Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Khai sat on a log by the bonfire subconsciously swirling the drink in his hand, before emptying it down his throat. On one side of him, Elliot sat with Maxine, who spared no efforts to make sure she went to bed with him after the party. Austin sat in front of him with Andrea and Jennifer, easily flirting with them both, leaving the two girls pulling eccentric stunts for his complete attention.

Ginny sat next to him, guzzling her fifth beer in frustration. She spent the last half hour trying to get Khai to spare a decent look at her, but the very idea of speaking to her gave him a dull headache. She now resorted to running her finger lightly over his jeans, probably so they could go make out somewhere behind a tree.

Khai knew she wouldn't object even if he pounced on her right now, but he'd already made the mistake of hooking up with her twice last weekend. She went around the women's dormitories claiming to be his new girlfriend until Natalie gave her a reality check.

One corner of his lips lifted up to form a lazy smirk. He could always count on Natalie to drive these girls away from him. He knew that she'd have Ginny in tears by the end of tonight for trying and failing to hook up with Khai. All he had to do was establish some distance and Natalie would take over, sparing him the trouble of an actual conversation.

As Ginny finished the last of her beer, she pretended to lightly sway from side to side, holding her head like she was suddenly too drunk. Khai knew she wasn't the least bit drink because he'd seen her doing keg stands like it was second nature, at the beach last weekend.

She was about to dramatically tip and fall onto his shoulder when he suddenly stood up. Her eyes went wide as she continued to fall without landing on his shoulder, aggressively crashing into Elliot, who's drink spilled on Maxine.

"Geez Ginny, get a grip!" Elliot clicked his tongue at Ginny, as she pushed herself up with a confused expression. He turned to Maxine who looked like she just got out of a wet t-shirt contest wearing no bra. He winked at her before suggesting that they take a walk to dry herself.

"Khai…" Ginny turned around to ask what happened when she saw that he was already ten feet away from them, walking to get himself another drink.

As Khai, walked towards a keg, he heard the chatter around him slowly dying. He saw people around him staring at somebody and speaking in low voices. He looked up to see who everyone was talking about and his whole body stiffened.

His heart raced as he saw Anaya walking into the party. Her soft waves fell over her bare shoulders, framing her striking features perfectly. The light from the bonfire bounced off of her, creating a warm glow on her skin. Her jeans hung loosely on her hip, revealing a hint of her waist. She wore a small nervous smile on her lips, that seemed to light up the whole party.

Her entrance evoked a strange sense of excitement within Khai. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and straightened his shirt. He ruffled his hair and ran his hands through it again, aimlessly trying to fix it before quickly giving up. Taking quick deep breaths to calm himself down, he slowly made his way towards her. If he didn't speak to her today, he might marry Natalie to punish himself for the rest of his miserable life.

*****

Anaya waited by the beer keg, ignoring all the whispers from the people around her. She was used to the shallow curiosity that oozed off of people when she walked into a new crowd.

"Do you think we'll find Lindsay here tonight? It's been a while since I caught up with her."

"Ana, tonight, let's focus on making friends that didn't live with us in Bellevue." Meghan suggested, passing her a cup filled with beer.

"Hey there," a deep resonant voice came from behind. Heat rose to Ana's face as she suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach.

George headed towards them and greeted Khai. "Hey man! How've you been?"

"Khai! It's so good to see you." Meghan said.

Ana watched him tip his chin to acknowledge her friends before his eyes settled on her.

"How've you been Anaya?" His words made her heart flutter.

She gulped audibly, took a breath in and replied "Much better, it's more of an inconvenience than anything else."

His hand reached for hers, gently holding the fingers of her right hand and bringing it up closer to his face.

"It isn't healing fast enough." He muttered sullenly. His soft breath on her pulse raised goose bumps on her skin, as if the cool summer breeze got a lot colder all of a sudden.

He ran his thumb over her fingers as he examined her wound, for longer than she expected. He let go of her hand and looked up at her.

