Intrigue: The Night Muse Trilogy

  Chapter 4: Plane Friends

  I was my bright and perky self when I headed into the gym after my dad pointedly told me not to be late this morning. Rafe seemed to be stretching when I came in, and I immediately started doing the same after a grumbled hello. We stretched in companionable silence. I finally felt sufficiently warmed up after stealthily checking him out about a dozen times. We started our kihon and kata, and I announced, “You can’t make me late today by grilling me with your questions.”

  “Hello. Good Morning. How are you? These are all polite ways to start out conversations. Calli, were you perhaps raised by wolves?”

  Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned. He did say he would call me on my antics. I replied with just a tinge of guilt in my voice, “I did say hello when I walked in.”

  “No. I think you might have growled something. A greeting, it was not. Of course, it was followed by the world’s most civil conversation openers: an accusation. I am sure your mother taught you better manners than that.”

  I paled a little. He was right that my mom had taught me better, but to admit I was wrong this early in the morning was not going to happen. I finally said, “I didn’t accuse you. I just said I can’t be late. And this is my early morning personality; either accept me for who I am or don’t be around me this early.”

  “First, you did say, and I quote, ‘you can’t make me late today.’ Second, It was your blatant curiosity about me that made you late yesterday. Third, I accept you as you are but I distinctly remember telling you I would call you on your behavior. Finally, don’t issue ultimatums that you have no intention of carrying out,” he snarked back with a wink.

  I turned to face him and pinned his gaze to mine. I announced with authority as if I had not heard a word he said, “Well, I’m glad we have that straight. Another thing we need to get straight is Thrace. Right now, he is unaware of our friendship. As soon as school starts that is going to change. If we are going to stay friends, you are going to have to make friends with Thrace.” I went back in my stance, and we continued on with practicing our kihon.

  His voice turned serious, “Why is it you would like me to befriend your better half?”

  I laughed and informed him, “He is my better half and has been a friend for over ten years. And you should make nice with him for several reasons. He’s Mr. Popular at DAI, and since Jazz and Key are going to be friends with you, it will make it easier all around if you befriend Thrace.”

  His voice turned husky, and I had a hard time with my concentration as he asked, “So if he’s a social butterfly, what are you?”

  “As you already pointed out, I’m a work in progress. I’m the one that will sit back and watch instead of come over and talk. I’m the one with an Irish temper and sarcastic sense of humor. I’m the one that will read a book before I’ll watch TV. I’m the one with a small group of plane friends instead of a large circle of back stabbers.”

  We finished our kata as I finished my self-disclosure. He seemed to be pondering what I had just told him as he bowed to me. I returned his bow before he asked the inevitable question, “What are plane friends?”

  I waited for his attack this time, and I was not disappointed as he started with a front kick-punch combination, which I avoided then countered. And we were off to the races again. We circled as I answered his question, “One of my very good friends, Clio, moved away to Cleveland my freshman year. She was in a car accident last year. When she called to tell me she was in the hospital, I jumped on a plane and took a taxi directly to the Cleveland Clinic. When I was at the airport, I started to think which friends of mine I would jump on a plane for no questions asked if they said they needed me. It’s a short list. Clio, Thrace, Jazz, and Key.”

  He let me attack as he considered my revelation. He finally said in a thoughtful voice, “My list of plane friends wouldn’t even be that long. I have many friends, but only one true friend since my best friend died.”

  I faltered then stopped my attack altogether. He had actually grabbed my wrist instead of blocking my last pathetic punch. “I’m sorry. That must have been really hard. How old were you when he died?”

  He had let our hands hang down still connected. “She died awhile ago, and yes it was hard. It was like losing a piece of me. You actually remind me a little of her. Cora had a whole lotta spunk.”

  “If it’s not too painful, do you mind if I ask how she died?” His hand slid from my wrist and entwined in my hand.

