Love lines (18 page)

“Don’t worry, she‘ll forgive you,” I said.

“I'm afraid she won’t agree to talk to me again unless
it is for  another blue BMW,” Evan said. He helped me choose a gift for Amanda
on her eighteenth birthday, so he knew about her passion for cars.

I just smiled.

My father’s involvement in the whole story, however,
didn’t make me happy and I couldn’t wait to talk to him.

A few minutes later, Eileen arrived. She looked amazing
in that black dress with an open back. She was wearing high heels and her hair
was pulled up, which showed the whole beauty and elegance of her face. As
always, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

“You are one lucky bastard, Christian,” said Evan,
looking at Eileen with fascination.

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said.

“Good evening,” smiling, said Eileen, coming to us.

“Young lady, you are just stunning,” kissing her hand,
said Evan.

“And don’t you look good in a tux, Mr. Murray,” she
replied.

Unlike Evan, I couldn’t express with simple words how
beautiful she was that evening. I was watching her with my eyes full of love
and she didn’t need any words to understand all my feelings at that moment. She
smiled back and sheepishly looked away.

“Dance with me,” I asked quietly.

“With pleasure,” she said.

I took her hand and led her into the center of the room.

“Did you specifically choose this dress, knowing that it
would show the back?” she asked, pointing with a nod toward the large mirror. I
followed her gaze, and only then I realized the meaning of her question. In the
reflection the fire red patterns were perfectly visible on her back where my
hand touched her bare skin.

“I didn’t think about that, but now I can see that it
was a good choice,” pulling her closer to me, I said.

“Be careful, Mr. Fairey,” she said quietly. “We are not
alone in the room.”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” I said. “Besides, it's your
party, so no one would dare to be the center of attention tonight besides
Amanda and you.”

“By the way, where is she?”

“She went out to cool off, she argued a bit with Evan.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you later. Let's enjoy the night.”

We didn’t say anything else, just were slowly moving
with the music, immersed in each other’s feelings. She was the best gift I’d
ever had in my life.

We were not a couple officially speaking, but it wasn’t
necessary to verbalize. We both knew that we shared much more than just the
typical couple's relationship. And yet, I wanted to make this evening special.
I wanted it to become the symbol of the beginning of our story. There was a
surprise waiting for Eileen in her room.

When a melody was replaced by a more rhythmical one, we
went back to Evan, who was standing alone, lost in his own thoughts.

“What's wrong with this party?” I asked in surprise.
“You're not surrounded by a crowd of fans?”

“Unfortunately, I am losing my former popularity,” he
said, sipping punch.

“Maybe I should go look for Amanda?” Eileen suggested.

“It is better if I go myself,” Evan said. “It was
me
who spoiled her mood.”

No sooner had he gone a step, I saw Vanessa enter. When
she saw me she headed straight for me, and… Oh, God, she hugged me in front of
astonished Eileen and Evan.

“I'm sorry dear, I’m a bit late. I hope you were not
bored?” she asked sweetly. “Hi, I'm Vanessa,” she said, smiling broadly to
Eileen.

“Nice to meet you,” she replied, not taking her eyes off
me.

“Let’s go get some fresh air,” Evan came to the rescue,
turning to Eileen.

The shock, pain and frustration, which were now
overwhelming her, reflected in me as well. I could no longer see her face,
because Evan took her to the door, but I felt perfectly well all that was
happening to her at that moment.

“What's wrong?” asked Vanessa innocently. I took her
arms away from me.

“Why did you do that?” I hissed angrily.

“Christian, I thought...”

“You thought
what
?!” no longer restraining my
annoyance, I snapped. She
thought!
 I turned and quickly headed for the
exit to try catch up to Eileen.

“God, she will hate me!” I groaned. I hoped Evan would
try to explain it all…

I paused, not knowing exactly where they would go.

Chapter 18. Diaries
of Camilla Steward (
Eileen)

I didn’t see the road under my feet and my eyes were
full of tears. Evan was walking silently somewhere nearby. I couldn’t
understand how Christian could do that to me. We really were not a couple, but
I thought... Damn it! What was I thinking about? How could I be such a fool! I
thought that some strong shared emotions and a couple of kisses meant something
so much more!

I stopped at the nearest bench and sat on the edge
exhausted, my feet were killing me from some immensely tight shoes.

“Couldn’t you choose a larger size?” I scolded myself.
And all for what? To impress
him
? Twice a fool! I smiled ironically.

“Eileen, let me explain you something,” Evan said,
sitting down beside me.

“Come on, Evan! There is nothing to explain here.
Everything is clear!” I said, hiding my face in my hands.

“No, there
is
a lot
to explain here,” he
continued. “There’s nothing between Vanessa and Christian.”

“Uh, please, Evan, don’t even try to make excuses for
him. I know that he's your best friend, but I know what I saw. That curly
blonde made it quite clear that she didn’t share your opinion about her
relationship with Christian. And she must have a good reason to think that
way.”

“Listen, Eileen. They met just a few times, but it was
nothing more than some meaningless dates. And believe me, I know that for a
fact. Christian didn’t feel anything for her, and even if she had a different
view of their relationship, I know this morning he explained to her everything.
It looked like she doesn’t want to give up easily.”

