I Don't Care if the Necklace Fits! I'd Rather Not be Kidnapped by Immortals!

Chapter Sixteen
The power had come back on a few hours later, and instead of trying to finish watching Halloween, I’d insisted that we watched V for Vendetta since it was on On Demand. I’d recited all of his introductory speech without even looking at the TV screen. I was staring at Nuri as I’d quoted his alliteration with perfect pronunciation. He laughed and paused the movie.
“How many times have you watched this?” He asked. I giggled.
“Me and Kay watched this every Saturday from seventh grade to ninth. Then we watched a different movie every year on every Saturday. I know every word to this movie, actually. I just put the most time into memorizing this part.” I explained. He rolled his eyes, but scooted over closer to me. I ran my hands through my hair as he unpaused the movie. We watched the rest of it, Nuri occasionally asking me a question pertaining to the plot.
Once the movie was over, we went into the kitchen. Yes, I was hungry again.
“So, explain again why he decided to torture her?” Nuri asked for what seemed like the eightieth time.
“He tortured her because she said that she wanted to live without fear. And that was how he’d learned to live without fear.” I explained for the million and seventh time.
“But… why would someone want to live without fear?” he questioned. I rolled my eyes.
“It’s a movie Nuri. It took me three times to get it. So whatevs.” I stated, not really feeling like explaining much to him.
“No, I want to know!” He demanded. I sighed.
“She didn’t want to be afraid anymore, I guess. I don’t know?” I replied.
“So what was the point in shaving her head, then?” he inquired.
“That was one of the uses of torture that they’d used on him when he was at that sanitarium or detention center or whatever it was.” I said. He gave me a quizzical look as he pulled a bag of grapes out of the fridge and tossed them to me. I caught them with ease.
“So why did they shave his head?” he asked.
“Nuri, you’re really annoying to watch movies with. Seriously. If you don’t get it, watch the movie again.” I stated. He rolled his eyes at me as I threw a grape up in the air and caught it in my mouth. I smiled triumphantly as I chewed.
“Big whoop. You caught a grape. Even I can do that.” He threw a grape into the air, only for it to smack him in the eye. Rubbing the spot it hit, he glared at me. “Not a word.”
“Okay, since you think you’re a pro at fruit competitions, how about this?” I opened up the refrigerator and retrieved a bag of cherries.
“Oh come on. You know that tying a knot in a cherry stem doesn’t mean you’re a good kisser, it just means you have a strong tongue.” He whined.
“Fine then. I bet you that my tongue is stronger then your tongue, and that I can tie a knot faster than you.” I argued. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
“You’re on.” I gave him a cherry and told him to put the cherry in his mouth, and that on the count of three we would start.
“Un, foo, free!” I shouted. I have to admit, we looked odd standing a few feet from each other contorting our tongues. If somebody had walked in on us they would think we were idiots.
I worked quickly, biting down on an end with my teeth. I had been practicing this for years, and no I don’t mean on cherry stems. I was beginning to loop the other end through when Nuri pulled his out and shouted “Done!”
Shooting daggers, I repeated what he had said before. “You’re right, Nuri, it’s not about who’s the better kisser, it’s just who has a stronger tongue.”
“Oh, really? You’re just saying that because I won.” He countered.
“Yes, really. If it was really about who was the better kisser, I would have demolished you.” I teased.
“Prove it.” He stared at me. I was surprised by the emotion that was behind it. His words willing me to do it. I didn’t hesitate.
Seconds later my lips were crushed against his. I silently thanked god that I was both wearing the necklace, and that Nuri couldn’t read minds. If he had known how much I was enjoying this he would have declared himself the victor.
It was odd kissing him, in a way. It was only the second time that I had kissed Nuri, but the ease and familiarity of it was stunning. It seemed so…right. That’s so corny I can’t believe I thought it. For lack of a better metaphor, I saw fireworks.
I was still thinking about that when he pulled away from me, gazing deeply into my eyes. Holding the gaze, the corners of his mouth turned upwards into a smirk.
“Ready to admit that I was the better kisser?” He asked me.
