Then apologize.
I have nothing to apologize for. You disobeyed an order and you were almost kidnapped.
“Jesus Christ,” Charlie snapped. “Will you two stop doing that creepy mind talk crap for just two seconds so Ari and I can talk?”
“That’s up to Ari,” Jai replied blandly, leaning casually back in his chair. His next words were anything but casual. “But maybe she’s not up to talking, kid. It’s been a rough day.”
Before Charlie launched himself at him for calling him ‘kid’, Ari placed a placating hand on his arm. “It’s okay. We should talk.” She turned, ignoring Jai the Jerk, and headed upstairs.
As soon as she opened her bedroom door, she sensed Ms. Maggie and smiled sadly. “Ms. Maggie. It’s good to have you back.”
Her computer chair squeaked and Ari looked at it, assuming that was Ms. Maggie’s way of saying hello. Perhaps because she’d never felt so alone before and was still learning how to be alone, Ari had this sudden urge to throw herself into the ifrit’s invisible arms. Ms. Maggie could make herself corporeal when she wanted to. Would she do that to hug Ari?
You’re getting weird and morbid, she scolded herself. Wanting to hug a ghost. It was like a tragic Dickens story.
“I know you just got back, but could you give me and Charlie some privacy? We just need to have a quick talk.”
Three seconds later, the bedroom door shut behind them and Ari felt the ifrit’s energy disappear downstairs. She kind of liked the thought of Ms. Maggie mischievously watching Jai and him having no clue she was there. Sensing jinn hidden within the cloak was one of Ari’s gifts. It came with being the seal. As far as she knew, other jinn didn’t have that ability.
Charlie eyed the closed door and raised an eyebrow. “And that doesn’t freak you out?”
Ari shrugged. “Not really.” It really didn’t. It was comforting.
“Alright then.” He shook his head and then looked at her. Really looked at her. Charlie’s dark eyes melted as they searched her face and Ari went to war with herself. Half of her tingled under his soulful appraisal, and the other half hardened against him. “Are you okay, Ari? After the funeral, the attack… everything?”
“I’m getting there.”
“I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier. I was just worried about you.”
She nodded, not really accepting his ‘apology’ but trying to understand. Seeing his expression fall at her coldness, Ari sighed. Why couldn’t she be distant with him? Why, why, why? Resolve crumbling a little, she said, “I’m glad you were there. Having you there, with Rachel and Staci and everything, even with the fight… well, I’m glad you were there.” With each word she had spoken, Charlie had drawn closer. He had this look in his eyes that confused her, and when he bent his head to kiss her, Ari dodged his lips. Her resolve bolstered again, but this time with a strength she hadn’t even known she possessed.
Charlie blinked in confusion. “What just happened?”
“I think somewhere along the line you’ve assumed that you and I are…”
A look of astonishment crossed his face and he ran a hand over his now short hair. He made a little huffing noise of bemusement. “Aren’t we?” He stopped at her expression. “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t fighting anymore, but I didn’t think that meant… we weren’t…”
Ari shook her head, gripping tight to that icy calm, her hands slipping on its surface, but she struggled to hold on, nonetheless. She needed that icy calm. For the first time in her life, she wanted to need it more than she needed the boy in front of her. “I love you, Charlie. I always will. But I don’t want to be with you.” She let those words sink in and then said softly, “Let’s just stay friends, okay.”
The hurt that darkened his eyes and made him suck in his breath like she'd punched him was almost enough to make her let go of the ice. But the thought of what she’d lost, what her dad had said to her before he died, played over in her mind and she held tight.
“Jesus, Ari.” He exhaled and flopped down on the bed. “I don’t understand… I thought… I thought you wanted this just as much as I do?”
She nodded, remembering the longing, the aching for him. “I used to.”
A terrible silence fell between them, and when he looked up, tears shimmered in his eyes.
Ari clenched her hands into fists. “The night of my eighteenth birthday I caught you screwing someone in my dad’s bed.”
Charlie’s eyes widened with horror, and he shook his head. “Ari, I was out of it that night… it was Mike’s anniversary, I was so messed up, I can’t even… I am so sorry… I don’t even remember—”
She held up a hand to silence him. “I didn’t tell you to guilt trip you. I’m just…” she sighed. “I was hurt. It hurt a lot. But I didn’t react, really. And Rachel accused me of not actually being in love with you.”