Chapter 33

Tobias

With Arya sitting so close to me, her sweet scent mingling with the buttery popcorn she was eating as she laughed at the screen, I couldn't pay a single moment of attention to the movie we'd come here to watch.

I'd hoped to sit on the outside of the group next to Niko, but Ashlyn had screwed up the seating arrangement, shoving Niko to the end of the aisle and encouraging Arya to sit on her other side before I could get a word in edgewise. I couldn't exactly say that I hated sitting right beside my imprinted mate, but it certainly wasn't helping the situation.

Neither was the way she looked in her sweater and boots.

I was honestly surprised that she'd agreed to go on this double date with me. I knew she was doing it as a favor to Ashlyn, the same way I was for Niko, but it still humbled me anyway. I wasn't going to screw it up this time.

Shepherd's story had been on my mind every day since he'd told me. He'd only severed his imprint bond when his heart stopped. Not even I was foolhardy enough to attempt a fake suicide because, as much as I hated this imprint, I didn't want to risk dying to get rid of it. Being friends with Arya was a much better alternative. I was determined to make the friend zone my spotlight and shine like no other guy before.

It was just really hard when she smelled so good and looked so good, not to mention that I hadn't gotten laid since before she enrolled at the Dome.

The crowd laughed at whatever just happened on screen, so I faked a laugh, too, so no one would think I was as robotic as I usually seemed. I glanced at my friends to gauge if they'd noticed my lack of attention.

Niko was looking down at Ashlyn's hand in his, and the silly grin on his face was enough to warm even my stupid heart. This was why I was here, to make this date happen for them.

Arya shifted her position, uncrossing and recrossing her legs, and the smell of her mild arousal sent my head spinning. I physically had to grab my chin and turn my head back in the direction of the screen.

On the one hand, it was nice to know she was still attracted to me, but this outing would be so much easier if she wasn't. I couldn't help but wonder if she could sense my attraction as easily as I could hers.

Even with my eyes trained on the screen, I didn't realize the movie had ended until the overhead lights undimmed and people began to shuffle around us.

While the credits rolled, we followed the line of moviegoers to the exit.

"Such a good movie!" Ashlyn said as we inched closer to the door.

"Hilarious!" Niko agreed, draping his arm over Ashlyn's shoulder.

"I know! I kinda hated the whole love triangle thing, though," Arya said, rolling her eyes. "So cliche." She looked over her shoulder at me. "What did you think, Tobias?"

I hadn't been expecting to give any commentary. I really should've tried harder to pay attention. "I…didn't hate it."

Arya snickered and shook her head.

Smooth move, dumbass.

We came out onto the sidewalk, the nippy air chilling the dragon within me, like nature challenging me to heat things up. That was why I almost preferred winter to summer—no fun playing with fire when it was already hot out.

I followed the gang along the busy street toward Mack's Diner. Colorful string lights hanging outside storefronts burst to life with the coming of afternoon, lighting our path in a festive way I didn't entirely dislike.

Ashlyn and Niko held hands again, walking side-by-side and edging Arya out. Rather than walking behind like the forgotten third wheel, she slowed a bit to walk beside me, making me no longer the abandoned fourth wheel.

"Aren't they cute together?" she asked, inclining her head toward me.

"Actually, they're kinda perfect for each other," I agreed, a pang of jealousy flaring in the pit of my stomach.

How much easier things would be if I didn't have that stupid curse hanging over my head. I wouldn't have to push her away, wouldn't have to settle for just friendship with her. I glanced longingly at the happy couple, strolling arm-in-arm. That could be me and Arya right now.

I shoved that thought out of my mind and made an attempt at humor. "But if your girlfriend burns Niko alive, I don't think we can be friends anymore."

Damn, that was stupid.

She snorted a laugh, and even though it was a pity laugh, I appreciated it. "He's a dragon shifter. I'm sure he can handle a little heat."

She hugged her arms as we walked, her breath vaporizing in the air as she exhaled.

"I guess the same can't be said for mermaids, huh?" I teased, shrugging out of my coat and draping it over her shoulders.

She stared at me like there was a monkey dancing on my head for a moment before slipping her arms into the sleeves and tucking the coat around herself.

"Don't seem so surprised," I said. "I can be a gentleman on occasion."

She frowned at that and looked ahead. "Thanks. You won't be cold?"

I chuckled and shrugged. "I'm a dragon. I'll be just fine. Besides, I did vow to protect you in front of the entire school. What kind of dragon would I be if I allowed you to freeze to death the next day?"

She rolled her eyes with a long-suffering expression that eventually turned into a smirk.

We stepped into the retro-styled diner filled with red seats on white-and-black checkerboard floors. The jukebox in the corner lit up the room with its bright neon pinks and yellows. The restaurant must have switched out their records for holiday tunes because a catchy song about a red-nosed reindeer filled the air.

This had been mine and Niko's favorite restaurant since we started at the Dome, and I was slightly excited to see if Arya would like it as much as we did.

"This place is awesome!" she said as she looked around at all the classic car parts and aged license plates hanging from the walls and ceiling.

A smug smile of appreciation spread across my lips.

"Oh man, a jukebox!" Ashlyn gushed, excitement lighting her face. "I wanna pick a song. Come on!"

She grabbed Niko's arm and tugged him to the brightly flashing fifties music player, leaving Arya and I to stand awkwardly in the middle of the diner.

I blew a breath out of my puckered lips. "Soooo, where do you want to sit? It's open seating."

We both looked around the diner, finding half of the booths unoccupied.

"Uh, I guess this one's fine," she said, taking off my coat and waving it in the direction of the booth in question.

