Chapter #76Meet the New Power Couple, Same As ... by: Seuzz   "Is it my turn now," Joe asks. "Who do we bring out for me?"
"Maybe we should wait until I get the process ironed out," you say. "I don't want to have to do everything twice." You cock your head and regard Gordon thoughtfully. "Uh, pookie?" He looks up at you sharply. "I don't know what to call you," you apologize.
"I'd like it if you kept calling me 'Frank'," he says. Even though right now Frank's essentia is his last link to the ex-Stellae. And even that won't survive your next request.
"Do you want to see if you can switch your essentia over to Gordon's?" you ask. "Make that 'perfect disguise' we were talking about earlier?"
He bites his lips and shrugs his shoulders and screws his eyes shut. "What should I be doing?"
"It'll be kind of like meditating," you say. "You're going to have to look down inside yourself, feel around. I don't know what it'll feel like to you, but to me it felt like—"
The air around Gordon thickens, and when it resolves Frank Durras is back. But his expression—one of taut anger—is unchanged.
"Not that one," you say. "That's the—"
"That's the place I remember you fiddling with when you were in here," he says.
"Right, that one changes your imago."
"So I can tell."
"Do you want me to go back in, do it for you, so afterward—" You snap your mouth shut when he opens one eye to glare at you. "Well, just keep feeling around. Maybe with Frank's experience—" You gesture helplessly with your hands.
Frank screws his eyes shut again and his frown deepens. His head lists, as though he's listening very carefully for something. His brow furrows.
He drops to one knee and gasps deeply. He must have found it. You step forward.
Frank holds up his hands to stop you, but you feel no force, no pressure. You advance another step. He clenches his fist. No great claw encloses you. You grasp his hand and kiss his knuckles.
With a groan he falls onto his side. "It's like having most of your body amputated," he says.
"It's only for when you need to be under deep cover," you say, and sit next to him. You grasp his hand and caress his arm. "You've still got Frank's esssentia. And now that you know how to switch them around, you can bring it back whenever you want."
He grunts again, and holds your eye for a very long time. "Your boyfriend wouldn't like you touching me like this," he says quietly.
"My boyfriend's not here." You show a dimple in your cheek.
"Hmm." Frank lays back and closes his eye. Again, for only a fraction of a second you can't tell who you're looking at, and then it's Gordon's hand in yours. "The fuck were you flirting with that guy for," he softly growls.
"I was flirting with you, silly goose."
Your gaze doesn't wander from his face, nor his from yours.
"Since we've got our perfect disguises now," you say, "I suppose we should start using them."
Gordon grunts again and gets up. "Lemme just get my clothes off of— Say, what are we gonna do about what's left of Black?"
"Stick it in a corner," you say. "We'll find a use for it."
And while Gordon is changing his clothes, you wander over to Joe. "Nicely handled, dude," he murmurs. "Whose essentia were you using? The Glundandra Eldibria?"
"No, Chelsea's. She's got lots of practice with him, and more than a little of the normal witch. At least, that's what she thinks."
* * * * *
As you had your arms around the old Gordon when he strolled into the Straussler home, so you've got your arms around the new one as you stroll out; your feet keep tangled with his, since you pull yourself so close to him. His car is parked next to yours, but you don't part right away, even after Jonathan has waved a farewell and gone back inside. You push your boyfriend against the side of his car and grab at his non-existent love handles, growling like a poodle and gnawing at his chest and stomach. "We're getting in character, aren't we?" he laughs as he puts his hands on your butt.
You gaze directly up at him. "It's nice, isn't it? I get to be— And you get to be—" You tear lightly at his sweatshirt with your teeth. "And together we get to—" You trail off with a manic grin.
"We get to what?"
"Nothing we can do out in public without getting arrested!" You release him. "We should go. You pick the destination, and I'll follow."
