Chameleon (Supernaturals) (4 page)

Ha! I nearly snorted out loud. The same thing I had? Yeah right. I mean I know he’s a little vain but I seriously doubted he was suffering from a severe addiction to himself.

“Can we just chalk it up to some kind of sleep deprivation induced delusions?” he asked me. “I don’t want you to be mad at me on your birthday.”

“Sleep deprivation induced delusions?”

Russ shrugged. “I can’t think of any other explanation for saying what I said. Can you?”

My insides deflated. Russ clearly thought last night was some big mistake and was going to go with the pretend-it-didn’t-happen tactic. But if it really was just some kind of sleep deprivation insanity that meant I’d imagined everything else.

“Sure Russ. Whatever. If that’s really what you want, we’ll just agree that you’re a psycho. But just so you know I fully intend to make fun of you for the rest of your life.”

When Russ looked relieved I got so mad at myself. Somehow overnight I had actually become one of those stupid girls that pined after their best friend with unrequited feelings.

Well that’s just great. Happy freaking birthday to me.

. . . . .

When we reached my locker I sighed. “I’ll see you in class,” I hinted after Russ stopped to wait for me.

Our town is so small that our school goes all the way from kindergarten to twelfth grade. There’s a whopping twenty-three kids in my graduating class, which means we all have every class together. That means that Russ and I have had every class together since kindergarten. Normally I think this is the coolest thing ever, but suddenly it felt more like torture.

Russ gave me a questioning look, but I didn’t explain myself and he walked away without asking. Immediately I could feel a pull in his direction. It was like my body yearned to follow him and just be wherever he was at all times. It was ridiculous.

When I got to class Russ was already in his seat on the opposite side of the room from mine. No one in class has assigned seats except for Russ and me because we can’t seem to behave or pay attention when we sit next to each other. We’ve learned to deal with it, but today my body was all too aware of the distance between us.

I buried my head in my arms on top of my desk and after only a couple minutes I started bouncing my knee restlessly. The nervous energy that made me walk to school was back.

When the bell rang I heard someone sit down in the desk in front of mine. Conor Fairchild spun around to face me. “Happy birthday!” he said, playfully snapping the party hat that was still on my head.

I pulled my head out of my arms to smile at him. “Thanks Conor.”

“You don’t look so good,” he replied with a frown. “Are you feeling okay? Do you want me to take you to the nurse?”

“I’m
fine
!” I snapped.

I instantly regretted yelling when Conor blanched. Conor is a really sweet guy who’s always been very nice to me. I don’t really have any friends besides Russ—I’ve never really needed any—but of all the other kids in town Conor is the only other person who’s ever made an effort to get to know me at all.

I couldn’t help but think if I really was so addicted to my best friend that it was physically painful to be apart from him, then it might actually be healthy to make some new friends that weren’t him.

“Conor, wait,” I said with a sigh. “I’m just—you’re right. I’m not really feeling like myself today. But it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I don’t need to go to the nurse.”

“If you’re sure.” Conor relaxed after my mood lightened. “So what’s Russ got planned for D-day this year, a parade down Main Street? The Skydiving Elvises spelling out ‘Happy Birthday Dani’ from ten thousand feet?”

I threw my head back into my arms with a groan. “How about we not talk about Russ today?”

I heard a gasp and then felt a hand come down softly on my shoulder. “I hope you guys didn’t break up?” Conor said. He sounded shocked and worried for me.

I sat up startled. “Break up?” I asked. “You have to be together in order to break up.”

I’d never seen someone look more confused than Conor in that moment. “But—but—aren’t you two? I mean, you and Russ…”

I shook my head. “We’re just friends.”

Conor glanced across the room with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. I followed his gaze to where Russ was busy doodling on his notebook. Whatever he was drawing, he was concentrating on it really hard.

After that, our teacher Mr. Franks called us to attention. He explained the day’s activities and told us we needed to partner up so Conor spun around again.

“Partners?” I asked.

He answered me by saying, “Are you and Russ really just friends?”

I had to smile. I think it was the first time I’d smiled all morning. “Yes, really,” I said. “That’s all we’ve ever been.”

“You’ve
never
been a couple?”

I shook my head and Conor let out this incredulous laugh. “You mean I could have asked you out this whole time?”

“What?” I gasped.

Conor blushed a deep red. I think he’d been so shocked by the news of my non-relationship that he’d spoken without thinking.

“Sorry,” he said. He looked embarrassed but determined as well. “I always assumed you and Russ were together. Actually, I think everyone assumes it.”

I tried not to scowl. “Yeah, well, we’re not. And we never have been. It’s just not like that between us.”

I glanced back at Russ again. He was ignoring his partner and still doodling on his notebook. He was pushing his pencil so hard that it snapped in half. His eyes flicked over to me and I blushed, feeling self-conscious of the conversation I was having with Conor. I couldn’t help but wonder what Russ would think if he could hear us.

Conor’s voice snapped me from my daze. “So if you and Russ aren’t together, then does that mean you don’t have a date to the Homecoming dance tonight?”

I was so surprised by the question that I couldn’t say anything. I could only manage to shake my head.

“In that case, I know it’s really last minute, but I don’t have a date either and I’d love to take you. Or, there are a few of us who were planning to go stag if you’d rather do that. If you don’t already have plans, I mean. You could join us.”

The thought of going to the dance with Conor—or anyone besides Russ, really—was so strange. But wasn’t that what I needed to be doing? I mean I was currently a sad sack. I had to get over my feelings for Russ fast. This seemed like the best way to do that. I thought about it for a second and then nodded. “Thank you, Conor. I’d love to go to the dance with you.”

