Sorta like sleeping stone giants...but the kind that you don't want to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
Friday nights always see an exodus of students, and come the weekend Rosethorne is once again like a ghost town with its empty wide roads. There's just nothing like the brighter lights of town life that can promise a quick escape from schoolwork, and if Eros had canceled our plans just a little earlier, I'd probably have left campus along with the others.
Crisp, dried-up leaves crackle under my sneaker-covered feet as I cover the last few hundred yards leading to the gates. It's the only thing that breaks the eerie monotony of silence, but trauma that has yet to heal makes the sound more comforting than sinister.
The night I almost died, everything here was too, too quiet.
Since then, noise - any kind of noise - has become my safety blanket.
The road ahead of me seems endless, and my thoughts start to wander into undesirable territory.
Last night had been horrible. With my god out of reach, I had found myself alone with my thoughts, and all of it had been...vile. Over and over, my still-guilty conscience had tortured me with memories of Professor Lucious and Professor Mayumi talking, but it wasn't the thought of them together that hurt me most.
What really tore me apart about those memories was remembering how my heart had been able to beat for my god...while aching for someone else.
My god deserves better from me, and I had tossed and turned the entire night, barely sleeping a wink as I desperately tried to make sense of my seemingly helpless fascination with the professor. I wish I could convince myself it was just his looks that made the difference, but Eros' own brothers are just as gorgeous, and yet none of them has managed to make my heart skip a beat the way Professor Lucious always could.
The thought continues to bother me even as I reach the school gates, and it's only when I see my Uber coming up the driveway that I find myself momentarily distracted. The face behind the wheel is familiar, and I actually find myself waving when the driver steps out.
"Hey." I'm normally not the friendly type, but for this kind old man, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. "It's nice seeing you again."
His eyes light up at my greeting, and the sight is so lovely it's almost...purifying. "You remember me then, little missy?"
"Good guys like you are hard to forget."
The old man laughs at my quip. "Never thought you'd have a sweet tongue on you."
"It's a once in a Greek moon kind of thing," I feel compelled to warn, "so try not to get used to it."
He chuckles, and I just let him be. He obviously thinks I'm joking, and I see no point in bursting his bubble.
"Are you ready to go?" he asks with a smile.
"Yup." I offer my hand. "I'm Halyna, by the way."
The old man's face brightens up again with another smile as he shakes my hand. "Rios."
He puts my overnight bag in the trunk while I slide into the backseat, and it's only when we're about to speed away that I catch sight of Professor Lucious watching me from the school gates. The intensity of his gaze stirs something inside of me, but I clench my jaw and force myself to look away.
Chemistry, I tell myself fiercely.
That's all there is to this.
Chemistry that's rare and at its most potent, but at the end of the day, chemistry is also vastly overrated, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before this thing fades away.
Right?
"CAN I KISS YOU GOOD night?"
"No."
"What about me?"
"No."
I see my parents exchanging looks, and I immediately start backing away. These two are clearly up to no good, and when they face me again with evil looks on their faces, I know I'm right.
They suddenly lunge towards me, but they're too late. I've already made a run for it—-
Bam!
My bedroom door slams in their faces, and it's only when I'm safely out of their sight that I let my lips gradually curve. Seriously, those two are just too—-
"Bet you five dollars she's thinking we're the cutest parents in the world."
My almost-smile instantly converts into a scowl, and my mood grows sourer when I overhear Leslie sigh in response. "If only she'd be more truthful about it, she'd be just as cute—-"
I yank the door open, my irritation getting the better of me. "You guys are not—-"
SMACK!
Hugh and Leslie have already managed to kiss me - one on each cheek - before I realize what's happening, and sweet Greek heavens, but I really do have the—-
Cutest
Most adorable
Grossest, I insist to myself. They're the grossest parents in the world, especially with the way they're now looking at me so, so slyly.