Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (28 page)

“Alex said no to driving the fancy one I
take it?” I quietly laughed and he chuckled distantly and nodded
his head.

“He doesn’t trust my driving skills yet…
Sorry…” he murmured while we left the house and headed into
town.

The longer we rode in near silence, the
quicker I realized I hadn’t ever really been alone with Tobias. Did
I like Tobias? Sure; but it was totally a superficial little crush
because he was gorgeous, I didn’t really know much of anything else
about him. He glanced at me while we were stopped at a red light, a
smile playing across his lips.

“What?” he laughingly asked, “You’ve been
staring at me… why?”

“I was realizing I don’t think I’ve ever
been alone with you before… I don’t really know you very well,” I
explained, but my gaze fell to my lap as my face shaded pink and he
laughed softly.

“I’m too shy to spend time alone with you,”
he mumbled, continuing down the road when the light turned
green.

“You don’t strike me as shy,” I countered
and he laughed softly, pulling into a parking space in front of the
ice cream parlor.

“Have I ever talked to you when someone else
wasn’t around before today?” he pressed and I considered it before
I shook my head, “Because I’m shy, and you’re intimidating… if Alex
hadn’t left just Caiden and me at the house… I wouldn’t be talking
to you now….”

“How can someone so attractive be so shy?” I
wondered curiously, realizing he was blushing only after I’d gotten
out of the car, “Sorry… I’m not trying to embarrass you, I promise…
I just don’t get it.”

“I’m right dead center of the elite group
with Malcolm… I dunno… I guess the older ones and the younger ones
got more attention… I didn’t have anyone pushing me to be less
introverted, so I just kind of stayed quiet…” he murmured with a
shrug, holding the door to the ice cream parlor open for me.

“Well… now you have me,” I decided while
inspecting the different ice cream options before I ordered a
caramel sundae with double chocolate ice cream and nuts.

I turned around when he sighed. “Um… Alex…
ordered me to buy that for you… sorry…” he muttered, staring down
at the floor instead of looking at me.

“Tell him to stop trying to buy me off, I
don’t like it… but it’s fine this time… I guess…” I sighed while he
ordered a sundae, too, and then skipped ahead of me to pay for both
of them. I went over to one of the high top tables and sat down, my
gaze wandering out the front windows to the overcast afternoon.

“The rain won’t get here until after you and
Jack leave,” Tobias stated as he sat down across from me, “But it
is on the way….”

No sooner had the girl behind the counter
brought out our sundaes than the bell chimed as the front door
opened. My eyes darted up to find Ty walking into the ice cream
parlor with two of his band mates. His pale blue eyes instantly
found me in the room as his lips curled into a grin, the hoops in
his bottom lip glistening in the light.

“Hello, Anna Gray,” he greeted as he
strolled over beside our table while the other two got in line to
order ice cream, “I like the new hair. I hear you landed yourself
in something you can’t get out of just like I thought you
would.”

“Ty…” Tobias’ voice was cold, warning, and I
darted my eyes to him in confusion, “Did you actually need
something?”

“I just wanted to say hello,” Ty smugly
countered, “Not that it’s any of your business, Tobias. I’m
surprised you’re the only one here… did something happen?”

“Violet got hurt,” Tobias muttered and I saw
the brief pang of guilt flash across Ty’s eyes, “She’ll be fine… we
don’t know what happened yet… Where are your other two band
members?”

Ty’s gaze shifted slowly to his friends
before he glanced at me and then finally back to Tobias. “They got
hurt,” he admitted quietly, “You should take Anna Gray home, I
think.”

“Why do you care?” I murmured and he grinned
when he looked at me again.

“I have my reasons, Anna Gray. Tobias is too
nice to tell you this, so I’ll do it for him… you need to hurry and
finish your sundae so he can get you back to the house,” Ty stated
with certainty before he turned around and walked off to his
friends who got their ice creams and left.

I spun around to face Tobias, but he was
staring into his sundae. “Tobias… what was that about?” I asked
anyway but he kept shoveling ice cream into his mouth.

“We need to hurry,” he mumbled and I sighed
but resumed eating my sundae.

