You sighed and chewed on your lower lip for a moment. It looked as though it hadn’t fully healed from our last encounter.
“I already apologized, but Bobby forgave me too easily. Also, I didn’t tell him the truth. I said I bewitched him.”
“Some lies are okay.” I felt like I was giving basic instructions to a child in primary school. Humans could be so obtusely black and white sometimes. Human behavior, of all kinds, was a spectrum, and the rules for one situation didn’t always apply to another.
“I could make him something,” you mused. “Like a gift. Or I could get him high.”
“Bobby doesn’t enjoy smoking marijuana.”
In retrospect, I’d probably made a poor choice in selecting him as a host, because Bobby also didn’t like to feel out of control. It was one of the reasons I trusted him with you, because I could draw on his willpower.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” You glanced around at your surroundings as though deciding which of your belongings you could make as an offering. “Shit, Henri, I can’t even bake.”
“Why don’t you offer him your friendship?” You’d done something similar with Tyrell, and that seemed to have produced a positive outcome. I could just imagine you befriending all of the bodies I inhabited like a traveling band of bards.
Your face screwed up. “I don’t think he wants to be friends with me. I mean, I wouldn’t.”
“Well, you’re not helping anyone in the sorry state you’re in, so you’re either going to cook yourself something healthy to eat, or you’re going to put on some clothes and go purchase a nutritious meal.”
You took one halfhearted look at the refrigerator and went back to your room to get dressed. You returned looking downtrodden.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I feel bad about what we did to Bobby, but I want to do it again. I want to be with you, Henri. That’s part of why I feel so guilty. Because all I can think about is that kiss and being in your arms. I’m, like, obsessed.”
I surrounded you with my energy to try and make you feel safe and whole again.
“We’ll figure something out. For now, concentrate on making yourself healthy for me, okay?”
You appeared no more satisfied than when I’d entered your apartment, but you nodded glumly and said, “Yeah, okay.”
16
Orlando
Imissed a few days of rehearsals. I asked Bruno to tell everyone I was sick, but he wasn’t the best liar, so by the weekend, Sergei came sniffing around our apartment to find out what was going on. I met him at the door, told him I was getting over a nasty flu, and said that I’d be back in class on Monday.
I thought that’d be the end of it, but Sergei pulled me aside at the end of variations that week and said he wanted to see me that evening in his office.Alone. I didn’t really want to be alone with him. After what you’d told me, he seriously gave me the creeps, but there wasn’t much I could do. I was probably already on the school’s shit list for missing so many classes. Because I was on scholarship, I really couldn’t afford to screw up, and there was an unspoken rule that unless your legs were broken, you showed up to rehearsals.
I asked Bruno to wait for me in the hallway, just in case something went sideways. I knocked on Sergei’s door, and he called me in and motioned to one of the leather chairs he had in his office. I took the one facing the exit. Sergei took the seat across from mine and relaxed into it like a king in his throne. I’d hoped this would be quick, but Master Sergei looked way too comfortable for that.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Bell? Fully recovered I hope.” He smiled when he said it, but it didn’t seem genuine.
“Yeah, I’m doing much better. Thanks for asking.”
“That’s good. I did so miss having you in rehearsals.”
I didn’t think he was lying, more like exaggerating to see what kind of reaction he might get.
“Sorry about that. Am I in trouble?”
Sergei tilted his head back and forth which suggested I might be. Or maybe he just wanted to keep me guessing. “I do have a few questions for you.”
I assumed it had to do with my absences or my academics, which were on the lower side of average. I hoped they’d put me on probation and not kick me out straightaway.
“Sir?”
Sergei dipped his head and studied me for a moment. “There seems to be a mystique that surrounds you here at the school.”
