Page 14 of Between Brothers

You could have it times two if you would only give it a try…a voice from inside my own head whispered. It was a tempting offer, one that I didn’t want to immediately reject but one that just felt so outside of the ordinary, so strange… I mean… what would people think? What would my dad think?

The song ended and we parted clapping and laughing. The band struck up a slower almost waltz and I felt him before I saw him. A presence at my back, the thrum of almost electricity scattering along my skin, prickling through my clothes. Duracell’s presence was electric, no pun intended, but it was the truth. He was like a tempest. One that you watched come up and over the horizon, moving towards you, but you were frozen in its path.

“Can I have the next one?” he asked and I fought down the urge to shiver. His voice was pitched low, velvet and almost seductive. I swallowed and I didn’t wish to offend anyone so I nodded. His hands briefly landed on my hips and he dragged fingertips along my lower back as he came around my front.

I placed my hands on his upper arms, the leather of his jacket cooler than I expected it to be. It was moving well into dusk, the sun just a fiery glimmer over the tree tops to the west. I swallowed hard and Cell swayed, his hands warm on my hips where my cutoff shorts covered them. I let him coax me down the dancefloor and felt drawn in. As if he were the spider and I? I were the fly.

“You like to dance?” he asked.

“Not usually, just at things like this…”

“What do you like to do then?”

“I um, I like to um…” I felt myself blush. I flustered so easily around Cell. He wasn’t easy to talk to like Blue.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” he said with a charming smile. I looked around for Blue and he was back at our table, his beer raised to his lips as he watched us warily over the bottle.

“You like my boy Blue.” I looked up at Cell sharply but there was no accusation in his eyes, no jealousy. “It’s okay, he’s easy to like. Sometimes I have to work a little harder at being likeable… it is what it is.” He shrugged nonchalantly and I felt myself relax marginally.

“You… you can be awfully intense,” I admitted and he nodded.

“Intense, I like that. Yeah, you’re right, that’s totally me.” He grinned and I felt some more tension ease. I returned the smile.

“What do you like to do?” I asked, trying not to let the conversation turn back to me. I just didn’t know if I felt comfortable sharing things with Cell. I didn’t get the same feeling from him that I did from Blue.

He laughed a little, “Well, I like to ride and work on my bike, I like to hang with my brothers and see what kind of trouble we can get up to, and I guess I like to dance with pretty girls at county fairs.”

I blushed at that last one and looked away. Cell laughed but it wasn’t mocking. He asked me, “A little too cheesy; coming on a little strong?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head, blushing like mad. I didn’t think I could or would ever be considered pretty by anyone.

“You know, I sure would like to meet the man who dulled your sparkle, Hayley.” I looked up at him sharply but didn’t know what to say. I swallowed hard and he gave me a look that chilled me right down to the center of my being…

“Why?” I managed to croak.

“Because I’d love to break his face for it.”

I swallowed hard and felt myself leaning away from him slightly and suddenly Blue was there, at our side. Cell’s charming smile was back in place and he spun me back into Blue’s arms. I looked up at Blue who smiled down at me and I tried very hard to decide what exactly Cell had meant by what he’d said.

“He likes you,” Blue said finally. I looked back at our table where Duracell stood drinking the rest of his beer, arm slung comically over my unicorn’s back. He winked at me and I felt fear. I didn’t quite resist the urge then. I closed the gap between me and Blue, and took a little shelter from the chill against him.

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” I said honestly and Blue’s face lost all humor.

“Trust me, Hayley, you would much rather have him like you than not.”

“That’s not comforting in the slightest, Blue.”

“No, but it’s true.”

I was silent for a long time while Blue searched my face and I searched his right back, his expression softened and he murmured to me as the song came to a close, “Cell is a hard man to love, Hayley, but if you do and you managed to get him to respect you back, you will never in a million years be safer or want for anything. Once he’s committed, he’s committed for life. That’s just how he is.”

The song ended and people stepped away from one another applauding. Blue and I simply stilled. I thought about what he’d just told me and when the next song started we just sort of started moving again, although it wasn’t to dance it was to return to our table. The air was cooling and Cell picked up and handed me my half empty beer which was still cold enough to be palatable.

I drank some giving Cell a nod and took my seat, hooking the heel of my boot on one of the bottom rungs of the stool. Blue stood this time, as Cell had taken his seat and we just sort of sat for a moment. The sun had finished it’s descent beyond the horizon and the evening was rapidly cooling, the weather behaving more like autumn than it had during the day.

“You cold?” Cell asked and I nodded.

“Getting there. I’m also, sad to say, getting tired.”

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