Home / Romance / The Awakening / Chapter 3: Part 2

Share

Chapter 3: Part 2

Author: RavenZ
last update Last Updated: 2021-02-19 21:59:16

Sera turns to Jack whose face appears genuinely shocked. Whatever is going on with him, I don't think he was expecting this. Sera's instincts start to kick in; she sneaks past his rigid body heading back into the store. This isn't right, she thinks shaking her head.

"Sera?" She turns around to respond when the fire alarm blares to life in a deafening roar. The sprinklers extend almost automatically before raining water on the two of them. Sera glances down, almost unbelieving as the water soaks through her shirt and pretty much everything else around. Their eyes meet again; Jack's eyes are as wide as his mouth. He's frozen in the same stance as when the sprinklers started. If Sera didn't know any better, she would say he looks just as stupefied as she must.

Pure unrelenting laughter bursts from Sera. What are the odds? Jack's shoulders visibly relax at Sera's reaction before also cracking a smile. He then walks beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder blades this time, guiding her toward the door.

"I'm sorry our first date was such a mess." His ringlets drip, but his eyes hold a sincerity she finds endearing.

"Well, when Amanda asks, I'll tell her that it was so hot the fire alarm went off." That gets a laugh as he holds the door open for her, his cologne filling her senses. The sirens from the approaching fire engines become increasingly louder. Jack escorts her all the way to her car out front when suddenly his demeanor changes.

"I'm sorry this had to happen tonight, I hope you'll give me a second chance."

"It's not a big deal, Jack, my clothes will dry. I'm worried about your store." Water has begun to pour out from under the front door and snake down the path toward the parking lot.

"Don't worry about it; it's just a glitch somewhere." He rubs his arm again, which Sera is beginning to realize that the gesture shows he's lying. "You should go home and dry off before the firemen get here and this date gets really embarrassing."

"So this was a date?"

"I was hoping it would be..." His eyes gaze down at his feet. "But, maybe we shouldn't count this as a date."

"Maybe." Her fingers swiftly slip into her pocket and deftly pull out the car keys behind her back. Jack's eyes study her face, trying to read her, but she spent a year schooling her features so that no one can.

"Well, this was... eventful." Her eyes glance down allowing the keys to jingle from her hands. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I hope so." His expression tries to hide disappointment before he closes the gap between them.

Sera grows increasingly nervous. The end of the date, the uneasiness of how to say goodbye flushes her cheeks. She can feel his breath on her face, feel his heart beat through his shirt; it has been a while since she's been this close to a man. "Definitely." Her arms quickly wrap around him in a hug, and she tilts her face to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Jack."

He watches her slip inside the car before closing the door behind her. Only when she straps her seat belt on and shoots him a shy wave, does he finally step back onto the curb.

Sera pulls away from the shop before glancing back in the rear view mirror just as the fire trucks begin to pull up. Jack's eyes are still staring after her sedan. Should she have kissed him? Jack is gorgeous, sweet, and owns his own business. So why does she still have goose bumps on her arm and the feeling that something is off? Her mind reels the entire drive home.

By the time she pulls the car across from her house, she's still no closer to answers. The weird feeling in the pit of her stomach has passed, and she finds herself wondering if she imagined it all. It could have been nerves, only it wasn't like any butterflies she's ever experienced before. That combined with the goose bumps and her hair standing on end make her wonder what Jack could be hiding. With a shake of her head, she exits the car, not able to bear thinking about it any longer. Her feet take her up the walk of the blue farmhouse she shares with her parents. When she returned home from college, she didn't have the funds to move out and now, quite a few years later, she finds she doesn't have the heart to. Her parents are the best 'roommates'. Her father is hardly ever home, working long hours in the city while her mother spends most of her time grading papers from all of her high school students.

She opens the door quietly, but there is no need. Her mother is still awake. She's curled up in the living room reading her latest adventure novel wrapped on the comfy (and dare she call ugly) recliner her father just had to have. Her curly auburn hair is up in a bun with a few stray strands spiraling free as her eyes intently scan the new Kindle she received for her birthday only a few weeks ago. It's safe to say she has become a little obsessed with it. Can't say Sera can blame her. She herself escapes to a different world every time she's asleep and has become a little infatuated with it as well. Bianca Cross looks up from her retro reading glasses when she hears the front door close.