"Come sit with us, over here." He said to them. His lips curved into a small easy smile that immediately brightened her mood.

Khai started to lead Ana towards where he was sitting. George and Meghan followed them chatting with Khai as they made their way to the other side of the bonfire.

They approached the logs and Khai thanked his stars to see that Ginny had left. Austin looked up at the new group with an amused smile.

"Who do we have here?" He asked.

George and Meghan sat next to each other, while Ana took a seat next to Meghan. Khai settled himself next to Ana and spoke to Austin.

"That's George, and his girlfriend Meghan." He said.

Austin grinned at them before his eyes moved to Anaya. Khai noticed Austin's pupil's dilate ever so slightly.

"This is Anaya." One corner of his lips curved into half a smile and his eyes held a subtle warning when he introduced her to Austin. Austin simply cleared his throat as his eyes darted between Anaya's innocent eyes to Khai's menacing ones.

"Hey Anaya, it's nice to meet you. I'm Austin and these two fallen angels right here are Andy and Jen."

Anaya chuckled and said hello to everyone.

"So, what've you guys been doing all summer?" Andrea asked, placing her hand on Austin's shoulder while she faced the three new people in the group.

Khai brushed the back of his hand against Anaya's to divert her attention to him. He ignored the conversation with everybody in the group and leaned in closer so he could only speak to her.

His voice came out deep and low. "Meghan tells me you've been having trouble sleeping. Is that any better now?"

Ana's heart warmed at his concern. She nodded, smiling at him shyly.

"Do you mind handing me your phone? You can say no." He extended his palm to her, before pulling it back up.

Anaya was confused but she got her phone out of her back pocket and handed it to him.

"I have trouble sleeping at night all the time. You can text me if you're bored." He entered his number in her phone before handing it back to her.

Anaya stared at him, her eyes holding suspicion. As if reading her mind, he raised his hands in surrender and said "Only to take a walk with you, give you a tour of the grounds, you know… we could kill time together. That's all."

She stifled a laugh at his gesture and a boyish smile broke out on Khai's face as he looked back at her.

"Khai, what is your last name?"

"Heathcliff, my name is Khai Heathcliff." He held out his hand, offering her a handshake. "I never really introduced myself to you. Hello Anaya, I'm Khai Heathcliff – someone you can text if you have trouble sleeping."

Anaya took his hand with her left, shaking it lightly. "Anaya Willow – and I'll hold you to your offer." She smiled playfully. She pulled her phone out, looked for his number and dialed it. "There, now you have mine."

Khai looked at her with an inscrutable expression, before he rubbed his face with both his hands. Anaya wondered if he thought she was being too forward and nervously drank half of her beer.

While George, Jen and Andy were seriously chatting about where one could find the best night club in the town of Monserrat, Austin and Meghan were only partially listening.

Austin ears perked up in amusement when he heard Khai speak to Anaya. Austin, Elliot and Khai grew up in Orestes together. They'd known each other for as long as they could remember. Never in over twenty years of knowing his friend had he seen Khai speak to a girl nervously.

If he told anyone back in Orestes that Khai Heathcliff had cared for a woman enough to give her his phone number, they call it a blatant lie. Yet here he was, talking to Anaya's friend about her sleep schedule. She was the girl that had him waiting in the dining hall like a madman. This was going to so much fun to see.

Meghan on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she overheard bits and pieces of Khai's conversation with Anaya. She finally figured out how to keep Anaya safe from that trash bag of a Wahren! She was going go spend the entire weekend vetting Khai Heathcliff like an FBI agent and then cheer for him as he broke Sean Perkins' face.

Unable to control her excitement, she broke out into an abrupt applause for her brilliant self. Everyone around her turned to her with a questioning look. Her face burned as she realized that she had actually clapped out loud.

"Heh, I was just excited with all the talk about night clubs. Why don't we all go out clubbing next weekend?" She asked, praying she didn't come off as a complete weirdo.