Chapter Fourteen - Part Three

Innocence was the goal here – an innocence that packed a hard, right hook. I didn’t know what he had or hadn’t said to Johl, and vice versa. But here was my chance to try and find out.

“Wednesday?” Tidus repeated, effectively confused.

“Johl’s party,” I said. “He invited me. I just assumed you’d be there…”

His jaw tightened, and a steely glint was back in his deep, blue eyes. And in that moment, I found myself unable to reap the contentment I had grown from sewing that particular oat. I gained no satisfaction in seeing him angry. Instead, I found only an emptiness in its place.

“I didn’t know that my brother asked you to his party.” Tidus said, brimming with anger. “Naomi, Johl is never without some hidden agenda or motive. He isn’t nice just for the sake of it. So you’d be doing yourself a favor by not showing up.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, hardly able to believe it. “I thought this was what you wanted! Me, getting close to the Council to help you.”

“This is not a way for you to get close to the Council, Naomi. This is a way for my brother to get close to you. I haven’t told him anything about Claudia or her visions, and it needs to stay that way. He can’t know about this, Naomi, because if he finds out… you’re as good as dead. I can promise it.”

“Tidus, I can handle myself.” I assured. “I’m not scared of your brother.”

“Well, you should be.” he shot back. “Look, I know you think that I’m distancing myself simply because I hate you – but that’s so adolescent, Naomi. I’ve kept my distance because the less contact between us, the better chance we both have of getting out of this alive. My family is extremely protective, and Olivia wouldn’t spare a thought to having you killed if she knew about any of this.”

“Then you do believe me.” I said, looking at him with disbelief. “Because that’s the only reason I can come up with for understanding why you would protect me from your family. Deep down you’ve believed me this whole time, haven’t you?”

“I know liars, Naomi.” Tidus said, studying me with those piercing eyes of his. “And although you’re a good one, I know that you aren’t lying about this. But I’d be a fool to put my trust in you without proof. Which is why we need to be careful about how we handle Johl. If he finds out about any of this, he could tell Olivia and the rest of the Council, and I don’t want to think about what might happen after that. But my brother has a knack for getting close to women I’m involved with –”

“Wait a minute, you think we’re involved?” I interrupted, eyebrows raised.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” he said, looking sheepish.

“Yeah, but it’s already out.” I said, closing the short distance between us. He was wearing a thin, grey hoodie and over that a dark green jacket. I took the strings of it into my hands, and began to wind them playfully between my fingers.

“What did you want to say to me, earlier? For once, why don’t you just speak what’s on your mind, Ti?”

He said nothing, simply staring down at my hands, as if he couldn’t look away.

“You know, I bet you would have looked great in a tux.” I said, gently tugging on the strings and pulling him closer.

“Sorry,” Tidus said, wrapping his cold hands around mine. “But I’m not your type.”

He forced my hands away from his chest and then dropped them.

“Just keep the ring safe,” he said. “And try not to lose it.”