Darlings (15 page)

“Why didn’t you tell me Ash?” Gwen said
quietly. The short blond stopped spreading mayonnaise onto the
brown bread and cringed. 

“Yah, I knew this was coming. Girl, you truly
are my best friend. You always have been. It doesn’t change
anything. I wanted to tell you. Do you think it was easy to keep
this from you?” 

“You’ve been my best friend because you
wanted to…or you had to?” 

“Was it coincidence my parents moved next
door? No. Obviously it wasn’t. Your mom knew the day would come
when you discovered who you really were. She wanted your alchemist
close. My father was hers. It was never a choice for me to take up
the family business and become yours.” 

“So I control you too. Great. Is there anyone
who I don’t own? I’m so sick of this. Everyone has to listen to me,
I would never in a million years listen to me.” 

“Oh no diva, you don’t own all of this
hotness,” she teased, running her hands down her hip giving her
sexiest model look. A small chuckle escaped Gwen’s pursed lips.
“Hold up. Is that my bestie in there I see coming back out? My
serious, sweet, wholesome counterpart?” Ashton held her hands
together as if she were praying. “Sister Gwendolyn awesome you
could join us.” 

“Okay, okay. Obviously this hasn’t changed
you in the least. Besides these new brains.” Gwen said rolling her
eyes. “Seducing boys to do your math homework. Like you couldn’t
figure it out for yourself miss mad chemist.” 

Ashton shot Gwen a mischievous look, “Well,
yah but that was much more fun.” 

“So this whole fashonista thing you have
going on, is it an act?”  Gwen asked skeptically. 

“Oh honey, I may mix tonics and powders with
the best of em, but I won’t do it in ugly shoes.” 

“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” Gwen
sighed in relief. “You forgot the-” 

“Two pickles coming up my dear.” Ashton
finished. She tucked two pickles neatly inside the sandwich and
slid one white plate to Gwen. 

“Thanks,” she said. Starving, Gwen chomped
into the sandwich like it was the last morsel of food on
earth. 

“Sooo, I heard you have a date?” Ashton
leaned forward on the island eyes sparkling, waiting for her friend
to explain. 

Gwen could feel her cheeks begin to warm. “I
guess. I’m not sure why. Feels like this is the complete wrong time
for swooning and such.” She stopped. Maybe it was the right time
for Pete to take her out. Maybe it was the last time. 

Sensing her friend’s dark thoughts Ashton
added excitedly, “No, you need some fun, you’re going through a
lot.” 

“I guess.” Gwen was looking forward to
spending some alone time with Pete, the future father to her
children, the man she was expected to spend her life with in a new
foreign world. 

“Well what are you ever going to wear?”
Ashton sarcastically asked. 

“I should have known. You picked out the
dress, huh?” Gwen commented. 

“Guilty,” Ashton said eagerly. “Like
it?” 

“Love it of course.” Gwen stated. She took
the final bite of her sandwich and ran her ring finger along the
smooth glass plate. 

“Cheer up lovely.” Ashton took the plate and
set it in the sink. “We’ll let miss thing deal with
those.” 

“So you know Tina I imagine,” Gwen said
sharply. 

“Oh yes, Tina and I have a sort of love-hate
relationship. She’s truly brutal most of the time. Such a pain in
my ass, but she’s helped me a lot. We work together often and
complement each other’s skills, well, when she’s not being a total
bi-”

“Pete back yet?” Andrew stood in the doorway
of the kitchen, shirtless. His bare massive chest flexed as he
stuck his hands in the pocket of his black sweatpants and looked
down, clearly avoiding eye contact with Gwen. 

“Nope,” Ashton said, crossing her arms across
her voluptuous chest and pursing her puffy red lips. 

“Okay. Gwen could I talk to you?” he asked
quietly. 

Gwen was about to answer when Ashton took it
upon herself. “You can talk to her after I get her ready. She has a
date.” Gwen knew Ashton wasn’t happy about Andrew’s irresponsible
behavior but she felt sorry for him. She felt as much at fault as
he was. Ashton took Gwen by the shoulders and ushered her into
Pete’s bathroom. Gwen touched her mark. 

We’ll talk later?
She mutedly asked
him. 

Sure. That’ll be ok
. His voice
appeared in her mind, full of sorrow. 

I’m not mad at you Andrew. In fact,
thanks. I really needed that.
She waited, but no response
came. 

