Chapter 31 Ashlyn

Christmas Eve had been like any other day for me and my mother. We didn't celebrate with gifts, and there was no other family to spend it with. So I tried not to expect anything too different with my dad, since he wasn't the mushy type.

Before my little argument with Arya, I had looked forward to spending that day with her, excited to celebrate and exchange gifts. Now I just wanted to veg.

I knew from the moment I woke up that my heart wasn't into the idea of going on a date with Jackson. Sure, he was cute in a rugged kind of way, but he seemed rowdy and temperamental. And more temper was not what I needed.

I kept my morning clear so I could watch two movies before my date. But the short confrontation I'd had with Arya played over and over in my mind, souring my mood. Why did she have to get in my head like that?

Half way through "Die Hard"—yes, it's a Christmas movie—there was a knock on my door.

"Yeah?" I called, too lazy to get up.

The door opened a little and Arya peered in. I immediately paused the movie and set my tablet aside. We hadn't really spoken since Tuesday, mostly because of my rigorous and completely voluntary training regiment—okay, maybe I'd been avoiding her a little to evade any judgment on my dating choices—but I desperately wanted to talk to her now.

"Hey," she said, offering a small smile. "One of Santa's helpers dropped off a gift for you." She came all the way in holding a small, flat box wrapped in pretty Christmas paper and a bow on top.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and some foolish part of me briefly wondered—hoped—it might be from Niko.

"Shea sent it in on the secret subway," she added, bringing it toward me.

My hopes deflated, but I smiled. "Oh, cool. Thanks for bringing it to me."

She offered it to me, but instead of taking it, I scooted to one side of my bed to make room for her.

"Oh. I got the distinct impression you were avoiding me," she said, just standing in front of my bed and wearing a slightly wounded expression.

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "Sorry I've been weird. This whole Jackson-Niko thing has thrown me for a bit of a loop. I guess I thought you were mad at me." I sheepishly glanced up at her.

She tilted her head to the side and frowned. "I have no right to be mad at you. God knows I've acted stupidly because of boys since I got here. Men just suck."

"Amen to that," I said, raising my fist in agreement.

We both laughed.

"Okay, open your present already," she urged, sitting beside me and shoving the box into my lap .

I dug right in, shredding the paper and pulling the lid off the box. I wasn't exactly used to opening gifts, so this whole ordeal was especially exciting to me. Inside lay a green card with the spotify logo.

"Wow, fifty bucks!" I gushed. "I can get so many songs with that!"

"Aw, Shea's the best," Arya said.

"What did she get you?"

"I don't know yet," she replied with a shrug. "I just came right over as soon as I picked them up."

Aww . I really didn't deserve Arya as a friend.

"Well, go get it," I urged. "I want to see what she got you, too!"

Arya grinned. "Okay. Be right back." Then she hopped off my bed and scurried out, returning after a few seconds with a gift the size of a shoe box in hand.

She reclaimed her spot on the bed and began tearing open the paper. Peering over her shoulder as she opened the lid, I saw a beautiful mermaid hair clip with blue rhinestones inside and—a rose?

Arya picked up the hair clip and held it up to admire it. "Wow, this is so beautiful."

After a moment of wide-eyed appreciation, she set it down, coiled her long black hair into a bun, and clasped the clip around it.

"How do I look?" she asked, turning her head to give me the full view.

"Gorgeous, as always," I said honestly .

She giggled, then looked back down at the rose and frowned curiously. She picked it up, still examining it with confusion.

"I'll have to ask her what the symbolism behind this is," she mused.

She placed the rose back in the box and set it aside, turning to look at me.

"So, today's the big day, huh?"

I nodded. "Yep." Glancing at my clock, I added, "In just about an hour."

She inclined her head at my casual tone. "Aren't you excited?"

I slumped against my headboard. "No. Honestly, I'd much rather stay here and watch movies with you for the rest of the day."

