Shadowed Desires

Chapter Three

Life hardly changed here. Well maybe a couple of things did change. There were at least five breakups over winter break. The biggest difference now was Mason. Mason talked to me mostly with his lips. Soon as our eyes could meet across a room or a hallway, it was Mason's lips pressed firmly against mine. I think we kissed every time we saw each other.

I was half amazed that no one said anything. There were a couple of whistles and at least one 'get a room' comment. Had this happened down in Florida, a teacher would have intervened and separated us immediately. Mason and I were past being typical love birds. I don't think there was a phrase or a word that could describe us. Mason would kiss me like we hadn't seen each other for days (or weeks) instead of hours. But as nice as it was, I kept it limited to school and his car. I wasn't ready to tell my parents I suddenly had a new boyfriend; although my dad probably had an idea. He tactfully let me know he saw Mason and I together in my bedroom. Had Nathaniel not stopped by when he did, he probably would had seen a lot more than he wanted. It was definitely a lesson in learning to close my bedroom door completely.

"Oh would you please grow a pair, and do something about it?" Ellie's voice snapped me out my last fantasy. She had been asking me something, something to do with a project and I had to keep asking her to repeat herself. She'd had enough, plus there was a certain situation earlier today. I couldn't say I blamed her.

Class just ended, so there was plenty of mindless chatter milling about as everyone got up to gather their things.

". . . the entire family burned alive. . . "

"What? What was that?" I instead tried to get the attention of two brunettes walking away but neither of them heard me. "Excuse me, but what was that?" I don't know why, things as grim as a story like that wasn't the kind of thing I liked to pay attention to. Mrs. Lockhart had drilled me into always listening to my instincts. So that was what I was trying to do.

"Alex." Ellie didn't shout, but the way she said my name was clear enough.

"What?" I might have said the word a tad snappish, which surprisingly didn't earn me a glare. Instead Ellie firmly pressed her lips together before rubbing them together. A possible warning sign?

"I'm telling you to man up and do something about it." She said stopping just outside the classroom.

I stopped to face her and asked, "I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?"

Stoney eyes zeroed in on mine. "Don't play coy with me."

"Oh right. That." I had to resist the urge to scratch the back of my head or shuffle my feet for something to do to avoid showing any humiliation I was feeling. I had to divert her attention.

"But what about you and Benny?"

Oh I was toeing over a dangerous line alright, but if she could be direct, so would I.

Whatever really went on behind the mask of Ellie, I couldn't say, but there was no sign of her backing down anytime soon. If she did at all.

In an almost hushed tone, she let her head fall a fraction to the side as if trying to get me to follow. I did without question. Ellie made sure to take a cautious look around first before saying, "I deserved that."

Well, shit. Has hell frozen over?

"Look, what exactly happened between you two? I know it's really none of my business, but . . . "

Ellie's face fell only for a second and replied, "Let's just say it's complicated, okay?"

"No." I said the word a bit too loud. Ellie looked elsewhere as if giving me a pass or looking for an eavesdroppers. It was hard to say because at the moment, I didn't care. "No, no, it's not ok. I can proudly call you my friend now. You were the first person to reach out to me even when you didn't have to, but Benny is also my friend."