Infinity Chronicles Book Two, page 6
“Won’t Dante be hungry? Did he have any breakfast this morning?” I ask, walking out of the cafeteria.
Milo looks over my head at Ollie. “I’m not sure. I grabbed a protein bar.”
“I don’t know either, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. Delaney probably ordered a pizza or some shit knowing her,” Ollie adds as he spins so he’s walking away from us. “I’ll see you guys in a little bit.”
“Bye,” I call back to him while Milo waves.
“Only a few more hours and we can get out of here. I can’t wait for this year to be over.” Milo drops his arm over my shoulder and guides me toward my next hour.
“You don’t have to walk me to class you know.” I definitely don’t mind, but I’m always worried they’re going to be late to their own classes.
“I’d rather be with you anyway.”
A small smile splits my lips, I’d rather he be with me too. He leaves me at the door to my class and our fingers pulling apart as he backs away.
I’ve only just sat down at my desk when the intercom buzzes to life. “Good afternoon students,” a disembodied male voice says and it cracks with static. “We have a special announcement this afternoon.” I edge forward in my seat. “I have already notified the recipients, but this year’s big winner for the countywide art exhibit is our very own senior, Dante Costa.” A round of applause sounds from in the room. “Dante’s winning portrait will be on display in the front trophy case as soon as it’s returned from the art exhibit. We’re proud they recognized Dante’s talents with such a prestigious award. Go Hornets!” The intercom falls silent, but the classroom erupts with noise.
“All right settle down, settle down. You can congratulate Dante after school. Please return your attention to your books and continue.” Mrs. Bonnie is a short, round woman. She has short dark hair that only emphasizes her round face and small beady eyes. She’s one of those teachers who doesn’t really do much teaching. She assigns work from our textbooks and that’s pretty much it.
The smile doesn’t leave my face as I return to my work. Dante will be so happy, I can’t wait to see him in art. I check the clock on the wall for what feels like the tenth time, it’s going way too slow.
I rush from fifth hour, butterflies of excitement swirling in my tummy. I’m sure I won’t be the first to congratulate him, but I’m excited nonetheless. I drop my bag on the floor next to my stool. I’m practically bouncing as I wait for him to walk in the room. “Yeah, I got.” I hear Dante’s gruff voice before I can even see him. He rounds the art room door with his head down. My excitement deflates, he’s not happy. He storms over to the stool, kicking it out with his foot before plopping down. He doesn’t even acknowledge me.
The old me would keep my mouth shut, let him ignore me. But I can’t, not now. “Dante.” I place my hand on his forearm, but he doesn’t look up at me. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just been a shitty day.” His shoulders are rounded down.
Leaning my face down to glimpse his, I whisper, “What can I do?”
He peeks over at me, his eyes hesitant to meet mine. “I just want to get out of here.”
I peer up at the clock, class hasn’t even started yet. We have fifty-five minutes left. “I’m sure Mr. Adams would excuse you if you told him you weren’t feeling well.”
Dante sighs. “No I need to be here, it’s just…” He rolls his lips together not finishing.
“Just what?” I ask, concerned about the way he’s behaving.
“Something happened when they came to tell me about winning the fair.” Dante pulls his arms out from under mine, using his to push his hair back. He’s still not really looking at me. I fold my hands in my lap, getting a bad feeling. “I was with Delaney, working on the poster for the FFA Halloween event coming up.”
I nod, my throat not wanting to work, why is he acting so strange. “They came in with a photographer from the local paper, I thought it was so they could talk about the Halloween bash the high school does for the elementary school, put an announcement in the paper.”
“It wasn’t?”
Dante shakes his head and looks forward. “They wanted a picture of me because I won first place. It surprised me.” The final tardy bell rings cutting Dante off. “When they told me. Delaney, she threw her arms around me. She hugged me… and kissed me.”
My stomach drops from my belly. I lean forward over the desk.
“I think I kissed her back,” Dante adds, his voice quiet, but I have no problem hearing him. “It will probably end up in the paper.”
