Carnelian (22 page)

“I think I just might love you,” Seth said,
as the Murdley team members caught in the frat holding spot cheered
louder, covering up what he said to the people around us. Only I
heard. Seth loved me.

Chapter 11

Time to go Home

My life took
a new turn after the CRUSH game. I couldn’t bring
myself to tell Seth that I loved him also, but he didn’t seem to
even mind or look to me to say it back. I wish I could tell him the
same, but I couldn’t help but hesitate. If I admitted how I felt,
he might just disappear. Maybe the goddess just wanted me to fall
in love. There was going to be heart break, but by not saying it, I
could save myself a bit from it. Despite my lack of telling him the
same, he became the perfect boyfriend. He met me for meals,
escorted me to classes, and spent the little free time he had
around football with me.

We didn’t actually get a lot of time
together despite our newfound agreement on our feelings toward each
other. He had school and football, and I had school and tutoring.
There was very little free time that overlapped. It had been mostly
weekends that we were with each other, and he hadn’t been around
for those either with his games. The month was passing, and I felt
like we hadn’t time at all together. He had been gone two weeks in
a row for away games.

It was already October and the leaves
falling just reminded me every day that what I had with Seth could
not last. He would go away someday, maybe not today or tomorrow,
but one day he would be gone. It was getting harder to be excited
about the fall and the coming snow like I normally was. The more I
grew attached to Seth, the harder it would be to see him gone.

“I have a question,” I said
as Seth joined me on his couch at his house one warm, cozy Friday
night. He had a free weekend, and we planned to spend the entire
time together
finally
. His brothers had nicely found things to do for the evening,
and we were alone watching some action film on their gigantic
TV.

Seth handed me the bowl of popcorn. There
were three different flavors divided in the bowl. Miller didn’t do
anything with food half way. Seth settled down beside me and
wrapped his arm around me.

“About what?” he asked.

“How do you travel between times?” I blurted
out. It had been on my mind for weeks, but he seemed a bit touchy
about the time travel subject, like he also felt our time slipping
away.

“Honestly, I don’t know. The goddess does it
for you.” Seth started the movie and the previews flashed on the
screen. He didn’t elaborate.

“And how do you contact the goddess to do
that?” I had tried several times when I was completely alone to
talk to the goddess like Seth did that night weeks ago. He just
talked and she appeared. I had tried to do that, but it didn’t seem
to work that way for me at least.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Seth
wrapped his arms around me. “If we need the goddess, I can call for
her.” He went back to watching the previews. I waited a few
moments, but he was done talking.

“And what if I’m alone?” That question had
been haunting me for weeks.

“I won’t leave you alone. I can’t,” he said
while nestling into my hair and planting a kiss on my head. “I’m
way too addicted to you, Mari, to let you go anywhere without
me.”

I believed him. I felt the same way. I
settled back into his arms. He was warm and strong, surrounding me
as we sat. It was hard to picture being alone when he was right
there. He was probably right, anyway. If he wasn’t at football or
school, he was always with me. The goddess couldn’t take him from
football or school without people noticing, and I doubt she could
just appear and no one would care. If she appeared when I was with
Seth, I could ask her to let me keep him. My resolve easily was
set. I’d spend every waking moment with Seth when he wasn’t around
anyone else. That way, if she came to him, I’d be there.

I settled back into Seth’s arms and let his
warmth keep me happy. I didn’t see too much of the movie as I laid
there. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it felt like time was
pressing down on us. Things were too quiet and peaceful. It
couldn’t last, but I wanted it to. I had had boyfriends before
Seth, and a very serious one in high school. None of them felt like
it did when I was with Seth. The world around me changed when he
was around. I couldn’t help but see everything differently. He had
changed me. Maybe not deliberately, but he had. Just the thought of
Seth leaving me alone where I could never see him again made my
chest hurt. I wasn’t sure how I could live without him now, let
alone say goodbye.

