Evanescent - By Addison Moore Page 0,13
exactly what I had envisioned. Hell, I don’t know what I envisioned. I just thought it was a good way to get Wes off my ass after he gave me the, get-yourself-laid-by-anybody-but-my-girlfriend speech last weekend. Wouldn’t it be ironic if Wes never had her? If it was me she shared her intimate moments with when all this bullshit was said and done?
Outside, the fog curls its icy fingers around my neck as if it were Wes himself. The sky says rain, but it feels like an arctic blizzard is about to erupt.
In the distance, situated neatly on senior lawn, Laken catches my eye as Wes draws her into a kiss. Laken pulls back and laughs. Her voice echoes across the yard and trembles right through my bones, sends my mood plummeting a thousand degrees as I take them in—Laken and Wes as the perfect couple. She pecks a kiss over his lips all too voluntarily. She’s still into him. I’m just a reality fix when she needs it with some blood on the side.
I blow out a breath and head back toward the English building. I ditch the doors and head around to the side where nary a soul is wandering.
“Heart broken and alone?” A small female voice calls from the overgrown hedges.
A twin set of bodies morph from nothing. The Tobias sisters in their sickly frames, wash in and out of existence like a bad dream. Two balding girls, with long hair in patches—their clothes hang off their skeletal frames. Their bare legs, nothing but skin over bone.
“Pulling double-duty?” I make my over without reservation. Two long-dead Celestra only wish they had the power to scare me. The only thing that scares me is never having Laken the way Wes does. I wish it didn’t. I wish I didn’t care, but I do. And if all I get is hurt in the end, then I want to feel that, too. I’ll take anything Laken gives me, the pain right along with the pleasure. Sometimes heartache is all you get out of life, and yet in all things we’re told to give thanks. I’m starting to feel the irony.
The Tobias sisters blink into one another in their disheveled state before transforming into the beauty queens they once were, with a decent amount of meat on their bones, their rags traded for full skirts, tight sweaters that accentuate their God-given curves. Their pale hair curls around their necks, full and glossy, ripe for a shampoo commercial.
“Cooper, what is this double-duty?” Hattie takes a step forward. “We prefer you speak plain and clear. We don’t like being made to feel like simpletons. We held the highest scores on all our exams, we won’t be pitied for fools.”
A dull laugh rattles through me. Figures—the ego’s still in tact.
“Double-duty,” I start, “you know, flesh and bones today, a poltergeist tomorrow. You’re Laken’s new house sister, or did you forget?” I direct it toward Hattie since her sister’s vocal cords are on strike.
They examine one another for a very long time, engaging in a telepathic conversation, no doubt.
“I’m not Laken’s house sister, Cooper.” Hattie takes a tempered breath. “A Fem is.”
Wesley
Sickles fall from the sky as I dart through the storm and into the library, a half-hour late for my shift. The tall ornate ceiling in the tundra gives me pause with its intricate mosaics. The muted tones of the stained glass call out and demand for me to admire them, but Laken beams a smile at me from the counter and outshines any beauty they could ever hope to offer.
She looks so damn hot with her white shirt unbuttoned to her cleavage. Her tongue wets her lips just for me. I wish I could rake the books off the counter, hell—the go-back cart, and love her like I want to. She mentioned “all night long” was at the top of her list, so I’m pretty sure the library is off limits for now, unless I make arrangements. Although with my luck someone will walk in, and that someone will be Cooper.
“Sorry I’m late.” I steal a kiss before making my way around the marble counter. “Practice ran late. You should come down sometime if you want to hang out—watch me beam a couple guys in the head for the fun of it.”
“I’d love to watch you commit bodily harm to others.” She gives a little laugh, and her teeth glitter in the light. Everything about Laken shines.
I’m glad she’s amused. I’m pretty sure Flanders