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he’s
been trying to get the guts for months now.”
    “Of course you could’ve said no! If I asked
you out, you’d say no.”
    “No I wouldn’t! I love you to death!”
    “Yeah, like a brother…” he grumbled, looking down at
his trashy white tennis shoes that were more brown and green than white.
    “And what’s wrong with that?” she asked him, trying
to cheer him up despite the fact that he was being ridiculous. “Boyfriends come
and go, but you’ll always be a part of my life.” The way he was acting was
making her wonder if he had a crush on her.
    Just thinking that embarrassed her. She shouldn’t be
so vain. He was just being nice and she was reading too much into it. Mentally
checking herself, she said, “Well, whatever the case, Eric will be here any
minute.”
    “I know. I just want to make sure he’s gonna treat
you right.”
    She felt silly for thinking he liked her. He
was obviously just being a good “brother.”
    The doorbell buzzed again.
    “Now, be nice,” she said, narrowing her eyes in a
warning to Track.
    His hands up in surrender, he said, “I will, I
will.”
    “Hi Eric!” she exclaimed when she opened the door.
    “Hey,” he said as he played with his dark hair,
which was outrageously slicked back for the occasion. His face falling when he
saw the head hovering beside her, he said, “Oh hey, Tracker….”
    “Mm-hmm,” Track said, lifting his chin.
    She didn’t understand Track sometimes. Sometimes he
could just get so protective and mistrustful; like he was being right now.
    Noticing that Eric was in a nice shirt and
slacks—dressed up much more than she was—she asked, “Is my outfit okay for
whatever it is we’re doing?”
    “Yeah, what are you two doing?” Tracker
interrupted, putting his body between her and Eric.
    “I got reservations at Herod’s,” Eric said, puffing
his toothpick-like chest importantly.
    “Wow! How’d you manage that?” she asked, impressed. Herod’s
was the hottest new restaurant in town and was impossible to get into
unless you were rich and famous.
    He shrugged. “I have my connections.”
    “You?” Tracker snorted. Now he was just being rude.
    Hara elbowed him lightly in the ribs as she gave
Eric a bright smile. “I think that’s wonderful. I better go change into
something nicer. It will take five minutes. Do we have time?”
    “Of course,” Eric said, gesturing for her to go
ahead.
    She quickly made her way to her bedroom, where she
threw on a white Grecian-style dress. It was a halter connected to a large
silver ring that wrapped around her neck. It then flowed to the ground, only
held back by the cinched empire waist. It had a back to it, but that didn’t
begin until under her shoulder blades, where the cinching in the front
originated. She’d been trying to find an occasion to wear this dress for over a
month now.
    After donning silver flats, she threw her hair into
a haphazard bun secured with two silver sticks, tendrils loose everywhere.
Perfect. Now she liked her hair again.
    As promised, she made it back to the boys in time.
    “Shall we go?” she asked Eric because he just kept
gaping at her in awe.
    “Um…yeah…sure….” With that, he took her bare arm
that was slightly thinner and much longer than his, and they left both her
apartment and paranoia behind.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Inac let out a sigh of relief; they were finally
leaving. It wasn’t that he was afraid of them finding him. More that he didn’t
want to have to kill them just yet. He really wanted to corrupt the pristine
little Hara first.
    He waited in the roommate’s closet for a few more
minutes in case they came back—it was plenty spacious because everything was
spread around her bedroom instead of occupying its racks. He really hadn’t
planned on still being here when Hara got home, but he’d lost track of time.
For some reason, learning all about her was fascinating. Of course, he liked
learning about people before he got rid of