Laserian

Marc entered the place since he had to sit with his father and so did I being in their family since I lost my own. But my senses flooded with her scent as I was about to enter the hall. Marc walked ahead and my eyes caught her form.

I inhaled sharply. The nerves in head throbbed like a reminder for me to remain calm. But how could I, see looked ravishing. The red dress adorned her petite form. My eyes noticed the minute detailed of her slightly wounded leg, work of the heel she was obviously not use to wearing.

Her hair was tied in a bun and a strand or two escaped that bun softly curling around her nape. I have never seen such a beautiful female in my life and I was left short of words and breath. Whatever she did brought out her hazel green eyes. I knew her life was too busy and she had no time to spend on herself.

And it was a good thing, because without her doing all this I was turning insane and right now I had to escape the whole damn speech and sitting with Marc tradition to avoid myself from doing something rash especially in front of Eibhir.

Marc noticed my discomfort and grinning he left me to be in pain alone.

All I could think was to be close to her, talk to her, hold her in my arms...even my usual reasoning of being her fated killer was useless. One look at her and my insides were twisted beyond solution.

***

I smelled immense panic mixed with her scent. Did I think twice? No. Like the fool I was turning into I left my band without explanation and came to the hall. I am sure they must be surprised and shocked behind me, except Marc of course.

But then it didn't really matter, I was too worried. On reaching the hall I found out that she was a nervous wreck on stage. She was sweating, her eyes were unfocused and it was like she was losing the sense of surrounding. Her high level of discomfort was painful to watch so I waited till her eyes caught mine.

Maybe seeing a familiar place in crowd she will feel better.

Finally when her eyes found mine, she instantly relaxed and I had this power surge through me like I just won a battle. I tried to lighten her up, rolled my eyes at her because she was so brave otherwise and now she was being so nervous.

My okay gesture made her smile and that smile of relief calmed my messed up nerves. All this while our eye contact didn't break while we just looked at each other like we were each other's ray of hope, pillar of support. The contact broke as Anna called her name and with a smile she began her presentation.

I looked down and feeling of uneasiness crept in. What was that? I ran over here just because she was having stage fright. My eyes looked up to see her once more and were stunned at her beautiful form. I broke my own rule of not being bothered with her, I broke my own rule of attending Eibhir's speech, my rule of not caring about her

And I just confirmed Marc's stupid doubts and allegations.

I hurried back in for my performance. I hurried away thinking it was a mistake made in emotions and also hoping that she will be fine. The ice cold barrier around my heart was under attack.

***

"We have a dance after the performance." Marc said adjusting his denim jacket collar while admiring himself in the mirror for millionth time.

"Girls are not blind out there Marc, no matter how hard you try you will look ugly." I said annoyed for some reason.

"Wow, Lieutenant Cold just became Captain Sarcasm." Marc said laughing a fake laugh.

"Haha."

"No but seriously there is a dance later Laser." He said making me glare at him.

"Is it not obvious enough that I am avoiding this conversation?" I said angrily.

"The conversation where I am right and that you pay a lot of attention to Amber or where I tell you that you were gawking at her like a love struck fool or that she makes you feel something , here." He said turning from joking to all serious and pointed lightly to my heart.

I kept quiet since I know that no excuses work on him and for once I had none.

"Ask her for dance." Marc said placing one hand on my shoulder.

A growl erupted in my throat.

"What?" Surprised Marc looked at me with a frown.

"Someone flirting with her." I said in a low dangerous tone.

"Laserian! You are using the animal senses in human form to stalk her?" Marc said in a stern tone.

Marc never uses that tone with me because I am never at fault, he his. But this time I was the one.

His eyes softened after a while.

"Lame man, I tell you these rules are lame. Why can't we even take care of the girl we like? Go ahead and Laserian before someone steal her, ask her to dance. I will keep an eye out for dad." He said with a grin.

Not like I would ever tell him but I was lucky that he was my best friend.

"Yeah, I know how lucky you are to have me as best friend. And don't bother denying that I am wrong or that you do not like Amber. Both are as shitty lies as you look right now." He said giving me a boost and insulting me all in same sentence.

