Nightmare Island (A Partial Draft)

Chapter 6

Once Kyla and their friends had walked over to one of the wooden rollercoasters called The Speedster, Lexie asked Ren if he was ok.

"Hell no, I'm not ok, Lex."

He'd never called her 'Lex' before. It was a little weird... but the good kind of weird.

Still, she could sense his unrest. And when she murmured, "What's bothering you? Is it the ghost? Or the Hellmouth thing? Or is it something else?"

He cursed under his breath, running a hand through a shock of dark waves once more.

"Both of those things are bothering me, but it's not for the reasons you think."

"Well, what is it then?" Lexie desperately wanted to put a hand on his cheek, or to pull him into a hug... but she still wasn't sure how he felt... and if he didn't like her, that would be really weird and embarrassing.

Lexie sort of didn't want to risk making either of them look foolish. But, if she didn't at least try, she would regret it. See, the thing was that Lexie was getting pretty darn tired of pretending she didn't have feelings for Ren, and since he seemed worried about the situation, and had called her a nickname for the first time; she thought there might be just the slightest chance that he might listen to her, or that something might happen. Of course, there was a big question mark there.

Lexie forced herself to come back to reality.

Ren sighed.

"I'm worried about you, dammit. I know the three of us all saw that ghost, But it spoke directly to you. Is that a coincidence? I was under the impression that you were a skeptic like me... so if this spirit chose to talk specifically to you, that could mean something. And she mentioned something about a hellmouth. I don't know what that entails... if there is one and she'd warning you? Or if something happened to her and she's trying to tell you... or perhaps there's something you need to do at the hellmouth? None of this is very clear and I have no idea what it all means. To be honest, Lex- I don't want to feel this way. I wish I didn't care as much. The more I hang out with you, the more I'll have to be around Emersyn, and I'd really rather not to be honest."

Lexie knew she should be peeved about that last comment, but she couldn't muster up the energy to care... she was so excited by the fact that that Ren cared about her that everything else, even seeing the ghost slipped from her mind.

"I appreciate that you care. I know that Emersyn isn't your favorite person in the world... and I don't know that I'll ever be able to completely cut her out of my life... I mean, she's been my friend for as long as I can remember... and even though she's the way she is, I don't know that she's a terrible person... but I'll tell you what, if you care enough to start something with me, I promise that I'll figure out how to balance things... I've become all-the-more aware of the situation with Emersyn, especially since we've gotten here. And as far as the ghost, I don't know why she chose to appear to me. I'm having a hard time grasping it all, like you said, I'm a skeptic. And I haven't the foggiest clue as to what she meant... but I have a feeling that whatever it is, it's not good. I'll be grateful to have someone looking after me. And I'll have your back."

Ren was a bit flabbergasted by that, she could tell. His face looked surprised for a moment, but it shifted to amusement, his face fell again however when he saw Emersyn had come and was making a face like they were holding up the party.

To Lexie's surprise, Ren said in a quiet voice, barely audible, "We'll talk soon. I promise."

And somehow, that was everything.