Sometimes us silly girls fantasize about things
that never come to be. I had expectations after college—expectations to run
off with Jake Larson and start our life together in a little Pennsylvania farm town. I
had my happiness mapped out inside my head.
I didn’t expect to run into a strange,
alluring man with a beard and dark hair stacked up on top of his head. I
didn’t expect to be attracted to someone so—different. He was
everything I didn’t know existed. He could make me feel things I’d
never felt before. It didn’t seem possible that we could be together. We both
had obligations. The world told us no, but we couldn’t stay away from one
another, couldn’t deny that we were drawn together. He was so
beautiful—so beautiful rugged. I was going to make him
mine.
“Want something to drink? Some Mountain
Dew maybe?” She held up her green can of soda and took a
sip.
“Mountain
Dew?”
“Yeah. You know, a little sugar, a little
caffeine.” She eyed me closely for a moment. “You’ve never
had Mountain Dew before, have you,
Gideon?”
I chuckled, the anger slowly seeping out of me.
“No.”
“Want
some?”
“No.”
“Come on, just try a sip. See what you
think. This is so much fun. It’s like teaching a foreigner all kinds of new
things and getting to experience it through their
eyes.”
I arched a brow her way and shoved a bite of
chocolate in my mouth. “Could you make me feel any more like a
freak?”
Evanna burst out laughing. “Gideon
Beckensheim, did you just say the word
freak?”
I smirked but didn’t
reply.
She shoved her can of soda under my nose.
“Taste it.”
“No.”
“Please. I want to see what you
think.”
I sighed. “You’re a little
pest.”
“I won’t be if you just taste
it.”
I looked at her smiling face and laughed, taking
the can out of her hand and narrowing my eyes at her before placing the can up to
my lips. I could taste something on the can where Evanna’s mouth had been.
Was that watermelon maybe? She had something glossy all over her lips. I drank
back the carbonated liquid and shook my head.
“Well?” she asked
anxiously.
“It’s too sickening sweet,” I
replied, feeling the tingle in the back of my throat from the carbonation. I took
another bite of candy bar.
“It’s delicious, that’s what it
is.” She ignored my remark and took another swig herself. “What
about Pepsi? Have you had Pepsi?”
“You said you’d leave me alone if I
tried your Mountain Dew,” I reminded her.
Evanna laughed. “I have another
question.”
“Go figure.” I looked at her out of
the corner of my eye. “Is it going to make me feel like a freak
again?”
“Yes.”
At least she was honest. I pretended to be
irritated, but really I was amused. “I may or may not answer it
then.”
“Okay.” She leaned back in her chair
and looked around the room. “Have you ever driven a
car?”
“That’s easy.
No.”
She leaned forward quickly and turned her head
to look into my eyes. “Never?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t
it?”
“But why? What’s the reasoning
behind it? And don’t say it’s
custom.”
“It’s
custom.”
“Gideon!” She elbowed me in the
arm. “Be serious.”
Sara V. Zook is an author who likes to touch on a
variety of genres including paranormal, fantasy, contemporary romance, and
organized crime. Her books include The Strange in Skin Trilogy, The Sempiternal
Series, Clipped, A Magic Within Series, The Pull, The Push, Six Guns,
and Beautiful Rugged. She lives in Pennsylvania with her
husband and three small children.