Shaking my head no, I answered “I think we need to test that some more.”

Dylan’s POV

Sitting on the couches at Starbucks, I couldn’t shake the feeling. No matter how beautiful I thought Kay was, or how bewitching her smile was, or even how lovely her voice sounded;
Something wasn’t right.
I was here with the perfect girl. Snowed in at a mall, alone. Hearing of her previous escapades, I would have no problem getting to first and second base, if not farther.
But I didn’t want to.
And THAT is what scared me the most. Because this is what some guys DREAM about. They dream of having such a gorgeous girl smitten with him. Dream of wrapping their arms around her waist, pushing her hair from her eyes, and kissing her tenderly.
But I didn’t.
I knew in the back of my mind that something worse was happening. This had happened before. Beautiful girl. Opportunities arose. But time and time again I turned them down. I could always find something wrong with her to use as an excuse. Too loud, too fat, too bubbly, too bitchy, etc.
But she was perfect.
And that’s when I realized that I couldn’t be happy with her. She was, in my opinion, perfection. No other girl I had ever been in contact with could compare. Yet I didn’t want her. I couldn’t look lovingly into those sapphire eyes without lying.
If I didn’t want her, who I had already admitted was perfection. Then what girl did I want? Certainly not one that didn’t measure up. So then who?
I knew the answer. But I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. In all actuality, I knew exactly what I wanted. WHO I wanted. And I didn’t like the answer.

Elliot’s POV

Kayne, Ari, Kavan, and I had been searching this town up and down to try and find this stupid immortal that was screwing around with the weather, and we still hadn’t found him… or her. We’d decided to stay at a bar for merely ten minutes, and then that’s when everything went downhill. Kavan decided to get drunk off his ass, as we sat in a booth in the corner, talking about what could be causing the snow.
“Personally, I believe it’s a demon witch and they’re using this to somehow get to Victrivia,” Kavan said as he picked up his mug, only to chug the liquid inside down.
“It could be. Or it’s just a newbie demon that doesn’t understand it’s powers quite yet.” Ari offered. I shook my head. That couldn’t be it.
“No... I have a different theory… Did I ever tell you guys about the reason why I ended up staying with you?” I inquired. Kayne shook his head and Ari and Kavan looked at me.
“I assumed that you were just some boy that Victrivia thought was cute and you needed a place to stay, so she offered.” Ari stated. I laughed and shook my head.
“No. There were these guys after me… and they have an extremely powerful girl with them. She has powers to control the elements around her, and I have no idea what sort of immortal she is. She could be a sun, I guess. I’ve never seen her necklace, but these men are out to kill me, so I try to keep my distance like any other sane person would. Maybe she’s controlling the elements for some reason to find me…” I trailed off there.
“What do they need you for?” Kavan asked.
“Well these men are all demons. I’m supposed to find the more important suns and keep them away from these men. At one point I had found the girl, but then the four of them interfered and I barely escaped with my life. She was intercepted by them and I had no real choice in the matter. They basically brainwashed her… I failed at that mission.” I explained.
“You loved her.” Kayne proclaimed. It had been true. I’d loved that girl with all of my heart, despite the short amount of time we’d been together. I nodded.
“What happened?” Ari asked. I assumed that his curiosity had gotten the better of him when he asked this.
“I’d rather not go into it.” I replied. He nodded in understanding. I was glad that he’d asked no further questions. Kavan was just opening his mouth to say something when the bartender told everyone that we were snowed in and couldn’t leave.
“Damn,” Kavan said.
“We lost track of time!” Ari exclaimed. I cursed under my breath and looked outside. Sure enough, there was snow three feet deep. This was going to be a while before they were able to dig us out. Not to mention, we weren’t the only ones trapped. People would be trapped in homes, and other public places.
Triv’s POV

So eventually, I’d finally gotten Nuri to admit that I was the better kisser. He’d started to say something afterward, but stopped himself, and when I tried to get it out of him, he just said ‘You’re the best kisser that I’ve gotten to know yet and that’s saying something because I’m over 100 years old, y’know.’ And that shut me up for a while. We were watching House on USA when the National Weather Information Agency issued another warning. Nuri cursed under his breath.