"There you are. Where were you all evening?" It seems like no matter how old Sera gets, her mother will always be protective of her. A smile plays on Sera's lips when she enters the living room.

"I kind of had a date after work," she says, sitting on the edge of the couch across from her.

"Oh?" Her mother's head picks up; Sera has her full attention now. "And how did that go?" Her glasses slip low and she eyes Sera's wet clothes. Ever since Sera turned twenty-four, her old fashioned parents have begun hounding her to settle down and get married. They didn't hide their disappointment when she broke up with her high school sweetheart a year earlier. To be honest, to this day, he still comes up conveniently in conversation with her parents. She knows they mean well, they just feel she should be getting on with her life by now. Looking into her mother's dark almond-shaped eyes, Sera can't bear to admit she doesn't think there will be a second date. So instead, she switches to her go-to response—sarcasm.

"Oh, you know," waving her hand and scooting off the arm of the couch, "The kitchen exploded, the sprinklers went off, the cops came, the usual." Sera's footsteps slosh their way toward the stairs.

"Well, as long as you had fun," she says, shaking her head at Sera's antics before returning to her book. Sera notices she is leaving a trail of water in her wake when she climbs the stairs and slips into her room. Peeling off the wet clothes, she tosses them in the corner before throwing on an oversized tee shirt and collapsing into bed. After the day she's had, she's completely ready to escape to her alternate universe. Closing her eyes, she hopes that sleep will come quickly.

Related chapters

  • The Awakening    Chapter 4: Delusions

    NathanaelWind bristles through the trees as the moon casts a ghostly glow over the silent woods. The sounds of the Earth make their way to Nathanael while he's sitting on the edge of the windowsill with one knee bent. His skillful eyes survey the black trees surrounding the little farmhouse. The peaceful street causes him to relax, leaning slightly off his knee. His nose rises to meet the breeze. The air has changed. The cold has actually turned into a scent: crisp and earthy. The edges of the leaves have started to turn a shade of red. A grunt brings his attention back inside the room. Placing a leg on the ground, he examines the tree line one last time for good measure before climbing to his feet. If the Lord is testing him, he sure doesn't plan on failing. Sera begins to toss and turn on her bed. The covers tangle between her legs. This happens every once and a while. Sometimes he'll catch her mumbling something, but tonight she just rolls back o

    Last Updated : 2021-02-19
  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Prophecies

    The morning sun streams its way through the blinds, slowly creeping across the carpet until it remains on Sera's face like a spotlight. The light is a gentle reminder that it's time to wake up. Sera rolls over to face the wall and escape the sun, which is growing brighter and brighter by the minute. She finds herself unable to wake from this new dream. For months, the handsome stranger was just out of reach, and now she can feel him somewhere within the deepest parts of her. She refuses to let that go. Not soon after she rolls away from the impending morning does she begin to hear the raucous noise of the garbage truck hunkering its way down her dead-end street. Sera clamps her eyes shut. Tin garbage cans are thrown around and the truck screeches into her gravel drive before it turns around and putters away.She's allowed a few blissful moments of silence before her alarm clock clicks on, blaring the news: "It's a gorgeous, brisk December morning in Angelica, the temperature

    Last Updated : 2021-02-19
  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Part 2

    "You're not kidding," Jack mumbles. Her eyes blink toward him, standing across the counter. How long had she zoned out? "So, Sera, what can I get you today? I hear through the grapevine you had a bad date last night.""Oh," she giggles, "I had a date like you wouldn't believe.""That good, huh?""He wishes." The harsh sarcasm tumbles out before she can stop it."Ouch!" He pretends to stab his heart with an invisible knife. The laughter allows the awkwardness to dissipate between them, returning to their friendly, fun banter once again. "What can I do to help make this day better?""A cup of your world famous coffee should do it.""Ah, you sure know how to make a guy blush." She stands back, admiring Jack making her latte in the sexy way only he can, while he turns every so often to shoot her a smile. His biceps bulge when he shifts the machine's handle down and up again, causing Sera to turn her head to hide the blush from her own face. When

