Chapter 8 Orion
Orion
I didn’t dump a drunk Elowen Blake onto her front lawn, but I was tempted.
By the time I arrived at her huge oceanfront house, I judged she’d sobered up enough to make the journey from my car to her front door on her own.
She’d complained lucidly the entire drive because I wouldn’t park at Brenton Park Point, a popular hookup spot.
“I don’t get it, Orion,” she said, as my silver Aston Martin Vantage idled in her driveway. “Are you gay or something? You’ve hooked up with every other girl in school but me.”
“This contradiction brought to you by Tito’s Vodka…”
“Huh?”
“Good night, Elowen.”
“Whatever.” She started to get out of the car, then stopped. “It’s just that we make sense, right? Why were you hanging around that Bender? What do you see in her, anyway?”
She’s pretty. She’s also honest and brave and smart.
Those things make her beautiful. She doesn’t care about my money.
In fact, she’d probably prefer it if I didn’t have any.
I told her and only her about my ADHD because I feel like I can be myself around her and it’s okay. More than okay. Accepted…
Saying any of that would be wasted on Elowen.
“Harper’s a good person,” I said. “In fact, most of the Benders are, if you’d bother to give them half a chance.”
Elowen’s face crumpled. “Oh my God, you are the sweetest guy ever. And so hot. I’m not giving up on us, Orion.” She kissed the tip of her finger and pressed it into the cleft in my chin. “I’ll see you Monday.”
“Can’t wait.”
When she was safely inside, I drove to Atlas Hall. Easton sat on the couch with his laptop, playing some sort of game.
“Fucking hell,” I said, rubbing my eyes, sinking into the chair opposite.
“Fun night?”
“Brilliant. I fucked it up with the girl I wanted to take home and took home the drunk girl instead.”
Easton’s eyebrows disappeared under his mop of dusty blond hair.
“I didn’t sleep with her. I’m not a complete scumbag. Although I could have. She was more than willing. No, I fucked it up trying to make everyone happy. As usual.”
“Serves you right.”
I almost laughed. “I like her—the sober one. And I haven’t ever liked a girl.”
“Never?” Easton said. “I hear you have something of a reputation.”
“Sleeping with girls and liking them are two different things.”
His brows rose again. “Tell me more, O wise one.”
“That sounded mercenary, didn’t it?” I sighed. “I’ve never cared about a girl beyond sex, but in my defense, I’ve made sure it was clear from the start.”
“But this girl is different,” Easton stated.
This girl is different.
Four simple words and yet they clanged around in my damn mind and heart.
“Bottom line,” I said, “I’m leaving for the UK at the end of the year. Stupid to overthink it, yeah?”
Easton shrugged. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Are you going to try to repair it with this girl that you like?”
“I wouldn’t have the first idea how,” I said, recalling my jacket left in the sand. “She seemed rather done with me tonight.”
“So maybe it’s for the best. Since you’re leaving at the end of the year and all.”
My hackles went up at the idea of giving up on Harper, leaving her out in the cold again, fighting alone. “Or perhaps I could try to have one proper date with her before I map out the rest of my life?”
I stopped. Easton was watching me with raised brows.
“You’re a wily one, aren’t you?” I laughed.
“I try. That came for you,” he said, jerking his chin at a package on our kitchen counter. “Birthday?”
“Not until next month,” I said with a sinking feeling. The package was covered in international postage.
I got up and took a knife to the thick tape and unwrapped a leather-bound encyclopedia with gold sprayed edges, Greatest Scientific Minds embossed on the front.
A note tucked in the pages, in Father’s neat script.
Cursive was my brain’s least favorite thing to decipher, and I was too tired right now.
“Shit, fuck, bollocks.”
“So it’s good news,” Easton deadpanned.
“You tell me. Would you do the honors?” I handed the note to him. “Aloud, please, so I can brace for presumption of success before I’ve even actually done anything.”
He looked at me funny. “Um, sure.”
Orion,
You will take your place among the greats, we have no doubt.
Good luck on the Novus Prize for Scientific Innovation. We’re counting on you to do our family proud.
Love,
Father, Mum, Odin, & Octavian
“Damn.” I sank back into the chair. “I’ve been hoping to avoid entering a certain science contest. My parents, apparently, have other ideas.”
“Isn’t your family in the sciences? Or…chemicals?” Easton barely hid his smile. “Pesticides, wasn’t it?”
“Do I detect a hint of smart-ass?” I snatched back the note.
“So you do have a personality. You’ve been holding out on me, Locke, thank the gods.
I thought I was doomed to spend the year with a stiff.
And yes, we’re in chemicals, but this contest has prizes in cash and a leg up at a university. Two things I don’t need.”
“You don’t say.”
“I’m a paragon of honesty.” I tore the note into little pieces, making a neat pile on the coffee table. “They want me to win it for the prestige, but there are students who could actually use the rewards.”
Harper Bennett, for instance.
Not only might Harper need the reward, she’d be offended if I didn’t do my utmost to be a worthy competitor.
But I already had a headache just thinking about the work I’d have to put in on such a project.
And for what? Another trophy in a case to gather dust. Another meaningless notch on the old Mercer bedframe.
Nailed another one, didn’t we?
“But you’re not going to enter,” Easton said, eyeing the pile of scraps.
“I’m going to try not to,” I said. “I’ll conveniently forget to sign up and pray the deadline passes before Mum and Dad contact me again.”
“You’re one of those, eh? Beholden to the family?”
