Wishful Deviltry

Chapter Seventeen

The rest of the week went by so fast Karis didn't know if she was coming or going. Everything seemed back to normal, Kaleb and Titanium were back to calling eachother names, Kenny was playing force powers on Kaleb, and Dillon was steadily planning out the party.
When Karis woke up one morning she couldn't believe it was already her sixteenth birthday. By lunchtime, most of her new friends had wished her a happy birthday but she didn't feel like celebrating without her parents. My parents have never missed any of my birthdays until now. I even miss my little brother being around trying to get all the attention on my special day, but that's not even going to happen today, Karis thought to herself.
Kaleb even tried to cheer her up by cracking jokes about her age. She would respond with a fake smile and pretend to laugh at the ones that she thought were funny. She waited impatiently, anxious for her powers and worried about which one would choose her.
Titanium and Kenny kept Kaleb and Karis busy everyday with the various training lessons. Between learning about different kinds of Scrapers and learning what type of sword to use or not to use in a real battle, she was ready for the party that Dillion had planning for her. Every muscle in Karis's body cried out for relaxation.
Her mind could even use a break from Titanium and Kaleb, but she couldn't stop thinking about them both. Even though there hadn't been any more intimate encounters with Titanium in the past couple of days, it wasn't because of his lack of trying. Titanium apologized numerous times to Karis about how he treated Kaleb in the training building, but she'd tell him to take his apologies to Kaleb not her. He'd just end up changing the subject and start talking about her birthday party. Karis knew her feelings towards Titanium weren't deep, but she felt something. She also knew her feelings for Kaleb were a stronger attraction in some way, but she just didn't want to destroy what relationship they have now.
Titanium made her feel brave, like she could take on the world without any doubt. He made her feel strong on the inside as well as on the outside. Plus, he was also very attractive (ok, hot!) with his dark seductive eyes, muscular torso, and a smile that would make any girl just fall into his arms.... Pure Physical Attraction.
Kaleb on the other hand made her feel important, like if she disappeared the world would stop spinning. He had a heart of gold and would do anything for her. He would never judge her or take her for granted. Even his comical attitude made her smile when she didn't feel like smiling, especially when he looked at her with his puppy dog eyes. A burst of energy went through Karis's body and made the tiny hairs on her arms stand on end as she thought about Kaleb's eyes. He has the most amazing blue eyes any girl could ever imagine. She felt automatically drawn to him when he gave her his famous mischievous glare with a smirk to match it. His personality made a girl want to cuddle up on a couch with him or sleep in the same bed just so he could hold her all night. There was one word that describes the way Kaleb made her feel.... WANTED.
Karis grunted to herself as she went through the clothes Jessica picked out for her to wear to the party. There were three dresses that looked like something a movie star would wear to the Grammys and two skirts with matching shirts that barely looked like they would cover anything. Karis walked out of her room to find Jessica and saw a box on the coffee table wrapped in shiny silver paper with a red bow neatly in place. She looked around to see if anybody was watching her but no one was in the room except her. Jessica was in her room with her door shut. Karis walked towards the box like it was a ticking time bomb then she noticed the card attach to the bow that had her name on it. She sat down on the couch in front of the gift and stared at it, wondering if she should open it or wait for the others before she touched it. Karis reached for the card to see who it was from when she heard Jessica laugh out loud from her room.
"It's not a bomb, you can open it. It's a bathing suit from Titanium for the party tonight. I guess he found out where the party is going to be at. Anyway, he has very nice taste but not something I'd wear because it's way too modest for me, but I bet you will love it."
Karis pulled the card off the bow and opened it. She noticed Titanium had very sharp, neat handwriting. It reminded her of the way the Declaration of Independence was written with a feather pen dipped in ink. The card read:
Karis, I am sorry about the other day in the training facility with whiney boy. I mean Kaleb, I guess you could say I was a little jealous and in the need of anger management classes in a bad way, but I want you to know that it won't happen again unless he starts it. Please take this gift for your birthday and for my apology, (it doesn't happen often.) I found out from Dillon that the party is going to be at the beach, so I hope you like what I got you. I figured you wouldn't want to wear any of Jessica's outfits. I'll see you later. Hopefully we can get some alone time tonight, if you know what I mean, ha-ha! By the way, Happy B-Day! Titanium.
Karis shook her head as she picked up the box and tore into the wrapping paper. When she opened the box she found one red stem rose resting on top of a shiny silver and black striped bathing suit. The smell of the rose filled the room and Karis wondered how one rose could produce that much aroma. She set the rose aside and pulled out the bathing suit. To her surprise it was exactly what she would have picked out for herself. It was a bikini, but not a skimpy one. Jessica walked into the room with her coffee cup in hand, smiling from ear to ear.
"So, what do you think, do you like it?"
"I love it, but how did you know what it was without... Oh wait, never mind. Forget I asked that."
"Titanium definitely has good taste in what women want."
"What's that supposed to mean? Does he get a lot of girls presents?"
Jessica almost dropped her coffee, but caught it with the other hand before it fell, spilling only a couple of drops. "Yes, Um no. Damn it Karis, you know I just think out loud." Jessica said as she went to get a paper towel to wipe up the floor where the drops landed. "Titanium doesn't know how to express his feelings towards anybody, that's how the strength power people are. He has given presents to girls in the past, lots of girls, but you're the only one I seen him give a rose to, if that helps in anyway. Like I said, I've never seen him really care for anybody before, so just go with the flow and see where he's going with this."
"You don't understand." Karis threw her hand up into the air and fell dramatically back onto the couch. "I like them both, one which I've only known for a week and one I've known as long as I can remember. The problem is I don't want either of our friendships to end if I have to choose one over the other."
"There's an easy solution. Date them both and that way you can have both of them." Jessica said with an evil smile.
"That wouldn't work with Kaleb. He is pretty much an all or nothing kind of guy. Even though he said we'd still be best friends if I was to choose Titanium, I'm afraid it would get weird between us. Kaleb means the world to me and I'd die if I lost him."
Jessica sat down beside Karis on the couch and held up the bath suit to take a better look at it. "Well, are you going to sit here and debate who you want to date or are you going to get your skinny rear in there and try this outstanding bikini on."
"You're right." Karis said, smiling at Jessica. "I need to relax. I'll leave it to God. I just hope he'll make better decisions for me than I do."
"Prayers sound like a great idea. We need all the help we can get." Jessica stated tossing the bikini to Karis. "I'm going to start getting ready for the party, we only have two hours and I need to wash my hair."
"Okay, I might head over to Kaleb's room as soon as I'm done getting ready."
Jessica looked over her shoulder as she opened the door to her room. "You two behave yourselves, don't do anything I would do, but if you do be sure to name it after me." Jessica quickly shut her door just as the pillow Karis threw at her hit the door. Karis could hear her laughing through her door. "You missed sucka!!"
"I won't miss next time!" Karis chuckled as she placed the bath suit into the box and put the rose into a vase. She grabbed all the items to take with her to her room to get ready for the party as well.