Spell Checked (13 page)

~~~***~~~

“Aidan, why must you make a joke of everything?  You knew Mae had spent the whole day frustrated with all this nature nonsense and you just had to rub salt in the wound,” Gemma fussed as she and Aidan entered her bedroom.

“I’m sorry.  I just thought it would be funny,” Aidan replied to Gemma’s accusations.

“Don’t waste your apologies on me!  It’s Mae you need to apologize to and just to let you know, I talked to Meredith and heard about your little attraction trick.  I am so not amused!”  Gemma’s anger infiltrated her voice as she began to gather his clothes.  “Not only were you flirting with another woman, that woman just happens to be my best friend, Aidan.”

“Don’t be mad, Gemma.  I didn’t mean anything by it,” Aidan explained as if it were nothing.  He knew he had pushed Gemma to her limit.  “Oh well it was good while it lasted,”
he thought to himself.

“I think you need to find another room to sleep in tonight.  I’m too pissed to deal with you right now.”  Gemma threw his clothes at him and pointed to the door.  She was well aware of Aidan’s philandering ways and was unwilling to accept them.  She planned to end her fling with him for good as soon as she left for home.

The stress around there for the past few days had been unbearable.  Mae was still struggling with plants and could only produce mud, lots of it.  Meredith was about to snap.  She was at her wit’s end trying to help Mae understand.  Aidan and Gemma were constantly bickering and Beck spent much of his time working, which left him exhausted both mentally and physically.

The morning did not start any better.  Aidan put salt in the sugar dish, causing both Beck and Meredith to spit their morning tea back into their cups after the first sip; and Mae was in an all-around bad mood.  Having been an over-achiever all her life, she was frustrated by her utter failure at growing plants.  To make matters worse, Beck had pretty much abandoned her the past couple of days and she craved his attention.  They were all gathered around the kitchen table finishing breakfast, when Meredith said in an exasperated tone, “I simply do not know why you cannot understand the basics of plant growth.”

“I just don’t get it, Meredith.  All this talk of energy flowing and allowing the spirit of the plant to enter me doesn’t compute.  It’s not your fault my mind can’t process what you’re telling me.  Can’t we just move on?” Mae pleaded, not wanting to spend another minute on nature.

“I wish it were that simple as just moving on, but it is imperative you learn this first,” Meredith sighed, not looking forward to another day of total frustration.

“What seems to be the problem?” Beck asked, dumping the salt into the garbage and refilling the sugar dish with sugar.

“No matter how many times Aidan and I explain how to do it Mae can’t grasp the concept and put it to use,” Meredith explained, rising to put her empty plate in the sink.

“All they tell me is a lot of nature mumbo jumbo that I just don’t get,” Mae offered in her defense, as she leaned back in her chair.

“I think I know the problem.  The witches keep treating you like a witch and not the creature of logic that you are, Mae,” Beck explained as if he suddenly solved the mystery.

Meredith looked puzzled, “I don’t understand.”

“Let me work with her this morning.  I think I know how to get her to understand,” Beck looked forward to spending some time with Mae.  He had spent most of the week buried in his computer room/office and needed a break.

“I hope you’re right Beck.  I don’t think I can take much more of this nature crap,” Mae retorted as she finished the last of the eggs on her plate.

Beck followed Mae on to the patio, his arms laden with books about plants.  They walked to the table where the pots still sat, right where she and Meredith left them the previous day.  Beck dropped the books on the table and started to thumb through them.

“I think you just need a more scientific explanation for you to process the information and use it,” Beck said, handing her one of the books he scanned.

Mae started reading about seed germination and how the three main parts of a seed work. Beck sat in a chair next to her reading something similar.  She was happy to have him here helping her.  “I’ve missed you the last couple of days,” she smiled, looking up at him from the book that was sitting in front of her.

