Obsidian (Lux 1)

I laughed. “Well, maybe it’s because he’s, like, only one?”

“Whatever, it’s still gross.” She handed some candy over to a cowboy with an arrow through his head. Sweet. “So what’s your deal been?”

“My deal?” Like a ninja, my hand shot out and snatched a roll of Smarties. “I don’t have a deal.”

“You’re so full of it.” It was so dark out, I couldn’t make out her eyes. Her subdivision didn’t believe in street lamps. “You’ve been an angst-ridden teenage girl, like the kind in the books I read, all week.” I rolled my eyes. “Have not.”

She nudged me with her knee. “You haven’t been talking to anyone, especially not Dee. And that’s weird, because you guys are close.”

“We still are.” I sighed, squinting into the encroaching darkness. Shapes of parents and their kids walked along the side of the streets. “I’m not mad at her or anything. I’m going over to her house after I leave here.” Lesa cradled the bowl. “But?”

“But something happened with her brother,” I said, caving in to the need to talk to someone about what happened.

“I knew it!” she screamed. “Oh my God, you have to tell me everything! Did you guys kiss? Wait. Did you have sex?”

A parent of a fairy shot her a dirty look as she ushered her child off Lesa’s porch.

“Lesa, seriously, chill.”

“Whatever. You have to tell me. I will hate you forever if you did but don’t tell me. What does he smell like?”

“Smell like?” I scrunched up my face.

“You know, he looks like he’d smell good.”

“Oh.” I closed my eyes. “Yeah, he does smell good.”

Lesa sighed dreamily. “Details. Now.”

“It’s nothing big.” I picked up a fallen leaf, twirling it. My lips tingled, thinking about his kiss. “He came over last Sunday and we kissed.”

“That’s all?” She sounded so disappointed.

“I didn’t sleep with him. Jeez. But…it was pretty heavy.” I dropped the leaf and ran a hand through my hair, tugging it back. “We were arguing and the next thing I know—BAM. We’re going at it.”

“Geez, that’s…that’s hot.”

I sighed. “Yeah, it kind of was. But then he left abruptly.”

“Of course, because you guys have this fiery passion that explodes, and he couldn’t take the heat.”

I gave her a bland look. “We don’t have anything.”

Lesa ignored me. “I was wondering how long it would last with you two antagonizing each other.”

“I don’t antagonize him,” I muttered.

“What did you guys argue about?”

How could I explain? That we’d only goaded each other into doing something because I’d said I wasn’t attracted to him and he needed to kill my glow? Yeah, not happening.

“Katy?”

“I don’t think he meant to kiss me,” I said finally.

“What? Did he slip and fall on your mouth? Those things are known to happen.”

I giggled. “No. It’s just that he seemed pissed off about it afterward. No, he was pissed.”

“Did you like bite his tongue or something?” Lesa tucked her hair back, frowning. “There has to be a reason why he was mad afterward.”

Since it was getting late and the kiddos few and far between, I grabbed the bowl from her and starting fingering through the leftovers. “I don’t know. I mean we haven’t talked about it. He literally left afterward, and all he’s done since then is poke me with his pen.”

“Probably because he wants to poke you with something else,” she said dryly.

My eyes bugged. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“Whatever.” She waved her hand in the air. “He’s not back with Ash, right? I mean, those two are—”

“On and off—I know. I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter.” I popped a piece of candy in my mouth. At this rate, I was going to be rolling off Lesa’s porch. “It’s just that…”

“You like him,” she finished for me.

I shrugged, moving on to a Snickers bar. Did I like him? Maybe. Was I attracted to him? Obviously. I’d been seconds away from getting buck-naked with him. “It’s the most messed up thing, ever. No one on this planet pisses me off more than him, but…Ah, I don’t want to talk about this.” I snatched the bag of Skittles back. “Anyway, how are things with Chad?”

“You’re changing the subject. I am not fooled.”

Not looking up, I rooted around in the bowl. “You guys went out last night, right? Did he kiss you? Does he smell good?”

“Chad does smell good, actually. I think he wears a newer version of Old Spice. Not the kind my dad wears, because that would be gross.”

I laughed. We chatted for a little while then I left and headed home. Dee had the entire house decked out in carved pumpkins that hadn’t been there when I left earlier. She pulled me inside, a strange smell in the air.

“What is that?” I wrinkled my nose.

“I’m baking pumpkin seeds,” she exclaimed. “Have you tried them?”

I shook my head. “No. What do they taste like?”

“Like pumpkin.”

Of course she was actually baking them. The pale seeds were on a baking sheet, but it was her hands doing the baking and not the stove. Pumpkin guts were scattered all over the newspaper-covered table.