Truly Charmed (Part 3/3)

Chapter 27

I practically flew down the stairs because my feet didn't even touch the floor. I came to a halt at the bottom.

Pandora and Ed were in the living room, sitting on the same sofa, laughing and chatting away.

I just stared in bewilderment. Pandora saw me and coughed. Ed then turned around and quickly stood up.

"Anna!" He smiled.

"Did I miss something?" I asked.

"No uh, Pandora was just telling me stories of what you've been up to since you left," Ed told me.

"What exactly have we been up to Pandora?" I asked confused.

"Nothing serious," Pandora said through a forced smile.

"Look sorry about that just now, it was a school dance emergency with Melinda," I lied.

I couldn't believe it. I was lying to my best friend. The person who knows practically everything about me. Apart from me being a witch.

"Don't worry I should get going, get back to my mom and stuff," Ed explained.

He started to walk to the front door. I accompanied him and Pandora followed. He stood in the doorway. He leant down and gave me a hug. He looked behind and smiled at Pandora. He did a small wave and walked down the steps backwards.

Oh no..

I knew that look. I knew that smile. I knew that wave. It was Ed's 'I like you' gestures. He can tell when I'm lying, I can tell when he likes someone. The problem is, this someone is Pandora.

"Seriously. Did I miss something?"

************************************************

It had been about an hour since I had my own personal whitelighter thrust at me. I decided to make myself some dinner as my stomach was roaring with hunger.

"Anna sit down I'll make dinner," Piper ordered as she came into the kitchen.

"I'm going to help. I need to take my mind off of everything at the moment. Distract myself," I protested.

"You can get started on the vegetables then," Piper said handing me a sack full of the assortments.

--------------------------------------------

Dinner was almost ready so I was setting the table. There were a few extra places this evening for Pandora, Payton and Jamie. Piper speculated setting a place for Jamie and so did I. However we both came to the conclusion that he was going to be around for a while so we might as well make him feel welcome. Even if some people were against it.

Everyone came downstairs the moment the aroma of the spicy sauce and beef wafted up through the manor. It was some kind of Spanish or Mexican dish I couldn't pronounce but it was a specialty of Piper's.

Leo took his usual seat at the end of the table so he had view of everyone. There was a space next to him for Piper. Wyatt took the seat on the other side of his father and Chris sat next to him. Melinda sat in the space next to Piper's seat, then Payton sat next to her. Pandora made the executive decision to sit next to Chris so neither I or Jamie had to.

As Piper and I brought everything in I saw only one space left for me. Between Pandora and Jamie. I was directly opposite Leo on the other end of the table. I whispered a thank you to Pandora on taking the seat next to Chris, so I nor Jamie would feel uncomfortable.

When everything was on the table I took my designated seat at the table. Everyone started to dig in. Piper passed along the saucy beef and vegetables. Until they did a full rotation around the table everyone began eating.

It was strange at first. Nobody was saying anything. The awkward silence hung above us all and I knew that everyone could feel it. It was only when Leo spoke up I let out a sigh of relief.

"So Jamie how long have you been a whitelighter?"

"Since 1944 Sir," Jamie began, "I was walking down the street, returning home from a night out with the lads when I heard loud noises behind me. I soon realised they were gun shots. So I turned around to see what the commotion was, to see if I could stop it. I saw that it was a guy being chased by the towns most feared gang. At the time I was in the academy, training to become a cop. So I headed towards the guy to try and help him out. It was only until one of the gang members pulled his gun on a mother and her child that I decided to intervene. The last thing I heard was the same mothers scream as they shot me to the ground."

I soon realised that everyone had stopped eating to listen to Jamie's story. My mouth had become so dry the food in my mouth welded it shut. I grabbed my glass of water and gulped it down. The awkwardness had gotten ten times more worse.

"I'm so sorry," Leo said quietly.

"It's okay, it was a long time ago," Jamie answered him.

Piper cleared her throat, breaking the silence.

"So Anna, have you changed you're mind on wanting to do something for you're birthday?" She asked.

I felt everybody's eyes pin point on me.

"It's you're birthday? When?" Jamie asked very interested.

"Saturday," Melinda answered for me.

"Aren't you having a party?" Jamie asked me, putting some food in his mouth.

"No I'm not, I don't want to make a big-"

"We should defiantly have a party. You could have it at P3, invite you're friends and have a get together," Pandora chipped in.

"First of all I don't have any friends, second of all-"

"It should be a Halloween themed party!" Melinda excitedly interrupted me.

"That's sounds like a good idea," Piper added.

My birthday was one week before Halloween so I understand why Melinda came up with the idea. But I didn't want a party. I didn't want anyone making a big deal about my birthday. I didn't even know how to plan a party let alone throw one. However it seemed that I didn't have to make any suggestions as they were being made for me. Right before my eyes.

"It's settled then. We'll throw a Halloween themed birthday party for Anna on Saturday. I'll cancel anything that was planned for that evening," Piper announced.

"We can all go shopping for costumes together!" Payton interjected.

"I can make a few calls so people turn up so it won't be a total waste," Pandora said.

"Chris and I can get people from magic school to come too. They won't even have to go shopping for costumes," Wyatt told everyone.

Oh great. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen.....