The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 12

I don't know how I missed the whole thing about Noah and his family. We used to be friends. Good friends, actually. We were best friends for most of the elementary school, and then when we started high school we sort of just stopped hanging out. It had been years since we'd even talked.

And now we were headed over to his house. I wondered if he would even be there. He was my age, and although I had dropped out of school early, he would be finished by now too.

"Hey, you feel like telling me why you need me to come stay with you guys?" Charlie asked, glancing at me from the driver's seat. He had offered to drive since he knew where the Jacobson's house was, and we'd banished Jaylon to the back seat where he had been silent for the last few minutes.

"You guys go in, I'll wait here," he said quietly as Charlie pulled up outside a familiar brick house.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said, shaking my head. "We need you. Come on, Jaylon, please?"

He sighed and stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind him.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly, gently placing a hand on his arm.

"Nothing" he mumbled, shaking his head.

"Come on, I've known you long enough to know something up. What is it?"

"It's nothing," he said, putting on a forced smile.

"Stop lying," I said, grabbing his arm to stop him as he tried to go past me. "Tell me what's up."

"I'm just not good at meeting people, okay?" he snapped. I was silent for a while, then I pulled him into a hug. He was motionless for a moment, surprised, but then I felt his arms wind around my waist, pulling me closer.

"Jaylon, that's completely understandable" I murmured. "You haven't met a lot of people, and some of your experiences meeting people haven't been good. But this will be different. They're members of our coven. They're like us."

He nodded slowly, and when he pulled away he was smiling. Properly smiling.

"You're right," he said "and this is what we need to do. Reunite our whole coven. Reform."

I nodded, and then he kissed me. I kissed him back, and it probably would have gone on longer if there hadn't been a loud throat clearing behind us.

"Do you guys wanna get a room?" Charlie asked, sounding a little annoyed. "Or are we gonna do what we came to do?"

"Um, the latter," I said, hurriedly pulling away from Jaylon. Every inch of me missed his touch. I was still just half a foot away from him, but I missed his arms around me, his muscular chest pressed against me, his soft lips against mine.

Jaylon and I stood behind Charlie on the front step of the Jacobson's house, both of us nervous. Charlie, of course, had no idea what was really going on as he rung the doorbell.

"Andrew, get the door!" A voice yelled from somewhere deep inside the house. A minute later, footsteps could be heard coming towards the door and it swung open. Noah had had three siblings, I remembered, and Andrew was one of the younger ones. It was also a name on the list.

"Hey," the guy who opened the door said. He looked around Charlie's age, maybe a year or two older. "Can I help you guys?"

"Andrew!" Charlie exclaimed. "Hey, your sister around?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so," Andrew said, glancing over his shoulder. "Charlie, right? You're a junior with my sister?"

"That's me." Charlie grinned.

"And your friends...?" Andrew glanced at Jaylon and me where we were standing behind Charlie with a raised eyebrow.

"My sister, Louisa," Charlie said cheerfully. "And her boyfriend Jaylon."

"Okay," Andrew shrugged, though he still looked doubtful. "I'll go get Danielle."

"Actually," Jaylon interrupted, stopping Andrew as he started to turn away. "We were hoping to speak to you too. And, uh, Noah and Thalia?"

Andrew turned back, looking suspicious. "What do you want with us?"

"Just to talk," I said hurriedly. "I know Noah, we used to be friends, is he here?"

"Yeah," Andrew said, looking at me intently. "Hang on, you're Louisa? Like, his childhood best friend, known each other since diaper days Louisa?"

"That's me." I smiled sheepishly. Jaylon was looking sideways at me, probably wondering why I hadn't mentioned that part about how close I had used to be with Noah.

"Well, come on then," Andrew said, motioning for us to follow him inside. We did so, and I pulled the door closed behind me.