Chapter 14

~Zayne Beckett~

Dinner with Aurora is something I didn't think would happen. But yet, there I was, standing outside her apartment building, waiting to walk to my house with her.

My mom made me do it.

I repeated to myself that it wasn't a big deal. I was just being nice to invite her. Just being nice. I said that would be one of my goals anyway.

But no matter how many times I've repeated those words over and over, the beats in my chest wouldn't calm down. I was nervous. Aurora was new. I barely knew a lot about her, but I knew more than anyone on earth.

I paused. I knew more about her than anyone on earth. Undoubtedly, it felt nice to know that. It felt nice to know that only I knew she was an angel. To know that I'm the only one helping her save the different worlds that apparently existed. To know that I was the only one she trusted.

"What are you smiling about?"

I looked at the source of the voice to see Aurora closing the door. All my thoughts vanished as I briefly took in her outfit. She wore a pink turtleneck sweater with a plaid brown miniskirt, with white knee-length boots. Her hair fell naturally around her shoulders but was pinned up on the side with a white star pin.

"I forgot," I shrugged through my tiny panic attack. "Shall we?"

She nodded and we began walking toward my home. "Is this why you were acting weird whole week? You didn't know how to ask me?"

I stayed silent for a moment and tried to get my thoughts together. "Maybe."

She giggled. I glanced at her and the corner of my lips curved up.

We soon fell into an uncomfortable silence. To get out of it, I asked about her week. Well, besides the aspect of my awkwardness. She went on and on about her days at school, her star research, what assignments she had due next week and in what order she would've done it. Her voice was like a new song that had just been released, and I paid close attention to the lyrics.

When we arrived at my house, we saw my mother running back and forth in a frantic search for something. She noticed us and flinched as she saw Aurora. "Oh, hi! You must be Aurora," she quickly smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Lynnette, but please call me Lynn."

"Nice to meet you, Lynn," Aurora smiled back and shook her hand.

"What are you looking for?" I asked my mom.

"My keys," she looked around and snatched them from an end table. "I'm so sorry about this, but I have an emergency at the hospital."

"What's the emergency?"

"Patient dropped a knife on their foot and severed almost all their toes. It should be a simple surgery."

"Oh, you're a surgeon?" Aurora asked.

"Smart, I like you already." My mom laughed and lightly squeezed Aurora's arm. "Thank you for tutoring Zayne, and I apologize again for running out so soon."

Aurora looked confused, but she didn't get a chance to respond. I bit my lip looking away as I haven't told Aurora about the white lie. Yet.

"I already ordered Chinese, so go ahead and eat when it comes. I'll be back in a couple of hours," my mom grabbed her coat. "Keep an eye on Meghan, she's still awake." She planted a light kiss on my cheek and rushed out the door.

Suddenly, I feel a small person jump on my back. "Can you play with me now?" a small voice asked behind my ear.

I sighed, holding onto my little sister, Meghan. "You're six and you're still jumping on my back. Don't you think I'm getting old?"

"Nope!" She giggled bubbly.

"Who's this little one?" Aurora asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"This is my little sister, Meghan." I set Meghan down. "Meg, Aurora."

Meg stared at Aurora in awe as her navy blue eyes sparkled. "You're very pretty," she smiled at Aurora.

Aurora tucked a strand of Meg's dark brown hair behind her ear. "You're prettier," Aurora smiled before lightly tapping her nose.

"Thank you! At least some people think I'm pretty," she angrily scrunched up her nose and shot a sidelong glare at me.

"I'm prettier than you and you know it." I stuck my tongue out at her.

Meg ignored me. "Aurora, do you think Zayne has time to play with me?"

I rolled my eyes as she changed the subject. She knew I'm prettier.

"Of course he will," Aurora couldn't stop smiling at Meghan.

"No, I won't," I say quickly, going to walk off.

"Aww, why not?" Meg grabbed my hand to hold me back, but she just made herself get dragged a few steps. "Is it because there's a girl here?"

I turned, picked her up over my shoulder and moved to the living room. "Alright, we're playing princess and dragons. I call Jasmine," I announced as she squealed.

"Put me down!" Meghan squirmed around with giggle fits.

"You brought yourself into this mess, so you're a dragon."

"No! I want to be Elsa!"

We argued back and forth with Aurora walking behind us, trying not to laugh so much. I was being blackmailed by a six-year-old. Surely there were worse situations.

◇◇◇

"Quick! The dragon is falling asleep! This is our chance!" I say in a high voice, holding a Jasmine doll with a sword.

Meghan was looking like she was going to fall asleep, but that was a trick.

"We shall go right, and tackle its wings!" Aurora also said in a high voice, holding a Cinderella doll with a bow.

"Psych!" Meghan jumped up and knocked out both dolls from our hands with her dragon toy.

"Nooo!" I called out in slow motion, falling back to the ground, signalling that I was 'dead'.

It was epic.

"Haha! I win!" I opened my eyes and saw Meghan doing her victory dance. When she was finished, she yawned and stretched out.

"The mighty dragon looks sleepy," Aurora said with a smile, lightly tickling Meg.