            From all that he had just said, I only heard one thing –
this morning
.

“This morning
? Seriously?
Evan, are you saying that he only talked to her about it this morning? Almost a
week has passed since I came here and we spent all this time together, but he
only managed to talk to her
this morning
!”

“Eileen, calm down. It’s not what...”

“Evan, I don’t want to hear anything else, I'm tired and
want to just curl up in my bed and get some sleep,” I said, getting up. I
couldn’t wear those shoes again, so I picked them up, and went barefoot in the
direction of the dormitory.

“Well, you're not going to get more blisters from these
stones if I can help it,” Evan said, sweeping me up.

“Put me down!” I protested.

“No way!” he replied stubbornly.

“Fine!” I snapped. I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted
to get to my room as soon as possible.

I couldn’t stop thinking of how much I wanted to see
Christian instead of Evan. Tears pooled in my eyes again. I buried my face in
Evan’s black tuxedo, and let them flow. He didn’t say a word, just pressed me
even closer to him, as if he was comforting a baby.

Entering the room, I happily realized that Amanda hadn’t
returned yet. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Asking whether I would be okay,
Evan left me alone. I knew that if I asked him to stay, he would do that, but
his own night had already turned out to be a disaster as well. Besides, I
didn’t want to give Amanda another reason to be jealous. Although there was
nothing serious between her and Evan, I really wanted them to work everything
out between them.

After changing clothes, I turned off all the phones and
went to bed. The headache and fatigue overwhelmed me, and I fell asleep fast.
That night I had a dream about the Black Lake again.

But this time I was there alone. There was no Medellin
or Christian. There was only a familiar male voice.

“
Amor non est medicabilis herbis
-
there is no
cure for love,”
  he repeated, as if being aware of the pain in my heart.
The longer I listened to him, the calmer my soul felt. I was no longer afraid.
I was sitting on the shore of the lake and the breeze was playing with my
curls. This time the water no longer seemed so black and the loneliness was not
so frightening. I thought that as long as I could hear the voice, there won’t be
anything to be afraid of. It sounded very soothing and  protective.

I spent the rest of the night very peaceful, until the
bright rays of the sun started to wake me up. I didn’t want to get up, but
staying in bed was impossible.

It was Saturday morning. There were no classes, so I
decided to spend the day away from Dever, walking around Gloster and doing
shopping, as it was the best cure for any depression. I couldn’t go there
alone, but that fact didn’t bother me. Turning in Amanda’s bed, I noticed that
she was still asleep. I didn’t even hear what time she came back last night.

Only some time later, I felt something was wrong. My
attention was distracted by a strange smell. I looked around and saw a
beautiful bouquet of daffodils and white violets on my table. I must have
missed it last night. I guessed that they were sent intended to be a message
from Christian. The flowers seemed so gentle, that I couldn’t find it in me to
throw them away. I took Amanda’s book to find the significance of those flowers
and read the following:
“When I'm with you, the sun is shining,”
said
daffodils.
“Let's try our luck,”
said white violets. Next to the
bouquet, I noticed a soft blue velvet box. Opening it, I saw a beautiful golden
pendant in the shape of an orchid - a symbol of love.

Now I knew that the bouquet was really from Christian.
Someone brought it here when we were at the party, before the evening turned
out to be fatally flawed. Not knowing what to do with his gift, I put it back
in the box. I needed something to distract myself from Christian. Immediately!

After taking a shower and dressing quietly so as not to
awaken my friend, I went into the hall, clutching the cell phone and car keys.
It was so good that our cars were already brought here to Dever! I just needed
to find a companion to go with me. I left a note for Amanda saying that I
wanted to spend some time alone. No doubt she already knew about what happened
last night.

“Going somewhere?” Evan called to me from the other end
of the hall.

“Good morning,” I said. “Yeah, I wanted to go to
Gloster.”

“Will you take me with you? I was just going there too,”
he said, adjusting to my step.

“Uh... Evan, I'm certainly grateful that you helped me
yesterday, but I don’t want to upset Amanda any more. She may misunderstand
this joined trip.”

“Come on, Eileen. I don’t think she would mind. When I
was going to my room last night, I met her on the way, and she made it clear
that she didn’t want to see me for the next hundreds of years.”

“What was your quarrel about? Christian... well, I
didn’t have time yesterday to hear about it.”

Evan told me his suspicions about Patrick, and I
couldn’t help thinking that Christian and Amanda must be as shocked as I was.
As much as I didn’t want to think about Christian that morning, I didn’t
succeed. I felt that he was as upset as me, but I still didn’t want to see him,
let alone talk to him. Deep down in my heart I knew that Evan was right
yesterday, suggesting that I not pay attention to all of the nonsense, but the
pride and resentment didn’t allow me to forget so easily.

“Apparently, we won’t have any other company today, so
let’s go together,” I said smiling sadly.

“I promise not to bother you so much and behave myself,”
in his usual manner replied Evan.

“That’s unreal!” I thought. It was always so easy to
find common grounds with him...

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes, let's go.”

I was so glad to be back behind the wheel of my beloved
car. I enjoyed driving. Ever since I got a driver's license, the car had become
my second home. In Norfield I couldn’t get away without it. I took my car even
to visit Amanda, who lived just a few blocks from me.