Chapter 311

“Oh hey, Tony,” I say, beaming at him and resisting the urge to laugh my ass off at his slack jaw, his unblinking stare. “Nice to see you! Did you just come out for a drink or,” I look around, but don’t see anyone with him, “are you out on a date?”

“Whaaaat weird-ass alternate dimension did I fall into?” Tony whispers, running a hand through his hair just as his face bursts into a grin.

“The best kind,” I say, grinning at him in return, wrinkling my nose. I jump a little as the bartender places the two beers in front of me and names his price.

“You can put them on my tab,” Tony says, raising his chin towards the bartender, who nods and walks away.

“Aw, thanks, Tony,” I say, genuinely touched. “That was nice.”

“Seriously, Ari,” he says, stepping closer to me and looking around, anxious. “What the hell are you doing here? This isn’t the sort of place where –“

“Daphne, let’s –“ Luca strides over, his voice tight and anxious, but his whole demeanor shifts when he realizes that it’s Tony I’m standing next to and not some stranger. “Oh,” he says, scowling a little and looking Tony up and down. “It’s you.”

“In the flesh,” Tony says cheerfully, giving Luca a wide, slightly wicked grin. “Nice to see you, man.” Luca doesn’t return the sentiment.

“He thought I was Daphne,” I whisper eagerly to my mate, pleased as hell. “Mission accomplished!”

“Is that’s what’s going on here?” Tony asks, leaning in towards us both a bit as I hand Luca one of the beers and take a sip of the other, grimacing as I taste it. Beer…is not my favorite. “You’re like…” but then he stops and shakes his head. “No, I don’t get it. Do I want to know?”

“It’s homework,” Luca says, putting a hand on my shoulder and attempting to turn me away. “Maybe the less you know the better.”

“Cooler homework than I get!” Tony calls, laughing a bit and giving me a wave as I follow Luca away. I give Tony a pout over my shoulder and mouth “sorry,” nodding to Luca, but my friend just gives me a wink and waves me off, letting me know that he’s not bothered by our abrupt departure.

“I feel like our cover’s already blown,” Luca murmurs, anxious, looking around. “Maybe we should go.”

“No way!” I say, laughing a bit and shaking my head. “It was a success! Didn’t you hear me – he actually thought I was Daphne!”

Luca sighs and looks down at me, shaking his head as we arrive at the table he claimed.

“Okay, go away now,” I say, sitting down on one of the stools and waving a hand at him.

“What?” Luca hisses, sitting down on the other stool and looking at me like I’m crazy.

“I want to try the other identity now!” I say, a bit between my teeth, not wanting it to look to others like we’re arguing. “I’m supposed to be really dumb! Which means you can’t be hovering over me – people have to actually come over here so I can see if I can convince them!”

“I want to stay close,” Luca growls, “where I can protect you. The people here, Ari –“

“Daphne,” I correct, raising an eyebrow.

He just rolls his eyes. “They’re not like…nice.”

“Luca, you can just go glower in the corner,” I say, flashing my eyes at him, a little angry. “It’s eight feet away – I’ll be fine!”

He sighs hard but then stands up, glaring at me a bit but doing as I say and walking away. I settle my shoulders primly for a second, pleased that he agreed, but then I remember that I’m not supposed to be prim – Ari is a bit prim – but whoever I am now…probably isn’t.

I exhale a long breath, trying to transform again and remembering what Faiza and I practiced, a little, in the classroom. As I sit quietly with my hands wrapped around my beer I adopt a bit of a vacant stare, an eager expression, pretending to be interested in the objects around me like I’m fascinated by them and don’t understand how they work.

I slip disturbingly easy into this personality – smiling a little as I take a sip of my beer, looking around and forcing myself to notice everything – the clock above the door, the variety of men all standing around, the few women – some of them very beautiful – likewise spread out in the room.

My results are nearly instant.

“All by yourself tonight?” A man says, coming over to my table and plopping himself down on a stool. I watch him with interest, noting his jeans and his button-down shirt, his reddish-blonde beard that’s slightly stained at the corners of his mouth.

I do my best to avoid a grimace and instead go even more vacant and bubbly.

“What?” I ask, blinking at him.

He smiles at me, pleased. “Are you here by yourself tonight, pretty lady?”

“Oh!” I say, beaming, and then I laugh like it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard – something else Faiza recommended when talking to men. “Yeah, I’m here all on my own. Just thought I’d, you know,” I shrug. “Check it out.”

“New to town,” the man says, giving me a satisfied smirk and lifting his chin towards my beer. “What are you drinking?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I say, looking down at my beer and giving another tinkly laugh. “I just…told the bartender to get me whatever. I don’t know a lot about beer. Um, do you?” I look at him with a great deal of hope in my eyes, worrying that I’m overdoing it.

But the way the man leans forward, desperately pleased to share his beer knowledge, lets me know that he’s bought my act hook, line, and sinker.

Over the next few minutes I use all of the tricks Faiza taught me – asking lots of questions, answering his own questions about me vaguely and always with a laugh, always turning the conversation back to him like I don’t have an interesting thought in my head and everything he says is fascinating.

It only takes us about half a beer for him to make his move. “Listen,” the guy says, leaning forward towards me. “You want another drink? Then maybe we can…get out of here?”

“Oh, um,” I say, biting my lip and giving a delicate shrug. “I would but…” I gesture over my shoulder towards Luca. “I’m actually here with my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend?” the man asks, raising an eyebrow as his face falls. He looks where I’m gesturing and, to my surprise, his lips turn up in a smirk. “If that’s your boyfriend, missy…I’m not sure he’s treating you too good.”

I turn around, my shock only increasing when I see that Luca is indeed standing in the corner where he indicated he’d go. But he’s there with three women, each of whom are kind of fawning all over him. And, to my shock, he’s got his eyes locked on one of them and isn’t even looking at me.

“Come on, baby,” the man says, reaching out and wrapping a hand around my wrist. “I’ll treat you real nice, unlike that playboy –“

“Sorry, babe,” Tony says, slipping onto the stool next to me and putting an arm around my shoulders. “I got busy catching up with some friends.” He leans in to kiss me on the cheek and then turns his eyes to the man with his hand around my wrist, his expression going shockingly cold. “And who is your new…pal.”

Tony flashes his teeth and glances down at the man’s hand, his meaning perfectly clear.

“Fucking Academy brats,” the man says, immediately removing his hand and standing up as he rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” He walks away, disappearing into the crowd.

“Thanks, Tony,” I say, turning to him with a little grimace before glancing again at Luca, who still hasn’t noticed that something’s changed. “My backup kind of failed me on that one.”

“Any time,” Tony says, dropping his arm from my shoulder and glancing over at Luca himself. “You…good now?”

“Yeah, I think I can handle it from here,” I say, pushing myself up from my chair and turning towards my mate and his three fans.

“Cool,” Tony says, smirking at me. “See you in class tomorrow.” He gives me a wave as he walks away and I take a moment to look after him, grateful again that our friendship is growing. Tony – he’s really got my back, doesn’t he?

Unlike some people.

I turn towards Luca again, striding off in his direction, suddenly not liking Newtown as much as I did before now that I see how much attention he’s clearly garnered in so short a time. Jealousy rises in me as one of the girls – pretty, blonde – places a hand on his chest and leans forward towards him, smiling up into Luca’s pretty brown eyes.

My eyes narrow when I see him flash his dimples at her, see her melt at the sight of them.