  He stared off into space as if he was trying to distance himself from the loss. “She died in an accident. Your story made me think of it.” Then his hypnotic gaze held me in rapt attention as he whispered, “I would be honored to call you a friend, Calli. And maybe, someday even a plane friend.”

  I took a deep breath while trying unsuccessfully to escape his hypnotic gaze as I shyly pronounced, “Somehow, I think I’ve already entered the deep end of the pool by being friends with you.”

  He looked slightly startled then somewhat amused when he said, “Truer words were never spoken. But, somehow I think you’re rather adept at treading water.”

  “I’m better at floating and evasion. So on that note, I was told by my dad not to make him late again, so I’m gonna have to bail.”

  He glanced down at our hands entwined and looked like he truly regretted having to let mine go. He squeezed it once and said with a tempting smile, “Til tonight, Calli.”

  I sprinted toward the exit to make sure dad wasn’t late again. He seemed less irritated this time so I must have just made it in time. I followed the same routine as yesterday with a quick run, a long shower, and a nap. This time I wasn’t startled awake by Thrace, but I did wake up snuggled up against his back. I kissed his neck right by his ear in the spot that I knew he loved and said, “Much better.”

  He sleepily mumbled, “What’s much better?”

  “Waking up like this rather than being startled awake,” I sat up and started to stretch.

  Unfortunately, Thrace took the opportunity to tackle me back to the bed while he cajoled, “We should take advantage of our last week home without parental supervision. Calli, don’t you think it’s time?”

  As he kissed my neck, I confessed to him, “Thrace, I know you have been patient, but I’m not ready. Your first time only happens once and it won’t be special for me if I feel like I caved to pressure from you.”

  Thrace seemed a tad bit frustrated as he rolled over and stared up at my ceiling. This was an ongoing battle that Disney never clued me into when I landed the Prince. I felt so lucky to have finally got his attention that I was afraid that he would start looking elsewhere. “Calli, I have been patient for months. How long do you plan on keeping me waiting?”

  “I just want to feel like our first time happens at the exact right time. I haven’t even scheduled an appointment to get on birth control.”

  Thrace look horrified, “Calli, you don’t have to do that. I have us covered in that area!”

  Both our mothers were nurses so this was a no-brainer, “You have us mostly covered. I will not take a risk every time just to avoid a little parental humiliation. Those percentages add up you know. Now, think about how my dad is going to look at you when he finds out, and if that doesn’t make you feel like you want to wait then nothing will.”

  Thrace shuddered and actually jumped out of bed and said, “You hungry?”

  I laughed and said, “Thought that mental image might be helpful for you.”

  We were downstairs raiding the kitchen for suitable lunch food in under a minute. We settled on Spaghetti O’s and peanut butter sandwiches. As we were eating in the den, Thrace started talking like he was reading from a script he prepared. “I know you want our first time to be perfect. I think part of you not being ready is that sex is something you have to slowly work up to. For instance, there are about 21 steps between meeting someone and the first time that most committed couples go through.”

  I shook my head and said with a dumbfounded exp
ression still on my face, “Where are you getting this, and why are you acting like you are reading off a teleprompter?”

  “It doesn’t matter!” Thrace said with embarrassment.

  “Clearly, it does matter!” I laughed. No way was he going to brazen his way out of this one, especially since it was definitely going to be amusing.

  “Fine. I found it online. You’re making me so desperate that I have been doing research.”

  “What the Flock! What type of research? Don’t tell me you Googled how to persuade your virgin girlfriend to have sex with you. ” I said, slightly hysterical.

  “No!” He huffily replied, which told me I wasn’t far off the mark.

  “Back to my main point. Maybe we should just work our way through the list until you are ready,” he said desperately trying to get the conversation back to his main idea.

  If this would make him happy, then I guess we could try it. “That sounds reasonable. But first I want to see the list and I want to know where it came from. Second, it’s not going to be one thing on the list per day, ok?”