Chapter 5
The hurt and pain of betrayal hits me first. How could he do that? Shame lands on me seconds later—what right do I even have to be upset? I was just kissing his brother last night for fuck’s sake. Anger blooms next, I don’t know if I’m really mad, or if I just can’t process what I’m truly feeling.
“Let’s hear it for our local celebrity!” Mr. Adams announces to the class. Everyone hoots and claps, calling out his name, but I’m frozen. I can’t pull my eyes up from the desk. I recognize that our teacher is standing on Dante’s right side, patting his back. “Dante has put a lot of time and hard work into his artwork. I’m pleased his determination has paid off. To celebrate his, and everyone in the class’s effort I’m giving you guys a free period.” More happy shouts erupt.
Mr. Adams yells over the noise, “Make sure you pick up a copy of the Independent tomorrow. This guy is making front page news.” He shakes Dante’s shoulder.
As soon as Mr. Adams retreats to his desk so everyone can come over and congratulate Dante in person, I slide off the stool. I haven’t spoken to Dante, I wouldn’t know what to say to him anyway.
Making my way up to the front of the room with my backpack in hand, I tell Mr. Adams, “I’m not feeling well. I need to go.” I don’t even give him a chance to object before walking away from the room.
“Laura,” Dante calls my name, but I ignore him. I can’t be around him right now. The pain in my chest says I’m hurting, the lump in my throat is dying for me to scream how could you? But the shame I feel is rolling around like a lead ball in my gut, telling me that I don’t even have a right to feel those things.
I make my way through the empty halls until I reach the side exit door. I draw in a deep breath as I push past the metal door to the parking lot. School won’t be over for a while, so I skirt the front of the building. I don’t want someone to come out trying to find out why I’m out of class.
I don’t really have anywhere to go other than my camper, and it would alert Ares the moment I walked in the door. So, I walk in the diner's direction. I almost wish I could call off work, but where would I go anyway?
I’m so focused on my own emotions I can’t even examine why Dante would let her kiss him, let alone kiss her back. He acted like he didn’t like her. Before I even make it to the diner a car idles up next to me. I peer over to see Ares’s black SUV. Stopping on the sidewalk, I shake my head, how the hell did he even find me?
The passenger window slides down, revealing Ares. He leans down so I can see his face. “Need a ride pretty lady?”
I snort, but stalk over to the vehicle, leaning on the window I ask, “What are you doing around here?”
Looking out the front window he answers nonchalantly, “I was in the area, saw a beautiful girl.” He lets the sentence hang. “Come on, get in, I have something I want to show you.”
I sigh, looking in the diner's direction. Do I really have the emotional energy to deal with him right now? There’s no way I’d refuse him, so I get in the car without a fight. “I have to be at work in a little while, so I can’t go far.”
“Seatbelt,” Ares orders while turning the dial to D to put the SUV in drive. “Ollie’s going to cover your shift tonight,” he adds while making a U-turn. I open my mouth to argue, but snap it closed. Isn’t that exactly what I wanted, to not go to work tonight?
“You talked to Ollie, he knows?” I wonder if he’s talked to Dante too, if that’s why he’s really here? Ares pulls back into the school parking lot, I scrunch down in my seat. “What are we doing here?”
“I’m picking up Dante, he’s coming with us.”
I turn my head to face out the window. “Careful what you wish for,” I mutter under my breath. I could have spent the evening busy at work, now I’ll be stuck with the guy that just admitted kissing another girl, and his brother that I’ve kissed several times. Fucking fabulous.
“Why weren’t you in school anyway, shouldn’t you be in art class with Dante?” Ares turns to face me, his eyes narrowed in my direction. “You were skipping school?” Ares scolds his voice going dark, “that’s naughty.” He parks the truck in the back lot.
“Dante won the scholarship, it’s going to be front page news.” I’m still staring out the window when Ares drops his hand on the back of my neck. His fingers knead the muscles, forcing me to relax.
