Page 8 of Devious Gambit

I swung the door open and stalled at the sight of Zeus, leaning up against the wall. “Hey Rhys,” he spoke in that utterly silky voice.

“You must be waiting for those two in there,” I stated, pointing to the bathroom door and proceeded to step past him.

He took a pace in front of me. “You haven’t taken up my offer,” he pointed out.

“Is that right, Mr. Ed, first name Sex?”

He tipped his head back and laughed.

“You’re deleted,” I lied, “now please step aside.”

He slowly moved out of my way, just as the two girls came out of the bathroom. “I’m not going anywhere, Rhys,” he called after me, “the offer is still on the table.”

“Lucky me,” I yelled back, sarcastically.

“I agree. You will be lucky once I get my tongue in your…hello ladies.”

Oh my God, oh my God it’s Jace, linebacker blah blah blah…vomitland.

I did a good job of ignoring him for the whole 22 minutes and 39 seconds they were at Stads. I’m very proud of myself for refusing to back down to his intimidation. However, that kiss…

Stop it.

The winter air chilled me to the bone, as I walked out of Stads into the late afternoon sun. It took me 34 minutes to walk from Stads to Romana Street where I lived that meant 34 minutes of reciting my favorite authors to keep me company. On this fine afternoon, I chose Jane Austen, just because I was in the mood for a little romance.

“My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend…” arriving at my rickety wooden steps covered in slippery mildew. “to be any thing extraordinary now.”

I heard my phone beep in my bag, but waited until I was inside, before I checked it. It’s a tiny apartment with a single bench, mini fridge, and bench top cooker as my kitchen. A double bed crammed into the only living space, which was also where I sat to work on my assignments, and eat my meals while watching TV. Off to the side is a small bathroom with a shower, toilet and basin. It’s the bare essentials and it’s all mine, off-campus and away from noise.

I slumped down onto my bed, feeling the weight of fatigue. To pay for this apartment and living costs, I had to work more hours than I’d prefer at Stads, which meant missing class sometimes to work. It was easy to catch up, all lectures were recorded to download from the English College website at will. However, I had little downtime these days to blob and mindlessly watch my favorite TV programs or read for pleasure, rather than to meet syllabus requirements.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, only to snap them back open at the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the wooden steps. I knew those footsteps didn’t belong to Marjorie Dwight as she stepped lightly, so I panicked and raced to the kitchen drawer to find something sharp. The only escape route I devised was to climb out the bathroom window and scale down the pipe. However, because I’m not Spiderman, I’d probably just fall down. Falling down was still better than meeting Adam Sweeney face on again.

A solid knocking at my door made me jump, and before I had the chance to do anything, a voice rang out, “Rhys it’s me, Tris.”

“Thank goodness,” I sighed.

I opened the door for my gorgeous cousin, although I’d never call him that to his face, to find that he was armed with a shoebox. Not just any shoebox, but the writing in black marker pen indicated that it was from home. Tris’s home, not mine. Anything that arrived from Tris’s home had to be good.

“Come in, young squire,” I said, so excited to see him.

“Delivery from home,” he told me, handing me the shoebox. “I noticed Patty sealed it up, so I wouldn’t break into it.”

“Special occasion?” Tris’s mom, Patty, rarely sent a separate box for me, only a reminder note to Tris to share the cookies with me.

“Yeah, Christmas,” he answered, as if it should be obvious.

“Bit early?”

“Grandma has been baking up a feast for the Christmas fair and conveniently had a ton of cookies left over.”

“Ah Grandma Fisher is the best ever,” I sighed, grabbing the knife I was going to use as a weapon.

“What are you doing for Christmas Day?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.” I’d been so busy that I hadn’t realized it was December.

“So, Lise wants me to spend Christmas with her and her mom, since the shit hit the fan and her dad’s in prison and all that.”

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