  Thrace nodded and gave me a grateful smile like he could actually see the finish line now.

  Thrace didn’t want to hang out at the pool because we had practice this afternoon, and he felt it would drain his energy. I think he was secretly hoping that he would get to fight Rafe and didn’t want to take his chances on not being in top form. So, we kicked back and watched Borat until we left for class.

  As usual, Thrace drove us to class. He actually put his hand on my back as we walked in the door, which he had never done before. Rafe was nowhere to be seen, so Thrace’s territorial gesture was wasted, although Jazz and Key definitely noticed and smirked as they followed me into the locker room.

  “Hey, I distinctly remember telling you that you were to call me and provide details of your sparring sessions with our new eye candy.” Jazz announced in an annoyed voice.

  “Yeah, we’re feeling no love from you. We share all our exploits with you!” Key jumped in to further shame me.

  After I put my stuff in the locker, I filled them in with a few brief details. I started to change as they discussed the info. I finally gave them one more piece of information that would set them spinning as we walked out of the locker room door. I timed it perfectly because class was starting right then, so they wouldn’t be able to ask me 10,000 more questions that I could not answer. “Oh, and Rafe enrolled in DAI this year.”

  I got a gasp and an open mouth as I smiled back at them when I stepped into my place next to Thrace to begin warm-ups. Next time I looked back, they were both glaring at me with retribution in their eyes. I smirked. I also noticed Rafe was in the front like Thrace and I at the far end of the room, so no awkward meeting of the eyes that Thrace would later bust me for. Slowly, I began to relax then focus on my form and movement. A lot of people said that yoga helped them find peace and relaxation. With me, it was karate. I was bullied pretty badly in elementary and middle school for my gangly height and my fire red hair. But instead of going postal, I channeled my anger into karate. After that, it only took one fight to get a reputation of someone not to be messed with. Of course, it also meant that I didn’t have very many friends.

  As soon as we performed our customary bow at the end of practice, I heard, “Chica, you are in trouble,” coming from Jazz. I just smiled, but Thrace looked back and said, “Why is she in trouble now?”

  “Calli failed to mention our new boy toy was enrolling in DAI until right before practice. You’re lucky you weren’t my partner today,” Jazz sneered.

  Rafe was over on his side of the room talking to a few of our fellow students, but I saw his mouth quirk as if he was listening. Well, it was a small room and Jazz’s voice definitely could be heard vast distances when she was upset. I finally slyly noted, “I figured you could be planning a whole list of questions for him during class, so you can properly interrogate him while you are sparring him tonight.”

  Jazz sniped at me, “Don’t think I wasn’t, but the point is I could have been planning a much more extensive and detailed list of questions had I known this a day earlier.”

  I raised one of my eyebrows at her as I remarked, “You would have just forgot the questions by the time you were sparring with him. Now the questions are fresh in your mind. Are you not the girl we dubbed, Ms. Short-Attention-Span?”

  Key laughed and agreed, “True dat, but I think we were talking about guys, not interrogation questions. Of course, in this case, it’s the same thing. She even made me drive separately so she would get Rafe all to herself.”

  Jazz shot Key a challenging smile as she said, “I’m paying you the same courtesy of driving separate when it’s your turn.”

  Thrace listened to Jazz and Key’s verbal sparring and announced, “I’ve never seen Jazz and Key directly compete over the same guy—talk about entertainment.”

  I tilted my head to indicate Rafe was on his way over to the group, as I said, “I’ll bring the popcorn, and let the most devious temptress win.”

  Jazz snorted and inquired, “Where does your vocabulary come from sometimes?”

  I smirked and quickly said, “Calli’s vocabulary: brought to you courtesy of our fine friends that wrote the most popular trashy romance novels in the past six years.”

  Jazz cracked, “That explains a lot about you,” just as Rafe arrived.