Somewhere before the movie ended, I was
asleep. I felt Seth lift me up and carry me to his room. He tucked
me in before joining me in bed. I heard him speaking softly as we
lay there, but I didn’t think much of it. I was too tired to carry
on a conversation and that just made Seth chuckle. Who knows what I
actually said or probably agreed to? It wouldn’t really matter,
though. Anything Seth asked I would say yes to. I trusted him as
much as I loved him.

I woke the next morning to find myself lying
on Seth’s chest while he played with my hair. He was already awake
as I expected. Still a morning person, no matter how late he was up
the night before. Sometimes I wondered if he actually ever
slept.

“That was a
yes
last night to going
to the CRUSH Halloween party together tonight,” Seth said more as a
question than a statement.

“Party?” I asked. I hated parties. Yep, I’d
agree with anything when half asleep and with Seth. I would have to
scold him later not to ask me questions when I wasn’t awake.

“I asked you last night. You said you’d go.
I asked if you had any of those sexy Halloween costumes, and you
told me you could find one.” Seth continued to twirl my hair as my
face turned bright red. I’d never readily agree to something like
that. I was more the fun Halloween costume type, not the sexy. I
had to find a way to not answer questions in my sleep in the
future. Seth laughed.

“Sorry, I had to say that and see if you’d
agree. No, last night I asked you to go to the party and told you
that you didn’t need to wear a costume,” Seth replied. I smacked
the rock hard arms beneath my hands. “Hey, that was payback for
falling asleep on me during the movie last night. I didn’t even get
a coherent goodnight from you.”

“I couldn’t help it,” I complained with my
checks flaming red. “It’s been a long week.”

“I could tell.” Seth smoothed my hair out.
“You’ve been a bit distracted.”

“Just thinking,” I admitted.

“About?” Seth prompted. I shrugged. Seth
pulled me tighter. I have a feeling he’d been thinking about the
same things, but neither of us wanted to say it out loud. Seth’s
impending departure would always be on our minds. I had to find a
way to go with him, no matter what. Someone called his name from
the hallway, and he maneuvered himself out from underneath me.

Seth went into the hallway to talk to one of
his brothers, and I got up to get dressed. I didn’t remember
putting Seth’s shirt on, but I was in it anyway. In the bathroom, I
found my clothes washed and pressed. I could get used to clothes
magically washing themselves. I really needed a Miller. It was
quite the life Seth had jumped in to. When I left the bathroom,
Seth was back in his room and the door closed.

“Last game of CRUSH for the year,” Seth said
as I watched him. It was the last game. In the past week while Seth
was gone we had two more competitions. With their leader gone, his
dorm was in second place and Murdley Hall had taken the lead.

“I think you could just forfeit,” I teased.
“Murdley is already too far ahead for you to catch up.” In reality,
Murdley was only points ahead, and a bad showing would lose it for
us anyway. Seth laughed and grabbed me to toss me on his bed. He
hopped next to me and kissed me down my neck as I laughed. Fear for
the future was creeping into my life at every moment, but moments
like that one were enough to make me forget for a while. Seth and I
giggled until we had to leave so that we wouldn’t be late to
CRUSH.

The rest of
the day went fast. After we picked up Sim and
walked to CRUSH, the game took the rest of the day. The last CRUSH
event was a scavenger hunt, and I led my team neck and neck with
Seth’s. It was fun to see my team actually work together for a
change. Being on the studious team was enough to give us a little
edge, even though most of the team was not strong physically to
compete head to head with the jocks. With the hunt neck and neck,
it allowed me to also keep tabs on Seth. I didn’t think he’d
disappear in the middle of an event, but the time was coming when
he would disappear. It was a photo finish to the end and declared a
draw. A draw was enough to make Murdley win their first CRUSH
tournament ever.

“Mari, come on,” Sim called to me from the
stairwell in the dorms after CRUSH was done. She was doing her best
to usher me away from the cheering Murdley crowd that was proud of
our first ever win. “We have to go get made up.”

“I’ll pass,” I called back to her. I didn’t
want to leave Seth’s side for even ten minutes.