"Alright, time for bed," I said, rising to my feet.

"No, I'm not sleepy," Meghan said, before stifling another yawn. But failed to do so.

"Come on, I'll give you a piggyback ride to your room."

With that, she immediately climbed onto my back with ease.

"I'll be right back," I told Aurora before heading up to Meghan's room.

After putting Meg to sleep, I returned to the living room. It was certainly cleaner than when I left. I saw Aurora putting away the dolls and toys in a box so I helped her out. It was the mature thing to do anyway. Not that Meghan knew anything about maturity.

"Zayne," Aurora began, "what did your mother mean by tutoring you?"

I had completely forgotten about that. "Well, uh, I told her you were tutoring me for French to hide your secret." I avoided eye contact, feeling her gaze on me.

"Heureusement pour vous, je parle couramment le français," she responded with a smile. It means, "Lucky for you, I am fluent in French" in, well, French.

"Oh, great," I smiled, picking up the box. Aurora stood with me. I remembered how well she played with Meg. "Do you like kids?"

"Yes, a lot," she smiled, but it quickly faltered as she turned away.

I tried to read her expression. I couldn't tell if she didn't know how to follow up on it or if she wanted to talk about something else. I couldn't tell if she was hurt, but I was leaning more towards that.

Why was she hurt? I wish I could've known what was bothering her. It hurt me to see her look this way.

"Hey, I'm home," my mom said as she walked in. She looks at Aurora. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, sweetie. Are your parents okay with you being out so late?"

"Actually, I don't have parents," Aurora smiled awkwardly, causing my mom to widen her eyes a little. "You can say I'm orphaned, but I live just fine on my own."

"Well, you're welcomed to come over any time you like," my mom held onto her hands and rubbed them with her thumbs. "Did you two eat already?"

"We were waiting for you," I said. "I didn't take the chance to let Meg see it."

My mom smiled and looked back at Aurora. "You must be starving. Let's eat."

◇◇◇

Dinner was better than I anticipated. Somehow, every question my Mom asked, Aurora answered honestly without revealing her secret. Let's say my Mom asked her if she had a last name, Aurora would say that she doesn't as far as she knows.

There were so many close calls, I had almost gotten a heart attack. My Mom had asked about her pink hair, but if Aurora had answered that, she'd either be lying or my Mom would've been suspicious. So, I asked my Mom about the surgery. She was immediately distracted by that and forgot about Aurora's hair.

When dinner was finished, I had to walk Aurora home. Again, my mom made me do it.

"Your family is nice," Aurora said with a smile.

"Suspicious, but yeah, you can say that," I responded. By taking short glances at Aurora, I saw her tensely twirling her thumbs. Was she still thinking about earlier? Whatever she was thinking about, it didn't seem pleasant. I had to change the subject. "So, when are we going to Mexico for the stone?"

Aurora stopped walking and looked up at me. She stared at me with worry.

"We?"

I hadn't responded. I was confused. Her gaze pierced through my eyes, forming the unknown guilt in my chest.

"Don't we have to get the stone?" I asked.

Aurora seemed unsure of my words. "Um..." she bit the inside of her lip, "I had expected I was going alone, considering school..."

This made me more confused. "What do you mean? I told you I'll help you, and that means I'll go with you." Her eyes refused to leave mine as she listened mindfully. "If saving Heaven and Earth means travelling the world during school with you, then so be it." My words were firm, letting Aurora know I was deeply dedicated to helping her.

"But Zayne..." she sighed.

"We can go on a weekend," I blurted out. I didn't want to hear her disagree. "That way we won't miss any work. And- and we don't even have to go alone! I can try to convince Carter and Nadia to go with us. Even my family."

"Even so, it might be dangerous," Aurora thought out loud. "You've never held a star fragment. What if it harms you? What if I can't heal you? What if God doesn't allow me to heal you? What if-" she choked. "What if you die by my hands?"

"I don't care," I said. "I want to help you find the rest of it. I want to help you, even if it kills me."

Aurora hesitates to speak. Her eyes filled with question and agony as she thought about it thoroughly. The more time passed, the more I thought she wasn't going to answer. My anxiety grew.

"Please, Aurora."

By saying those two words, my eyes were welled and ready to burst. Was I really ready to get on my knees and beg her to let me help her? I realized I was more than dedicated to helping her with this mission. At least, more dedicated than I thought. Never had I ever needed to plead for something.

Aurora stared at me with her steady gaze. She saw the desire in my eyes. I saw her realization.

"Okay, we can all go, " Aurora sighs with a small, hesitant smile.

My entire body filled with excitement and it took tremendous effort to not pull her into a hug or lock her hand with mine.

We reached her apartment building a short while later. "Tonight was more enjoyable than I expected," she giggled as she turned to face me.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it." I gazed into her beautiful violet eyes, not wanting to leave for some reason.

"You should probably get going. It's not safe at night, " Aurora smiled and winked before walking towards the doors.

"Haha, very funny, " I gave a sarcastic smile. "Good night Aurora."

"Good night Zayne."

Before she disappeared behind the doors, she took one last look at me. My authentic smile broke out once she was gone.