Chapter 10: Chapter 10
“We surely did miss you last night at the arcade,” Heather said as we walked back to the apartments together after training. “That there was a heckofa lotta fun.”
I had had no idea the other Hybrid went with my friends—our friends—to the arcade. It didn’t bother me, though. Why should it? Just because she was a beautiful blonde who had spent some quality time with my boyfriend locked in a portal, there was no reason for it to bother me that she’d also been at a get-together with him the night before.
“I’m sure it was,” I said, forcing a smile. “I was busy getting some data together,” I said, hoping to sound nonchalant, even though I didn’t feel that way about what she was saying or what I was half-heartedly explaining to her. I didn’t really want to go into detail about what was happening in Europe right now because I wanted to talk to the committee about it first. It didn’t matter. Heather didn’t ask.
“Well, Brandon sure does like to fight with that claw machine. He ain’t very good at it, though.” She giggled, and I fought the urge to defend my boyfriend and his skills. While what she was saying was true, I was of the opinion it had more to do with game manipulation on the part of the creator than actual skill.
I didn’t go there, though. Instead, I changed the subject. Heather had joined the newest class of recruits when she became part of our team just a few weeks ago. She hadn’t received a second round of Transformation serum yet, though I thought she would soon because we needed her to be able to do all of the things I could do. And actually, it would be her first round because when she originally became a Hybrid, she did it naturally. I am still confused about how someone in the process of Transforming could be bitten by a Vampire and shift into a Hybrid, and Jamie had no answers either, but it is what it is. At any rate, Heather’s class is small because there’s not a lot of reason to keep recruiting when we’re down to just Daunator, although if he kept creating monsters as quickly as he seemed to be, that might change. She is a stand-out amongst the others, some of which have been training a lot longer than her. “Did you have fun in the shooting range today?”
“Sure did,” she said with a satisfied nod. Her blonde hair was still wet from the shower she’d taken after the session. I didn’t take one because I hadn’t done anything too strenuous, but I had stood around and talked to Aurora for so long that Heather happened to be done in the locker room when I was headed home, hence our walking together. Aurora had mostly wanted to ask questions about Elliott without sounding like she was asking questions about Elliott. She pretends she hates him to his face because she is jealous that he’s talking to Amanda and basically ignoring her, but she isn’t good at hiding that she still has feelings for him from those of us who know her best, and that’s without me jumping into her head. “I just love shootin’ stuff.”
Heather is a really good shot, too. That’s not too surprising since she grew up in the old west, but Shane, who was in charge of that part of the training today, was really impressed with how well she could handle herself in the simulator. He said he hadn’t seen anyone so naturally talented since my sister Transformed. I wanted to point out to him that Heather has had over a hundred years of practice killing things, especially demons, but there was no point in mentioning it to the trainer, who is a bit of a dingbat anyway. I was sure Heather, who’d been placed directly into the advanced class, would be invited on our next hunt, should we go on one. There’d be no following protocol for her.
“Can I ask you somethin’, Cass?” she said as we crossed in front of the new recruit building. She didn’t live there. Now that Jamie had started shifting the Roatan Guardians back into people, a process that was working, there were empty apartments in the main building, and since Heather was on our team to stay, she had a room on seven.
“Sure,” I said, thinking it would be something about the simulator or a hunt. It wasn’t.
“Everything okay with you and Brandon?”
The question caught me so off guard, I didn’t answer her right away, just turned and gawked at her for a second before I began to stammer. “Yeah, everything is fine. We’re fine. Everything is just fine. Why do you ask?”
Her eyebrows shot up. As if that answer wasn’t weird enough on its own, it was obvious she’d seen other evidence that this wasn’t the case. “Oh, nothin’. He just seemed a bit bothered last night. I thought maybe it was ‘cause you weren’t there. Or maybe y’all wasn’t geein’ and hawin’ like you’re meant to.”
When I first met Heather, I had never heard the expression “gee and haw” before. She explained that was how you got your horses or oxen to turn one way or the other, with gee or haw. So now I realize it means we aren’t getting along... somehow. “No, we’re totally geeing and hawing just fine,” I assured her, hoping my confident smile looked like a confident smile. “In fact, he’s making me lunch right now.”
“Oh, good.” Her smile was definitely confident, though there was a hint of a question mark around it, like she wasn’t sure if she could believe me. “Good. Y’all are so cute.”
She seemed to legitimately mean that, which made me feel bad for the slight jealous tinge I’d let soil my disposition earlier. “Thanks.” I thought about offering some sort of token “I’m sure you’ll find the perfect guy” advice or something but she wasn’t looking for that. I was certain Heather could have a boyfriend if she wanted one. She’s beautiful, after all. I had never really asked her if she’d dated before the portal, but I got the impression she hadn’t done much of it on account of the fact she’d been so lost about who or what she was before the portal. And then, a century in there hadn’t provided a lot of opportunity. My mind wandered briefly to all the guys I know. None of them are her age and single except for Christian. I choked back a little bit of bile that rose in the back of my throat and hoped she didn’t notice.
If she did, she didn’t say anything. We were in the lobby now. I called the elevator with my IAC, a little disappointed that my friend Juan Diego wasn’t hanging out in the lobby so I could practice my horrible Spanish, but it was just as well. I needed to get to Brandon’s apartment. He’d asked me a few minutes ago if I was headed that way, and when I’d said yes, I imagined he’d gone ahead and started lunch.
Heather hummed along to the Muzak in the elevator, some deranged version of “Stairway to Heaven” that was barely recognizable. We didn’t talk anymore, and when I got to my floor, I smiled and waved so as not to interrupt her jamming out to the chorus and bounded off to Brandon’s apartment. Despite my recent disposition, I was excited to see him. I knocked on the door with a little extra bounce in my step.
He pulled the door open with a smile. “Hello, beautiful,” he said in his nothing-is-wrong voice. “How was training?”
“Good,” I said giving him a quick kiss before I came inside. I expected to smell grilled cheese, but that’s not the scent that hit me when I walked in. Instead, it was the familiar scent of pepperoni and cheese. There was a pizza box on the coffee table, two Dr. Peppers, some paper plates, and a couple of napkins. I hoped my face didn’t reveal how disappointed I was. I mean, he had said lunch, not that he was intending to cook. I had just assumed....
“Since you didn’t get to go to Pizza Triangle with us last night, I thought we should have pizza for lunch.” He gestured at the presentation, and I tried to get over my shattered expectations. He wasn’t required to cook for me, after all. Besides, was grilled cheese really any different than ordering pizza?
“Thanks,” I said, dropping onto my usual spot on the sofa. I think he may actually eat pizza fourteen times a week, maybe more if one counts breakfast pizza. Brandon’s obsession with pizza is akin to Elliott’s obsession with Cheetos.
“Yeah, sure. So... you ready for school to start?” He sat down next to me in his usual spot and handed me a paper plate.
I hadn’t even been thinking about school. Normally, I would be back already. Emma had started before Labor Day. With everything going on with Cadence and Aaron and the portal, I’d decided to ask to start my online classes a few weeks later than everyone else, including Lucy. The school I attend is very flexible because a lot of students are athletes or actors, etc., so they’d agreed. I’d still have the same amount of work this semester as the rest of the seniors, I’d just have a few less weeks to work on it.