“Obsessive much?” she asked before opening
the door. “Fine, I’ll have to be the best-looking slutty school
girl at the party then.” I nodded and waved to her as she left.

“I could go for slutty school girl,” Seth
said into my ear where no one else could overhear. I smacked his
arm and put a few more inches between us.

“You better not go after Sim,” I teased.

“There’s only one girl for me. You don’t
ever have to worry about that,” Seth replied.

I joined Seth, Dee, and Ty in the crowd of
students in the common square between the dorms. The party was
already going and people were dancing, lounging around, and overall
having a fun time. Some were dressed in costumes and some were not.
We wouldn’t be out of place; even though we were not in costumes.
After weaving through the crowd and pausing for congratulations
from everyone, we finally made it to the food table. Sim didn’t
take too long to make her costume before joining us. Just as she
said, she was going as slutty school girl.

“Are you leaving early this time, too? Maybe
for a beach picnic,” Sim reminded me of my first CRUSH party.

I looked over to Seth talking with his
football friends. He smiled and waved to me. He began to mouth
words to me, but my vision was temporarily cut off as a
sparkly-white-clad costumed girl stepped in front of me. With her
back to me, I had no clue who the person was, but from her direct
line to Seth, I could only guess Melissa hadn’t given up yet.

“Doesn’t that girl ever learn?” Sim asked,
handing me a drink as we watched Seth talk to the girl before she
left through the crowd. Sim obviously figured who it was as quick
as me.

“I can only hope one day,” I replied as Seth
made his way back through the crowd.

“Want to get out of here?” he asked. The
party had only just started, but I couldn’t agree more. Should I
stay here and have to share him with every person that passed,
including ex-girlfriends… or run off to his place where we could be
alone?

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sim,” I said to her
as I left the party. She waved me away. It wasn’t much of a choice.
I took his outstretched hand as my answer, and he pulled me back
through the crowd. Dee stopped us by the door.

“Are you leaving now?” Dee asked
excitedly.

“Just with Mari. I’ll meet up with you guys
tomorrow. Make sure to bring Ty back home with you,” Seth replied
before pushing by him. Dee’s face dropped a little, but not by
much.

We strolled back to Seth’s place,
hand-in-hand. It was hard to imagine he would just disappear
someday. He was here now and real. He kissed my hand and I smiled
at him. I still hadn’t told him that I loved him, but I doubt I’d
ever love a guy like I loved Seth.

“Wait here,” Seth said outside the door to
his house. He ran in and returned with a blanket. He held out his
arm, and I took it. We strolled down the beach in the moonlight. It
was perfect, just like the novels I couldn’t get enough of, even if
it was a little icy out.

Seth found what he considered the perfect
spot, though I had no idea why he thought that. I was too busy
watching him. Now that I knew the truth, I often found myself
watching him carefully. Back in his real time, he was a warrior and
charioteer, probably even an aristocrat. I could see in his
movements the strong, lean muscles beneath the thin layer of a
jacket he was wearing. Seth held my hand as I sat on the blanket
before sitting down next to me. Coming from a warmer climate I
expected him to get colder more easily, but he was the opposite.
Seth didn’t even seem to notice the chill and forever radiated
warmth. I cuddled up to the warmth. Seth slipped his arm around me
and up the hem of my shirt. His warm hand pulled me close.

“A beach picnic sounded more romantic in my
mind,” Seth commented as I cuddled closer for warmth. “Sometimes I
forget that it’s cool here. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to
it.”

“That’s because you aren’t cold,” I replied,
warming myself on him.

Seth laughed. “I guess not. Must be part of
the time travel survival thing.”

We were silent and watched the chilly water
lap on the shore. My life didn’t have many quiet moments these
days. I was too busy with everything, and then my actual free time
was always spent with Seth. I didn’t regret it, I just realized I
didn’t have a lot of time to just sit and listen to the silence. In
the few moments I had to think in the past month, I only had one
thought: not losing Seth.