Aria took one look at their waiter, at the metal pendant and at the bizarre metallic shade of his eyes, and felt a shudder run through her. She looked sidelong at Aura, knowing that she saw it too. Aura kicked her lightly under the table, a silent warning to behave herself.
"Why did we decide this was a good idea?" Aria whispered, her already high voice shifting up another full octave. "Why didn't you listen to me?"
"Because I thought it was just social anxiety, you idiot! If I'd have known... I thought it was just a rumor! I didn't expect it to be true!" Because there was no mistaking that haunted look in the boy's dark-gray eyes. Or the iron bangle bracelet, how it had thickened just a tiny bit, extending up his arm, once he'd laid eyes on them.
Seeing the girl with the brilliant green eyes, catching the scent of chlorine on the air, Aura stiffened slightly in her seat, her hands going up into a defensive position automatically. Aria saw it and her eyes went wide, feeling a warm sensation in her fingers. Several of the normal people around them started talking loudly in unusually high-pitched voices; one started gasping like there was no air in the room. One spark and the room could quite possibly go up in flames. Aura shut her eyes tightly, taking a shuddering breath in; so did Aria.
"Get it together, get it together get it together." Aria whispered. Still that warmth built in her hands the way it always did when she was stressed. "No no no, Aria. No." She whispered, out loud. [i]Don't you even, Aria, because if you do all these people will die.[/i]
When the boy brought her drink Aria grabbed for her cup, grabbing a handful of ice cubes and gripping them so tightly that her knuckles went white, sighing in relief as the melting ice eased the almost-painful heat in her fingertips.
Aura was trembling too, her already pale skin gone bone-white. "Aria, are you okay?" she whispered. "God, why are we so jittery at the idea of this?"
"I have no idea, but I just about blew the whole place up and I'm terrified and trying to focus so hard that I don't think I could eat even if I tried right now." Aria whispered, grabbing another handful of ice out of her cup. Most of the people in the room had quit talking with such high-pitched voices, except for Aura. Hers was still squeaky, revealing how stressed she was.
"I think the woman behind us is one too... She smells like chlorine and has eyes that are too green to be natural."
"Or she's wearing contacts and just came from open swim."
"Open swim isn't until 5:30, Aria. The swim team has practice before then and she looks too old to be on the USA team."
"Okay, I'm terrified, and I'm trying to delude myself into calming down before I spark and blow up all the hydrogen that I'm sweating right now. I don't want to die in a fireball before I finish high school."
"Sheesh, fine. But don't you think we should ask them about it?"
"Maybe we should go outside for that conversation, or I guarantee that I will blow something up out of fear."
"Alright. You ask. Oh look, here he comes."
When the boy came over again, Aria flashed him a very small, very nervous smile. "E-excuse me, Jaden? I... I was w-wondering if... when... Oh dear... um... c-could we m-m-maybe go t-t-talk out-outside for a m-moment? w-w-when you're d-done with w-work, of c-course." Wincing at her own stuttering and how terribly high-pitched her voice was, she fell silent lest she babble any more than she already had.