This night was going to suck. There was no way of getting around it. But it's my own fault, really. Because I didn't have the nerve to disappoint Reese. Upon bringing up our first planned girls' night out and not understanding my unexplained reluctance, she had begged me to go to the midnight movie premiere—and I panicked. Fearing our newly established friendship was much too fragile, I agreed I would accompany her despite my promise to Micah. Now, it was Thursday evening, almost a week later, and I was sick to my stomach because, by leaving the valley, I was breaking my word.

I didn't have to plan anything elaborate to evade Indy. Taking her newfound lack of concern for me to greater heights, Indy had left earlier today for New York City to meet with a potential vendor. She wouldn't be back until sometime tomorrow. Easy peasy. I puffed out my cheeks and then deflated, jittery in my school uniform. Going straight from the academy to Reese's house, I'd never gone home to change.

The mall was about a half hour drive south of Petroleum Valley. The lack of close hills providing me with an unobstructed view of the sky to track cloud movement was doing little to put me at ease. Tonight it made me feel exposed. A light wind buffeted us as I waited for Reese to stash the dress she bought for the autumn formal, the thump of the car door loud in the quiet parking lot. Lacking an inside mall entrance, the walk to the theater at eleven o'clock at night was a fog filled one, the nightscape blanketed in a dull gray lit in milky puddles by streetlights. We started up the concrete stairs toward the tinted glass entrance of the movie complex, its front highlighted by mist-hazy pink and green neon. Taking the steps carefully, the steep ascent was slow yet steady. Wary, I stayed behind Reese with my hands hovering at her back, ready for anything, because while my new friend wasn't fragile—she'd proven time and time again she could take a licking and keep on ticking—I didn't want to see her rolling down the stairs.

"Is this supposed to be a theater or a pool hall?" I asked, ignoring the ache the steep climb stirred in my bruised side as I marveled at several pool tables coming into view when we reached the landing. Lined in purple fabric and pendant lit, they took up the front foyer inside before a dark wood floor gave way to mile-long ticket lines. So many people! I hesitated as we approached the doors.

"A little bit of both, I guess," Reese replied. "Wow, a lot showed up for the premiere. It's a super good thing I preordered our tickets online."

"Yeah, good thing," I repeated hollowly, staring while the enormity of the situation sank in—that was going to be too many people for me to handle. A sold-out premiere.

"Come on, Aurora, let's get our tickets," Reese coaxed, taking my elbow to persuade me along. "Jeez, they really need to update their purchasing process. Other places in Pittsburgh scan your phone app." Silly rural movie theater, stuck in the 90s.

"Yeah, that would be—ah—helpful," I managed, my voice going breathless as soon as we stepped inside.

This crowd is huge. Coming to an abrupt halt, my eyes widened. A strong, buttery wave of popcorn hit my standard sense of smell and I gulped, cringing as my heart missed a beat, which then gave way to a large weight pressing on my chest. All of the people, all of their emotions—laughter, joy, anticipation, annoyance for how packed the place was—so many of them standing around talking, a hundred tiny conversations, bodies jostling each other, mouths crunching popcorn, armpits sweating, it all came together like a thick, choking force that slammed into me. If Reese hadn't been holding my elbow, I might have stumbled.

Crap, I don't know if I can do this! I retreated a step, bumping my backside against the push bar of the exit. "Um, if it's okay with you, I'm going to hang back here while you get our tickets." Way in the back. Like, maybe somewhere in the parking lot, ten-rows-deep.

Reese's gaze went to the jam-packed lobby and then returned to me. "The large crowd is making you anxious, isn't it?"

Ha, me? Worried about a large crowd? Shame washed over me. "Yeah, something like that."

"There's a vent over there." She pointed toward the distant restrooms, giving me a sympathetic look. "Why don't you get some fresh air?"

"Thanks Reese." The girl was a saint.

