Page 33 of Darkness Defined

He rolled his eyes. “You know, cooties, germs. Are you afraid of my germs?”

A laugh bubbled up and finally broke the spell, keeping me frozen. “I know what cooties are, and I’m definitely not afraid of yours, Matt.” I accepted the proffered bottle and took a sip. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared it would be. A little fruity even.

“Well?”

“It’s better than I expected,” I said, passing it back to him.

I will not think about how his lips were just on that. I will not think about how his lips were just on that.

My hormones clearly didn’t care. Which is why the pillow remained firmly in my lap.

He smiled as he produced another bottle from behind his back.

My heart stopped altogether, and I forgot to breathe. I hadn’t seen him smile once since we’d met. He was a completely different person when he did that. His entire face lit up and the shroud of anger he seemed to carry around like armor faded away.

I heard a pop and blinked. Then numbly accepted the fresh bottle. Had he really brought me one just in case? Failing to grasp what was actually happening right now, I latched onto the first question that came to mind. “Where did you get these?” The commissary definitely didn’t sell beer or any other alcohol that I’d noticed.

He shrugged, taking another drink. “It wasn’t hard. Hell of a lot easier than where I’m from.”

I took an absent drink, mimicking his own. “Where are you from?” Another shrug. I was getting the impression that was Matt’s way of saying he didn’t want to say.

“Around, not really any one place. I moved a lot.”

“Sounds rough. I didn’t. Born in Greece, but grew up in a small-town east of London.”

He snapped his fingers, startling me so badly I nearly spilled the beer. I quickly drank some to reduce the level.

“That’s what you remind me of,” he said.

“What?” I was spinning.

“You look like one of the people from a documentary my school made us watch. You know, with the wars and the gods causing all kinds of problems? Which god was it…” Matt mused to himself a moment, then his face brightened. “Apollo, that’s the one.” He gave me a considering look that I could feel. “Almost exactly like him. Except his hair was gold, and yours is black.”

I choked on my latest sip, causing it to go up my nose. I leaned forward to prevent the liquid from getting anymore on me than it already was. He’d been thinking about what I look like? How long had he been trying to figure this out?

“Easy there. It’s not air.” Matt laughed. It was a rich sound, carefree and relaxed.

I looked over at him, still struggling with the breathing concept.

He tossed back the last of his beer, then his whole body turned blacker than night. In a blink, he was gone and back again. “Here.” He passed me a dish towel, looking like himself again.

“How… how did you do that?” I asked as I began the embarrassing task of cleaning myself up. When had I become so damn awkward?

“Do what?” He cocked his head to the side and relieved me of my discarded beer. He finished it and set it aside.

“You shadowed,” I finally managed, though it sounded more like a wheeze.

Pull it together, Alexi. You’re going to blow this.

“Are you sure? I mean, all I did was go to the kitchen and come back.”

I cleared my throat again. “Yeah, except really fast. I can’t even do that yet.”

He looked towards the kitchen and back at me. “How?” he asked, the picture of innocent curiosity.

I stared back. “You really don’t know, do you?” The comment instantly made him bristle. “I don’t mean anything,” I rushed to explain. “It’s just, most of the class can’t do that on purpose and you just did it without even thinking. If anything, I should ask you how.”

“I don’t know. I wanted to be in the kitchen and you needed help. That’s all there was to it.”