Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

small gestures, the movements in his face, the way he tilted his head just slightly when he looked at her, and the way the tips of his fingers moved ever so gently over her arm and into her hand. She said she knew she was in love with him the moment she saw him and claimed she discovered what was meant by falling in love at first sight.
    It was the magic he had only for me. Only I could see it telegraphed in a movement in his lips, a turn of his eyes. Those words had seemed like over-the-top romantic drivel to me then, but suddenly seemed possible, real, now.
    “I think we should get going so Kelly and Semantha can get to know each other a little before we get to the party, Ethan,” Ellie said sharply.
    He snapped to attention and reached for her hand. Kelly reached for mine.
    “Usually, I don’t believe in blind dates,” he said as we followed Ellie and Ethan out to the car. “Who else but losers need to go on blind dates? But I can’t see you being a loser.”
    I wanted to say thank you, but it seemed dumb, and I heard Cassie whisper, “Ask him what he’s talking about. You’re going on a blind date. I guess that means you’re a loser, then, huh?” Of course, I didn’t say it, but my silence surprised him. He opened the rear door for me and smirked.
    “Thank you,” I said.
    “She speaks!” he cried. Only Ellie and he laughed. Ethan looked back at me and started the engine.
    Kelly got in and slid over the seat to be close.
    “Okay, so let’s go through the required questionnaire,” he said. “What’s your favorite subject? What do you want to be when you grow up? What kind of music do you like? Seen any movies lately?”
    “Try not to be yourself tonight, idiot,” Ethan said.
    Kelly laughed. “Just kidding,” he said. “You like this school?” he asked, looking back and jerking his right thumb at the campus.
    “It’s all right,” I said.
    “She hates it. We all do,” Ellie said. “All it needs is bars on the windows. Graduation will feel more like parole.”
    The boys laughed. Because of his closeness to me, I could smell the whiskey on Kelly’s breath.
    “Well, forget about it,” he told Ellie. “We’ll have a great time tonight and make up for the week or weeks or months. Okay, Semantha?”
    “Even a great New Year’s Eve couldn’t make up for all of that,” I said. This time, only Ethan laughed.
    “Well, the night’s young,” Kelly offered, sounding as if I had wounded his ego. “And you haven’t given me a chance to show you a good time. I don’t get many complaints from the girls I date.”
    I gave him a small, courteous smile. Then he began to talk about himself, how he had decided to go into the navy after he graduated from college and how that was driving his father nuts. He said his father had pushed him into going to college. He had told his father he wasn’t going to be a lawyer or a doctor or even go into business with him, but his father had insisted he give college a chance. I quickly understood that he was just barely passing his subjects. I didn’t know much at all about Ethan, but I began to suspect that he wasn’t really best friends with Kelly, and later, at the fraternity house, Ethan confessed that he had asked him to double-date only because Ellie had told him there was no other way she could get out.
    “My roommate is practically engaged, so I couldn’t ask him,” he said.
    By now, it was pretty clear that Kelly wasn’t having a good time with me. I danced with him, but I wouldn’t drink his liquor or pop any of his Ecstasy. He carried the pills in what was supposedly a pack of gum. His bragging about himself began to bore me, too, and he eventually began drifting off, spending more time with other boys, and even flirting with other girls right in front of me. So far, I wasn’t that impressed with a college fraternity party. I think Ethan saw that more than either Ellie or Kelly did. Whenever Ethan had an opportunity to step awayfrom Ellie and come to me, he did. At the moment, she was with some other girls.
    “Sorry about Kelly,” he said. “Ellie was so desperate to get out and made it sound as though you were just doing her a favor and didn’t care who your date was. She made you sound as if . . .”
    “What?”
    “You don’t have any interest in boys.”
    “Did she? I suppose she really believes that, but I’m not what she’s making me out to be.”
    He smiled. “I had a feeling she didn’t know what she was talking