 “I missed you, too.  That is why I plan on spending the whole day with you today,” it was not his intention to neglect her these past few days, but he had been working so hard, it had become inevitable.

“I would like that.  Now let’s see if your theory works,” she said, ready to try again on whatever Meredith left in the pot.

She focused on the seeds, visualizing the water and oxygen permeating the seed coat causing the endosperm to swell up and the embryo to grow.  She could feel the radical emerging from the seed coat growing downwards to form the roots and the hypocotyls and cotyledons reaching up to form the stem and leaves.  The pot was now full of tiny sprouts waiting to absorb morning’s first light.

Mae looked at Beck in amazement, “Look!  I did it!” she exclaimed.  “I finally figured out how to grow plants.”

“Keep going.  I want to know what you have in the pot.”  Beck was curious about what they planted during the past few days.

Mae concentrated once more, this time on the structure of the stem and leaves, transferring light to the photosensitive cells of the leaves and bringing water up the stem.  Soon flowers started to emerge from the newly formed buds and the pot was full of purple violas.  She was so happy, a single tear rolled down her cheek as her week’s long frustration melted into joy.  Beck hugged Mae in congratulations at her success.

“I knew you could do it, if given the right information.  Now, you just need to think bigger,” he added, producing an acorn from his pocket.

“You want me to grow a tree?”  Mae was nervous to try anything bigger than the tiny flowers she had just produced.

“Yes, not just any tree but an oak,” he grinned as he planted the acorn in an empty pot.

Mae used the same logic to grow the acorn as she did to grow the flower seeds.  When the tree had grown about two feet, Beck went to the edge of the patio and dug a hole in the yard to plant the new sapling.  Mae continued to make it grow, concentrating all the energy around her into its roots and leaves.  Soon a massive oak stood in front of them and Beck called Aidan, Meredith, and Gemma onto the patio to show them Mae’s handy work.

“Three days of struggling to get her to sprout even a single seed on a Chia Pet, and you get her to grow an entire oak in under an hour…I hate you, Beck!” Meredith exclaimed playfully, excited that Mae had finally accomplished her lesson on plants.

“Mae, how did you manage to grow a tree that size by yourself?  It would have taken three master witches a minimum of half a day to pull that off,” Aidan asked, staring in amazement at the massive tree that now shaded the patio.

“PFM,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

“What is PFM?” Aidan raised his eyebrow at her strange reply.

“Pure Fucking Magic,” she laughed.

Beck was still laughing at her remark when he chimed in, “Now that we have gotten this lesson out of the way, Mae and I intend on spending the rest of the day having fun.”  He clasped her hand and whisked her off to the computer room.

“So, what did you have in mind?” she asked, plopping down on one of the beanbag chairs.

“Diablo 3,” Beck smiled, turning on the two large monitors across from the beanbag chairs and handing Mae a wireless keyboard.

“I like the way you think.  I have been waiting to play that game all week,” she beamed as the game started.

They played for the rest of the morning until it was time for lunch.  Just as they were about to quit, Beck decided to make his Wizard go hostile on Mae’s Barbarian.

“So, that’s how you want to play…Bring it on!” she said, accepting his challenge.

It was a very short battle.  Mae allowed his Wizard to throw a couple of fireballs before she made her move and in one fell swoop, her Barbarian had taken out his Wizard.  The prize was his Wizard’s ear, which she quickly added to her stash.

“I just got my ass handed to me by a girl!  How shall my injured ego ever recover?”  Beck dramatized for added effect.

“I know something that will make you feel better.”  She got up from her beanbag chair and climbed onto his lap as he sat in his beanbag chair.  She put her arms around his neck and gave him a long passionate kiss.

“That does make me feel better,” Beck smiled pulling her closer and returning her kiss.

Mae’s stomach started to rumble loudly as Beck pulled away from their kiss.

“We need to get some lunch.  But, I would love to pick up where we left off afterwards,” he whispered in her ear.