    Last Updated : 2021-02-19
  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Part 3

    Sera pauses on the sidewalk taking in the small store with royal blue curtains draping across the front windows. The door chimes when Amanda opens it and disappears inside, waiving for Sera to follow suit. Sera lets out a sigh and follows her into the dark shop. She just has to survive ten minutes of this junk, and then she can get back to work. Walking inside, Sera's immediately hit with the aroma of incense and lavender. It soothes her slightly, on the outside. Her insides have been doing weird backflips since she walked in."Good afternoon, lovelies, what can I do for you today?" An older woman approaches, her voice soft like clouds and eye shadow as bright as one."Hi." Amanda's excitement renews, "I have an appointment with Daphne.""That's me, dear, and your friend?"They both glance back at Sera, touching a figurine of a black cat on the desk. She snaps up immediately, caught. Amanda leans in closer to whisper, "She says she doesn't believe in this

    Last Updated : 2021-02-19
  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Part 4

    "The Sun. Presently, you feel lost and in a state of depression." The psychic's words cut through Sera to her very core, and she has to hide her shaking hands under the table. "You're letting your thoughts and worries thwart you and it's holding you back.""Temperance." The card depicts an Angel, wings outspread holding two cups. "Your biggest challenge is patience. You must relax, everything will unfold in due time. Worrying is not going to make your destiny happen any faster."“The Hermit. You are looking for answers, making you somewhat of an introvert. You've been shying away from people and even friends. Originally, it was an attempt to discover yourself, but it hasn't helped has it?" The analysis causes Sera to swallow hard before shaking her head. "That's because self-discovery happens through experiences, not introspection."Anna flips the next card and places it below the first two facing Sera. It's a moon with several wolves howling up at it. "Th

    Last Updated : 2021-02-19
  • The Awakening    Chapter 6: The Necklace

    NathanaelSera has spent the remaining hours after lunch, diving into work. Sometimes he would catch her staring at the computer screen, but for the most part, she kept herself distracted. She's numb to it all. That's why when she pulled into the coffee house parking lot, he didn't even care.He's been here countless times with her before. The past two days have been different. Sera is changing. He can't figure out whether he likes it or not; and can't for the life of him understand what this feeling is in the pit of his stomach, tying itself into little twisting knots repeatedly. By far the strangest feeling he's ever experienced.It's a habit when he hovers behind her while she orders. The tension between Jack and Sera is palpable. Jack always has that slick smile on his face; the one he only saves for her. Nathanael hates it. The way he looks at her, says her name, knows her drink, and watches her while she works on her laptop at nig

    Last Updated : 2021-02-23
  • The Awakening    Chapter 6: Part 2

    SeraphinaSera pulls her feet up onto the comfy green chair, her hand still clutched around her necklace. She could have sworn it just jumped. That's absurd. The necklace is just a vial filled with powder. As much as she reiterates that detail to herself, she can't keep explaining away the fact that it's... it's been feeling weird lately. Things appear to happen when she wears it—like glimmering slightly when she looks at it sometimes, and she can swear occasionally it fills her with this sense of security, like that blanket she carried around as a baby.Climbing to her feet, her hand still holding the vial, she picks up her purse and heads for the door."See ya, Jack!" She waves and slips out before he has a chance to reply.All she can recall is the necklace was among her presents on her eighteenth birthday. A little box, settled on the top of the pile—the only one without a card. She's on a self-imposed mission to

    Last Updated : 2021-02-25
  • The Awakening    Chapter 7: Calamity

    Sera could feel Amanda approaching before seeing her short, quaffed hair over the edge of her cubicle. She doesn’t feel the need to lower her search window, even though she knew she would have to explain herself. Instead, she continues searching until Amanda catches her.“Job searches?” She snickers low, knowing Mrs. Valentine has a way of popping up at the worst times. “What the hell are you looking at Sera? We both know you’re not going to leave me,” she jokes, but her smile falters.With a sigh, Sera turns her chair to face her best friend. “Don’t you ever just get tired of things,A? Don’t you just want a change? Do you ever feel like you have a destiny bigger than this?” She gestures to the space around her.“More thana simple job, 401K, weekends and holidays off, and a team of doctors at your beck and call? No, I think we have it pretty stinking good here, girl. What more do you want?”

