in Donavon’s absence, I trained harder and longer than I had before the mission in Mexico City. At night, I spent time doing girly things with Penny: painting our nails, dying Penny’s roots, watching movies on her wall screen—and avoiding Erik. On my first day off since Donavon had been away, I received permission to go to Washington for the day; thank you, Henri. Just like the last time, I was required to return before dark. I knew Mac was already playing favorites by letting me go, but I decided to see just how far his fatherly feelings for me went. I begged him to let Penny go, too. To my surprise, he grudgingly agreed.

Seeing the city with Penny was an entirely different experience. Penny was from D.C. originally and knew of all the best places to shop. We spent over an hour in a store that sold every shade of nail polish ever made. Penny carefully picked out only colors that would clash horribly with either her bright hair or her too-green eyes. Next, she dragged me through aisle after aisle of a huge makeup and perfume store, stopping every so often to test a color of eye shadow or lipstick on the back of my hand. She loaded my basket with shades that “brought out the color in my eyes” or “matched my skin tone”. Even though cosmetics weren’t my thing, it was fun.

After makeup, we moved on to hair. I drew the line at dying my hair but agreed to let the stylist braid purplish-blue locks in with my own brown curls to “accentuate my eyes”, as she put it. I even let Penny talk me into buying two hair accessories; one was made of beautiful black and green feathers that fastened to the side of my head, and the other a tight web of large, shiny pearls and crystals that bounced the colors of the rainbow on the walls when I twirled. I had no idea where I would wear either of them, but I got caught up in the moment and knew that Gretchen would love to have outfits made to match both.

Henri had only agreed to let us go shopping by ourselves if we promised to meet him at his favorite restaurant in plenty of time to make it back before dark. When we walked in, the tidal wave of blue décor overwhelmed me. The booths were dark blue leather, the tables and chairs were powdery-blue plastic, and the floor was royal blue linoleum. Even the walls were painted pale blue and decorated with blue-toned pictures.

A short man with frizzy blue hair and big, blue eyes framed by long blue eyelashes greeted us at the door. He wore a pair of blue and silver stripped overalls with a silver shirt underneath. He didn’t speak so much as grunt for us to follow him. He led us to a booth in the back where Henri was sitting and chatting with the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Fine, pale blonde hair was swept across his forehead and fell just above his perfectly-shaped eyebrows. He had big, light brown eyes that shone with amusement as he conversed with Henri. His skin was fair and flawless over his delicate features. But even more than his appearance, there was something about the man that appealed to me; I just couldn’t put my finger on what that something was.

“Hello,” Henri greeted us.

“Hi,” Penny and I said in unison.

“You must be Frederick,” I said warmly, extending my hand to the beautiful man.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Natalia,” Frederick replied, smiling warmly and shaking my hand. “And you must be Penny?” He turned towards Penny and offered her his hand.

She shook it enthusiastically. “Yes, I am.”

Penny and I climbed into the booth and picked up the blue menus before I noticed a fifth place setting. My stomach gave a small flutter—I knew who the place setting was for.

“Sorry I’m late,” Erik apologized, hurrying up to the table and confirming my suspicion.

“Don’t worry, Tal and Penny just arrived.” Henri dismissed his apology.

Erik slid into the booth, squishing me between him and Penny. His leg brushed against mine. Even through my pants, I felt a slight jolt, my stomach doing a little flip-flop. I blushed and fumbled with my menu as both embarrassment and guilt washed over me.

After the initial awkwardness that I felt when Erik had arrived, dinner turned out to be a lot of fun. Henri ordered a bottle of Berry Blue Wine for us to share, but I restricted myself to two glasses; I didn’t want a repeat of the campfire night. The wine eased my tension and I relaxed. Unsurprisingly, the food was all blue. When I looked in the mirror in the blue bathroom, I noticed that my tongue and lips were tinted blue, too.

Frederick kept up friendly conversation throughout the entire meal. He told us funny stories about work—he taught at the city school—and the people and students that he worked with. He told us about all of the places that we had to visit in the city, which I assumed was for my benefit. Apparently, the Blueberry wasn’t the only color-themed restaurant in the city—every color in the rainbow, and some in between, had one. Frederick also told us about a bar made entirely of ice. The booths, stools, cups, plates, and even the toilets were supposedly sculpted from enormous blocks of ice. The patrons had to wear special clothing so that they didn’t get frostbite. Similarly, there was a bar called The Grass Is Always Greener that was decorated to look like a grassy meadow. Grass and flowers grew out of the dirt floor, and the ceiling was painted to look like the sky at midday. I was not sure if it was the wine or Frederick’s infectious good mood, but by the time he finished describing the places I was dying to go to each one.

Much too soon, Henri announced that he needed to return Penny and me back to headquarters.

“You stay. I’ll take them back,” Erik piped up.

“Really? Are you sure?” Henri asked, raising his eyebrows.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Yeah, I was thinking that I’d head back to the cabin anyway. I don’t mind taking them.”

“Thanks, Erik.” Then turning to Penny and me, Henri added, “I’ll see you ladies tomorrow.”

We finished saying our goodbyes. Penny and I followed Erik while Henri and Frederick set off in the opposite direction.

The wine had gone to my head, but I wasn’t drunk as much as giddy. As a result, on the way home Penny and I recounted every minute of our shopping day in full detail. Erik was a good sport, even asking questions to encourage our chatter. We landed back at Headquarters just after sunset. Penny and I agreed to spend the night playing with our new purchases.

“Tals, can we take a walk?” Erik asked quietly as I made to get out of the vehicle.

“I’ll take our things up to my room, just come up when you’re ready,” Penny offered.

I smiled nervously. “Thanks Penny, see you soon.”

