The Elemental Luna's Awakening

Chapter 7 - Awake

Rhiannon

I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing.

"Mmmm" I grumble-moaned as I rubbed my forehead. My head hurting too much to justify opening my eyes just yet, let alone answering the phone. I pressed the side button to shut up it's annoying tone and held the button down to turn off the volume.

"That was the most fu.cked up dream I've ever ...." just then my eyes shot open. I grabbed my phone off of it's charger and ran to the bathroom. Who doesn't go to the bathroom without their phone?

"Whatever Gram gave me is like a whole body purifier" I thought as I unlocked my phone while I was .....

5 messages, 2 missed calls, 1 voicemail.

TEXT UNKNOWN Friday 8:41 PM

Hey, it's Tim. I really am sorry about the whole puddle thing. I hope you can forgive me.

TEXT UNKNOWN Saturday 10:37 AM

I also wanted to say that I'm sorry for basically stealing your number. I really am an asshole.

TEXT Mr Kurtz Saturday 2:01 PM

I hope you arrived at your grandmother's ok. Please enjoy yourself! We have everything under control. The grandkids are excited about going on a few family trail rides. They adore your horses so much.

Take care, Ron

TEXT UNKNOWN Saturday 11:19 PM

I hope it's not too late. I figured you would have at least told me to fu.ck off by now. I'm going to try calling in the morning if I don't hear from you.

MISSED CALL UNKNOWN Sunday 9:54 AM

TEXT UNKNOWN Sunday 1:38 PM

Well, you don't have me blocked. I hope you're not that mad at me. I really am sorry.

MISSED CALL UNKNOWN Monday 8:11 AM

NEW VOICEMAIL

"How fu.cking long have I been out for?!?" I asked my phone, my eyes wide, as if it could answer my question. I mean, looking at the dates from the messages made it obvious I was out for about two and a half days. But I still felt the need to ask.

I went to my voicemail and hit play.

Tim

Hey, uh, it's Tim. I hope this isn't weird, but I still haven't heard from you. Let me know when you get this, OK? Uh, bye.

"Well, that's weird", I thought to myself.

I finished ...... taking care of business, turned on the shower, and decided to send my replies while I let the shower warm up.

The most important person to get back with was Mr ..... Ron, and let him know I made it to Gram's safely, thank him for everything, and to enjoy the horses. They really were a great family.

Next .... Tim .... Did I really want to bother? "How am I going to reply? Maybe I should just block him and be done with it?" I thought as I was staring at my screen.

Instead, I saved him to my contacts and then my fingers started texting back a reply.

Me

I'm sorry that I missed your messages and calls. I was just busy catching up with my Grandma. Thanks for checking in. As far as forgiving you, time will tell.

I hit send. It wasn't a complete lie. I just didn't tell him that Gram got hooked up with the good stuff and snuck it into my tea.

My phone almost immediately vibrated with a new message.

Tim

You're alive! I thought that I really fu.cked up or maybe you dropped off the face of the earth.

Me

Yes, I am and you did. No, I didn't. I've just been preoccupied.

Tim

I really am sorry. You're all I've thinking about lately. Please let me make it up to you.

I could feel my face blush. Yeah, I've had guys try to hit on me at school when no one else was around. Even Tim has a time or two. But no one ever bothered to reach out to me outside of school and I didn't really know how to react to the entire situation. I mean, I am basically a leper to them.

Me

We can continue to discuss it. I've got to go. I'll talk to you later.

Tim

Promise?

Me

Yes, I promise.

Tim

;-)

"First time for everything, I guess" I said quietly as I set my phone down.

I got in the shower and stood under the hot water, letting it rinse away the stink that I accumulated during my long sleep. "Oh how I've missed you" I said to the shower as if it was a long lost love.

I was happy that Gram was kind enough to take off my boots and socks, but then I scrunched my face in confusion. "How the hell did she get me into bed?" I wondered out loud. Maybe she's stronger than I give her credit for?

I got out of the shower only after the water turned cold and deeply inhaled the aroma of food cooking along with the the typical lavender and lemon aroma that's around here.

"I LOVE Gram's breakfast!" I thought with excitement. It might be later in the morning but she was still cooking it. "Maybe she feels bad for drugging me?" I snorted in amusement at the thought.

I dried off as fast as I could, got dressed, and wrapped my wet hair in a t-shirt. As I was stepping out of the bathroom, Gram yelled out to me.

"It's about time you got out of that bathroom! I thought maybe you were going to spend your entire stay in there." She's such a wise-ass, but that's why I love her.

"Gram, I wouldn't have had to spend so much time in the bathroom if you didn't slip me a mickey that knocked me out for just over two days before it caused my body to immediately remove whatever nutrients was left inside of me as soon as I woke up." I replied as I rounded the corner to the small dining room, coming to a complete stop, my eyes wide, and face heating up as I felt it turning red.

There, at Gram's table, sat the most handsome guy I had ever seen. Ok, so, I haven't seen a lot of guys, but he was VERY handsome.

He looked to be a few years older than me, had the most handsome facial structure, beautiful crystal blue eyes, brunette hair that was cropped short along the sides and back, while the top was a little longer and jagged cut. His short beard was just a little bit longer than a five o'clock shadow ...... and he had the biggest smirk on his face that made me want to crawl in a hole and die.

