Krimson Mind: The Krimson Cycle Vol. 1

Chapter Ten - Krimson

After giving the coach just a hint of what he truly deserved, and sending him to the hospital for a ruptured testicle, the rest of my day sped by. I finished the last of my finals, again, and left the school. I decided that the next time I had to start a new life, I wasn't going to start it as a fucking high-schooler. It seemed like I'd taken these same tests the last time I decided to pretend to be eighteen. I decided that from now on, I was just a really young twenty-one.

As I walked out of the front doors, I saw James walking up the sidewalk. I juggled my keys and the book bag I'd bought to keep up appearances. Once I had everything settled, I walked over to him and pinched him on the arm hard enough to give him a small bruise. It wasn't that I was mad at him. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't seeing things. I didn't believe that could have been released from the hospital so soon.

"Oww! What the hell was that for?" He asked, rubbing his upper arm.

"I just had to be sure that you weren't an illusion." I said grinning with relief. "You know, with all the ghosts I've been seeing lately." I told him.

I knew that I shouldn't have been there. So close to him, I mean. I liked the way I felt around him, but I didn't want what happened in my dream to happen right here on the sidewalk in front of the school. I wondered briefly if Amy would consider my ripping all of James's clothes off right there and then 'hurting' him. I somehow didn't think he would mind too much. Then again, getting arrested for public nudity might be considered hurting him. At least on paper. I took a deep breath and released it slowly.

I shook my head in order to clear of it. I couldn't believe that I was having these thoughts. I began to fear for my hard-as-steel resolve. I think it must have rusted apart somewhere along the way. Despite everything, I still just wanted to be around him. I wanted a hell of a lot more than that, but I was afraid of what it meant. How can anybody want somebody want somebody else so completely and only having just met? I had no idea, but here it was, right in front of me. I only just met him, and I wanted him more than I've ever wanted anything in my very long life.

"Are you okay?" He asked, bringing me out of my head. "You were very far away there for a second."

"Yeah. I'm good." I said wrapping my right arm around his left and taking his hand into mine. He had really large hands, I suddenly noticed. I turned away from the thought of what he could do with hands just as quickly as it had appeared in my head. "I just needed to get my head on straight. Which I'm not sure I accomplished."

"Well, speaking of getting one's head on straight, Dr. Rani said that I wasn't going to have to get a brain transplant. I was given the all clear." James reported happily. "I was hoping to find you. I wanted to know if you wanted to come to my house and help me study for the make-up tests that I am going to have to do." He asked.

"With all of that brainpower, are you really sure you need my help?" I joked.

"Actually, no. But I want to talk to you about something else. But I don't think that it should be discussed here." He said rather cryptically. "I have something to show you. Something of yours actually."

I was suddenly very nervous. Like a damned virgin teenager. Then I realized that he was talking about something other than sex. I was again reminded of a fucking virgin. I nearly snorted in disgust with myself. This one man had me so screwed up that I could barely tell if I was coming or going. I had no idea what could be so secret except for me being a vampire and his awe-inspiring psychic powers, which I figured were a secret all their own. The little voice in my head, the one that usually keeps me out of trouble, told me to tell him no. But the rest of me wasn't going to listen. I actually had to bite my bottom lip in order to keep myself from answering too eagerly.