Kallos (Kallos Series) (23 page)

“Oh, that sounds like fun! I don’t think it would be a problem, right, Honey?” Bless her mom for stepping in at the right time. Kallos knows that her mom is trying to help. Her dad doesn’t say anything; he is still staring at Ian with his death stare. She hears Sean enter the room, and he sits next to her. He looks at her dad and smiles. Sean leans close to her.

“I thought he always saved those looks for me,” Sean whispers in her ear, and she giggles.

“James!” That is all it takes for her dad to look at her mom. Kallos knows that tone. It's the one that Mom used on a younger Kallos that said, “If you don’t stop what you’re doing, I’m going to get my wooden spoon!” Kallos had never been hit with that spoon, but she had been threatened with it. And she had never heard her mom use that tone with her dad before.

“Oh, that sounds just fine,” her dad mumbles just loud enough to be heard.

“Thank you,” Ian says and gives her mom his killer smile. She winks at him and turns around to do some dishes. Ian looks at Kallos and grins. This will be the first time that she has been alone with him. After yesterday, she thinks they need some alone time and she is looking forward to it. She eats her food quickly because she wants to get ready for her first date.

“How much time do I have to get ready?” Kallos smiles at Ian and asks.

“Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?” Her eyes widen. She can’t even do her hair in fifteen minutes. Her dad starts to choke on his coffee. Kallos glares at him, and he just smiles.

“Sure, I’ll be back soon.” She runs up the stairs and even skips a few. She has fifteen minutes to get ready. She grabs her long sleeved white shirt with the cool design on the front. It has a bunch of colors and even some sparkles. She grabs her black stretch pants. She figures that they are going to do a lot of walking, so she grabs her pink tennis shoes. Kallos runs into the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror, and she doesn’t look too bad. For getting ready in ten minutes, she actually looks great. She walks back into her room and grabs a white hoodie, just in case she gets cold. She runs down stairs. Her dad and Ian are watching TV in the living room. Her dad looks up, and Kallos can tell that he is shocked that she is ready. He knows that she has to take at least an hour to get ready. She smiles teasingly at him, and he just shakes his head in disbelief.

“Make sure you have your cell phone,” he says and turns his attention back to some fishing show on TV. That is why she doesn’t watch TV down here. She reaches in her back pocket to show him that she already has it.

“Got it, Dad,” Kallos smiles at him, and then she looks at Ian. His eyes are glued on her, and he has a weird smile on his face. “Are you ready, Ian?” He nods and stands up.

“See you later, Mr. Dean,” Ian says as he is still staring at Kallos.

Her mom and Sean walk out of the kitchen together laughing.

“See you guys later.” Kallos leans in and kisses her mom's cheek, and then she does the same to Sean.

“Have fun, Sweetie,” her mom says.

“Don’t have too much fun; you still have tomorrow too,” Sean smiles and winks as he tosses his car keys to Ian. Kallos rolls her eyes. Ian grabs her hand and pulls her towards the door.

It isn't as cold as Kallos thought it was going to be. She looks up and gets her first real look at Sean’s car; it is candy apple red. Last night, she can’t really tell what color it was. All she knew is it was shiny, and it had two doors. This was her favorite color. Ian walks over to the passenger’s side door and opens it for her. She smiles up at him, and he grins at her. When she is in the car, he shuts the door for her, and then he walks around to the driver’s side. When he gets in, he takes her hand into his. She looks over at him, and he is smiling. Maybe she isn’t the only one who wanted alone time. She never thought what it was like for them to share her.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

After a short drive, Ian and Kallos pull into a parking spot in front of a coffee shop called Java Lava Brava. Ian gets out of the car and runs to her side before she can open the door. He opens it for her and puts out his hand to help her out of the car. She smiles up at him. She has only seen these kinds of manners on movies and read about them in books.

“Do you want to get something to drink first?” Ian asks and looks at Java Lava Brava. Kallos really doesn’t like coffee, but maybe they have something else.

“Sure,” she said with a smile. Ian tightens his hold on her hand, and they walk toward the coffee shop. When they walk in, it smells so wonderful. She loves the smell of fresh coffee, even though she can’t stand the taste. There are about ten people in here, and three people are in line. Ian still has a pretty good grip on her hand, and she doesn’t mind. She looks up at the menu, and they have way more than just coffee. They have shakes, teas, and every kind of coffee.

