An Eye For An Eye

Vingt-Deux

I was practically shaking with excitement as I ate breakfast. I was also certain that he knew exactly how I was feeling. I was planning on changing into a dress later, my favourite one. It was a red, off the shoulder dress with a skirt that flared out when I twirled.

“So, when are we going on this date then?” he asked as he sat next to me.
“Later, when it starts to get dark,” I said with a smile on my face. The one thing I hadn’t accounted for was a way to play music. “Do you have something to play music on?”
“I don’t know.”
I shrugged. “A Walkman or mp3 player or something?” I used to have a Walkman but I gave it to Kara when hers had broken.

“I have a Walkman somewhere in my room, I think. I’d have to find it,” he said. “Is it for the date?”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “Or maybe I want to listen to music without you hearing.”
“If I really wanted to listen, I could,” he pointed out. Sighing, I remembered that the perks of being a werewolf included better hearing.
“Okay, yes, it's for the date,” I admitted. He smiled and I just shook my head.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” I asked as I stood up.
“If you don't mind,” he said with a smile.
“Of course I don't,” I said as I pressed the button on the kettle to make it boil. “You know, I'm fairly sure you've managed to convert me from a coffee drinker to a tea drinker.” I hadn't wanted a cup of coffee at all recently, even when I was at home it didn't bother me too much.
“Good, it's much better,” he said as I grabbed two cups.

“I still like coffee,” I said. “I just… haven't really drunk it like I used to for the last two or three weeks.”
“Is it because you started drinking tea and realised it's superior?” he asked with a smug smirk on his face but I wasn't letting him have the satisfaction of winning.
“No, it's probably just because you only have tea.”
“And I only have tea because I like tea and I don’t like coffee, it’s too bitter,” he said.
“I suppose you only like sweet things then,” I said, grinning to myself as I carried on making the cups of tea.
“You could say that, yes,” he said. Glancing behind me, I could see he was smiling and I laughed a little.

After drinking tea, the day went as it usually did, dancing, writing and reading to Deucalion. I had helped Deuc find the Walkman in his room. I didn’t mind the general repetitiveness of the day, it was fun. When it was almost time for us to leave, I excused myself from listening to the Beatles with him to change into the nicer dress I had decided on earlier.

I was fairly sure there wasn’t a word to describe how I was feeling when I stood in the guest room. There was definitely some anxiety but after yesterday, I knew there was probably nothing to worry about. Excited felt like an understatement and I was fairly sure I had enough energy to run a marathon.

Grabbing two of the tapes I had brought with me, I put one in the Walkman and put the other one into my jacket pocket. We had put new batteries in it earlier so it should last long enough for us to listen to a few albums. I grabbed my earphones and sighed as I realised that I had left my earphone splitter at Kara’s house weeks ago and hadn’t remembered to get it back. I guessed I would never get it back now. We would just have to share the earphones the normal way.

Before leaving the room, I put on my boots and took a deep breath. As I turned, I saw him waiting by the elevator in a light blue button up shirt and trousers.
“You look…” I trailed off as I walked over to him.
“Is it really that bad?”
I laughed. “No, you look good, I just don’t think good is well, good enough,” I said. He chuckled and pressed to button for the elevator.

“I’m sure you look as beautiful as always,” he said and I smiled. If he could see me, I would be as red as the dress I was wearing.
“You’re being far too nice,” I said, laughing a little.
“Really?” he asked. “I thought you would have wanted more compliments.”
“Well, I never told you to stop.”

The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. I pressed the button for the ground floor before putting the earphones in the Walkman.
“So… what are we doing?” he asked. He was smiling and I put the left earbud in his hand.
“That’s for you,” I said. I waited for him to put it in before putting the right one in my right ear. “And we’re going to walk to one of my favourite places.”

As the lift slowed down, I pressed play. His hand held mine as we left the apartment building.
“Queen? I’m not surprised,” he said as we walked along the street. Since I had taken walks with Kara, I was sure to point out where the edge of the paths were and if there was anything to avoid.
“You don’t hate it or anything do you? This might be an important factor,” I said, trying to sound as serious as I could but I couldn’t manage it. I could never dislike him over something like music.
“It’s good that I like Queen then, isn’t it?” he said with a smile on his face.
“It is indeed,” I replied, only for the earphone to fall out and I scrambled to put it in my ear again.

“So why is it your favourite place?” he asked after we crossed a road.
“When I first came to Beacon Hills, I was in high school and I just hated being around so many people I didn’t know. I ended up finding this little secluded spot to hide away from everyone, including my family.”
“Do you not deal well with people?” he asked.
“No, I can deal with people, I’m apparently good at being social, I just… everyone needs a break sometimes and when I needed a break, I ended up there,” I explained. The sun was starting to set but we weren’t far from the spot.

It was at the edge of the forest and looked over a fair bit of Beacon Hills. We stood for a while in silence and I looked out, watching the sunset.
“You know, the last time I was here was before I came to you. I wanted to watch the sun set in case I wasn’t going to be able to afterwards,” I told him before resting my head on his shoulder. “I know you can’t really see it, but it’s beautiful. The blue just sort of melts into purple and pink and orange. The clouds have the sort of red glow and it’s really pretty. I wish you could see it properly.”

“Keep describing it then,” he said as he squeezed my hand.
“You can see most of Beacon Hills from here. The street lights and the windows are slowly lighting up, one by one. They’re like man-made stars, slowly appearing. You can’t see the real stars yet, it’s not quite dark enough. The road here’s quiet too, not many people come here. It’s lovely.”
“It’s probably not as lovely as you.”

Chuckling, I lifted my head off shoulder to look at him. He was smiling.
“I was wondering if we could dance here,” I said. This part was grassy and there wasn’t anything to fall over.
“Of course we can, Liza.” He paused the music since the Walkman was in his pocket, my pockets weren’t big enough. He moved to face me and then his smile faded. “I think I can hear something.!

Turning around, I glanced into the forest but I couldn’t see anything or anyone.
“Are you sure?” I asked quietly, furrowing my brow. He said nothing and closed his eyes.
“There’s someone here,” he whispered and I tried to see if there was anyone there. It was difficult, the forest was dark and there were no street lights.
“Deuc, maybe we should-”

There was a searing pain in my shoulder and I felt tears in my eyes as a crossbow bolt stuck out of me.