Gram quickly broke the awkward silence. "How many times do I have to tell you to be careful of the words that come out of your mouth?" I swear I could hear her trying to control her laughter.

"It's not like you gave me a heads up to having company over, Gram." I replied with embarrassment-laced words as I tried to compose my expression.

"I was cooking breakfast! Well, now it's more like brunch, but regardless, I was busy. Would you have preferred that I sent Seth to let you know he was here?" Gram turned off the stove and looked over her shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow.

"NO!" Ok, I need to calm down. I shook my head. "No, no, it's fine. Lesson learned."

"Good! Now that, that's over. Rhiannon, this is my neighbor, Seth Salvatore. Seth, this is my granddaughter, Rhiannon Brink."

Seth stood and I about died when I saw that he was taller than me. As he got closer, my heart beat faster and my stomach fluttered as if it was full of butterflies.

He held out his hand, and in the sexiest voice ever, said "Nice to meet you, Rhiannon".

I just stood there, staring, like a complete blonde ditz .....

Gram cleared her throat and it was enough to snap me out of it.

"Oh, yes, sorry. I seemed to have forgotten my manners. It's nice to meet you, too." I went to shake his hand, and as soon as I took it in my own I felt tingles and quickly pulled away, running my hand on my jeans. "I'm sorry, it must be static or something". I said confusedly as I had just gotten out of the shower.

Seth just smiled, "It's ok. Here, why don't we sit down and enjoy the food Julia has cooked for us". He went to the table, pulled out a chair, and gestured for me to have a seat.

Was he for real? Did people even do this type of stuff anymore? "I think I'm going to have to take another shower, only this time, a cold one." I thought to myself.

I swear he heard my thoughts, because another handsome grin spread across his face. I could feel my face turn 50 shades of red as I hurried to the chair, sat down, and he pushed the chair in for me.

"Seth, you might want to bring in the coffee. If she doesn't get any in her system, she'll be miserable for the rest of the day. She likes hers the same as I like mine." Gram nodded her head to the freshly brewed pot, signaling for him to grab it.

Mortified, I covered my face with my hands.

"You've already drank a pot yourself, so how come it hasn't helped you any?" Seth asked Gram sarcastically.

I heard Gram scoff and I uncovered my face in time to look Seth in the eyes as he filled our cups with the dark nectar of the Gods.

He winked at me as he handed my cup to me, our hands slightly brushing against each other's in the process. I swear I felt soft tingles again. "Maybe that deep sleep has my body a little out of whack?" Yeah, that's got to be it.

Seth carried the breakfast out for Gram, they both sat down, and we passed around the typical breakfast fixings. After our plates were set, Seth started the conversation.

"So, Rhiannon, how long are you visiting Julia for?"

"About two weeks before I need to get back home and start working." I put some jam on my toast. I was hungry, but I figured I'd play it safe and start small.

"That's not long at all. Where will you be working?" he asked before putting a slice of bacon in his mouth. I waited a couple of seconds, listening. Thankfully, he wasn't a noisy eater. Another box was checked.

"It feels like I just arrived yesterday". I glared at Gram but she just shrugged and took a long sip of her coffee. "There's a small dairy farm near my home that was looking for help and I figured I'd like that more than working in town. What about you? What do you do for work?"

"I'm an architectural engineer."

I about choked on my coffee "But you're so young!"

"Rhiannon!" Gram scolded me.

"Well, he is!"

"She's not wrong. I'm just going on 23. It's my family's business, so I've been around it my entire life. I work with my dad, so it's not like I'm running the business all by myself. He's going to run the business until he thinks I'm ready to completely take over. I just run the pa ..."

Gram coughed, interrupting Seth, and tilted her head down to look at him above her glasses as she put a forkful of eggs in her mouth. He took the moment to get another mouthful of food himself.

"I wonder what that was about?" I thought to myself. Huh, weird. Anyway. "So, do you visit Gram often?"

"When I can. I like to check in on her and see if she needs anything from town since she doesn't go there herself."

"It's nice having an errand boy!" Gram said teasingly while patting Seth's arm.

"I wish I could visit more, but with school and chores it makes it difficult. I know Matt doesn't bother visiting much." I knowingly looked Gram in the eyes with sadness in my own. Matt was her only child and once he got married he pretty much dropped everyone, not just me.

"Don't you worry about what he does and doesn't do. It's not your fault the type of troll that man is." Gram calmly replied as she finished her breakfast, and I caught another glance between her and Seth.

"There's something weird going on between them" I said in my own head, trying to figure out what it could be. I just know I'm missing something. "So, Seth, where do you live? I thought I knew who most of Gram's neighbors were. I don't remember anyone with the last name Salvatore and I sure don't remember any architectural engineers. Did you just move here or something?"

"Well, I live here." Seth answered nonchalantly.

"What, here with Gram?!?" That can't be what he means!

Gram cleared her throat.

"No, technically, this is our family land and she lives here." Seth answered, as if it was common knowledge.

"What?!? What do you mean the land is yours?!?" I was beyond shocked ......