Since it isn’t the warmest outside and they are going to be walking, she decides that she is going to get a hot tea.

“So, have you decided what you want?” She looks over at Ian, and he is smiling at her.

“Yeah, a black tea.”

“Welcome to Java Lava Brava. What can I get you?” A pretty brunette behind the counter asks. Once she sees Ian her face changes. When they came in, she looked like she hated the world, and now, she's smiling like a fool at Ian. Kallos raises an eyebrow at her; she cannot believe that this girl is checking out her boyfriend right in front of her. Kallos can’t really blame her; he is very attractive. Kallos looks at Ian to see how he is taking this attention; he just smiles at the girl and lets go of Kallos's hand. He puts his arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer to him. Kallos looks down and smiles.

“Can I have a large mocha java, and a large hot black tea?” Kallos looks back up at the girl as she smiles and types in their order. Then she grabs two large cups and writes on them.

“Can I have your name?” She only asks Ian.

“Ian for the mocha and Kallos for the tea.” She finally looks at Kallos and her smile drops. Kallos knows that the brunette saw her before, but now she knows who Kallos is and that she’s with Ian for sure.

“Okay, it will be done in a few minutes. Just listen for you names.” The tone in her voice changed. Kallos could sense this girl doesn’t like her. She turns around and starts making Ian's and Kallos's drinks. Ian leads them to an empty table, and he pulls out a chair for Kallos. He is laying it on pretty thick, and she loves it. She sits down and he pushes the chair in a little. He sits across from her and grabs her hands.

“You don’t want any sugar in your tea?”

“I do, but I like to add my own. They either add too much or not enough.” She glances over to the girl that took their order, and she is whispering in another girl’s ear. They both turn and look at Ian, and then they start to giggle. Kallos just rolls her eyes. If she was out with one of her friends and they noticed a good-looking guy, they wouldn’t make it look so obvious.

“Ian.” The girl that took their order called. He squeezes Kallos’ hands and gets up to get his coffee. The brunette hands him his coffee and a napkin; he takes it and goes to the counter with sugars and creamers on it. He looks over his shoulder at her and smiles, but his smile isn’t the same. It is one that told Kallos he has something to tell her.

“Kallos,” the other girl says. Kallos stands up, and the girl doesn’t wait for her to take the tea before she turns around. She leaves her tea on the counter without a napkin. She walks over to Ian, and he is throwing away a clean napkin. She grabs his hand before he reaches the garbage. He crumbles the napkin into a ball. She grabs the napkin and unfolds it. The name written on it was Rose along with a phone number. Kallos starts to walk back to the counter, but Ian puts his hand on her arm to stop her.

“I promise to be nice,” Kallos says with a huge smile on her face, and Ian just sighs and shakes his head. He lets go of her, and she walks up to the counter. “Rose?” she asks politely, and the pretty brunette turns to look at her. Rose puts on a fake smile.

“Can I help you? Is there something wrong with your tea?” Kallos smiles at her and hands her the napkin. Rose looks down at it, and her face turns a bright red.

“I think you dropped something. You wouldn’t want it to be found by some freak that could stalk you.” Then Kallos turns around and walks back to Ian. She knows that he heard every word she said, and she doesn’t care. She was nice to Rose, but she wanted to say so much more. She didn’t because she promised. Kallos opens her tea and adds two packets of sugar. “Are you ready to give me my tour?” Ian starts to laugh, and he nods. He reaches for her hand, and she gladly takes it. She takes a sip of her tea and it's perfect. Before they walk out, she glances back over her shoulder; Rose and her friend are glaring at her. Kallos is sure they won’t be the only ones to hate her because of one of her boyfriends. Sean and Ian are both really good looking.

“You handled that pretty well. I had to hold back my laughter. I’m sorry that she did that.”

“I’m sure that it won’t be the only time it happens. You know that it might happen to me. What would you have done then?”

“I wouldn’t have been so nice,” Ian responds with a smirk.

Kallos is looking around at the town, and it's beautiful. All the small shops are welcoming, and the little restaurant that’s called
Momma’s
looks nice. When they walk by, the smell that is coming out is wonderful. It almost makes her want to eat now, but they keep walking.