I gave her a weak smile, and my vision tilted. My eyesight flickered with green, and then the lights above the pool tables briefly went supernova, causing my stomach to flip-flop. Jeepers, the stupid color change thing wasn't making this any easier.

Feeling like a horrible person for letting Reese go off alone to brave the crowd, I made my way over on unsteady legs to where the ventilation made soft whooshes in the far-off corner. An almost quiet corner. I could actually hear myself think when I reached it, the multitude of voices substantially muted. Good sound damping, I guess. Holy cheddar. I sighed. I was turning out to be a lousy friend.

Lacing fingers into the wire grating, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, inhaling. Relief spilled into me, relaxing the tension in my chest. I could smell the night air the ventilation was drawing upon. Mm, wonder if it was too late to change Reese's mind? "Going to the movies on a night like tonight is such a waste." My voice mixed with the hum of the forced air.

"What would you like to be doing instead?"

I peered with squinted eyes at an explosion of light and color. Blinking rapidly, my vision focused to reveal one Alexander BruLagoon. He leaned against the nearest pool table, his silhouette sharp with the light at his back. My heart skipped a beat.

"Ah, walking. I-I mean, going for one," I stammered like a complete goof. I tried to recover with a hand gesture, moving two fingers to mimic walking. It looked silly even to me, and he probably would have understood without the visual.

He gave me a half-smile. "Going for a walk."

"Yeah, that's it." Cheddar, incoherent much? I was terrible at sentences and words and vowels whenever I was startled. "Ah, hi. Alexander, isn't it?"

"Good evening, Eos," Alexander greeted more formally than I felt I deserved.

His ebony hair shifted with the motion of the vented air, the depths of it damp, as if he had just taken a shower. He was dressed in dark navy, wearing high-priced denims and a tastefully untucked, silk shirt.

I fidgeted. After a week's worth of staring at one another during lunch, this was the first time he had approached me.

"What's an Eos?" I asked.

"The Greek name for Aurora, the winged goddess of the coming day." Alexander smiled fully, his shocking blue eyes lighting up as he pushed away from the pool table, walking toward me as if he had done so a thousand times. "She rose up from the streams of Oceanus every morning to chase away night's darkness with the water's mist."

Oh? My tutor hadn't covered Eos during Greek mythology. "I hardly think I can be compared to some winged goddess."

"Or, maybe I've seen the other and have come to convince you the resemblance is uncanny."

My eyebrows rose. "And maybe I know you're making stuff up now."

"Only for lack of knowing what else to say," he admitted. His sure steps faltered. He came to a halt a few feet away.

"You're nervous and trying not to let it show. I know that too.

You don't have to put up false pretenses around me."

"It seems you can easily see through them anyway, even if I only wish not to appear a fool in front of you."

"I don't think you're foolish." Not even close.

"But you would have me be genuine. I will remember that." Alexander went on to say with an air of seriousness about him, "I took notice you are without your usual escort. It isn't safe for one such as yourself to leave the valley without somebody watching over you."

One such as myself. So he was going to be open about this. He knows what I am.

"I have my reasons," I said hesitantly as my hair settled when the vent at my back kicked off. My gaze wandered over him as the scent of his person sprang forward in the stilled air, wrapping around me to fend off the rest of the emotions in the room. What is his scent?

"I'm sure you do have reasons for being here," he said, looking at me with questioning eyes as I studied him with a new intensity. "Which is why I called in some of my people to patrol the area. To ensure your safety."

And the cadence of his voice! I couldn't help but marvel. A strange but beautiful accent rhythmically slipped in and out of his speech the longer he spoke. His voice put me on edge. His scent put me on edge. Although I found I wasn't surprised by this, as I was certain there was something about Alexander that made him stand apart from people in general. Something...beyond human.

Something like Micah.

"Thank you." I wasn't sure what I was specifically thanking him for. He wanted to keep me safe, the same way Micah kept me safe. "So-o," I stretched the word out, butterflies beating in my stomach as I thought about how to phrase what I wanted to say. "You finally come to me after a week's worth of distance and all you want to talk about is the matter of my security?"