    Last Updated : 2021-03-01

Latest chapter

  • The Awakening    Chapter 8: Part 3

    Glancing at the clock, she has two hours—what the hell could keep her busy until then. A nice relaxing bath should be just the ticket to get her in the mood for a girl's night. It's been a while since they've gone out. Usually, Netflix and wine are the kind of nights they have together. Sera has learned the hard way that going out with Amanda is an adventure in itself. Especially, when there's liquor and boys involved. For some reason, deep down, Sera has a feeling tonight is going to be a good night.After digging through her drawers, she finds a bath set she received from a crazy Aunt one Christmas. Perfect. Ripping open the packaging, she treks her way into the bathroom. Her nimble hands draw a bath in the cast iron tub, turning the nozzle to the hottest temperature it will go before tossing in the lavender bath soap. The bubbles ripple out automatically, filling the small bathroom with the relaxing scent. Sera slips out of her clothes with not even an ounce of sweat

  • The Awakening    Chapter 8: Part 2

    Pushing herself to her feet again, she notices a stir in the woods across the street. Her eyes study the bushes with her new sense of sight, but it turns out she doesn't happen to have x-ray vision. After a few more moments of staring at a bush, she finally decides there is nothing there and turns to head inside.Sera makes her way through the hall, her stomach growling like it never has before. Bianca Cross's humming makes it's way to her from deeper inside the house.“Mom?" Sera calls.“In the kitchen, dear."She walks in the kitchen and finds her mother is behind the newly renovated island. The house is old, old enough to have been in the family for centuries. When Sera's parents agreed to keep it, her mom had one condition—an updated kitchen. She can survive without air conditioning in the summer, the creaky floorboards, and a leaky roof, but an outdated kitchen was not going to cut it. It only took one month to get it Bianca-Cross-p

  • The Awakening    Chapter 8: Awakening

    Sera sits straight up in bed, gasping for air like it's the first breath her body has ever taken. Her blinds are open so that the sun, high in the sky, is shining directly in her face. That's when she realizes she's tucked into her own bed. Huh? Instinctively, she frantically runs her hands all over her body. Counting every rib, poking every muscle for pain, broken bones, any reason for the agony she remembers from the night before. She's still wearing the same outfit from last night. Her fingers pick out a tiny shard of glass from her light pink sweater. Ripping the covers off, she reveals the rest of her body. Her eyes widen as a gasp escapes her lips—there's dried blood all over her. The dress pants and sweater she was wearing look like they soaked through before they dried to a crusty red color. Yet, Sera finds no wounds. Not one ounce of pain on any part of her body; not even an ache from the running she attempted. Is it crazy that I actually feel... good?Sera sli

  • The Awakening    Chapter 7: Part 2

    They finally reached Sera's car, and she tries to dig into her pocket for the car keys. The nervous anxiety is building inside her once more. Before her fingers can grasp the key ring, he pulls her into an extra tight hug. Her fingers slip from her pocket, eyes wide with surprise. When he finally pulls away from their embrace, both his hands are on her shoulders.Looking up into his face, his eyes are on her lips. She's frozen as his hands slowly trace their way up to her neck, then her face, until he finally brings her chin to his and plants a soft kiss against Sera's lips. Her limbs grow cold, ice cold in an instant. Her eyes immediately shut and her mind floods with every daydream she has ever had about Jack. Like some corny movie trailer, Sera sees the months of flirting, the way she smiled in the candlelight, and the first kiss just now.Abruptly, Sera hands push him against her sedan, deepening their kiss. Her mind is numb, her fingers don't feel like hers as the