Puffing Ashton grunted. “Stop it already.
He’s fine. He’s the last thing you should be worrying about right
now.” Ashton sat Gwen on the toilet lid. “Sit,” she said. “Time to
get you glamorized. Hold on a second.” 

Ashton scuttled out of the bathroom and
returned holding a big box. She sat it onto the counter and
unfolded it like a magician pulling scarves out of his sleeve.
Compartment after seemingly hidden compartment unfolded to reveal
rows and rows of brightly colored make up. 

“You brought the big guns I see,” Gwen
said. 

“Well of course. A date with Pete is no
mundane event.” Taking Gwen’s chin in her hand she added. “You need
to look perfect.” 

“Do a lot of people want dates with Pete? I
mean of course he’s hot and sweet and pretty much perfect, but does
he or did he…” Gwen stammered, “Does he date a lot of women?” she
managed to get out. 

Ashton brushed on a thick layer of ivory
foundation onto Gwen’s creamy skin. “Do you mean does he sleep
around?” 

Gwen blushed. “Yah. I guess.” 

“Pete’s had his share of women, from what I
hear.” Ash saw her friend’s face drop. “But, not in a long time.”
That made Gwen feel a little more at ease considering she had never
made it past making out with a guy. Gwen was too busy for men. Her
life was much more…mature. 

Ashton began brushing on smooth bronze power
onto Gwen’s delicate eyelids. Squinting, Gwen asked, “Why are you
so hard on Andrew?” 

“Things are different in Everland. I’ve only
been there a few times but I did spend a week there last
summer-”

“Your Cancun trip,” Gwen finished. 

“Yeah. Manticans are still thought of kind of
like servants. I mean not that I feel that way about Andrew, I
think he’s a cool guy and all but it’s just how things are there.
They’re kind of looked at like lower class in a way. Kind of like
property. I mean the Royals do own them, it’s not like they can
really leave once they’re bonded. Some people treat them like
friends. Like Pete. His family has always advocated for the
Mantican population, but before his ancestors came into power, a
lot of guardians were beat and kept in poor conditions and
all.”

Gwen thought about Andrew. He was lower
class? No wonder he wanted to stay here. “That’s sad.” 

“Yah, but it’s just the way it is. Look up,”
Ashton said. Gwen looked up as Ash lined her bottom eyelid with
slick black eyeliner. “Look down.” She did the same to the top.
After applying mascara for what seemed like an eternity Ashton was
finished. “Now for this hair.” She examined Gwen’s long undulating
auburn hair, running it through her fingers, contemplating what she
wanted to do with it. Quickly she took a hand full of bobby pins
out of her make-up box and began pinning Gwen’s hair into a low,
effortless yet elegant style. “Perfect; if I do say so myself.”
Ashton smiled. Gwen examined herself in the mirror. She was
shocked. She looked so…pretty. So seductive. 

“Wow,” Gwen said getting a closer look at her
eyes. 

“You don’t like it?” Ashton said
worriedly. 

“No, I love it. I just look so…sexy.” She
turned to the side examining the back of her hair. “I don’t know
how you do it. You make doing hair look so easy.” 

“Well, it is easy,” Ashton said, cleaning up
her things.

“Maybe for you. Kind of like dating.” Gwen
was secretly terrified of her date. She hadn’t been on many dates,
especially with someone so mature like Pete. 

“Pete’s easy to talk to and how could you not
be excited to stare at that face.” Ashton pretended to fan herself.
“He’s gorgeous.” 

“Yah, he really is hot, but I mean like just
conversation. What am I going to say? Oh, hey well I have nothing
to talk about because you’ve been watching me my entire life you so
know everything about me. Let’s talk about you. He doesn’t seem
very open to talking about himself.”

“Yah, he’s always been pretty mysterious
about himself. I don’t know girl you’ll figure it out. Here get
dressed. I can’t wait to see you in this dress.” Ashton helped her
friend shimmy into the silky thigh length cocktail dress. Gwen
asked, “Zip me?”

 Ashton turned and squealed. “Ahh!
You’re gorgeous! I love it. Here turn around.” Ashton pulled up the
zipper, tightening the dress snug around Gwen’s body. Gwen walked
to the full length mirror mounted on the back of the bathroom door.
Her legs looked miles long, and waist tiny accentuating her small
chest. The deep emerald of the dress complemented her auburn hair
and ivory skin perfectly. 

“It does do me some justice, huh?” Gwen said
examining the soft silky fabric of the strapless dress. 

“Uh, yah it does.” Ashton smiled. She looked
at the clock. “Pete should be here soon. I have to go do a few
things in the lab. Just hang out and don’t ruin my
masterpiece.” 

