Rouge (20 page)

“Hunter,” he began in a
voice like a snake’s hiss. “Where have you been?”

“Oh just... you know, to the
store...” she replied, but the answer couldn’t have been more obvious and the
both of them knew it.

“You were at school.”

“No I wasn’t.”

He pointed with the knife at
the floor beside her. “Then why are you carrying your school bag?”

Hunter glanced down at her
physics textbooks jutting out of the pocket.

“Well... I...”

Joshua slammed the knife
down on the chopping board with a deep
thwack.
The blade dug into the
plastic and Hunter found her words lodged in her throat. She stood there,
frozen, minutes passing before Joshua even spoke.

“What kind of fool do you
take me for Hunter? I know you’ve been going to school. In fact, I’ve been
emailing your teachers. You’re attendance record has been spotless since
February.”

Hunter sighed.
Of course
he knows. What else was I supposed to do, quit my senior year completely just
as a precaution?

“After everything I’ve done
for you,” he seethed. “I spend every waking moment when I’m not teaching a class
planning our training sessions, researching your symptoms, bringing you out of
your depression since the alleyway accident and this…” His jaw was clenched so
tightly, it locked when he shut it. “This is how you repay me? By sneaking off
to school behind my back, by lying to me for months? I thought you were better
than that.”

She stayed well away from
him, hoping he wouldn’t pick up the knife and throw it at her like she was
imagining. “Joshua, let me explain-”

“And you’ve been spending
time with Eli as well, I presume?”

“Yes,” she replied. “And
there have been no accidents at all. I’ve been dating him for a while. I don’t
know why you were so worried about me, I haven’t set anyone on fire. I’m glad I
went to school. It’s better than sitting around here all day because now I know
that I can control myself around people. Joshua, I did it!”

She took a deep breath,
feeling a heavy weight lift off her shoulders. Finally she could stop lying to
Joshua. They could both stop worrying about Hunter exposing her powers or
hurting anyone. Surely he’d feel pride in knowing that his training had worked,
that she could control herself now. That the fire no longer overcame her
emotions.
 

But Joshua wasn’t happy at
all. In fact, she’d never seen him so disappointed and fuming with rage. And it
frightened her. The color of his eyes was like the last splashes of sky-blue
before the iron-gray storm clouds arrived. They shot icicles at her, making her
remember horrible dreams she’d had as a child. 

“Say something,” she spat
out.

But he didn’t. He simply
walked around the kitchen bench in a mechanical motion, took his lab key from
the key-card bowl and left the apartment quietly. The silence was deafening.

Hunter had to get away.
Unlike the last time they argued in the apartment - which was also the first
time she used her powers unintentionally - they had shouted and screamed at
each other and it ended in chaos. Somehow, this was worse.

Without thinking, she
hurried to her bedroom, changed into comfortable clothes and fled out the door.
She knew exactly where to go, and the thought of seeing him again brought the
fire to life as if lit by a match.

Eli lived in the upper-east side of New
York in a timeless mansion built to look solid, yet with certain elegance. The
taxi dropped Hunter at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the huge
double front door painted pearly white with an oversized black knocker. Hunter
stood back for a moment and waited for words to come to her, but Joshua’s
piercing eyes were all she could think about. She should have been worried
about the possibility of meeting Eli’s father and girlfriend for the first
time, or that she had surprised Eli and interrupted his studies, or even that
it was rude to show up at someone’s house unannounced and uninvited. But the
fire was calm, and that was Hunter’s topmost priority. So long as she was
controlled, everything would work out fine.

The quiet New York street
whispered gently to her in the cool spring wind, the last remnants of the day
clinging to the falling sunlight, and Hunter felt as if time were flying as she
tried to banish all thought of Joshua from her mind. It was then that a sleek
limousine pulled gracefully aside the curb, directly in front of the house.
Hunter turned slowly with her bag slipping off her shoulder. The driver ran
around to the passenger door and waited as a pair of strip-club-worthy,
knee-high black boots swung out of the interior. A woman in her early thirties
appeared in a stunning red dress covered by the fluffiest black coat she’d ever
seen. Dark glasses hid most of her face and rich brown hair fell like melted
chocolate down her back. She carried a channel bag the size of Hunter’s school
backpack and three Macy’s bags on her other arm. As she removed the glasses and
stepped off the path, her black eyes fell upon Hunter.

“Are you selling something?”
she asked. Her voice was breathy and irritating.

This has to be the misses
then,
Hunter sighed.
“No, I-”

The woman ignored her and
strode directly to the door.

Hunter smiled, unwilling to
believe this was the woman Eli’s father had married.
I thought bitches like
this only existed on
Gossip Girl
.
She followed her up the stairs.

“I’m actually looking for
Eli, I’m his-” Hunter bit her lip. “His
friend
from school.”

The woman turned at the door
with her hand inside her bag and laid her eyes upon Hunter as if she were
street filth begging for money. “I wouldn’t know,” she replied, fishing for her
keys. “I’ve been out shopping all afternoon. Besides, I have better things to
do than pay attention to what Eli does in his day.”

“What, like polish your
credit card?” said Hunter.

Melissa’s face reddened and
Hunter immediately regretted opening her mouth. “Look, Little Mermaid–”

Hunter scoffed, but it was
ignored.

“–I’m sure if Eli were home
he would have answered the door when you knocked, so
clearly
he’s either
not home or doesn’t go for the outdated
trash
with the fake hair color.
Goodbye.” And with that, the woman turned on her eleven inch heels, threw open
the door and stomped inside. Hunter was so furious and taken aback at the same
time she didn’t have the voice to shout or the energy to follow. Her hands
warmed up significantly fast, catching her even more off guard. She shut her
eyes immediately - thankful Mr. Akerman’s girlfriend wasn’t watching - and
counted to three before she was sure the fire had vanished. When she opened
them, the door flew open again and this time, Eli stood in the doorway.

