Chapter Six
“It looks like she came back,” Lucas said as Devony and Ellie walked back into the school.
“I should talk to her,” Orion said, outwardly more calm than before. He still couldn’t see properly and his body was hot he but felt more in control than he had.
“Maybe that’s not such a good idea,” Lucas said. “You were pretty nasty to her earlier.”
“She’ll forgive me,” Orion said. “I’m going to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For what I said to her earlier, what else?”
“Are you sure that’s the only thing you have to apologize to her about?” Lucas asked carefully.
“What else is there?”
“Well Archer told me that—”
“Oh, nevermind,” Orion said. “It’s not important. Devony, come over here.”
“What do you want?” she asked, keeping her distance.
“I want to talk to you.”
“We don’t have anything to talk about,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Yes. We do,” Orion said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. “I want to speak with you in private. There’s something I want to say to you.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“How about the gym?”
“No.”
“One of the classrooms?”
“No.”
“Please, Devony. I have to talk to you. I won’t leave you alone until I do.” He tried to smile at her, begging with his eyes as he felt her walls coming down. He just needed to talk to her for a few moments. “I’m sorry…I really am, Devony, but I have some very important things to say to you. Is your father at home?”
“He had to take care of some things,” she said.
“Please…Dev. This is me you’re talking to. Let’s go somewhere we can talk in private.”
“O…I—”
“Please, Devony. Don’t make me beg.”
“We…we can go back to my dad’s house, but not for too long because we have to be back in time.”
“Yes! Thank you, Devony! Thank you so much!” Orion said, leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. “You won’t regret this. Let me just make sure that everyone knows I’m heading out. And you,” he said, pointing at Ellie. “You’re not coming.” Before Ellie had a chance to respond, Orion grabbed Lucas by the arm and dragged him away.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ellie asked.
“He seems a lot better, doesn’t he?” Devony said. “Less angry.”
“I’m not saying he doesn’t, but with everything he said to you earlier, are you sure you feel safe with him?”
“Why wouldn’t I feel safe? He’s my boyfriend.”
“Just a few moments ago you were saying it was over.”
“I said that man earlier wasn’t my boyfriend. That man…is. I don’t mind being alone with him now.”
“You really want to be alone with him?”
“That’s what I said. Ellie, you heard him. He said he’s sorry and I believe him. Lucas must have calmed down whatever panic he was in earlier. Frankly, I’m surprised you care. With the way you let Archer talk to you, I thought you’d be happy.”
“Archer’s kidding around. I don’t get the same feeling from Orion.”
“I’m going to talk to him.”
“I wish you two never met. I don’t like him.”
“He’s not yours to like. I love him, Ellie. You’ve always known that and I’ve never been secretive about my feelings for him.”
“Even when he treats you like this?”
“It’s the tournament. You heard what Archer said. He’s in a bad mood. He said this would pass and it looks like it’s already starting to.”
“I want you to call me if there are any problems.”
“There won’t be. He wants to apologize.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“He said he did.”
“Men lie. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Then I’ll listen to him patiently and try to understand.”
“Listen to you!” Ellie said, grabbing her shoulders. “Are you kidding? You don’t want to try and understand a man like that! Why would you want someone who treats you like this? Don’t be one of those girls, Dev.”
“What kind of girls?”
“One of those girls who always forgives her man, no matter what. Please don’t be long and call me if there’s anything wrong.”
“It’ll be fine. You’re just being dramatic.”
“I don’t think I am. I didn’t like the look in his eyes. He looked like he would kill someone for looking at him the wrong way.”
“He’s fine. By the way…did you see Lucas? He’s looking good.”
“I’m not interested. I have a boyfriend.”
“You deserve a better one.”
“So do you, Dev. You really do. Maybe you should be the one to ask out Lucas.”
“Never. I’m with Orion and I want to stay that way. And I’m not turning into one of those girls. Orion’s never hit me, and he’s never hurt me, even accidentally. He’s hardly laid his hands on me.”
“Hardly?” Ellie scoffed. “Abuse always starts somewhere.”
“You’re being paranoid,” Devony said. “He wouldn’t hurt me. He can’t stand to see me cry.”
“Are you sure that version of Orion exists anymore? I don’t see him and haven’t for the past few days.”
“You’re exaggerating. He seems reasonable again. Before the tournament starts, I’ll be sure that he knows I would never cheat on him. I never have and I never will. Can you imagine such a thing?”
“You wouldn’t be the first. What if Orion grew up seeing a lot of men cheating on their wives – maybe he assumes that any woman can cheat on her man.”
“You wouldn’t do anything like that, would you Ellie?”
“If the right man came along.”
“You’d cheat on Archer?”
“I thought you didn’t trust him.”
“I trust him, but I just don’t like the way he talks to you, joking or not. I still wouldn’t want you to cheat on him.”
“I would, though. He’d deserve it. He accuses me of it often enough.”
“I don’t think you could do that. Not even to him.”
“I could,” Ellie said strongly. “I wouldn’t do it for money, or even on a dare, but I would do it if I felt a real connection. I love Archer but I don’t believe he’s the best guy out there for me. I think there’s someone out there who’s perfect for me, so why would I pass that up to stay with him?”
“You could break up with him first.”
“I’d want to know if the connection was real before I lost Archer.”
“I could never do that.”
“That’s because you’re a goody-goody. And that’s fine. I’m just saying what I would do. If I cheated on Archer it would be because I thought something better was out there, not because I was bored. I’d only risk my relationship with him if I knew there was something better for me. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it. You know how Archer gets! He thinks I’m sleeping with the whole male student body! He doesn’t care about how I feel when he spreads rumors and accuses me. I put up with him because he’s the best one for me right now.”
“He shouldn’t do that to you.”
“No. He shouldn’t, but in a sick way it shows that he cares. He cares enough about me being with other men that he spreads rumors.”
“That’s a sick way of thinking about it.”
“Archer is sick sometimes, but that’s why I love him. Plus, he’s amazing in bed.”
“I don’t want to hear about that!”
“He’s my weakness, Dev.”
“And Orion’s mine,” she said.
“Is he really your weakness, though? He won’t have sex with you until you’re married, doesn’t that bother you?
Don’t you want to be lusted after? Don’t you want a man who feels things?”
“He feels something, otherwise he wouldn’t be acting like this. Ellie, you’re talking in circles. Why are you allowed to be turned on by Archer’s jealousy but I’m not?”
“Archer’s jealousy is harmless, he wouldn’t hurt me.”
“And Orion would never hurt me. You just don’t like him because he’s—”
“Don’t say it. You know I don’t care about that.”
“So what’s your problem?”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“And I won’t,” she said. “I’m going to take Orion back to my house and by the time we come back this will all be sorted out. You’ll see, Ellie. Deep down, Orion knows I would never do anything to hurt him, so I all I have to do is remind him of that.”
“Be careful,” Ellie warned.
“I’ll see you tonight. You should really talk to Lucas.”
“So should you!” she called out, quickly covering her mouth as Orion came out from the school and started to follow her. She didn’t like the way he looked at her. There was something wrong with his eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Orion’s reasonable,” she tried to reassure herself. “He’ll listen to what she has to say.”
Act Five