  Two things happened at once: Thrace’s arm immediately snaked around my waist and as he did so he also politely asked Rafe when he could set up a time to spar with him. I saw Rafe try to hide a smirk at the arm move, but Jazz and Key couldn’t hide their snorts of amusement.

  Rafe answered just as friendly, “Does tomorrow work for you? How about 11am. We can meet here if that is ok.”

  Thrace then astounded even me as he said, “Calli, why don’t we have a back to school pool party at my house tomorrow afternoon? The parents won’t be home until late cause they’re meeting your parents at Vicente’s for dinner. As long as everyone is gone by 9pm, we should be fine. Rafe, you can follow me back, and Calli and I can introduce you to some of your fellow classmates early.”

  Rafe gave us (or mostly me) an amused smile like he was remembering our conversation from this morning, “Thanks, Thrace. That is very generous of you. I have been going a little stir crazy this summer not knowing anyone my age.”

  Thrace looked resignedly at Jazz and Key and asked, “Are you ladies in?”

  “Back to school pool party? We’re in like Flynn,” Jazz announced.

  “And who else you inviting Mr. Popularity?” Key wanted to know.

  “Just the usual suspects. Calli, can you call around and give everyone the 411?”

  “Only if you promise we’re going to Raise the Roof or Bust a Move, Young MC,” I teased.

  “Yeah, you’re asking Ms. Introvert to spread the word about your party, not gonna happen. Key and I will take care of it,” Jazz assured him.

  Thrace stared down Jazz as he sternly said, “Keep it small. I mean it.”

  “Chillax. Is it BYOB? And what time is it gonna get rolling?” Key asked.

  Thrace looked at Rafe and inquired, “You think we’ll be done by noon?”

  Rafe shrugged and said, “That works. Don’t want to waste too much of our last day of freedom.”

  Thrace must have really taken my words to heart as he added, “We should get rolling about 1pm. Rafe, if you want to crash at my place that night, you won’t be the only one.” Jazz and Key started texting classmates.

  Rafe could not hide his bemused smile as he looked at us, “I’ll run it by the father figure. He tends to be rather strict sometimes. Maybe I’ll catch him on a good night. You mind if we play it by ear?”

  Thrace smiled and said, “No problem. Calli’s dad practically has a ankle monitor on her.”

  I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow at him, “If that were true, we would have never managed to go to any of the raves this summer. Although I still have a sneaking suspic
ion that he calls his buddies on the police force every time we go out on the weekend.”

  Jazz and Key both looked up at the same time and as Jazz announced, “Done and done. Now, time for anyone not sparring with Rafe tonight to say their goodbyes.”

  Thrace laughed and said, “Don’t let her overwhelm you with her personality, Rafe. She’ll say something to shock ya then she tries to knock you on your butt while your mouth is still hangin open.”

  Rafe gave Jazz a quizzical stare down and said, “Duly warned.”

  “You want me to invite 50 more people Thrace, or you gonna stop talking?” Jazz challenged.

  “We’re leaving,” Thrace said as he guided me toward the door.

  As we headed to our cars I assured Key, “Don’t worry Sparky. It will be your turn next.”

  Key snorted and replied, “Yeah, but she gets all the good ones first!”

  I smirked as I reassured Key, “Luckily, she never keeps them very long. Plus, wasn’t that hottie on the basketball team texting you the other day?”

  “True. And he actually might be a keeper. Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. Ya want me to call you tonight with the Jazz’s version of Rafe’s interrogation?”

  “You can fill me in tomorrow at the party,” I said as I got in Thrace’s car.

  He roared off as usual as if he was driving in Daytona. I warned, “Slow down, Sparky.” Then, I remarked, “Weren’t you friendly to the new guy.”

  “I’m just listening to my girlfriend’s advice,” Thrace answered like a boy scout.

  “Let me feel your forehead. Or is that one of your 21 steps—listening to your girlfriend? If it is, I like it. We can stay on this step awhile,” I teased.

  “No. But I am definitely planning on engaging in Step Number 1 at the pool party,” he said mysteriously.