I nodded and followed her, sliding in on the opposite side. We sat in uncomfortable silence for a long moment, our eyes meeting awkwardly now and then as we both tried to find other places to put them.

Finally, I plucked a menu from the stand against the wall, needing the visual barrier even though I already knew what I wanted.

Arya followed my lead, actually looking at the menu since she didn't know it by heart.

"So, what's good here?" she asked without looking up at me.

"What isn't good here," I countered. "But the chili cheese fries are my favorite."

"Cool," she said with a nod. "Wanna split 'em?"

I want to feed them to you with my bare hands and let you suck the cheese off my fingers.

"Sure," I said, mentally slapping myself.

Friend zone, dude. Friend zone.

Niko and Ashlyn came back, Ashlyn sliding beside Arya and Niko plopping down next to me. Niko and Ashlyn both had goofy grins on their faces, glancing back and forth from each other to me.

I narrowed my eyes at them in suspicion. "What are you two up to?"

"Wait for it," Niko said to Ashlyn.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the intro to "Johnny B Goode" sounded from the jukebox, and my question died in my throat.

I glared at Niko as I lowered my head in remembered embarrassment. "You asshole."

Niko and Ashlyn erupted with laughter, Niko buckling over and slapping his hand on the table.

"What's so funny?" Arya asked, looking up from her menu in confusion.

"Don't—" I began to order Niko, but he cut me off.

"Well, Tobias and I went to the same human school before we emerged, and Tobias was going through a bit of a ‘Back to the Future' phase," Niko explained.

"Dude, seriously," I warned, my dragon growling in protest.

"When we were thirteen, he decided he was going to perform the ‘Johnny B Goode' scene at the school talent show. And he—and he—" He broke into more laughter before he could finish.

"I swear, I will strangle you," I threatened, flexing my fingers with that very desire.

Arya began to chuckle in amused confusion, and my cheeks heated with mortification at the knowledge that it was too late to keep this from her. Fucking Niko .

"What happened?" she asked.

When Niko recovered enough to speak, he continued, and I contemplated dragging him out of the booth and pummeling him in the alley behind the diner.

"He got up on stage with a prop guitar and acted out the entire song!" Niko went on as I slunk into the leather bench. "And right as he was about to reenact the awesome guitar solo—you remember that part, right?"

He positioned his hands to play the air guitar and scrunched his face with gusto, making the girls giggle.

"He tripped over the chord of the electric guitar and stumbled off stage!" Niko finished with a high-pitched peal of laughter. "He didn't even need to plug the guitar into anything! He wasn't actually playing it!"

He pressed his face onto the table and slammed his fists on either side. I imagined grabbing the back of his head and slamming it onto the table.

Arya and Ashlyn gawked at me with surprised humor.

"Omigod, seriously?" Arya asked, trying not to laugh but failing.

Ashlyn threw her head back and cackled. "Yeah, Niko showed me the video."

I bolted up in my seat and clutched Niko by the neck of his shirt, yanking him upright. "You still have the video?"

Niko sobered himself just a little, holding his hands up in submission. "Hey, dude, I deleted mine, but it wasn't the only copy out there. I stumbled on this little trinket a few months ago, and come on, I had to save it to favorites."

I was boiling over with mortified rage. That had been the most embarrassing moment of my entire life. My parents hadn't known I entered the talent show. Arthur would have never tolerated such a thing. If he ever saw that video…

"Give me the phone," I demanded, reaching for Niko's pocket where he usually kept it.

But Niko jerked away from me before I could get my fingers through the slit of material and hopped out of the booth. Then, to my ever-climbing humiliation, he began singing along with the song and rocking out like Marty McFly.

Ashlyn slid out of the booth to join him, and I buried my face in my hands as they called the attention of every patron in the diner.

A hand suddenly landed on the bend of my arm, and I peered through my fingers to see Arya offering me a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," she indulged me.

"I broke my ankle," I deadpanned. "I had to tell my father I got in a fight with a mugger during my evening run. He sent a search party out for the imaginary guy that lasted two weeks."

She grimaced. "Sorry."

"Go! Go Johnny, go!" Ashlyn and Niko wailed at the top of their lungs, emboldening other young diners to enter the show.

I groaned, wishing I would just die right here.

"You know, on the plus side, that's my favorite movie scene of all time," Arya said, making me look up at her. "I think it's very cool that you had the guts to do that in front of an audience, especially at thirteen when everyone sucks."

"Really?" I asked, my pride admittedly coddled by her words.

"It is a very catchy song, too," she said, then started snapping her fingers as she quietly sang along.

"Oh god, not you, too," I groused.

"Come on, Tobias," she said with a wry grin. "If you can't beat 'em, may as well join 'em."

Then she took my hand and tugged me as she climbed out of the booth. I didn't know why I let her drag me out. I had no intention of going along with this fucked up karaoke party. But…it was Arya.

She began to swing her hips from side to side as her singing grew louder, keeping eye contact with me the entire time.

Ugh, fuck it.

I grabbed the ketchup bottle off the table and brought it to my lips like it was a microphone, throwing caution and my past humiliation to the wind as I belted out the next part of the song like I was born to do it.

" His mother told him ‘someday you will be a man

And you will be the leader of a big old band

Many people coming from miles around

To hear you play your music when the sun go down

Maybe someday your name will be in lights

Saying ‘Johnny B. Goode tonight'!"

The diner erupted in cheers and applause as we and a few other patrons finished the song while dancing like wild idiots.

When the song finally ended, we collapsed back into the booth, panting and laughing as we failed to catch our breath. Arya's eyes found mine, and we held each other's gaze for a long moment.

This girl really made me do ridiculous things.

And we were just friends .