Our performance was loved, like always but my eyes were finding it hard to keep looking straight. During my solo performance of the acoustic version of song, I kept looking at her, at her hazel green eyes staring back at me with a foreign emotion or an emotion I have seen but couldn't remember.

I couldn't move away from her eyes because I was singing a song written about her and Liosa, the drama queen said it was beautifully detailed and written from heart.

Was it? Even the lyrics showed this, how?

But it would be a lie if I said I wrote the lyrics without any emotions.

I walked in the hall with rest of my band mates and searched for her without even intending to do so. Finally my eyes found her chatting animatedly with a guy.

So I gritted my teeth together , my palm pulled into a fist.

He edged closer to her to show her something in his camera and though they didn't touch even a little thanks to Amber who was tilting away from him but almost something when she bent her head down to look at the images, making it look like their heads were touching.

That did it, I took my best friend's advice and broke all the damn rule.

I walked ahead and tapped on her shoulder. And she looked up with a frown instantly replaced by a smile.

"Oh, I-Laserian this is my co-worker Talfryn Mattix." She said stopping herself for calling me Ian.

I was relaxing to normal with her weird self around me. It was like she was some magical herb.

"Oh! The rad singer! Dude, I loved you performance." He said with a challenging glint in his eyes.

Mattix, the name from her dream. The guy had no scent and I knew he was not right. He was not a Hood, I will know of course and he was not a Quantum since I can't catch his scent. He was wrong on a whole other level.

I nodded curtly and turned my attention to Amber.

She looked even more beautiful up close, enough to make me sigh. But somehow I know she will look beautiful even tomorrow in her normal attire.

"Can I have this dance?" I asked rather stiffly since this was my first time asking some girl to dance.

I was really feeling stupid but I was immediately at ease when she nodded a yes looking wide eyed at my question. She turned to excuse herself from the Mattix and put her hand in mine making me smile out of nowhere.

She was still surprised at my behaviour but not more than I was. I lead her to dance floor not caring or looking at the people around. When we were in the middle of the dance floor, I pulled her closer making her gasp lightly and snaked my arms around her waist. It was a wonderfully warm and satisfying feeling to have her this close to me.

There must be some music playing but I couldn't quiet concentrate on it, all I could think now was her, here, dancing with me.

"So, that was a beautiful song." She finally said breaking the silenced.

We swayed lightly not caring but the songs tempo that was being played.

"Thank you and you look beautiful by the way." I complimented her like a gentleman.

It was completely normal to compliment a girl this beautiful, right?

She blushed at my simple comment. God this was getting worse and worse, she can't expect me to remain a gentleman like this.

"Thank you for what you did..when-well-when I was freaking up on stage." She said sheepishly.

I chuckle remembering her freaking out.

"I have never been up on stage before and I never thought it was this nerve wrecking." She explained.

"Well you did well afterwards." I said to make her feel better.

"How would you know, you left." She gave me patronizing look I didn't expect.

She wanted me to be there?

"I have to be ready for the performance."

"Yeah, sorry, it was a knee jerk reaction." Another sheepish smile.

How did she smell so amazing?

"So that Mattix guy seems friendly." I said with a grudging tone.

God! Was I jealous? That was so stupid and childish.

"yeah, he is. I mean it took me minutes to ease up to him. Thank God or else it would be hard for me work with a bad colleague." She said completely oblivious to that fact that my muscles were coiling in anger.

Yeah, I was jealous. But why?

"So he is a better company than me?" I said pulling her closer to me with a fierce possessiveness that I didn't know I had for anyone.

Her eyes went wide, her fingers curling around my arm in a tighter grip. My animal senses picked up her beating heart at a really fast rate. Was she scared or was the heart beat fast for the same reason as mine?

"Um...we can't compare. He is just a friend." She said and bit her lip as if realising she made a slip up.

I contemplated her words, Mattix was just a friend....and I was?

Was I hopeful? Yes.

Should I be? No.

"And what am I?" I prodded her further.

I have no idea where this side of me was coming from.

She was flustered at my question.

"Well, you are town's heartthrob." She answered back smartly.

So she was dodging the questions with games.

"Only this reason Amber?" I said staring intently in her eyes and noticing the serious notch in her heart beats.