One of her eyebrows arched as she gave me a catty smirk. "I thought you were all of a sudden ready for a rebound guy."

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously, I only asked Jackson out to get to Niko. I don't even know if I like Jackson. I mean, I guess he's kinda cute, but I don't know anything about him—except that he causes more accidents than I do."

She snickered, then put her hand on my knee. "Well, a date is the perfect way to find out. Besides, would you rather have Niko hear that you bailed on your date or that you had a great time?"

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Yeah, that's a really good point. I might as well make some kind of effort."

She beamed at me. "Want me to help you get ready?"

"Duh," I replied playfully, and like nothing had ever come between us, we fell right back into our friendship as she helped me pick out the perfect outfit.

* * *

Jackson looked effortlessly handsome when I met him at the Dome's exit. I wondered how much time he spent getting ready. Probably not much.

Jackson's hair was ruffled and pointed in all different directions like he'd tried to make bed-head look good. He'd succeeded. The fitted plaid button-down beneath his leather jacket completed the bad boy look, as did his dark jeans.

When he saw me, he whistled. "Damn, you look hot! Just as a phoenix should."

I wasn't sure how to take his compliment, so I just smiled and played with my hair.

"So, where are we headed?" I asked, assuming that as the guy, he had something planned.

"Uh, well you asked me out. You tell me." Okay, so apparently he wasn't the alpha male type. This was already boring.

"Oh... Um, we could get some pizza?" I suggested, pulling an idea out of the ether. I hadn't been prepared to plan this date that I didn't actually want. "There's a place right out of the station. Somewhere close would be best, I guess."

He shrugged. "Cool."

The short train ride was just as awkward as I thought it was going to be, but not because of silence. Jackson had no problem rattling on about Christmas and how lame it was that we were stuck at the Dome. Like many of the students, his parents had forbidden him from leaving for Winter Break after the recent vampire attacks. He went on and on about missing out on the traditional ski trip his family usually took.

Under normal circumstances, too much talking alone would be annoying. But it was the way he kept looking at me, like I was something delicious to eat, that made me truly uncomfortable. He got all doe-eyed whenever our eyes met, and he kept linking our hands together and pulling me in close to his side.

He even brushed his lips against my cheek when he whispered secret observations about the couple sitting across from us. I shivered and had to swallow hard so I didn't gag on his thick cologne.

He was definitely more of a hands-on kind of guy, and while that did go with the whole bad boy thing I was into, I didn't like it. I was thankful when the train let us off, and the Chicago air made it too cold to stop and talk.

Jackson flashed a big, bright smile—his best feature, in my opinion—as we walked against the cold wind. Once we turned the corner, I saw the pizza shop and ran for the entrance. I hated the cold and cursed the sky whenever the chill started up.

Jackson followed me inside, rubbing his hands together before taking mine to warm them. The gesture surprised me. While it was uninvited physical contact, I appreciated his attempt to make me warm.

"How's that?" he asked, and I got another whiff of his thick cologne. It smelled of spice, and though I wasn't a fan of the scent, I found myself growing used to it.

"I'm okay. Thanks." I'd had enough of his nearness and took the opportunity to escape, walking over to the hostess.

As the hostess led us to our table, I was glad to see we weren't being placed in a booth—I could already imagine Jackson scooting in next to me and boxing me into a corner. Instead I took the seat across from him at a small table in the center of the space

"So, that mer chick is your best friend, right?" Jackson asked. His confidence irritated me. Or maybe it was the mention of her friend.

"Her name's Arya, but yeah," I replied.

"Why does she sleep in the avian wing, anyway? She couldn't handle Cora and her minions?" His laugh grated my nerves.

"Well, she's also part harpy," I said. "Which is why she was allowed to move to the avian wing."

Jackson's confidence slipped into all-out confusion. He rubbed his chin, then scratched the back of his head rapidly. I couldn't help but picture a mangy dog doing the same thing. Well, he is a hound . I stifled a laugh.