“What’s wrong, were you hoping to win too?” Ares questions me softly. I shake my head no.
“No, nothing like that,” I offer just as softly. Ares is part of the reason I feel so torn. I know they grew up knowing that their future relationship would be different, but how do they deal with the jealousy.
“How do you do it?” I look over at Ares, his brows are drawn.
“Do what exactly?” Ares prompts, his fingers still rubbing my neck.
“How do you deal with the jealousy, or do you not have it? Are you like programed differently? If that’s the case, I think I’m broken.” My is voice laced with heartache.
Ares palm slides up to my cheek, and looking into my eyes he urges, “Tell me what happened?”
I look away, what do I even say? Dante kissed another girl, I’m hurt, but I want to kiss all of you? “If you don’t tell me I’ll ask him, he’ll be out in about five minutes,” he warns.
I hold off for a few seconds, but eventually break down and tell him. I need to talk to someone. “It’s just hard, I don’t like thinking about you guys with other girls. How are you guys okay with me being with other people?”
“What other people?” Ares's voice takes on a disbelieving edge. “Is that Charlie kid still sniffing around?”
“What? No. I’m taking about Dante and Delaney.” Why is he even bring up Charlie?
“Delaney? Dante told you he wasn’t with her. She was just trying to mark territory.”
“Yeah well, he also just told me he kissed her.” I wrap my arms over my stomach feeling the need to protect myself.
“No, no he didn’t,” Ares objects, like I’m crazy for even suggesting it.
“Believe me, I know what he said. But how can I be upset with him when I kissed you last night?”
Ares places his finger under my chin, turning me to face him. “Listen to me Laura. I have no idea what this shit with Delaney is about, but that isn’t anything like what happens between us.” His eyes search mine.
“How isn’t it? Do you know Milo has kissed me, not like you kiss me, but he has? And you’re okay with that?”
Ares's eyes close, when he opens them a long blink later his lips twist. “I am okay with it, because I’ve always known that’s the way it would be for me. I didn’t know I would be lucky enough to be paired with my best friends, but I knew I would have to share the affections of our woman.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do it. Not if it makes you feel even the tiniest bit like I do right now.”
“It’s not the same, if you were to kiss anyone else, Charlie for example, I would give him nightmares so bad he would kill himself within a week.”
My mouth falls open. “You, you could do that?” I whisper, my voice betraying my the horror.
Ares chuckles darkly. “That and so much more.”
“But… but,” I stammer, trying to find the words to explain what I’m feeling.
“No buts, Laura. It’s not the same between us. And it’s not just because we grew up expecting to share. I see the way you smile at Ollie, the way you hang on every word Dante says to you. I also see the way your cheeks flush when I touch you, the way your eyes darken when you look at me. I wouldn’t take that from you or them.”
Something inside me softens with his words, but then the realization dawns. Dante still kissed another girl. Told me he kissed her.
The sounds of car doors slamming and of kids being released from school on a Friday afternoon filter into the car. I know I only have minutes, maybe seconds before Dante arrives.
“We’ll figure out what happened today, but I know my brother. It’s not what you’re thinking,” Ares offers.
Chapter 6
“It’s not what I’m thinking Ares, it’s what he told me.” My voice is flat, I want to believe him, but I’m still struggling to wrap my head around what I’m feeling and what Ares just told me about his willingness to share our relationships with the others. Could I really do that to them, expect them to share me without sharing them? It’s what I want, but it’s not fair to them.
The back door opens and I pull myself from my thoughts, when I look up, I see Milo and Ollie waving from Dante’s car. I give them a tight smile and wave in return. I know Dante is in the car with us, but I can’t bring myself to look at him, he hasn’t spoken either.
“Hey man,” Ares greets him.
“Hey,” Dante mumbles back.
The car begins a slow roll forward, getting in line with all the other people trying to escape school for the weekend. “So,” Ares prompts looking from me to the rearview mirror. “Laura said you had an interesting day.” Dante makes a scoffing sound but doesn’t elaborate further. “Well… do you want to tell me why she said you told her you kissed Delilah.”