Your car—a little sporty subcompact—is clean as a whistle inside, and you turn the satellite radio over to light pop. You hum happily to yourself, and at stoplights twist the mirror around to check out your makeup. It's a little smudged, you note. Well, it was a full afternoon, and if that's the worst that happened—
But your expression sours as you begin to recognize the route Gordon is taking, and your mood has curdled by the time you pull into the Westside parking lot next to him. You don't get out when he does, and only roll down the window. "You want me to carry you in like a newlywed?" he grins.
"Why are we here, pookie?" you quietly ask.
"Well, we can't go to my place or yours."
"Why not? What were we going to do that we can't do it there?"
He stares back, and his face falls. "I thought— The way you were talking—"
"I've got things I have to do, sweetie." You tick items off your fingers. "I've got to figure out a way to fix you and Joe up so your Stellae sides don't disappear. I've got to figure out who Joe's going to be, and who else we're going to replace. What we're going to do with the extra essentia. I've got Glundandra and Eldibria to master—"
"You know, those are all things I could help you with. You need my help with the ousiarchs."
"I need Frank's help, and when you're looking like that you're not Frank."
"So I'll change—"
"And I haven't even mentioned all the stuff that Chelsea has to do. I've got messages piling up on my phone, and it's been hours since I've been online—"
"Fuck. Nothing's changed with us."
"Everything's changed, pookie! That's why I haven't got time for—! Look, tomorrow's Friday. We'll have the weekend together. And tomorrow, at lunch, let's have it up in the loft, just us."
"Sure, whatever." He turns away.
"Gordon!" He looks back over his shoulder at you. "Sweetie, if you want to come home with me— I mean, please come home with me. We can talk and hang out and cuddle and you can help me. We just can't, you know—"
"Why not?"
"Because, you big goof, once we start I won't want to stop, and then where will we be? It can't be just, you know, scratch and poke and dig and fuck all the time. And it will be if I ever get started on you." You bite a lip coquettishly.
"So we're not going to do it at all, is that what you're saying?"
"We'll do it tomorrow at lunch, in the loft." You bat your eyelashes once. "Because then we'll have to stop. Oh God, when was the last time we did it during school hours?"
"Us?" he says. "If you mean Gordon and Chelsea, yeah, it's been awhile. If you mean us, we've never done it during school."
"I know," you giggle. "Won't it be awesome? I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie. Pick me up at my house?"
"It'll be early," he warns.
"Like always." You stretch out to pinch him, but he's out of reach.
* * * * *
Okay, so what you said and did to him at the school was kind of cruel. But dammit, where does he get off thinking that you want to have sex with Gordon Black? Oh sure, you'll have to give in to him occasionally, the way Chelsea had to give in to her boyfriend. But, just like she insisted, it will be on your schedule and according to your needs.
Because you have got needs. And fuck it if sometimes Gordon isn't just what Chelsea needs in that department. Oh, jeepers!
You grimly reflect that you're going to have to get yourself another face. You've only been inside Chelsea for a few hours, but between having her imago and her essentia running, you're starting to lose your grip, you worry. You're going to have to balance yourself out so that you're not running a single face all the time.
Now, if you could put six golems under the control of Chelsea Cooper's essentia, then that would give you seven faces, one for each day of the week. You could change after school, up in the loft. Chelsea's fellow cheerleaders would be the obvious and most attractive candidates to use—
You almost run a stoplight, and put the plotting on ice until you get home.
* * * * *
"I thought you were going to be out all evening with the girls!" your mom exclaims when she sees you.
"Change of plan," you say. "Can't I eat supper with my family?"
"Did Kendra find you?" your brother yells from the other room.
"What? Did she call here?"
"She stopped by." Jordan, barefoot in jeans and t-shirt, steps in. "I didn't know where to tell her to go, though I had ideas that didn't involve where you'd likely be."
"That featherbrain. I've got a phone!"
You ponder that instrument—loaded now with dozens of texts. If Kendra came by, it must have been important. But you've got important stuff of your own to deal with.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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