We got back to the house about an hour
before Jack had said we would be leaving, so I started getting
ready.

At exactly 4 o’clock, there was a knock on
my bedroom door. I inhaled a shaky breath as I glanced in the
mirror at my short black dress with the studded belt and various
‘punk’ elements, which apparently made it completely appropriate
for the concert; then I looked at my studded black ankle boots and
the nearly three-inch heels on them. There was another soft knock
and I exhaled harshly before I grabbed my tiny purse and tossed it
over my shoulder.

When I opened the door, I watched Jack’s
eyes move up from my shoes, slowly moving across my dress and
finally making it up to my face, wide, and sparkling. He was
wearing black jeans with a studded belt and a v-neck charcoal gray
shirt that was made out of some really soft material. He grinned as
he pushed off of the doorframe and held his hand out to me.

“You ready?” he queried and I barely nodded
as I took his hand and pulled my door closed behind me, “You look…
amazing….” He kept looking back at me as he led me downstairs and
out the front door to the sports car that Tobias had wanted to
drive earlier that day. He held the door open for me while I
maneuvered my way into the passenger seat, then darted around and
climbed into the driver’s seat and we were off.

“So why do you get to drive it and Tobias
couldn’t?” I wondered and Jack laughed, glancing briefly over at
me.

“Alex had it washed particularly so I could
take you out in it tonight. Tobes can drive it another day, just
not today,” Jack explained with a soft smile as his hand fell to
rest on top of my hand on my knee, “I’m really glad you decided to
come with me tonight.”

“Just how crazy did you drive everyone for
the past week thinking about tonight?” I wondered and he laughed
such a melodic laugh that my heart skipped.

“Pretty crazy,” he admitted with a grin that
suddenly disappeared, “I heard you ran into Ty at the ice cream
parlor….”

“He dropped in for a few minutes with two of
his friends… I’m not entirely convinced he didn’t do it on purpose,
but I can’t figure out how he would’ve known I was there…” I
admitted with a shrug, “No harm done though, so no worries… Where
are we going to eat?”

“This Japanese restaurant in the city right
around the corner from the concert venue,” he stated, “The girls
say it’s a nice enough place for a first date. Apparently my first
choice didn’t meet their expectations.”

“What was your first choice?” I wondered and
he chuckled softly.

“Sushi-Me… it’s back in town, and I can see
where they were coming from,” he revealed with another soft laugh.
He caught a glance of me while he was switching lanes on the
interstate. “You look tired… why don’t you rest until we get
there?”

“Okay…” I agreed, because I was much, much
too mentally worn out to argue with him. The dreams had been taking
their toll on me, and Tobias and Ty being so strange at the parlor
earlier hadn’t helped any. Plus actually going on my first date?!
Speaking of first dates… I had told Austin about it with explicit
instructions to not say a word to Jason. I was pleasantly surprised
by how well Austin dealt with the news. He, of course, wanted to
know the exact details of when and where and who, as well as when
I’d be back at Alex’s and to remind me that sex isn’t for first
dates. I’d nearly hung up on him at that point from sheer
embarrassment! My brother, talking to me about sex!? Like I didn’t
already know about it… And how could he even think I’d consider it
after what had happened with Mark… Being intimate with someone… I
had a bad feeling that was going to take some seriously slow
acclimations to avoid any panic attacks or anything. The nice thing
was that even though these guys were werewolves, totally
supernatural gorgeous guys that could have any girl they wanted,
and surely had the animal urges to boot, they never made me feel
any kind of pressure, any kind of worry… I felt really comfortable
around them, safe, I guess.

Jack caught me staring at him and lightly
squeezed my hand as he finally got off of the interstate in the
heart of the city.

“What’s going on in that pretty head of
yours?” he quietly asked, looking directly at me while we were
stopped at the red light at the off-ramp.

“I have a really weird… personal… question…”
I murmured and he lifted a single eyebrow at me. “I would think…
being werewolves and all… that you would have more… animalistic
urges…” I faltered over the words and saw him trying to keep
himself from smiling, “So do you? And if you do… why don’t I ever
notice it…?”