~~~***~~~

Meredith was sitting in the kitchen reading while she snacked on a plate of fruit.  Mae sat next to her as Beck walked to the secondary kitchen where the staff prepared food.  He came back with two plates of food in his hands and a bottle of wine.

“Where are Gemma and Aidan?” Mae asked Meredith.

“They went to the Lough.  Aidan wanted to go canoeing today,” Meredith calmly stated.

‘When do we start lessons again?”  Not that Mae was in any hurry to start again after the week of frustration.

“Maybe tomorrow afternoon, I need to rethink the way I’m teaching you.  Beck, I might need some help now that I know Mae’s particular method for learning.”

“I would be more than happy to help,” he replied.

“I meant another witch, one who has a better grasp on technology,” Meredith smiled, not wanting Beck’s offer to appear unappreciated.

Beck curiously asked, “Anyone I know?”

“Yes, I’m sure you remember Alexis.”

“Remember her!  How could anyone forget her is more the point!  You know Aidan is going to be pissed when he finds out.  She is the only person I know of who can bring him to tears,” Beck laughed.

“Yeah, she has that effect on lots of people,” Meredith reminded herself.

Mae just sat back and listened to Meredith and Becks conversation.  The thought of adding another teacher to her current group of baffled instructors didn’t sit well with her.

“Can we wait to see if I am able to catch on now that I know what the problem is?”  Mae didn’t want another teacher and this Alexis person didn’t sound like the type of person she would want to know.

“Yes, we can wait.  It’s just an idea we can fall back on if we need to,” Meredith answered.

It was not long before they heard voices yelling across the back lawn approaching the patio.  Gemma and Aidan were soaking wet and fighting again.  Their conversation could be heard all the way to the kitchen.

“Aidan, you are such an ASS!” Gemma yelled, stepping on to the patio, soaking wet.

“What did I do?” he yelled back, taking off his shirt and wringing it out.

“Your wandering eyes are the only reason we are wet.  Did you really have to stand up in the boat and say hi to the girls on jet skis?” Gemma retorted, taking off her shoes and dumping the water out.

“I was just being friendly,” he explained, removing his own shoes.

“You were flirting, Aidan and I have had enough of it.  We are through,” Gemma yelled angrily entering the kitchen with Aidan following her.

“You don’t mean that?  Do you?” he asked, realizing the situation had gotten out of control.

“Yes, I do.  Now leave me alone!” she yelled, heading to her room and leaving Aidan in the kitchen.

Mae followed Gemma to her room.  “Do you want to talk?” she asked.

“There really is not much to talk about.  I planned on ending it when I left to go home anyway,” she calmly replied, stepping into the bathroom.

“You didn’t tell me that,” Mae replied, hurt that Gemma had not confided in her sooner.

“You have been so busy lately, I feel like I’m being replaced with a new set of friends and I don’t belong, because I’m only human,” Gemma confessed, stripping off her wet clothes.

“I could never replace you Gemma.  I need you more than ever and I want you to be a part of this too.”  Mae was sad that Gemma was feeling left out.  She had been so wrapped up in her own problems; she was ignoring her best friend.

Gemma put on dry clothes and hugged her.  It was Gemma’s way of letting Mae know she would be there for her no matter what.  Mae needed to find a way to include Gemma in her training.  They spent the next hour chatting, attempting to catch up with everything that had been going on the past week.

“What is the deal with you and Beck?” Gemma asked, raising her eyebrow in curiosity.

“I have never been this attracted to a man before in my life.  But, every time things start to heat up between us, he stops dead in his tracks.  Other than that, I love him,” Mae said quickly hoping Gemma might miss the last part as they sat on the bed next to each other.

“I can’t imagine any women not being attracted to him.  He is even more handsome than Aidan and I would go after him myself if he didn’t already have feelings for you.  In fact I think he’s in love too.  Whenever I see you two together I’m almost jealous,” Gemma added, nudging Mae’s shoulder with hers.

“Do you really think he likes me?  If so, I’m going to end the little sexual cat and mouse game he’s been playing today!”

“You go girlfriend!  If it were me, I would have been tapping that a long time ago,” Gemma laughed.

“Can I borrow your black corset dress and will you fix my hair for me?” Mae asked knowing Gemma would jump at the chance.

“Yes, I would love to!  Now all we need is a plan,” a sinister smile crept across Gemma’s face as the cogs in her mind started plotting Beck’s demise.