"No, she's a mer," he said. "I know she's a mer. There was some heavy debate on whether the blue tail or the dragon prince would get their hands on those pearly pink scales of hers—"

"That's my friend you're talking about!" I snapped.

He held his hands up in mock-surrender. "Sorry," he mouthed as our waitress appeared. "A cheese pizza and a milkshake to share," he said before the waitress or I could say a word.

"Two straws please," I requested.

The waitress, a pretty blonde with a severe case of acne, nodded and wrote down the order before turning on her heel to leave me at the mercy of my date's irritating presence.

"Well, whatever happened," Jackson continued, "the blue tail couldn't even stay at the school, while I hear things have been getting hot and heavy between her and the prince." He waggled his eyebrows as if suggesting that we get hot and heavy .

I looked down at the table, unwilling to indulge him with any kind of assurance or even forced amusement.

"She's a mer." He just wouldn't drop it.

"She's both," I corrected. "She's a chimera. She's a mer and a harpy." It was probably best if I didn't divulge any more. If this stereotypical dumb-jock had his head buried far enough in the sand that he didn't know about Arya's harpy nature, I should probably leave it that way.

He whistled low. "I didn't know that was possible. Damn! No wonder Dracul finally decided to settle down. Can you imagine how that girl would be in be—?"

"Stop right there," I said firmly, gritting my teeth. "Again, that's my friend you're talking about."

"I know, and that's hot," he said with a grin.

"What's your deal?" I asked, finally at my wit's end.

He frowned, completely bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"You're on a date with me, and you're talking about my best friend's sex life," I deadpanned.

His frown deepened. "Uh, yeah. That's kinda what we do."

"We?" I asked, now the one who was confused.

"Hounds," he said, like it was obvious. "We're pack creatures, and it's kinda in our nature to search out available partners. I thought that was why you asked me out. Because you wanted to have a little fun. And maybe bring your hot mer friend along." He flashed me an impish grin that would've stopped my heart before Niko.

I just stared at him for a long few seconds, uncertain how to even begin to respond to that. I knew very little about weres outside of what was taught in class, and what wasn't taught was that they were apparently giant whores. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, but I wasn't the least bit interested in being part of some weird inter-shifter orgy. Maybe those thoughts had occasionally crossed my mind where Arya was involved but—ugh, not the point!

"Okay, look, dude," I said, having finally composed myself. "For one, the only reason I asked you out was to make Niko jealous. And two, I don't do group activities. Haven't you heard that I don't play well with others? If I'm with a guy, I had better be his only partner. Get me?"

He pursed his lips and cocked his head, looking even more like a curious dog. Then he nodded. "Okay, I can understand all that. You don't want to share. I get that. I could be convinced to limit myself to one girl, if she was the right girl."

I sighed, pinching my brow in frustration. "Did you miss the part where I said I only asked you to make another guy jealous?"

He leaned back in his chair, draping one arm over the corner of the backrest. "Nah, that's cool, too. I don't mind being a pawn. Does that mean we can't try to have some fun while we're already out?"

At my sharp, pre-rant inhale, he held up both hands. "I mean, non-sexual fun."

I relaxed my tense shoulders, breathing slowly as I considered his offer. "I guess I can try that. But I'm not sleeping with you at the end of this date."

He shrugged his raised shoulder. "Fair enough."

I sighed. "Fine. As long as we're clear on that, then we don't have a problem."

He chuckled, and the smirk he gave me wasn't entirely unattractive. "You're a real firecracker, you know that?"

"I've been told," I muttered .

"And I like it." He winked at me.

I fought the smirk that tugged at my own lips.

"How about after this, you come back to the were dorms with me?" he suggested. "No funny business, just some good old-fashioned pool. I might even let you win."

My mouth fell open in amusement and accepted challenge. "Is that so? You're on."

Jackson might not be anything like Niko, but maybe that wasn't a terrible thing. He might be good for some fun, and gods knew I needed some of that.