((I am sorry my posts have been so infrequent. Finals week is killing me, but it is almost over! I am also sorry that this post is so obnoxiously long, but I had to tie two posts together.))
In response to Amelia’s question, Elijah at first said nothing. Instead, he took reached into the pocket of his blazer, making Amelia’s mind jump to several things he could be reaching for. What came out a moment later, though, was not what she had expected. It was a small, silver flask, about the size of Amelia’s thumb, barely visible between Elijah’s larger fingers.
Amelia was anxious as Elijah got up from the table, fearing that she had once again managed to say exactly the wrong thing at the most inopportune moment. The fact that he had taken their goblets made Amelia think he had finally cracked and realized that she wasn’t what he wanted – something Amelia had been wanting to explain to him since they met. He was probably off now giving her punch to someone else, or drinking some kind of mind-numbing substance to make him forget that he had ever asked such a recluse to the Yule Ball.
Serves you right, her mother’s voice echoed in her mind, The way you’ve been behaving, who can blame the boy? And to think I went through all that trouble to get you the dress and-
Oh shut it, Mum.
Unwilling to believe she was having an internal debate with her mother’s voice – although that certainly was the case – Amelia sighed and slid further down in her chair, wishing herself invisible. She closed her eyes, wanting to block out the rest of the world, but a moment later she heard a “clunk” on the table. Her eyelids fluttered back open begrudgingly, only to see the goblets on the table once more and Elijah standing smiling above her.
Way to over-analyze, Mia, her subconscious commented, for some reason adapting the nickname Elijah had dreamed up for her.
Letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, Amelia smiled gratefully at Elijah’s words, though if she had to guess she would have said it had more to do with him not deserting her than the change of drink. His laughter disguised her own nervous giggle as she lifted the goblet to her lips. The carbonation and syrupy taste reminded her of her first experience with the concoction, not so many days ago in the room of requirement. A night that still mesmerized Amelia, both because of what had occurred and because she had yet to explain it.
“Thank you,” Amelia said ,taking another, more generous drink from the glass. “Again,” she added belatedly, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Although Amelia would never have brought the alcohol into the ball herself – she was a prefect, after all, and had never really partaken in the illegal antics of many of her peers in the past – but now that she had it she was grateful. This was just the type of liquid courage she needed to loosen her tongue and ease her nerves. Not too much, of course, because that could only lead to the loss of the controls he so highly valued, but enough to stop her from panicking about every tiny detail of the evening.
Now that she had her new and improved drink, Elijah deemed the time fit to answer her question. The response he gave was equally if not more calming to her anxiety than the rum. The smile which crossed his face as he described the girls might have seemed to someone else to be a fondness of a more romantic variety, but Amelia had spent so much of her life reading people that she thought she could quite confidently say otherwise. That didn’t mean, however, that Amelia was perceptive enough to convince herself of the way Elijah felt for her – she was too busy suppressing how she might feel about him – but at least she could rid herself of the jealousy that had been threatening to overtake her. By the end of his explanation, Amelia actually felt relieved enough to laugh at Elijah’s joking slight of the one he referred to as Julia.
“It must be nice to have people to talk to in the common room and at dinner,” Amelia said, working to put emphasis in the right places so she didn’t sound so robotic. This talking freely thing did not come naturally to her, and she had to work to overcome the urge to rehearse every word before it crossed her lips.
Just as Amelia was about to make another attempt at small-talk, Elijah abruptly set down his goblet and turned his head toward the doors to the great hall. He rose just a few millimeters out of his chair before returning to it, turning his eyes onto hers and closing his fingers around her hand. He picked it up, his darker skin tone standing out against her pale skin, and kissed her hand once more in the same manner as he had earlier. Also in a similar way, Amelia could feel heat rising to her cheeks, but this time also combined with a confusion about the abruptness of the gesture.
If she had wanted to question the gesture, she didn’t have time nor the presence of mind once Elijah’s hand was on her cheek, followed quickly by a hasty explanation and – the most distracting of all – his lips on her cheek. In reality, Amelia knew the contact lasted only a moment, but to her it felt like an eternity. This time, though, she did not exaggerate the length because of her discomfort at the touch – instead, it seemed prolonged because in that moment she became hyper-aware of all the sensory input she was experiencing: the sounds, the smells, the warmth of his lips on her cheek, each individual scale on Nachash’s body.
But before she knew it, Elijah pulled away, making Amelia look up to him from her chair as he gave her a fleeting smile and rushed from the room. Amelia wanted to call out to him, ask him to come back and kiss her again, but not only would this be drastically out of character, but it would also be completely unacceptable from a social standpoint. That, and both her body and mind seemed to be in cahoots to prevent this from occurring: her mind, as usual, hated the idea of admitting a feeling, and her tongue seemed to be tied in knots.
Sinking back in her chair – it was the only thing she seemed to be fully capable of at this point – Amelia lifted the goblet to her lips once more, sipping again this time. There was already a warmth bubbling in her, and she could tell it had almost nothing to do with the rum. She had consumed very little of what Elijah gave her, though she doubted that would be true if he was gone too long. He had promised not to be too long, and for once Amelia wanted to believe that humanity was capable of an honesty it had not proven.
In Elijah’s absence, Amelia allowed her eyes to become unfocused, pretending to watch the dancers but really taking in no more than a blur of colour and movement. She was lost in thought, trying to figure out exactly what she wanted out of tonight or, better yet, what she wanted out of Elijah. Did she really only want him on a physical level? There were many red flags which pointed to no. But how could that be? Amelia had never wanted anyone, not in that way. She was fiercely independent, afraid of relationships of any kind, and scorned human contact – didn’t she?
The answers, as was growing frustratingly typical, did not come easily, and Amelia continued to absentmindedly sip from her goblet until she noticed Elijah’s return in her peripheral vision. Turning to him, she offered a smile as he sunk into his chair. He seemed out of breath, and had a look of conspiracy about him. She also noticed a bit of dust on the cuff of his jacket, and his explanation was hazy enough to make her raise a coy eyebrow at him.
“That description was vague enough to be one of my own,” Amelia said in what she hoped would be read as a playful manner (speaking the way she was feeling was not always her strong suit). She set down her goblet and reached across the small distance between them to lift Elijah’s arm so the dust on his otherwise spotless black jacket was fully visible.
“What are you up to?” she asked, not unkindly, one eyebrow raised in inquiry as she ran the fabric of his jacket between her thumb and forefinger, removing the dust, which fell onto the powder-blue table cloth. Her curiosity was overflowing: she knew there was something going on, but now the question was whether Elijah was going to let her in on his secret. She did not want to jump to unreasonable conclusions – especially not ones involving other girls. She had had enough jealousy for one night – so she gave Elijah a chance to explain himself before going on the offensive.
by Haley Kantal Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:48 pm