“You’re not?” I leaned my arms on my knees. “Now that we’ve analyzed my love life and family pressures, would you care to have a little bit of getting-to-know-you chitchat? Seeing as we’re stuck with each other.”
Staring at me from across his computer, Easton looked so young—a baby face with hard-as-glass eyes that had seen a lot in his sixteen or seventeen years.
“Am I beholden to my family?” he mused. “If there was something I could do or say that would cause my parents to forever turn their back on me, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
“Sounds ominous,” I said. “Want to talk about it?”
“No,” he said. Then softer, “I appreciate it. But no.”
The barest flicker of a smile touched his lips, then he shut his laptop and got up.
He put on his leather jacket, grabbed his motorcycle helmet, and split.
I knew I wouldn’t see him again until two or three in the morning.
I didn’t know where he went nearly every night, but I knew better than to ask.
I looked at what was left of Father’s note and felt an unpleasant tightness in my gut at this small defiance. If the NoSci prize had come around last year, I would’ve already signed up for it. No waiting, no defiance. So why now…?
I had no answer. Just like I had no idea why I started up with piano again. Then I remembered Professor Wolfe had likely assigned our pieces for Monday’s class. I opened my laptop and found it waiting for me.
from: ProfWolfe
to:
re: Monday Assignment
Nocturne No. 20, in C Sharp Minor, Chopin.
Dig, Orion.
Chopin’s No. 20 was one of the melancholiest of his works. I shut my laptop, thinking of Harper’s face when Elowen stumbled into my arms, and how I might’ve had something real in my hands and I let it fall in the sand at my feet.
Maybe, for the first time in my life, I might not have to dig at all.
***
Instead of the piano practice rooms, I hit the Academy’s immense gym first thing Sunday morning. Coach Daniels needed us in fit condition.
You don’t even know yet if you made the crew but…sure.
I headed for the ergometers—the fancy rowing machines that mimicked being on the water.
Tucker and Rhett and some of the other crew guys were there.
Surprising, given how drunk Tucker had been last night.
Dean Yearwood, our coxswain, was coaching Cassian Thorne—our singles guy—through some techniques on a mat.
“Orion, my man.” Tucker’s hand landed heavily on my back. “You finally did the deed.”
“Which deed might that be? I’ve accomplished so much in my short life.”
Rhett grinned. “I saw you leave with Elowen Blake.”
“I only took her home,” I said, adjusting the erg’s settings. “She was drunk as shit.”
“I fail to see a problem,” Rhett said, curling forty-pound weights while admiring himself in the mirror.
“Bloody hell,” I said. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Relax,” he said. “I just meant she’s made no secret how badly she wants you. Like a dog in heat. What difference does it make if she’s drunk or not?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, yanking on the erg’s arm row. “I prefer my bedmates to be of sound mind and body, but that’s just me.”
“Well, did you do it or not?” Tucker asked, wiping his brow with a towel and looking slightly green. And not from this conversation.
“No.”
“Christ. What the fuck are you waiting for?”
Chemistry class.
“Hey, listen,” I said, ceasing my exercise. “You fucking arseholes are going to forget about your senior prank.”
“Huh?” Tucker frowned. “You mean that Harper chick? Oh, come on—”
“I’m bloody serious. Leave her alone.”
Rhett and Tucker exchanged glances, and I wondered just how much weight I actually carried with them after three years of friendship and countless hours on the water. Apparently enough.
“Orion here is a gentleman and a scholar,” Rhett said. “It’s the British propriety in him.”
Tucker shrugged. “Suit yourself. It’s not as fun when it’s a girl anyway. Kind of feels unfair. I’d much rather it had been that Xander Ford fucker. Caught him with Emery last night, and I swear to God, he was about to put the moves on her.”
“Coach is going to put him on the roster tomorrow,” Rhett said. “Mark my words.”
They continued to bitch about Ford, and I left them to it, satisfied Harper was safe. I’d worry about Xander later.
One gallant act at a time, I thought with a grimace, and rowed on the erg until I was about ready to puke too.
As I sat slumped over, toweling my face, Dean caught up with me. “Orion Mercer, hero of the little people.”
“You heard that, eh?”
“I hear everything” he said. “I still maintain most people are good at heart, though they don’t always make it easy. Rhett is especially challenging.”
“Hey, you and Harper Bennett are friends, yeah?”
Fucking hell, that came out of nowhere, because I clearly had no game when it came to this girl. None. Naught. Zero.
“Yes.” Dean grinned. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” I said. “I just noticed that you guys helped Jack when he had his unfortunate accident last night.”
Dean’s smile fell. “Yeah, it was pretty bad.”
“Is he okay?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t had an update.”
“Well, it was a good thing you helped him, mate,” I said, clasping his hand. “Quick thinking. He’s lucky you were there. You and Harper both.”
Perfect recovery. Now tell me everything you know, Yearwood.
He nodded. “She didn’t hesitate to jump right in, even though it was pretty gruesome. Harper’s a good one.”
“Oh yeah?”
Dean’s brows went up, amused.
“Right. Anyway.” I coughed. “Any intel on the roster, since you and Coach Daniels are so chummy?”
Dean glanced around, making sure Rhett and Tucker were out of earshot, then pulled me close.
“Let’s just say we’re about to add another Bender to the crew who’s going to appreciate having you watch his back.” He chucked me on the shoulder. “Our very own champion.”
“Oh, shut it.”
He laughed. “Going home?”
“Shower, then piano practice,” I said. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yep.” Dean started to go, then turned and shot me a wink. “I’ll tell Harper you said hi.”