Conor frowned. “Really? You’ll seriously go to Homecoming with me tonight?”

“Sure. Why not? I don’t have any other plans.”

Conor gaped at me and muttered, “I can’t believe that just happened.”

The look of disbelief on his face was so funny I laughed loud enough to get Mr. Franks’ attention. “Dani. Conor. More work. Less socializing.”

“Sorry Mr. Franks,” Conor said still bewildered. “Did you know that Dani and Russ
aren’t
a couple?”

Everybody in the room, even Mr. Franks, stopped what they were doing in order to stare at us. Conor was right. Everyone did assume Russ and I were together. I’d never seen a more stunned crowd of people.

“Is that true?” someone asked.

I shrugged, trying not to blush and trying even harder not to look Russ’s direction. Russ didn’t confirm it either, but Conor nodded, still in complete shock. “She just said she’d go with me to Homecoming.”

I heard a few snickers. Someone muttered that I’d taken a major step down while someone else actually said if I wanted to have a good time I should ditch the geek and go with him.

Brad laughed the loudest and said “Isn’t your mommy gonna be heartbroken that she can’t be your date now?” to Conor, making the entire class erupt with laughter.

I resisted the urge to crawl under my desk because for one, Russ was already going to give me so much crap about this and letting him know I was embarrassed right now would only make it worse. And two, Conor looked completely crestfallen and it pissed me off. “Just ignore them Conor,” I said louder than necessary. “I’m excited to go with you and that’s all that matters.”

Conor looked even more shocked than he had when I’d said yes in the first place, but he managed to sit up a little straighter in his chair.

“Thank you for that fascinating bit of gossip Conor,” Mr. Franks said getting the class back under control. “But please get back to work. Anyone who doesn’t finish by the end of class will finish in detention this afternoon.”

. . . . .

Conor and I were both still in our seats after class when Russ came up to us. I had no idea what Russ was thinking and had to swallow the nerves in my stomach. Conor and I both stood—Conor looking even more nervous than me—but I stood much too quickly. Whether it was my nerves or the bug that had been bothering me lately, my head spun.

Both Conor and Russ reached for me. I didn’t see the look that transpired between the two of them but Conor backed off almost instantly and Russ was the one to put his arm around me. I shivered and had to fight off the urge to lean against him.

“This is stupid Dani,” Russ grumbled. “You shouldn’t be here. I’m going to call your mom and make her come get you.”

“I told you, I’m okay.”

“You’re shaking,” Conor argued. “Look, Dani, if you’re really sick then Russ is right. You should go home. Don’t worry about the dance. I’ll understand if you can’t go.”

“Conor would you stop trying to talk me out of going? I want to go with you. It will be fun. I promise I’m all right. I just didn’t eat breakfast this morning. After lunch I’ll be as good as new.”

“Okay.” He glanced nervously at Russ before adding, “If you’re sure it’s all right.”

I couldn’t help sneaking a peak at Russ too, because his grip on my shoulder tightened a little when I’d brought up the dance. He flashed Conor a wide smile that only I could tell was fake. “You guys will have a great time together,” he said. “Watch out for her mom though.” He dropped his voice to a stage whisper. “She’s insane about pictures. You’ll be there
forever
.”

Russ proceeded to twirl his finger in circles beside his head, suggesting that my mother was crazy. I elbowed him like I was insulted, but really I was just relieved he’d managed to break the tension.

“Okay. I’ll pick you up at seven then.” Conor gave me one last tentative smile and then scampered off before Russ changed his mind.

As soon as he was gone Russ frowned at me. “If you wanted to go to the dance you could have said something.”

I let him guide me into the hallway and shrugged as we made our way to our second period class. “I hadn’t even thought about it,” I said. “It just sort of came up and he asked, so...”

“And you’re really going to go?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Russ let out a hard breath like he was resisting yelling at me. When he had himself under control he said, “How about the fact that there’s obviously something very wrong with you?”

“Gee thanks.”

“You know what I mean. Do you even care about the fact that you’ve almost passed out twice today?”

Russ removed his arm from around my shoulder and, I swear, it was like my body was attached to him by invisible strings. I automatically leaned against him—closing the space between us again.

“Hey,” he said, trying to juggle the unexpected weight of my limp body. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

When his arm came around me again the last of my nerves disappeared. I felt so relieved that I slumped all my weight against him and let out a long sigh.

“Dani?” I heard the fear creeping into his voice. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

I couldn’t help sighing again. “Nothing. I’ve been sick, but I’m already feeling better.” It was the truth. It was as if the energy Russ was giving off was exactly what my body needed.

Without thinking, I slipped my arms around his waist. He felt so good that I had to smash myself against him. I couldn’t even stop to think about the fact that this hug was nothing like any we’ve ever shared before—that there was nothing best-friendsy about it. I was being intoxicated by his presence, and I literally lost control for a minute.

I pushed myself onto my tiptoes so that I could bury my face in the crook of his neck because I needed to feel his skin against mine. When I pressed my lips to him, though, it startled him so badly that he sucked in a breath and his entire body went stiff beneath me. It was enough to finally break me from my trance, but not enough to make me pull myself away from him.

Russ was going to have to break our connection, but he didn’t look like he could any more than me. He was shaking slightly, his breathing was ragged, and his eyes were full of something I’d never seen before—a fire that made me shiver all over again.

Before I could work up the courage to ask him what he was thinking, he shook himself from his daze and slowly peeled me off of him. “Careful.” His voice oozed with forced friendliness. “Wouldn’t want to give your new boyfriend the wrong impression about us.”