Chapter 23

Neither Damien nor Logan had shown up at school. Logan's absence wasn't too much of a surprise given his performance last night, but Morgan had expected to see Damien. 

'Or rather...I wanted to see him.'

The more she thought about him, the more she missed him.

After her last class finished, she saw Tom looking at her as if he wanted to talk to her, but she didn't have time for him. Whatever he wanted could wait. She shot up from her desk the second the bell rang and shot down the corridor. 

Passing the counsellor’s office, she almost collided with the new counsellor as he exited his office.

"Sorry," she muttered. 

As the guy smiled and nodded at her she felt a flash of deja vu. She loved that sensation—a small glimpse through time or an extra dimension. An almost magical experience.

The corridors began to fill with students just as she breezed through the front entrance and into the courtyard. She walked so fast she was basically running, leaving her out of breath, red-faced and sweaty by the time she got to Damien's house.

Fishing through her bag, she found her compact and reapplied her face powder and lip gloss before ringing the bell.

Tom answered, filling the doorframe as he looked at her with a half-smile.

"Morgan Riley," he said.

"Tom..." Morgan said, planning to reply in kind until she realised she'd never found out his surname. It wouldn't be the same as Damien's as they were stepbrothers.

"Is Damien home?" she asked.

Tom stared at her for a moment before nodding. "He's not in a happy mood, so...enter at your own risk."

"Okay," Morgan said.

Tom moved slightly, meaning she had to squeeze past him to get inside. Once in, she slipped off her shoes, placed them by the others in the hallway and ran up the stairs.

His door was closed, as usual, so she knocked before entering. She found the room in darkness, the only light being the glow from his computer screen.

"Playing DoD?" she asked. 

He looked up briefly and nodded.

Since he didn't tell her to go away, Morgan approached slowly and sat on her knees at his side, watching him play as she'd done when under his spell.

They sat in silence for a moment before Damien began to make his usual agitated comments about the game. According to him, the 'top-laner' was rubbish and one of the other players was stealing his kills.

"Do you win if you destroy that tower?" Morgan asked, seeing the characters on his screen gathering. Flashes of magical abilities and arrows filled the screen before the word "VICTORY" materialised in a puff of purple smoke.

Letting out a sigh, Damien let his hands drop heavily to his lap before turning to Morgan with a questioning look.

"I just wanted to check you were okay...after what happened yesterday," Morgan explained.

"Why?" Damien asked.

"Erm." Morgan pondered for a moment. It was a good question. "I...I was worried about you."

This was the truth. She'd thought about nothing else all day. 

"But why though," Damien pressed. "We aren't friends."

"We aren't?" Morgan asked. This upset her a little—knowing he didn't consider her a friend. 

Damien shook his head in the negative as she swivelled his hair to face her. He stared down at her, waiting for her to explain something she didn't entirely understand. 

"I let you go," he said. "So why do you keep coming back?"

Morgan chuckled—a nervous and abrupt sound. "You know the saying, right?"

Damien frowned and tilted his head, giving her a look that made her wish she could disappear. She didn't want to explain herself, but it was too late to backtrack now.

"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours...or something like that."

Morgan shrugged and looked away, feeling herself blush at the admission. If she confessed her feelings and he didn't reciprocate, it would crush her.

She was surprised when he popped a finger under her chin and lifted her head to face him.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked. He looked suspicious. Unsure.

Morgan nodded gently. "Yes."

"So, say it," he prompted.

It was mean. They both knew what she was trying to say but he was putting her on the spot. And why? Did he enjoy toying with her?

'Probably.'

"I can't stop thinking about you," she said. "I want to be your girlfriend for real...if you want me to. I know I'm probably not your idea of a perfect girl but there must have been a reason you chose to make me fall for you, other than simple revenge because there are so many other ways you could have done it."

Once she started spilling her thoughts, it became impossible for her to stop.

"And you slept with me. I mean...most guys wouldn't turn down sex, but it seemed as though you liked me at the time."

Her eyes drifted from him as she went on and on, focusing on the posters above his bed.

"I did it because I've had a little bit of a crush on you forever, as much as I hate to admit it," Damien said. "I figured it was okay to take what I wanted by force. I mean...what's the point of having all this power if it doesn't get me what I want?"

"I..."

Morgan wasn't entirely sure how to answer that. It came as a complete surprise that he'd been crushing on her. From his attitude and the way he looked at her, her first guess would be that he hated her. And she could hardly blame him. She'd been horrid to him and his friends in the past.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For?" he asked.

"Just...how I was. How I used to treat you. I was a complete bitch and I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry, Damien."

Damien chuckled as he moved his fingers from her chin and stroked her cheek. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"I do," she assured him. "Please give me another chance."

"Okay," Damien said, much to her relief. "But we do it properly this time. Start with a date."

"Ooh." Morgan perked up and smiled. "I have a great idea."

***

Erin stood in front of her mirror, checking her outfit for roughly the hundredth time. She pulled at the tartan skirt, wondering if too much of her leg was showing.

'That's a good thing,' she reassured herself.

Since receiving Morgan's text she'd been panicking over what to wear. The message had invited her on a double date at the bowling alley at seven pm. She assumed they would eat as well. Most dates involved food of some kind... and sitting down.

She sat on her computer chair, making sure the skirt didn't ride up too drastically.

"It's fine, it's all fine," she whispered to herself, checking the clock.

7:30.

Erin gave herself one final look over before telling her mother she was going out. As usual, her mother wanted to know who she was meeting, where they were going and what they were doing.

"Just Damien and the others," she said—a white lie. "We're going bowling."

"Okay, make sure you keep your phone on you," her Mum said. She said this every time Erin left the house as if she might suddenly decide to live like it was 1995.

She kissed her mother on the cheek before rushing off, now made late by the woman's interrogation. Getting to the front door, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn was overpowering. The front part of the complex was a cinema, with an arcade in the centre that led into the bowling alley and diner. By the time she made her way to the bowling alley, they were already there. Damien, Morgan and...

"What the heck?" Erin muttered, feeling her cheeks turn pink.

She'd assumed the double date was with Jay as they had planned, but it was Toby who sat opposite the pair of lovebirds, his back to Erin.

As Morgan looked up Erin made a face at her, questioning what was going on.

"Oh, come on," Morgan said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You two are clearly into each other."

Erin exchanged glances with Toby who shifted on the spot, scratching his head as he smiled and looked away.

"Go and get shoes," Damien demanded, saving her from the embarrassing situation. "Go, go."

As Damien took her by the shoulders and led her in the direction of the shoes, she felt it was the right time to inquire about Morgan.

"You're back with Morgan?" she asked. "I thought you said there was some other mystery woman you liked?"

"Hmm," Damien grunted and shrugged. "I realised I was flogging a dead horse with that other relationship."

"Oh?" Erin said, not entirely sure what he meant.

"Well, I'd put so much effort into it that it was hard to quit, even though I knew it was the right thing to do. You can't force someone to love you, I mean...I can in the literal sense, but it's just not the same," he explained. "Sometimes you have to let someone go and see if they come back to you."

"Like Morgan did." Erin nodded.

"Exactly," Damien said, turning back to look at Morgan with a faint smile. It was odd to see him with a soft expression.

"Is it weird because our dates used to date each other?" she asked, looking over at the pair of them with a raised eyebrow.

"I think they are done with each other," Damien said, placing an arm around her shoulder as the attendant collected her size 4's from the back.