“Delaney,” I correct automatically.
“Whoever,” Ares counters.
“I didn’t tell her I kissed Delaney, I told her Delaney kissed me…”
“Ah see now that makes more sense,” Ares adds nodding his head.
“But I kissed her back,” Dante adds before Ares is even done defending him. He sounds nearly as dismayed about it as I am.
Ares hits the brakes a little harder than necessary. “What the fuck?” He turns to face his brother in the seat behind me, with the car at a full stop.
“It just happened, they came in to announce I was the winner. She jumped up to hug me. She kissed me before I realized what happened. It was just a little kiss. But before I pushed her away… there might have been a second where… I kissed her back. I don’t know, it happened so fast. And the photographer for the Independent was snapping pictures. I didn’t mean it. It wasn’t a real kiss.” His words are rushed together in a mess of information.
Ares turns back to face the windshield and he lets his foot off the brake, so we inch forward again. His head shakes back and forth a few seconds later, like it took him that long to digest the information. His lips in a tight line, he opens his mouth like he might say something, but looks in my direction and snaps his mouth closed and shakes his head again.
“It didn’t mean anything,” Dante whispers, sounding completely dejected. I’ve sat in silence the entire time. I don’t know what to say. I really don’t think I have the right to say anything considering the situation, but that’s not what my heart is telling me. That, and my head keeps telling me I can’t expect something from them that I’m not giving myself.
“It’s okay Dante, I’m not mad.” I cross my arms over my stomach, my shoulders rounded down, making myself smaller.
“Well I am, and even if you’re not admitting it, you’re something—mad, hurt, something.” Ares huffs repositioning himself in the seat.
“You don’t care, but you left school?” Dante leans forward, sounding skeptical, maybe even a little sad.
“I didn’t say I didn’t care. I said I wasn’t mad. How can I be? I could do the same thing to any of you.” I shrug my shoulders looking down at my lap.
“Thanks for making this even harder you dipshit,” Ares grates. “Laura doesn’t think she has the right to be pissed because she gets all of us, and we only get her. She thought that she would have to share us in the same way, and you just confirmed her assumptions.”
“But that’s… no. That’s not how it is. It’s just us,” Dante adds, his voice more urgent.
“I know that, but this is all new to her, she doesn’t fully understand the bond yet. And we’ve been doing a piss-poor job of explaining it to her, if she thinks she can’t be pissed off because you kissed another girl. Which can I just say again, what the fuck Dante?” Ares ends on a shout.
I duck my head instinctually, he can be scary. His big palm lands on the back of my neck with gentle fingers, massaging my stiff muscles.
“If I hadn’t been caught off guard, it never would have happened,” Dante pleas.
I snort. “That sounds like the same kind of excuse I’ve heard guys at school say to girls. ‘I was drunk, it meant nothing. My hand wasn’t down her pants, I was falling.’” I mean really, do guys think girls are that stupid? They only believe that shit because they want to. They don’t want to see the truth in front of their faces, so they believe the lie because it’s easier, and it hurts less.
Angry now, I turn in my seat, dislodging Ares's hand. “What happens the next time when she does more than just kiss you? That won’t be your fault either? You’ll be so caught off guard, next thing you know you’ll be having sex.” My voice is rising with my anger. “How would I even be able to trust you?”
Dante shrinks away from me, turning his head so his neck is bared. He won’t even look at me, I flip back around facing the front. We’re out of the school lot and on the road that leads to Turtle Creek. “Where are we going?” I bark.
Ares clears his throat, and says, “I got a hit on the security system, I wanted to go check out the camper and see if anything is out of place.”
“Well, what did the video show?” I focus on Ares’s profile as he grips the steering wheel.
“Nothing, there was interference, whoever was there knew there was surveillance equipment, or they took precautions in the event there was. That’s why I wanted you to take a look around, see if you notice anything. And I want you to talk to Mark, see if he saw who was here.”
