on the words, then glanced at Kim, who looked pretty shocked as well as disappointed that Chase still hadn't talked to her.  "Two packs."  I added, so that Kim could have one.  He smiled one last time before pulling out his sleek phone from his pocket and dialing the pizza guy.  He ordered a large triple cheese pizza for himself and Silvia, some coke, and two packs of French fries for us.  

The bell rang in a few minutes and Chase got up to get the pizza.  When he thought nobody was watching, he twisted a pattern in the air with his hand and door opened for him by itself, without him moving a muscle. So does my mouth.  God! This is magic, and this guy has definitely got super natural powers.  I was torn between realization and shock.  

Hunt!