Chapter 7

I followed her gaze to the clock on my nightstand—it was 4:07. My face burned red as I turned back to Josie, our expressions mirroring each other.

"Let's go," she said, and before I could process what was happening, she had already pulled me into her car.

"Um, I can drive myself," I protested.

"I know, but I want to pick you up so that you can tell me everything that happened," she explained, starting the engine. I sighed as I buckled my seatbelt.

When we arrived at Jessica's house, both of us were stunned by the sight of the beautiful mansion in front of us.

I said goodbye to Josie and ran up to the door, quickly shaking off my awe. I rang the doorbell and waited only about 10 seconds before Asmodeus answered it, chuckling when he saw me (which was annoyingly cute, though I hated to admit it).

"You know, I figured you were late because you were taking extra time to get ready, but apparently, you just didn't feel like being here on time," he teased.

"So, are you going to invite me in or...?" I asked, growing impatient.

"Depends. Are you a vampire?" I heard someone call out from behind the door. Recognizing Kade's voice, I stifled a giggle as Asmodeus opened the door wider.

I walked in and waited for Asmodeus to guide me to where everyone was. When I entered the room, I was immediately greeted with warm smiles from everyone.

"Carla!!" Kade shouted, enveloping me in a huge bear hug. I chuckled as he finally released me.

"You guys know each other?" Asmodeus asked.

"Well, duh. We're besties," Kade replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey Crystal," Jessica said, and I looked into his deep brown eyes.

"Hey," I smiled back. Milo simply smiled at me without saying anything. Asmodeus had already set up everything we needed for a poster.

"Really? A poster?" I said, looking at him.

"What's wrong with a poster?" he asked, and I sighed. After all the ways we had discussed to represent our project, he had settled on a poster?

Being the type A students we were, we had already completed the research and just needed to put it on the poster. I took out one of the pencils and wrote "Evolutionary Genetics" at the top in bubble letters, having learned the hard way never to write in Sharpie first.

After outlining the letters with a black marker, I looked up at Asmodeus’s almost angelic face to see what he was doing. He was chatting about sports with the boys, which I only half understood. I cleared my throat, and he turned his attention back to me.

"What?" he asked, and I gestured toward the poster. He sighed and began gluing his typed notes onto it. Once our notes were in place, I started drawing the necessary visuals.

"Those look really good," someone commented. I looked up to see Jessica standing over our poster, his dark brown eyes fixed on my drawings. I tried not to blush but could feel the heat rising in my cheeks anyway.

"Thanks," I replied. His intense yet comforting gaze met mine before Asmodeus re-entered the room with plastic water bottles.

When I finished the last visual, I looked up to see Asmodeus handing me a water bottle.

"I'm done," I announced, taking a sip of the crisp, cool water.

"Good," he said, sitting back down a few feet away from me.

"It just needs to dry," I added.

"I think I know how glue works," he snickered, picking up the poster and moving it to a table to let it dry.

I started texting Josie to come pick me up when someone grabbed my phone from me. Looking up, I saw Kade’s mischievous smirk.

"Give me my phone back," I demanded, reaching for it. He pulled it away, grinning mischievously as he started backing off. I quickly jumped up, but by the time I got to my feet, he had vanished.

"Oh, you little—" I was cut off by someone lifting me up from behind. I squealed and noticed that the person holding me had my phone in his hand.

"GODDAMNIT Kade, put me down!" I demanded, though he was laughing so hard he could barely stand. Despite my frustration, I couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy while he held me, making it almost impossible to stay mad at him.

He eventually set me down, and I shoved him playfully as he continued to laugh hysterically.

"Relax, all I did was add my contact," he informed me. I checked my phone to make sure he was telling the truth, and indeed, he had just added his number.

I finished sending the text to Josie, who replied that she would be there in ten minutes.

Jessica, Kade, and Milo were all laughing together in another room, and I wondered where Asmodeus was. I waited by the front door when I heard someone approaching from the side.

"You're pretty good at drawing," Asmodeus said, his deep voice cutting through the quiet. I looked up at him, keeping my chin slightly raised to maintain a bit of defiance, though inside I was flattered.

"Thanks," I replied with a slight grin. He didn’t smile back, clearly not wanting to show too much kindness. "I didn’t think you were capable of giving compliments," I added, glancing out the window for Josie.

"I can give them, I just don’t usually feel like it," he responded, still showing no emotion. The dim lighting, illuminated only by the moonlight creeping through the window, seemed to accentuate his features even more.

Josie pulled up, and I turned back to Asmodeus.

"Bye," I said simply. He nodded and walked away without another word. Classy.

On the way home, Josie made me recount everything that happened.

I didn’t mention Asmodeus’s compliment because I didn’t want her to think he respected me in any way. When I got home, I collapsed onto my bed, overwhelmed by the swirling mix of emotions in my head, and quickly fell asleep.