"No." Alexander said, his self-assured posture falling into an uneasy fidget, letting his true emotion—nervousness—show. "Your security is important to me, but in this instance, I suppose I've used it as an excuse to finally approach. Like I said," his gaze rose to mine, his expression now apprehensive, "I noticed you were without him hanging over you, as well as the girl you escort. You are alone and I... I reasoned there would be no better moment forthcoming to—" His accented voice broke off as frustration crossed his face.

Blinking at him expectantly, I tilted my head, sending hair spilling over my front. Alexander stared at me with those blue, blue eyes. He shook his head, as if to clear it.

"Gods, I just don't understand what comes over me when I'm in close proximity to you," he finally confessed, first taking a step back, then forward again, as if he was trying to decide which was better. "It's almost as if you are the moon, and I am the tide. I am lured to you by an intense attraction."

I moved my arm to hug my waist when he paused. He was experiencing the same intensity for me that I was for him?

"I cannot not want to be near you," he went on. "To reach out to you." His eyes, now seemingly the color of a neon blue sky, tracked another cascade of hair falling from my shoulder. The fingers on his left hand twitched, and he said, "I go crazy with the desire to be able to touch you."

I wanted him to touch me, now that he was bringing it up, my skin beginning to burn with the need, the force of it both exciting and frightening. I hugged myself tighter. What the heck was wrong with me? With us?

"I've been trying to explain it away all week," Alexander continued after another short pause. "But the effect you have on me goes beyond reason."

"I've noticed it, too, this...intensity." I took a deep breath to settle myself when I realized my pulse was pounding. Hard.

"What do you think it is?"

"I have a few guesses." He seemed almost relieved to know I was experiencing the same thing. Maybe knowing I was drawn to him helped narrow down the possible causes? "I've been talking to a few people to try to track down an answer."

I also wanted to know why we had such a strong reaction to each other. I fidgeted against the vent, wishing the air would kick back on. With the heat of my body continuing to rise, riding over and up through me, I wondered if I was going to spontaneously combust. Surely not. Gaze dropping down to his hands, my breathing quickened to an almost panicked state, thinking of those hands touching me, running up my body.

Laying me down and undoing my bra. I straightened with a jerk and shook my head, trying to shake away the too intense yearning. I fumbled with my hair, combing it back from my overheated face.

"May I?" Alexander stepped forward. I nodded, thinking he was only going to push the hair away for me. But instead he reached past my hair...

A mutual thrill pinged through us as his hand brushed my face, gently, gathering the warmth of my blush on his fingers as our skin made direct contact for the very first time. His fingers traced up my jawline, knuckles bumping my earlobe, and I sucked in a breath, holding it, letting him conduct his "test." Alexander's eyes closed as he continued to touch me.

Okay, this isn't so bad. I ventured to press my cheek into his palm. Not bad at all, actually, although I still shook a little on the inside, not understanding where my strong attraction to him was coming from.

"Um, Alexander? Are you okay?" I asked with some alarm when his fingers paused on my face and, after a very long moment, he still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Please, call me Alex," he insisted, his eyes still shut.

"Alex," I echoed. "Is that what your friends call you?"

"No," he replied decidedly, finally looking at me. "Only you may refer to me as such."

Ah, okay? Attention shifting, I turned my head in his hand to stare at where the sudden sound of many shoes was moving in one direction. They were letting people in now to see the movie.

"Well, how about it, Eos?" My gaze returned to Alex. "Are you up for taking a walk with me, to see if maybe we can figure out this baffling intensity together?"

His fingers brushed my elbow. The slight touch induced a burst of tang on my tongue that made us both jerk away from each other.

Reese popped up just then on my right, scaring the living daylights out of me. "Come on, Aurora! We have to get moving before the good seats are taken!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me away from an equally startled Alex.

------------------------------

VOTE if you would love a special someone to give you an endearing nickname ;)