“I have to sit around in this?” Gwen
asked. 

“For a while you’ll live,” Ashton said as she
walked out of the bathroom. 

Gwen examined herself in the mirror again.
She rummaged through the red bag of clothes and found the strappy
heels. She was thankful she wasn’t forced into walking in those
until Pete came. Taking a deep breath, she decided to go watch some
television in the family room. 

She made her way to the cozy area and saw
Andrew sitting in the white oversized chair watching the fireplace
flicker. He was dressed up as well in a pair of designer jeans and
a black button down shirt, sleeves rolled up to accentuate his
muscular forearms. His hair was styled and she could smell the
sweet aroma of his cologne. He didn’t notice her come in. She
cleared her throat. 

“Uh, hmm.” Gwen stood in the corner of the
room, self-consciously fiddling with the bottom hem of her
dress. 

He turned quickly and stammered,
“Gwen…oh…uh…you…look, you look nice.” Real smooth he thought to
himself. He was sure he’d never seen a more beautiful woman in all
his life and “you look nice” was the best he could come up
with? 

“Well thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself.
Are you coming with us?”  She walked over to the couch and sat
on the edge of the seat, attempting to keep her legs lady like and
together. 

“Yah. Tok and I are coming along. Not to
intrude on your date of course. We’ll be sitting at the bar on the
other side of the restaurant keeping an eye on things.” 

“Oh, well that’s good. We’ll all get to get
out of the house tonight.” She could feel his eyes attempting to
avoid her legs. She crossed them again and he swallowed
hard. 

“So, have you heard from Pete?” Gwen asked in
attempt to make conversation. 

His face dropped. “Yah I have. He heard
about…earlier. He’s not happy to say the least. He wants to talk
when we get home.” 

“Oh…well I am sure he’ll get over it…right? I
can imagine he’s not too happy with me either.” Gwen got up to look
out the window, her back to Andrew. Practicing her flirting skills,
she swung her hips as she shifted her weight from one leg to the
other.

“It was my responsibility, not yours.” He ran
his large hand across his forehead in frustration. 

Gwen turned. “No. Pete told me not to
practice without him and I chose not to listen. I had just as much
to do with it as you did.” Gwen leaned against the windowsill. “I
never thanked you, by the way.” 

“Thanked me? Pretty sure that’s the last
thing you should do,” he said his elbows resting on his
knees. 

“No. Tina told me you did that thing again.
You took my pain when we had the brain aneurism.” 

He stared into her eyes long and hard. “You
don’t need to thank me Gwen… I’ll never let you experience any pain
that I can experience for you, it’s what I’m…meant to
do.” 

Gwen felt her stomach turn circles. For the
first time Gwen saw Andrew as more than the large awkward guy who
was forced to protect her. She imagined him as just a regular boy
shed met at school and was surprised by her feelings. Shaking it
off, she laughed, “Well, good luck with that. I’m pretty accident
prone.” Andrew smiled in response. “So where are we going anyway?”
Gwen asked. 

“I’m instructed not to tell you,” he answered
with a punch of sarcasm. Leaning back in his chair he looked at his
watch. “Well we’re going to be late if he’s not here soon.” At that
Gwen heard the front door close. Andrew nodded to the kitchen.
“That’s your cue. Better head out to meet him. I’ll go find Tok.”
Andrew walked out the back door, clearly avoiding witnessing Pete’s
reaction to Gwen’s dress. She walked out into the kitchen and met
Pete. He was wearing trendy jeans and a black sports jacket. 
His hair was his typical messy perfect. Gwen ran her hands down her
dress, presenting it with a smile. 

Pete grinned adoringly back. “You look
stunning.” 

“Well so do you,” she said. 

“Ready?” he asked extending his
arm. 

“Just about.” She held up her shoes and held
onto his arm while strapping them on. “I’ll follow you,” she said.
The pair walked outside, where an old muscle car was parked in the
driveway. 

“This is my baby. After all the time I’ve
spent here…all the cars I’ve driven, this is my favorite. Pure
American muscle. She’s a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500. Midnight
black.” Gwen had no idea what he was talking about, but the car
sure was beautiful. She saw Andrew and Tok parked in the black
Escalade already running, waiting to follow them to the restaurant.
He opened the door for her and she awkwardly slid into the cars
leather seat. To her surprise it smelled new despite its
year.  A pair of dice hung from the review mirror. Gwen
couldn’t help but to giggle when she saw them.