Page 296 of The Blairville Legacies

But Erik wasn't justany young man. It wasfucking Erik. My best friend, with whom I spent nights discussing Greek mythology, with whom I exchanged books on philosophy and with whom I felt likesomeone, notsomething. And I would meet him.Here. Now.

“And now get moving. I'm sure he's waiting!”

Larissa pulled me off my barely safe bar stool and down into the unknown. Closer to Erik than I could handle.

Was it normal to be overwhelmed? Was he perhaps feeling the same?

“I don't know, Larissa. Maybe it's not such a great idea,” I voiced my doubts. Loud enough for her to hear me.

She wiggled her index finger before downing her Cuba Libre and indicating to the bartender that she hadn’t had enough yet.

Her stamina was remarkable. I would have been drunk by now, that's how little I could handle.

Perhaps it was simply because I had only secretly borrowed the good whisky with the maple syrup note from Amara a few times and otherwise knew only the disgusting wine from the formal temple ceremonies in Moenia.

“Forget it, you're going to see yourPrince Charmingnow. I'm sure he's been waiting for you for a long time. And if it helps, take a sip of this.” She held out her freshly served drink with a slice of lemon stuck to it. “To help you come out of your shell.”

I waved my hands in thanks and she rolled her eyes.

“Then stop being like that and get going. Otherwise, I'll tell the DJ to ask for your Erik.” She grinned mischievously at me and my heart stopped beating.

“You'renotdoing that!” I stuttered, stunned, because by now I trusted Larissa to doanything.

“Don't challenge me!” she laughed loudly and sipped her drink.

I felt sick to my stomach and reached for her glass, took a generous sip and immediately regretted it. I had to cough as the cooling liquid flowed down my throat.

“There you go,” Larissa said cheerfully and also got down from her bar stool. “And nowhurry!It's late enough!”

Without warning, she pushed me into the crowd, which simply swallowed me up with its movements and pushed me in a different direction, away from Larissa. All I could see was her waving excitedly after me before two dancing men blocked my view.

The beat intensified the feeling my loudly pounding heart was giving off and as I took my cell phone out of my pocket, it almost slipped out of my cold, shaking and sweaty hands.

I found myself in the middle of a huge crowd of people, which increased my nervousness. Every touch seemed to sting me and I could feel Gloria's serum slowly losing its effect. So, I hastily pushed my way through the crowd to an edge of the club where it was less busy, but the dancing and talking people still obscured my view so that I was protected from any chance encounters with Grace or other people I knew. I was afraid my cousin wouldn't let me go, especially after her statement yesterday.

My hands began to shake harder. So, I rummaged in my little white bag for the bottle ofSalmaI had taken from Gloria. The liquid shimmered slightly, but I didn't look at it for long, instead I hastily gulped down the contents of the small vial.

Inwardly, I hoped that nothing would happen to me tonight. This potion didn't guarantee it, but it did make me less emotional and less likely to have an outburst. I only drank half of it because I didn't want to loseallmy feelings. It was stillErikI was about to meet and I wanted to react authentically to him.

Damn it. I was going to meet Erik.

My heart pounded and pounded.

Then my cell phone vibrated.

My trembling intensified.

God, I had never felt so nervous.

This morning I'd hardly been able to get anything down, apart from three cherry tomatoes. My hunger had simply passed, as so many times when excitement messed with my emotional world.

Then there was the shaking. Grace had put my make-up on and warned me that if I kept shaking like that, the make-up wouldn't work, but she had somehow managed it anyway.

I swallowed as I read his words. It was a mixture of disappointment and relief that spread through me. What if it all suddenly happened too quickly for him too?

My alarm bells rang and I got even more nervous. Bay had said that I shouldn't change the meeting place because it could get dangerous.

But this was Erik. Erik wasn'tdangerous. We were friends and nothing would happen. Or was I being too naive?

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