  “And what exactly is Step Number 1? I believe you agreed to show me the whole list.”

  Thrace promised, “I will but one at a time.”

  “You know I hate surprises, Mr. Evasive.”

  Thrace laughed ironically as he said, “Me? Evasive? Pot, this is Kettle calling. You’re black.”

  “Yes, but I am the time keeper for your 21 Steps, so ya might want to humor me.”

  Thrace firmly announced, “Calli, I’m taking lead on our 21 steps.”

  “Fine. We’ll play it your way,” I said as we arrived at my house. “You coming in and grabbing dinner?” I asked. I knew there would not be a meal waiting for him at his house. Honey was not much of a cook. He, of course, recognized this as well so he said, “Sure. I gotta hear what your dad thinks of the Spartan’s chances this year.”

  “Great. I could tell you what he’s gonna say before we even get in there.” I did my best dad impression as we get out of the car and enter the house. Thrace was impressed when dad quoted me word-for-word as he discussed football with Thrace.

  Thrace got his fill of family bonding, and he said good-bye to my parents. I walked him back out to his car and was about to kiss him when he stopped me.

  He gave me a hug instead and said that I would have to wait until tomorrow before we started down the 21 Steps. I muttered something unladylike under my breath that made Thrace laugh. He let me go as I looked at him with bewilderment in my eyes. He got in his car and said, “Love ya, Calli.” I grumbled something else, and he took off with a smirk on his face.

  A minute after Thrace left I got a call from Rafe. As soon I picked up the phone he commented, “Thanks for the warning. Jazz has got a bright future in military interrogation.”

  I laughed and said, “She does have a way of turning the screws just right. So what did she get out of you?”

  “I am sure she will share her interrogation techniques and findings with you tomorrow. I wouldn’t want to bore you. I was just calling to see if you are going to be at the gym tomorrow morning.”

  “Why would you want to work out twice? Taking on both members of the dynamic duo in one day. You must be a glutton for punishment.”

  “What else do I have to do to entertain myself, and as we both know, you are highly amusing. Speaking of other types of fun, you must have had a similar talk with Thrace as you did with me about friendship.”

  “I just pointed out to Thrace very clear reasons to be friends with you,” I replied cryptically.

  “It must have been something like a friend is less likely to steal your girlfriend. Although that is really flawed logic, a friend has greater access to your girlfriend than an average stranger. The history books are full of those stories.”

  Since I did not have any witty comebacks, I fell back to my usual evasive techniques and remarked, “If you want me at all civil tomorrow morning, I need to get off the phone now to get my beauty rest.”

  “What if I like you as a savage, and I can’t handle you getting any more beautiful?” He replied in a husky voice that had more than my stomach fluttering.

  I took a cleansing breath to slow my pulse and stammered, “Too many comments like that will get you in the friendship doghouse, understood? And I also have no problem calling you on your antics, friend.”

  “I am counting on you to keep me in my place, Calli, wherever you decide that is in your life.”

  Holy cryptic message, Batman. Ok. He definitely won that round, and I was too tired to go another round with him tonight.

  Hermes Field Log: August 2007

  I have now established a friendship with my Aegis. And as inadvisable as it is, I find her intriguing. In some magnetic way, it is like I am drawn to her. I don’t understand it, but it definitely has the potential of causing me to break Rule #1 of being a bodyguard. It would be easier if the attraction was all on her side, and I could perform my duties without getting attached. That is the plan. And even though she says how distant she usually is, she seems to feel the bond, too. I even told her about Cora. Now, she wants me to make friends with her “better half” who does not seem worthy of her. I will definitely make friends with her girlfriends, but making friends with her boyfriend might prove awkward. Hopefully, my duties will not last long enough for any of these potential situations to ignite. Apollo is still very secretive about the situation. He asks for my trust and as my closest brother I must give it and hope he knows what he is doing.