  • The Awakening    Chapter 7: Calamity

    Sera could feel Amanda approaching before seeing her short, quaffed hair over the edge of her cubicle. She doesn’t feel the need to lower her search window, even though she knew she would have to explain herself. Instead, she continues searching until Amanda catches her.“Job searches?” She snickers low, knowing Mrs. Valentine has a way of popping up at the worst times. “What the hell are you looking at Sera? We both know you’re not going to leave me,” she jokes, but her smile falters.With a sigh, Sera turns her chair to face her best friend. “Don’t you ever just get tired of things,A? Don’t you just want a change? Do you ever feel like you have a destiny bigger than this?” She gestures to the space around her.“More thana simple job, 401K, weekends and holidays off, and a team of doctors at your beck and call? No, I think we have it pretty stinking good here, girl. What more do you want?”

  • The Awakening    Chapter 6: Part 2

    SeraphinaSera pulls her feet up onto the comfy green chair, her hand still clutched around her necklace. She could have sworn it just jumped. That's absurd. The necklace is just a vial filled with powder. As much as she reiterates that detail to herself, she can't keep explaining away the fact that it's... it's been feeling weird lately. Things appear to happen when she wears it—like glimmering slightly when she looks at it sometimes, and she can swear occasionally it fills her with this sense of security, like that blanket she carried around as a baby.Climbing to her feet, her hand still holding the vial, she picks up her purse and heads for the door."See ya, Jack!" She waves and slips out before he has a chance to reply.All she can recall is the necklace was among her presents on her eighteenth birthday. A little box, settled on the top of the pile—the only one without a card. She's on a self-imposed mission to

  • The Awakening    Chapter 6: The Necklace

    NathanaelSera has spent the remaining hours after lunch, diving into work. Sometimes he would catch her staring at the computer screen, but for the most part, she kept herself distracted. She's numb to it all. That's why when she pulled into the coffee house parking lot, he didn't even care.He's been here countless times with her before. The past two days have been different. Sera is changing. He can't figure out whether he likes it or not; and can't for the life of him understand what this feeling is in the pit of his stomach, tying itself into little twisting knots repeatedly. By far the strangest feeling he's ever experienced.It's a habit when he hovers behind her while she orders. The tension between Jack and Sera is palpable. Jack always has that slick smile on his face; the one he only saves for her. Nathanael hates it. The way he looks at her, says her name, knows her drink, and watches her while she works on her laptop at nig

  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Part 4

    "The Sun. Presently, you feel lost and in a state of depression." The psychic's words cut through Sera to her very core, and she has to hide her shaking hands under the table. "You're letting your thoughts and worries thwart you and it's holding you back.""Temperance." The card depicts an Angel, wings outspread holding two cups. "Your biggest challenge is patience. You must relax, everything will unfold in due time. Worrying is not going to make your destiny happen any faster."“The Hermit. You are looking for answers, making you somewhat of an introvert. You've been shying away from people and even friends. Originally, it was an attempt to discover yourself, but it hasn't helped has it?" The analysis causes Sera to swallow hard before shaking her head. "That's because self-discovery happens through experiences, not introspection."Anna flips the next card and places it below the first two facing Sera. It's a moon with several wolves howling up at it. "Th

  • The Awakening    Chapter 5: Part 3

    Sera pauses on the sidewalk taking in the small store with royal blue curtains draping across the front windows. The door chimes when Amanda opens it and disappears inside, waiving for Sera to follow suit. Sera lets out a sigh and follows her into the dark shop. She just has to survive ten minutes of this junk, and then she can get back to work. Walking inside, Sera's immediately hit with the aroma of incense and lavender. It soothes her slightly, on the outside. Her insides have been doing weird backflips since she walked in."Good afternoon, lovelies, what can I do for you today?" An older woman approaches, her voice soft like clouds and eye shadow as bright as one."Hi." Amanda's excitement renews, "I have an appointment with Daphne.""That's me, dear, and your friend?"They both glance back at Sera, touching a figurine of a black cat on the desk. She snaps up immediately, caught. Amanda leans in closer to whisper, "She says she doesn't believe in this

Scan code to read on App
DMCA.com Protection Status