Alias: The Doyen Series book 1

(17) THE DATE

PICTURE: New Orleans Museum of Art. (I went here on a school field trip and woooow it is breathtaking!)

"How's the break going?" Brayden asks while I hear my Mom yell something inaudible in the background.

"It's.... different," I answer back.

"Good or bad different?"

What I want to tell him is:

I've been attacked by witches, burned to a crisp, ingested my soulmate's blood, miraculously healed and learned that my whole life is a lie.

"Wonderful," is what I actually tell him.

I hear a loud B A N G! in the background. "Bauch! Bauch, are you okay?" Brayden asks, stepping away from the phone.

"Bray what happened?" I ask him after a few minutes of silence.

I can imagine him rolling his eyes. "I kinda dropped a shoe on your stupid dog."

For some reason, I laugh instead of chewing him out. After all this weekend had in store for me, a shoe on my dog wouldn't kill me. "Don't you have practice today?"

"No. It was cancelled because of some 'emergency.' I think he was too drunk to show up, to be honest."

That was always the truth with Coach Bryson. He'd hold a bat in 1 hand and a water bottle in the other. There's nothing wrong with that except that the water bottle was usually filled with Vodka.

"Oh, well. I know you didn't want to go anyway."

"You're right," he laughs. I hear Mom yell again. This time it's his name she's yelling.

"Brayden Hunter, what did you do to make Mom so mad?" I ask in a fit of chuckles.

"Heck if I know," he groans. "Probably left the seat up or something. I guess I better go see what it is this time."

"Okay, Bray. I'll text you later. Love ya."

"You too," he says and hang up as I hear my mother's voice, closer this time. I giggle at the mental picture that comes to mind. Brayden will be laying on his bed, watching whatever game that is on TV and Mom will come in and start griping. They will start fighting with each other until one of them finds something the other does hilarious. Then it will be a joke for the rest of the week. That's how my family functions.

Now that Brayden hung up, I did not have an excuse to not dress myself for the day. Today is my date with Kayde. To say I am nervous is the understatement of the year.

I am a wreck.

I am a 6 car pile-up on a 1 lane highway.

I stay on my private balcony for a little while longer enjoying the beautiful Southern aura. My view of the city is beautiful.

My room faces Orleans street, providing an amusing morning watching tourists. The day is perfect for anything outdoors: blue skies, little humidity, and not-so-high temperatures for early May. It is almost as if Mother Nature wants the date to go well.

I'm on the same page as you, sister.

Standing with a sigh, I grab my coffee off the table and walk into my luxurious bedroom. I decide to shower first to wake up. The clock on the wall reads 8:23 am. That might as well be 3:00 a.m. my time. I wasn't awake until 10 at the earliest.