Taming the Serpent

Chapter 13

As time crawled on, days turning into weeks, Ominis did everything he could to try and convince himself that a relationship with Silver that went any further than friendship would be impossible, if not patently stupid. He tried very hard to tell himself that she was simply being kind to him because she too desired a friend and he treated her well, and not for any other reason.

It was extremely difficult to do, however, as both Silver and Sebastian seemed to be trying their absolute hardest to convince him otherwise. Silver sought him out frequently, finding him in the library or in the greenhouses, following him to the Undercroft when he was alone, each time engaging him in soft conversation and gentle banter, her timid, light touches to his arm or back sending sparks flying over his skin, each touch lingering just that little bit longer until he forced himself to pull away, fighting the yearning within him.

Sebastian only made matters worse.

"Mate, I get that you're blind, but even you have to see she's flirting with you!" he said halfway through October. Ominis had just finished describing the perfectly innocent and friendly outing they'd had to Lower Hogsfield, where she'd treated him to lunch and even bought him a present, a deliciously warm scarf that he immediately wound around his neck, suspecting that she'd been wearing it herself, because it smelled exactly like her hair, and did something funny to his stomach.

It flipped again as he caught another drift of her scent, and Sebastian laughed.

"Look, I don't know if you're being deliberately thick about this, but if you keep ignoring her, she's going to get bored and stop trying," he said, and Ominis tensed.

"Why would she?" he asked, hoping his sudden alarm didn't show on his face. "We're just friends, Sebastian, she can't think of me like that!"

"Why?" Sebastian sounded genuinely perplexed. "I keep telling you, you're great, and even if most of the morons here can't see it, Silver's clearly not as stupid as the rest of them."

"I'm not," Ominis said sullenly, then raised a weary hand. "Stop trying to tell me otherwise, I'm exhausted by it."

Sebastian sighed, flopping to his mattress. There was a shuffle, and his voice came again, aiming up.

"You know, that Halloween Ball's coming up," he said, his tone overly casual. "You taking anyone?"

"The Giant Squid," Ominis sniped. "That's the only thing that'd probably accept an invitation from me."

Sebastian gave an exasperated groan and got to his feet.

"You're annoyingly thick, sometimes," he grumbled, heading for the door. "Don't come crying to me when half the school asks her out and she picks someone else because you're too dense to see she likes you."

"I don't even want to go!" Ominis snapped as the door banged shut, and he threw himself back onto his bed, glowering. He could truly think of nothing worse than sitting alone at a table, ignored by everyone, as he had at every damn one of the balls he'd attended. A silent, unobtrusive, pouting wallflower, listening to everyone have fun as he twiddled his thumbs. But his stomach twisted, and he reached for his new scarf, pressing it to his face and inhaling the subtle trace of Silver's hair.

She surely wouldn't want to go with him, if she even wanted to go at all. She'd never given any indication that she would, and he couldn't remember hearing her at the last one. But... what if he was wrong? What if Sebastian had a point, and she was eager to attend this one? It was all anyone could talk about, after all, and it was true that people would be looking to invite her, to show her the good time he was incapable of providing...