“Hunter!” he exclaimed with
a grin bedazzling enough to calm her inner flame and Hunter nearly slipped on
the marble doorstep in surprise.

“Eli,” she breathed. “Hi.”

“Come in,” he said kindly
and stepped aside.

Hunter entered the house.
The hallway opened up to a beautiful living area with scattered couches, televisions
and a kitchen bar the length of the wall on the right hand side. From what she
could see, the French doors at the end of the room led to a backyard with a
pool and spa surrounded by beautiful water features.

Eli leaned down to kiss her
on the cheek. The simple gesture soothed her like the warmth of a hot
chocolate. “I’m sorry about Melissa,” he said, “she’s a bitch, I don’t know
what Dad sees in her.”

“How do you live with that?”

“I try to ignore it.” He led
her into the living room. “Did you want something to drink?”

“Uh, sure.”

She stood in awe of the
house. They passed a staircase that obviously led to the second floor. The
white walls and dark red features were striking in contrast with the coffee couches
and classic designs of the furniture.

“You have an amazing home,”
she said as she sat down on one of the couches and took the drink Eli had
poured her.

“Thank you. We moved here a
few years after Mom left, and Dad met Melissa not long after that. She was
actually the realtor that sold us the house.”

“So they’ve been dating for
quite a while then,” she noted, staring at the beautiful art on the walls.

“Unfortunately,” he replied
with a sigh. He watched her drink, giving Hunter the distinct impression he was
dying to say something.

“What?”

“I just wondered... why the
surprise visit? Is everything okay with Joshua?”

Damn him
, she thought and looked away from his
gaze that was only caring, but made her feel horrible - as always - about
lying.
Am I that easy to read, or do I just spend a lot of time with him?

“Everything’s fine, I
just... can’t get enough of you.”

Eli laughed, bent his head
towards her and pressed his lips against hers. She wanted to wrap her arms
around him and kiss forever, but the fire was growling hungrily and she
worried. Their first kiss was spontaneous, under the shelter of Raoul’s
restaurant, the rain diminishing the fire. Here, Hunter had nothing to sizzle
down with.

She reached up and caressed
his cheek with her hand, gazing into the depths of his beautiful green-brown
eyes. Eli gleamed whenever he was around her. She thought of the way everyone
at school stared at her after she returned, how they were no longer stares of
disgust but of hunger. Something had changed in her appearance, even Joshua
noticed it. So was Eli under the same sort of spell, or did he really care for
her?

Of course he did. For one
thing, they’d met before everything changed. He still looked at her in exactly
the same kind, innocent manner.

“Do you want to watch
something?” he asked. “I’ll get us some snacks if you have a look through that
cupboard down there.”

She nodded and drew her
attention to the giant plasma screen and the white-paned cupboard with foggy
glass doors underneath. Kicking off her shoes, she knelt in front of it on the
bouncy carpet and began searching through the movies as Eli went to the kitchen
for food.

After she picked an old
action thriller, the two of them curled up on the velvet three-
seater
couch and the opening credits rolled across the
screen. Eli handed her the bowl of chocolates and pulled a soft throw from the
arm of the chair, draping it over their legs.

As the movie started, Hunter
wriggled in closer and let her head fall on Eli’s shoulder.

Hunter had never had a
boyfriend like Eli. She’d always been attracted to the bad-boy stereotype, or
guys who just wouldn’t leave her alone. Eli was kind and simple. There were no
strings attached. It was a relationship Hunter didn’t see herself running away
from anytime soon.

And yet despite all this,
the fire chastised her. It asked her why she was doing this to a guy so
perfect. When was she going to tell Eli what she was, what she could do? How
would he take the news that she was a freak? Would he be afraid?

Hunter glanced up into his
face and smiled. He smelled of books and fresh cologne. Her head sat perfectly
in the crook of his neck, the rise and fall of his chest like a peaceful
melody, his arm wrapped underneath her, his lean fingers curled in hers.
Fingers that played the violin.

Hunter told herself to
forget her problems. For now, she needed to be with him. Only him.

The vibration in her jeans pocket made
Hunter jump as gunfire erupted unexpectedly from the television screen. Eli snickered
at the fright it had given her and she elbowed him playfully, pulling out her
phone.

“Joshua’s calling,” she
explained, regretfully sliding out of his embrace and stepping into the
kitchen. She feigned annoyance, but as soon as she was out of earshot, she
turned her back on the television and pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

“It’s Joshua.”

She resisted the urge to
snap back sarcastically. “What?”

“Where are you?”

“At Eli’s. Why?”

His tone was completely
emotionless, and it scared her that she couldn’t see what look was in his eyes.
Lately, Joshua’s behavior had become unpredictable. He was a naturally strange
and awkward man, ever the independent scientist, but his personality had become
almost bi-polar; he over-reacted or sometimes didn’t react at all. Tonight was
one of those nights where he pretended nothing was wrong, but inside his head a
war was raging.

“I want you to come home,”
he said coolly. “Now.”

“Why, so we can train some
more? So I can go crazy from boredom and isolation from people I actually care
about?” ‘Person’ was more the appropriate word, but she didn’t tell him that.
“Joshua, I’m far more capable than you think I am at being around people now,
and I don’t know what it will take for me to prove that to you, but I’m right here
with Eli and he’s not on fire, so I think I’ll hang around for a while, okay?”