“You bet. Thanks for the ride, Erik.”

I watched Penny walk off towards her building, both arms loaded down with our purchases. I fidgeted uncomfortably, waiting for Erik to say something.

“So, you wanted to take a walk?” I asked awkwardly, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

“Let’s go down to the lake,” he suggested.

Silently, I followed Erik through the densely packed trees that lined the path down to the lake. I would have opened my mind and tried to read Erik’s thoughts but the alcohol was making it hard for me to concentrate. Well, I was trying to blame the alcohol for my concentration problems. I also thought that Erik might be intentionally blocking me.

When we reached the lake, Erik sat on a large log. I hesitated before tentatively sitting down, careful not to touch him. We sat for several minutes in uncomfortable silence.

“Why are you avoiding me, Tals?” he asked bluntly.

“I’m not avoiding you. I see you all day, every day,” I countered.

“Yes, but at night, you keep running off to be with Penny.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever had a girlfriend, Erik. I’m making up for lost time,” I reasoned.

“Making up for lost time?” Erik gave me a short laugh. I shrugged. “We should talk about what happened in Mexico City,” Erik continued.

“There is nothing to talk about. I messed up. I got hurt. End of story.”

“First of all, you didn’t mess up. These things happen. All of us have been injured on a hunt. On one of my missions, when I was still a pledge, I broke my leg jumping from a roof that was higher than I thought. Henri had to carry me home.” Erik paused and gave me a pointed look. “But we both know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

I could feel Erik’s eyes boring into me, but I refused to turn and look at him.

“Erik,” I started quietly, “you’re right, I have been avoiding you. Since getting back, I have just been confused about things,” I said honestly—too honestly. Talking about my feelings didn’t come naturally to me. The fact that I was doing it now was unusual. Maybe I was drunk.

“Confused about what things, exactly?” Erik’s voice was low and there was a hint of something I couldn’t comprehend.

“Just things,” I answered, my voice going up an octave. “Like you and Donavon.” I blurted out. Crap. I should not have said that. Note to self: no more alcohol, even in small amounts. I started to stand, but Erik grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down.

“Let me go, Erik,” I pleaded in a low voice.

“No, Tals. I want to talk about this.”

“Erik, either let me go on your own, or I will force you to,” I threatened him in a voice just above a whisper.

Physically, Erik was much stronger, but my mental abilities always seemed to improve when my emotions ran out of control. Tonight, they were like a speeding train without brakes. I knew that my mental talents would trump his physical ones and if he didn’t remove his hand, he would be sorry. He must’ve known it, too.

Erik released my wrist. I took off into the woods, leaving him sitting alone. I sped through the trees and into Hunters Village. I stopped in my tracks when I noticed the lights on in Donavon’s cabin.

“Donavon?” I called.

“Hey! I just went by your cabin, but you weren’t there.” He threw open his cabin door and ran out to meet me. I jogged towards him and leapt up into his arms. As soon as his arms were around my waist, I felt the familiar, safe feeling that being with him always invoked.

“Sorry, your dad gave Penny and me permission to go into the city for the day, and we just got back.”

“No worries, Tal. You’re here now.”

“I missed you so much, Donavon.” I found his lips and kissed him softly. When I pulled back, I saw Erik coming out of the woods. He stopped abruptly when he saw Donavon and me entangled in each other’s arms. I was torn—part of me wanted to stay in Donavon’s embrace, the other part wanted to run to Erik. I suppressed the latter urge.

“Wanna come in and hang out for a while?” Donavon asked.

“Of course, let me just send Penny a Comm and tell her I’m not coming over.”

“Oh, if you have plans with Penny, then go ahead over there. I’m really tired anyway. We’ll spend the day together tomorrow,” he promised.

“Tomorrow,” I agreed, relieved. Truthfully, I didn’t want to be with Donavon right then, not when my wrist was still burning from Erik’s touch.

Once in Penny’s room, I dutifully played with my new purchases. I painted my nails with purple polish and sat still while Penny experimented on me with different shades of eye shadow. Penny was her bubbly self, and I felt guilty that my heart wasn’t in it. I kept thinking about Erik and what might’ve happened if I hadn’t left when I did.

I got back to my cabin after Erik was asleep, leaving again in the morning before he was awake. I knew that I would have to face him eventually, but I was happy to prolong the inevitable.

I spent the day with Donavon. We played in the lake with Harris and Penny and some of Donavon’s other friends, including Laris. My thoughts never strayed to Erik and his beautiful eyes, his generous mouth, or his shirtless torso. Okay, maybe once they did—or twice.

“I hate that this day has to end,” Donavon moaned as we lay side-by-side on a blanket next to the water.

“We don’t need to go anywhere for a while,” I replied, rolling over on my side to face him.

“I’ve got to shower and get ready.”

“Get ready for what?” I demanded.

“I promised that I would go into D.C. with Harris and Arden.”

“I see.”

“You’re mad,” he observed.

“I just figured that you’d be spending the night with me since you just got back,” I argued.

“Would you rather I not go?” he offered, but I could tell that he didn’t mean it.

“No, you go. It’s fine,” I snapped. Why was I picking a fight with him?

“Tal, I’m not going if it upsets you,” Donavon said, trying to pull me to him.

“No, go,” I relented. “I’m not mad, just disappointed.” I tried to reign in my irrational anger.

“I’ll bring you back a good present,” he tempted.

“Are you trying to bribe me?” I scowled, letting him pull me down into his arms.

“Only if it’s working.” He smiled and his whole face lit up.

“It’s working.”

In the end, I was relieved that Donavon was spending the night in the city with Harris and Arden. I felt guilty about being relieved, but I felt even worse about being with him when I couldn’t get Erik out of my head.