“Damnit.” He murmured. I got close to him again.
“What is it this time?” I asked. He shook his head and looked at the fast moving words on the screen. I didn’t bother. It was probably some more snow or something.
“A hurricane. And that’s not good. It’ll just come down and end up being freezing rain. I would love to know how a category four hurricane is in Pennsylvania and headed straight here.” He ranted.
“I’m sick of talking about this stupid weather. What powers might I get with this necklace?” I questioned, playing around with the pendant. He looked down at me. We’d been cuddling on the couch.
“I honestly have no idea. They’re all unique, though. The most often occurred power seemed to be the ability to manipulate someone. But that’s not always a gift the necklace gives off,” he said, a smirk playing on his face. I grinned.
“But, like, if I’m the Superior Star or whatever,” he cut me off.
“Ultimate Sun.” he corrected.
“Like I said; whatever. But if I’m supposed to be so special, then shouldn’t I have some serious kick-ass powers?” I pondered. He put his finger to his chin.
“I suppose so, my dear.” He replied. I hit his shoulder.
“Stop that. You sound like Kavan.” I scolded.
He laughed and wrapped an arm around me. I sighed and rolled over so I was facing him. He brought his other arm out from under him and wrapped it around my waist. I smiled and pecked him on the lips quickly before pulling away to see a happy grin on his face. He rolled so that he was hovering over me with my arms pinned over my head and leaned down to kiss me. I swear, only a few seconds after our lips made contact, the front door swung open in the hall. He obviously heard it if I did, but didn’t care because he didn’t even flinch. He was sucking on my lower lip when he pulled away out of nowhere. I looked at his gorgeous eyes in confusion and he leaned down, kissed my forehead, then got off of me and walked out of the room.
“Geeze, Nuri. I can only imagine how much farther you two would have gone if we didn’t show up,” I heard Kayne tease. I giggled, understanding why he got up so suddenly. I fixed my messy hair and pulled my shirt down back into place; It had ridden up when we were making out. Once I decided that I didn’t look like I’d just woken up from a wild night, I decided to go into the kitchen where I heard the guys banter playfully. When I walked in, everyone was there, save for Dylan, Kay and Elliot. They all looked at me, smiling. I thought about how I’d hooked up with every one of the guys in the room and almost laughed out loud. Obviously there were no hard feelings.
“I’m hungry,” I proclaimed. I felt hands cover my eyes and all of the light disappeared.
“what do you want?” a deep voice whispered into my ear. His breath tickled it and I grabbed Nuri’s hands and placed them onto my hips.
“What do we have?” I asked. I glanced around and noticed that Ari, Kayne, and Kavan were having their own conversation on the other side of the counter.
“Well we have some bologna and some bread, so it looks like you’re having a fried bologna sandwich.” He replied. I laughed and walked over to the fridge to pull out the bologna.
After I’d made and finished my sandwich, all five of us were talking when I heard the door open. I bolted into the hallway and pounced on Kay with the warmest embrace of the day.
I dragged her up to our bedroom as soon as I could and when we got there, I noted that Elliot was reading on my bed.
“Uhhh, private convo. Sorry Elliot. We need to talk.” I said. He looked at me, nodded, and left the room, leaving the book on my bed. I sat Kay down next to me.
“Okay, you first,” she stated. I nodded.
“Okay, well last night, I was forced to sleep in Nuri’s room, and I had an emotional breakdown and he was so sweet about it. And then when we woke up, everybody was gone ‘cept us. So we were watching Halloween and it scared the crap out of me and then we were looking at this tree and I thought it was pretty and he said that the tree was nothing in contrast with me. I know awwwwe! And then he kissed me. KISSED ME! Right on the lips! And you know what? I kissed him back. He’s a good kisser. But then he said that he bet he was a better kisser than me and we did the cherry thing and it was all fun and then he said that he was better and we tested it out some more, if you know what I mean. And then, before all the guys came home, me and Nuri were totally on the couch, full blown make-out session. Cereal.” I explained. She laughed and hit my arm. I smiled sheepishly as she grinned.