“Can we go there for lunch?” She asks and looks back at Momma’s. Ian follows her glaze and then looks at her.

“Of course, it’s the best in town. I’m sure you’ll eat there a lot.” The main part of town is small, but Kallos loves it. The last place she called home was a huge town and had lots of shops and restaurants. She thinks she likes a small town better. Her mom said that Kallos would love how she will know everyone in her class, but so far, she could do without everyone knowing about her. It’s just strange how most of the people at school know all about her already, and she just found out. They are walking to a small park, and Ian is leading them toward a table.

“Do you mind if we sit here for a little bit?”

“That’s fine,” she smiles at him.

“Does it still feel strange to you that we both love you?” She looks away from him. She never thought she would find someone she could love and never thought it would be two boys.

“It is, and I still need to get used to it.” Kallos looks at Ian. They need to know what her plans are going to be. She isn't going to be with both of them, well not forever at least. “You know it’s not going to be the three of us forever, don’t you?” Ian smiles at her and takes her hand.

“Kallos, we know that isn’t you. You are made for one, and we also aren’t meant to share.” Looking into his eyes, she can’t see her life without him or Sean. It is going to break her heart when she picks just one. “We won’t make things harder for you either, and when you do pick, then that’s it. You don’t get a second chance. Yes, you will be breaking one of our hearts, but we can only take so much.” She knows that he isn’t trying to be mean, but it still hurt to hear him say that.

“I know, and I don’t want to hurt either of you. It kills me to know that I will, and it will break something inside of me, too.” He looks down at their connected hands and smiles.

“You aren’t going to choose now are you?” She shakes her head. “Good, now that we had a serious talk. Do you want to have some fun?”

“What do you have in mind?” She raises an eyebrow at him teasingly.

“How about a walk in the woods, and then lunch at Momma’s?” She smiles; Ian would do anything to make her happy.

“Sounds great.” He let’s go of her hand and stands. He walks over to the garbage to throw his coffee cup away. She sips her last drop of her tea and does the same. They start to walk into the woods, and when their hands brush against one another, they intertwine their fingers. Kallos loves how his hand is always warm and open for her. Walking in the woods has always brought her peace, and she feels more at home here. She can hear a stream not too far away from them, and the birds all around them are singing happily. Ian is leading them somewhere. Kallos wants to ask, but decides that she won’t ruin any plans he may have. She looks over at him, and he is smiling but isn’t paying any attention to her. She can tell that he is trying to keep something from her, and truthfully, she doesn’t like surprises.

“Close your eyes,” Ian says softly, and she does. Kallos can feel some soft fabric pressing against her eyes as he ties it behind her head. She feels him lean in against her back. “I want to make sure that you can’t see where we are going. I want to surprise you,” Ian whispers to her. “Now, hold on to both of my hands; I will make sure you don’t fall.” She feels him grab both of her hands, and he starts walking. She knows he said he wouldn’t let her fall, but she isn’t too sure about this. Kallos doesn’t like the dark as it is, and being blindfolded makes her panic a little. She can hear some water, like maybe a stream. “Okay, now we are going to stop and you have to stay here. Don’t move I’ll be right back.”

Ian kisses her lips lightly, and she can hear him walk away. Being alone and blind makes her heart speed up; she is terrified. She starts to breathe heavily, and she feels like she is going to pass out. Slowly, she sits on the ground and is trying to get her breathing back to normal when she can feel the blindfold being untied. “Kallos, are you okay?” She sluggishly turns her head to the side to look at Ian. His hand comes up to her cheek, and his thumb is rubbing her cheek.

“Yeah, I just freaked for a minute. I’m sorry.” Looking around them, she becomes speechless. They are in a clearing and everything is so green. Right in front of them is a small stream and a waterfall. He brought her to their own little Eden. Kallos stands up, and Ian helps her. “Ian, this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Looking at him and his smile, she wanted to take her words back because he was the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. Him, standing here, the blue of his shirt bringing out the blue in his eyes and the black scarf around his neck made him look like a god. She doesn’t think she'll ever get over the fact that he is hers and that he loves her. She pulls him into a hug and squeezes a little tighter than she probably should have.