Page 1 of Dusk & Desire

Chapter 1

Linda

Yet another fucked up day at Torture State University. Sighing, I angrily push the frizzy blonde tresses stuck to my sweaty forehead behind my ear. I was sure I left mean girls behind in high school, but here I am, finishing up my undergrad, and I just had the modern version of getting pantsed. Someone printed screenshots of my conversation with a long-distance friend and taped them to the whiteboard. Best part? I didn’t know that it was my conversation until Professor Matthews walked in and started reading it out loud. My conversation about how scorching hot he is and the dirty things I want to do to him.

Ugh, kill me now, please.

I cover my face with my hands and attempt to beat back the urge to cry. I managed not to when everyone at the auditorium was laughing at me, and I don’t want to start now. Taking a deep breath, I let my arms drop. I’m almost done with the class anyway. I’ll survive this.

“Hey, pretty girl. You look like you could use a pick-me-up.”

I jump at hearing Noa’s voice so close to my ear. I didn’t even notice when she snuck up on me.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I ask dejectedly, my shoulders slumping at the sight of her perky bubblegum blue fauxhawk. It’s way too optimistic for how I’m feeling, gleaming in the sunshine like that.

“It’s your name, is it not?” Noa blows a bubble, and unlike her hair, the gum she chews on is pink. “Linda,” she enunciates slowly.I should never have told her my name. She’s really playing up its literal meaning – pretty woman. Tilting her head, she studies me with an intensity that makes my stomach flip. Her lips curl at the edges, a slow, knowing smirk, like she’s in on a joke I haven’t figured out yet.

Noa and her brother, Axel – probably not his real name – hang around the campus and deal party favors to overworked or party-hungry students. I’ve never bought from them before, so I have no idea why she comes up to me every time I pass them. I should say something, but my tongue feels heavy, the words drying up in my throat.

I snap the elastic around my wrist, then feel stupid when the sound draws her gaze, so I bring my arms up to pull my unruly hair back into a high ponytail. “Do you have something that will help me forget this day ever happened?” I ask her with a mulish voice.

One gorgeously sculpted pierced eyebrow quirks at my tone and she pops another bubble. “That bad, huh?” she asks, bracing her hands on her hips. “Who do we need to fuck up?”

I can’t help but smile at her willingness to get violent for a virtual stranger. I have no idea why she’s so nice to me – I saw her be a total bitch to some of her actual customers.

Her brother whistles and she throws her backpack in his direction without turning or taking her eyes off me.

Impressive aim.

The sky darkens as a cloud covers the sun, but Noa’s silver eyes still flash at me. “Well?” she encourages, tapping her foot with obvious impatience.

I groan and cross my arms over my chest. I see her attention going to the front of my shirt and feel a blush spreading down my neck. I’ve always been what you might affectionately call curvy and should be used to the attention my tatas get by now.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask in a murmur, unable to meet her piercing gaze. Something about her eyes speaks of a maturity beyond her years – she can’t be much older than me.

Noa chuckles, the sound low and husky. “You’re my pretty girl.”

I swallow convulsively. “I’m straight,” I tell her, my words coming out a bit shaky. I lift my eyes up to her nose. The little gem there seems dull in the darkening light of the day.

“So is spaghetti until it gets wet,” she replies with a smile.

I gape at her.Why do I feel tingly?Before I can think of some likely lame reply, a strange hum vibrates through the air, an unnatural sound that makes the hair on my arms stand up. I’m looking at the goosebumps when a girl nearby shrieks. Silence follows, then more screams join her. It takes me a moment to realize they’re looking at the sky. I feel like someone pressed the slow-motion button on the remote as my eyes reluctantly follow whatever it is they’re looking at. I’m not sure I want to know, you know? Is a meteorite coming to wipe the county off the map of the Earth? I mean, how many shitty things can happen today?

Eventually, I see what has them yelling, but it still takes a moment for my brain to catch up. By the time I do, Noa’s hands have gripped my shoulders, and she’s pulling me back. “Run!” she hisses. Her hand takes mine and she drags me toward Axel, who looks about as stunned as I feel. She grabs him by his ratty band T-shirt with her free hand, tugging him along toward the dubious safety of the dorms.

I’m not sure what the point is. That’s not a storm cloud or shooting stars. It’s dozens of UFOs. Unidentified freaking objects. The sky above us ripples as if the atmosphere itself is groaning under their weight. My breath saws in and out as Axel and I follow Noa’s lead and duck into the building, other students pushing their way in with us.

“What the fuck is that?” I ask, panting. Damn the freshman fifteen. And then the sophomore ten and junior twenty. I don’t often swear, but this situation definitely calls for an eff-bomb.

“What did it look like, genius?” Axel snarls. I bare my teeth right back at him.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Noa warns him in a flat tone, then peeks out of the closest window.

The brother rolls his eyes and gives her an incredulous look. “Next time there’s an alien fucking invasion I’ll be nicer to yourflavor of the week, Sis,” he grumbles and starts pacing, twitching with either nerves or as a side-effect of whatever pill he’s taken. I’m stuck on his words, though.Alien invasion. He said them and now they can’t be unspoken.

An explosion sounds, rocking the campus and sending a shockwave through the ground. As another and another explosion follow, my knees almost buckle.

“What’s happening?” I ask Noa over the sound of fear-stricken screams all over campus. I gather my courage to join her at the window just in time to see a ball of flame sail from the clouds. My mouth drops open as I follow its trajectory toward the taller buildings in the distance. “Is that a plane?”

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