Fairy Bad Day(28)

“Nice disguise,” Emma retorted as Loni scuttled away. She ran a hand through her long smooth hair, which was pulled back into a plain ponytail. Then she walked over to where Curtis was waiting for her.

“Hey, Jones. Hope you don’t think I’m stalking you or anything. I was just worried about your meeting with Kessler.” Curtis blew a stray curl off his brow, his face full of concern. “So how did it go?”

“Don’t worry, I’m still here, so if you were hoping to get a new assignment partner, I’m sorry to disappoint,” she said as she caught sight of the hand he had burned yesterday when he’d tried to zap the fairies with his laser. It had a fresh dressing on it, and for an idle moment she wondered who had changed it for him.

“It’s okay.” Curtis gave a mild shrug of his shoulders as he started to fiddle with the handle of his crutches before he finally looked up. “I’m sort of getting used to my current one. Even if she is a little prickly.”

“Only a little prickly?” Emma double-checked and noticed a surprised smile hovering around Curtis’s mouth as he lifted an eyebrow.

“Did you just make a joke?”

“Definitely not,” she assured him. “And sorry I couldn’t wait for you at the cafeteria. I, er, didn’t want to be late for Kessler.”

“Wise move,” he agreed, dropping his head slightly. “So what happened? What did he say?”

“You know, just the usual.” She gave a cavalier shrug, but as Curtis’s dark eyes drilled into hers, she somehow found herself telling him the truth. “Okay, so it wasn’t quite the usual. He hit me with a two-week detention and the promise of expulsion if I didn’t get my act together. So, I can safely say that I won’t be trying to get him to change his mind about your designation.”

“That’s harsh.” Curtis let out a long whistle and then reached out and gently touched her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“You and me both,” Emma replied in a faltering voice, again thrown by his unexpected response, not to mention the unexpected sensation the brief touch of his fingers on her skin was causing her. She pulled her hand away and awkwardly coughed. “And by the way, Kessler told me that you went to see him.”

“Yeah, about that.” Curtis let out a frustrated sigh. “I hope I didn’t make things worse.”

“I think I managed that all on my own,” she confessed as she tentatively peered up at him. “So why did you do it? I mean, I’ve been awful to you for the last six weeks. Why would you put yourself on the line like that?”

“Remember yesterday when you saw the darkhel and you wanted to go and look for it?” Curtis explained in an earnest voice. “Well, you asked me what kind of slayer I was. I guess I’d like to think I’m the kind who is there for his friends.”

“We’re friends?” The words were out of her mouth before she knew it, and Emma groaned at herself in annoyance. She had so not intended to say that.

“I, well... I’d like us to be.” Curtis looked at her, his dark eyes piercing into hers in a way that caused an unfamiliar sensation to go racing through her body. She felt her pulse quicken and suddenly realized that she wasn’t remotely in control of this situation. She coughed to cover her confusion and decided that a change of subject was required. Immediately.

“S-so, anyway, was there something you wanted to talk to me about before?” she stammered.

“Huh?” He blinked as if he were suffering from shortterm memory loss.

“Before. At the cafeteria,” she prompted him. “You were waving at me like you wanted to say something.”

“Oh, right.” He paused for a moment as if trying to understand what she was saying and then he suddenly shifted awkwardly on his broken leg, a guilty expression hovering around his mouth. “Well, this probably isn’t the best timing, but after I went to see Kessler about you, Barney gave me our pass-outs for the next part of our assignment. Since we did fairies yesterday, tomorrow we’re getting to look at some troubadour dragons. Two of them, to be exact. There’s been a pair down by the lake for the last two weeks. But you know, I can just tell Barney that tomorrow isn’t good.”

She cut him off. “It’s fine, Curtis. I’m up for it. Tomorrow night. Troubadour dragons. Should be fun,” she added in what she hoped was a bright voice to match her new and improved attitude.

He looked more than a little confused. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? I mean, I just told you that I was going to show you how to slay a dragon and you didn’t—”

“Bite your head off and read you the riot act?” Emma let out a rueful sigh. “Trust me, I’m riot-acting you on the inside. But the thing is that from now I have to do everything by the book, which means fully cooperating with you on this assignment. In fact, I’m going to put it into my cell phone right now so that I don’t forget,” she said as she made an exaggerated effort to punch the details into the calendar on her cell phone. “There, it’s all done.”

“Yup, there’s definitely something wrong with you,” Curtis said in a serious voice as he leaned forward, his face taking on the exact same expression that Nurse Reynes used when she did an examination. “I mean, I can see your lips moving but the words aren’t making any sense. Do everything by the book? Full cooperation? Are you sure you haven’t been bodysnatched?”