"What other reason do you think?" She counter questioned and I knew why she was in newspaper field.

She had the knack to pull secrets out of people.

"I think maybe you were indebted to me after I helped you with your project."

She laughed at this making my inside tingle.

"You are evil Ian."

"I like when you call me Ian." I blurted out before I can stop.

And naturally she blushed.

"I like calling you Ian." She answered with a smile, a soft look in her eyes.

It felt like she was peeling of each protective layer around me with her smile and gaze. It made me panic but also thrilled for some reason.

"Umm... should we take a look at the market." She murmured and I noticed the fleck of dark emotion in her eyes, probably mirroring my own.

I was way too close to her.

"Sure." I said stepping away a bit.

She sighed and I noticed she was flushed with colour, increasing her appeal by almost million times.

But next thing she did was completely out of context and my rule book. She stepped in line with me and held my hand. I know it took all her courage to do so but my fingers curled around her soft palm familiar and comfortable with it.

Warmth flooded through me as I clutched back her hand.

Market was still flowing with people, chattering away with excitement. I know people around will be eyeing with keen interest as we as a town celeb were not allowed to roam around the market.

But I avoided them as usual and looked at her instead. She was looking around with curiosity at each shop and I was amused at her interest in little things like wooden carved jewellery, old antique books, wall hanging made of jute and then a shop with small keep sakes carved out of white marble.

All the keep sakes in that shop had meanings and Isla always got us one from the carnival bazaar.

"Can I take a look?" She asked and I nodded smiling at her eyes sparkling with joy of seeing these things around.

"How much is this for?" She asked looking at a small black marble sitting like a king on a white rock made also of marble.

I was not even surprised when she singled out the Panther from all those pieces to buy for herself. But that doesn't mean I didn't feel proud or ecstatic about it even though she was choosing the animal me.

The lady selling it gave Amber the explanation behind the piece.

"This means danger guarding from danger." Her ominous words made Amber roll her eyes.

But it struck like a frozen ice piece in my heart. It was so true, danger protecting from danger. No matter how much I help her, no matter how much I protect her from Quantums, I was still a danger with every second I was with her.

This was a depressing thought was I felt the negativity crawling in like a plague in my body.

I noticed her smiling happily like a child at the marble piece.

"That lady selling the piece was clearly creative, she comes up with this amazing meaning behind each piece." She said mocking the obvious fact in front of her.

"What if it was true?" I asked in a tensed tone.

"Huh? Does it even make sense. How can someone be danger if they are guarding me from danger? If they are protecting you that means that can take all the dangers for you not turn dangerous for you.

Someone dangerous guarding me from all the dangers that does not have to mean they are dangerous for me. Maybe it just means, they are dangerous for one trying to harm me.

God, I used lot of dangers didn't I?" She said now shaking her head amused by whole thing.

But with her words working like magical herbs, if felt the negativity convert into positive energy. She just changed the whole meaning of this, she just defended me from myself.

In her mind, how can someone who protects her can be a danger? And then her words gave me the wildest of thoughts, she said that I can take all the dangers for her.

Can I? Should I? Was letting her live be harmful for tribe? Can I let whole tribe be effected because of her? But the major question was can I let her get hurt now much less kill her?

"Well it seems I am boring you a lot Mr. Hearthrob." She said lightly.

And her title for me made me grin, heartthrob, I wish I was for her.

There, these stupid thoughts made me re think if I am sane enough.

"No, I am in deep thoughts" I said the truth like a joke.

"Hmm....deep thoughts like what?" She played along tapping her finger on her lower lips.

Her gesture made me wince mentally for making me test my strength.

To hell with all the questions, inhibitions and rules. I broke a lot today, why not one else?..well these were the reasons I gave myself.

"Deep thought about whether I should do this or not?" I said and grabbing her by the sides of the cheek I pulled her in for a kiss.

As soon my lips met her soft ones, I knew this was worth breaking a rule.

----------------------------------------------------

Cliffhanger..haha how we love those! Don't we ;)

Yeah..so finally did some rule breaking, about time people!

It was on a longish side, hope it makes up for being a lazy person :D

Thoughts, please? Means a lot!

And do remember to VOTE!