“Okay, my turn. So I was at the mall with Dylan, right? He kept saying that I was perfect and stuff, but every time I tried to get close to him, he was like ‘I don’t want to rush things.’ I don’t know. It was so confusing. We’re going out but he kept sending me mixed signals, you know?” she stated. I nodded in understanding. We talked it up a bit, explaining what happened today in better detail when the topic came up again. But eventually we decided that her Dylan problems should be set aside and he should talk to her about it if it’s that weird for him.
That night, Elliot slept on the couch and Dylan slept in Kay’s room with her. They kinda started to get intimate, if you know what I mean, so I left to go find Nuri. I knocked on his door and he opened it, somehow knowing it was going to be me, and wrapped his arms around my waist and pecked me on the lips. I giggled.
“Dylan and Kay started to get heated in there, so can I sleep with you again tonight?” I honestly didn’t know how perverted that sounded until after I said it. Honestly, I didn’t. Apparently he didn’t catch on to the comment because he just smiled and let me in.
“Can I tell you something?” he asked after I’d tossed my pillow onto his bed. I flopped onto the mattress and started to get comfortable.
“Of course,” I replied, looking up at him. I hadn’t noticed until then that he’d walked right up to the bed. He pushed me over to the other side before scooting in next to me and wrapping his arms around me. His head was in the crook of my neck.
“I’m glad that you came over tonight,” he mumbled into my neck. I rolled over so that his head was no longer barricaded into my neck and kissed him on the lips passionately. One of his hands found its way into my hair and tangled itself within it, deepening the kiss. I let my hands rest on his chest as his tongue found its way into my mouth. After a bit of this, we pulled away for air and stayed cuddling. One of his arms was around my waist while the other was still playing with my hair.
“Want to play twenty questions?” he murmured. I giggled, but agreed. “I’ll go first. Who is the best kisser you know?” he questioned. I saw the smirk on his face as he asked this.
“You are,” I replied honestly. He peered down at me, smiling genuinely.
“you already know my answer,” he stated, “your turn.” I pondered on what to ask him. I decided to try to bring Sarah up.
“Have you ever been hurt emotionally?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes,” he replied, looking away.
“Really?” I pestered. “By whom?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Triv.” He decided. I sighed.
“Please?” I begged, using my puppy face. He still wouldn’t look at me.
“My turn. Have you ever been hurt emotionally?” He asked, looking into my eyes, trying to detect any sign of lying, I guess.
“Yes,” I replied. I didn’t want to think about it either. It was in the past and over with. I looked up at him. His face was soft, and he cupped one of his hands under my chin.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I would say I know what you went through, but unless you tell me what happened, I can’t really promise you that I do.” Nuri said, sweetly. I shook the thought from my head.
“I don’t want to talk about it, either.” I decided. He sighed, but let it go. I thought about what to ask him.
“Have you ever had any pets?” I asked. He chuckled lightly and smiled.
“Yes, actually. When I was a kid, I had a cat. Maddy. Called her Fatty cause she ate like a pig.” He recalled. I laughed airily. “What about you?”
“Of course I had a pet! I had a few. A dog, Kera. She had puppies at one point, but died giving birth. So we kept one and wanted to named it Angel. Turned out it was a boy. By the time we figured that one out, we’d already gotten it a little pink collar. He was so cute.” I evoked.
He rolled his eyes. I smiled and pecked him on the lips for a moment, then when I went to pull away, he held me there and deepened the kiss. I was tempted to giggle, but I didn’t want to ruin the kiss. I pulled away after a bit and smiled up at him.
“Are you aware of how fucking adorable you are?” He asked, kissing my nose. I smiled wider and laid my head down on his chest.
“Nuri?” I called.
“Hmmm?” he mumbled.
“Why did you hate me before?” I asked. I looked up to see that he’d opened his eyes and had his eyes narrowed down at me.
“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters right now is that you’re here, lying next to me, and you’re mine.” He stated. I grinned. His arms found their way around my waist. I felt my eyelids grow heavy and fell into a long sleep.