“We do,” he admitted as he resumed driving
down the road, “We also have impeccable self-control, and you are
much too precious to us to ever show that part of ourselves to
without your permission. Why in the world are you asking me
that?”

I barely shrugged my shoulders, but he
looked at me skeptically. “A whole series of thoughts starting with
telling Austin about tonight and him telling me not to have sex.” I
felt my face flush, but tried not to acknowledge it. Jack laughed
as he turned into a parking garage, rolled down the window to
retrieve a parking ticket, and then went through the gate into the
sporadically lit cement maze.

“You’re too fragile…” Jack murmured beneath
his breath, stopping the car in a spot near the elevator. He was
out of the driver’s seat before I could blink and pulling my door
open for me. He helped me out of the car, but I was looking at him
in confusion.

“What… you’ll break me?” I pressed and his
eyes briefly widened before I realized he had the silver around his
pupils.

“I didn’t…” he sighed and barely shook his
head, “I didn’t even mean to say that out loud… much less for you
to hear it… I meant… mentally… fragile… I don’t want to scare you…
or remind you of anything….” He sighed again before smiling softly
at me, “No one wants to remind you of anything.”

I smiled distantly and shook my head. “So
where is this restaurant?”

“Upstairs,” he answered softly, his hand
sliding into mine as he led me to the elevator and we waited for it
to get to our level, “It’s the top floor. You’re not scared of
heights are you?”

“No…?” I replied in confusion. He laughed as
we got into the elevator and he pressed the button for floor
65.

“I want to kiss you,” he suddenly stated and
I looked up at him with still-flushed cheeks.

“Why don’t you?” I wondered, his fingers
trailing across my cheek as I could almost see him thinking about
it.

“I’m too excited… I don’t know that I could
stop…” he whispered. He was only a breath away from me when the
elevator doors opened and he laughed softly as he slowly stepped
away. He was still holding onto my hand and gently pulled me off of
the elevator behind him.

The heights thing suddenly made a lot more
sense. We were on the top floor all right, and the entire thing was
glass. The walls were all glass, the ceiling was glass… there was
even glass covering the floors with koi swimming under our feet. I
absolutely froze and felt the pull on my hand before Jack turned
back around to look at me and found me staring at the floor.

“It’s safe, I promise. That’s the super
thick stuff they use at aquariums, you won’t fall through it,” he
assured as I inhaled a shaky breath and tightened my grip on his
hand, slowly and carefully following him over to the hostess
stand.

I guess it was just koi swimming around over
pebbles and little pathways that almost looked like a small city,
but it still made me nervous, especially actually walking across it
and feeling like the koi were following me. We reached a table
beside one of the glass walls and Jack pulled my chair out for me,
laughing when I sat down and kept glancing at the floor while he
pushed the chair back under the table and sat down across from
me.

“There are five koi under my feet… that
isn’t normal…” I murmured, staring down at the fish swimming little
figure-eights under my chair.

“You attract animals,” Jack chuckled as I
finally looked up at him, “Ignore the fish, ignore the floor.” He
motioned toward the wall and I looked out over the city with a
silent gasp. “Enjoy the view.”

It was beautiful, and the sun was just
starting to fall behind the tallest buildings casting lights and
shadows across the cityscape. When I looked back at Jack, he was
staring at me, watching me.

“I’ve never been on a date before…” I
whispered and his lips curled into a soft smile.

“I know,” he replied.

“I don’t know what to say…”

“I know.” He reached across the table and
took hold of my hand before the waitress appeared and took our
drink orders. When she left, he was staring at me again. “Just be
yourself, Anna… I like you for who you are.”

“But you aren’t being yourself,” I mumbled
and he looked at me in confusion, “You’re usually joking around and
being really silly and spontaneous… you’ve been being more and more
serious lately….” The tiniest smile slipped onto his lips as he
kept watching me. “Goofy Jack has a tendency to pop up right when I
need a laugh….”

“Just wait til we get to the show,” he
chuckled, squeezing my hand tighter, “I’m serious about you, Anna…
so I guess I feel the need to at least show you that I
can
be more mature….”