Lucian Ch. 09

Until now.

He didn't even know who the sweet donators had been. Maybe Taylor or Harper, maybe Nico. Charlie? Did it matter?

Of course it did.

He'd been locked inside his grief, barricading his door and shutting his ears -- but they'd wanted to find him, to enter his cold world and tell him they belonged there with him.

He only had to want it.

And now, eating a sweet, juicy peach one of them had thought of giving him, he could only agree. They were part of him; he was part of them.

And it made him cry.

"Lucian."

He looked up. The girl was petite, hiding her eyebrows under thick blond bangs. He knew her, of course. She was the little beautician that helped MacKenzie -- what was her name? They called her Honey.

"Hi, Honey," he said.

"I hope it's good," she said.

She knelt next to him and picked a purple grape off a plate, pushing it past her pink lips. She didn't smile, she grinned.

"I was afraid you'd starve yourself; protesting against something or other," she said, her voice muffled by the wet juices of the fruit. "Like one of those political prisoners, you know?"

He cleaned his fingers with his tongue and said:

"You put the food here?"

She blushed, looking down and toying with a strawberry.

"Taylor too, you know, and Harp," she said. "We, ehm... we were worried. You didn't answer. Nothing."

He lent in and touched her face. Then he kissed her.

"Thank you," he whispered after they separated. "I was a fool. God, I was so stupid, wasn't I?"

Her blush touched on purple by then. She shook her head left and right, her hair brushing his hand.

"No no," she said. "Never stupid. Just... brave."

He held her gaze until it wandered off.

Brave?

"Honor," he said, remembering her true name. "Will you come with me when I leave?"

He didn't know why he asked her. Until that moment, he hadn't even thought of leaving, let alone with whom and how.

"This is my plan," he said.

***

The car eased down the ramp to reach the country road that led to Norton's.

"Sit up, Honey, we're almost there," he said to the girl in his lap. "Look, this is where Martinez threw me out of his car in the middle of the fucking night. I had to walk half an hour through slimy mud on my broken heels, almost naked."

They looked out, their heads close together.

"Fucking bastard," Honor whispered.

"No," Lucian said. "He never got to that." And they both chuckled.

"I remember," Ellis said at the wheel. "We were all confused when we heard it the next day."

Lucian turned his face to her.

"Confused?" he asked. "what was it you didn't understand?"

The girl looked at him via the mirror, her eyes big.

"Well," she said. "You know, we all envied you for that date. Even us Bobs. Dinner with a millionaire holding his car door for you. Wearing a wonderful dress. It was like a fairytale."

Lucian sighed.

"I guess so," he said. "Parker was flabbergasted too. I bet you still don't understand."

He heard Honor giggle. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him.

"Ah yes, you little slut," he said, trying to sound harsh. "I'm sure you would have let him fuck you right there in the car, on the driveway."

The girl giggled and pushed her big soft tits into his chest. Then she planted her open lips on his mouth and kissed him deeply.

The car's claxon tore them out of their bliss.

"Fuck, we're there!" Honor exclaimed as the gate of Norton's Academy of Excellence slowly opened. "And you look a mess!"

While the car passed the gate and slowly rolled down the driveway towards the main building, Honor grabbed her pink pouch. She found a brush and ran it through Lucian's messed-up hair, turning it into sparkling waves of silver, before pinning it up again.

The car came to a halt before the main entrance, which was almost invisible behind a crowd of Bobs and Barbs dressed in their multitude of pastel shirts and tops and shorts. There were teachers too, and a few girls dressed differently -- Boobs, maybe, arrived for the reunion.

"No!" Honor cried out, pulling the door shut when it was opened from the outside. "Your lips are a mess, darling. I wonder who did that?"

Grinning she passed a slick stick over pale, yielding lips. Lucian pressed them together to spread the sweet-tasting gloss.

Sliding over to the door, the girl once more checked him.

"Your eyes," she said, but he stopped her, donning big, dark sunglasses.

"Wish me luck," he said.

"Your coat!" Honor cried after him, but he went outside in his scanty gear, balancing on his heels as they sank into the pebbles.

A wave of high, excited exclamations welcomed him, and he waved, while flashing his white photographers' smile.

The Barbs and Bobs crowded him in, until he was surrounded by a perfume-exuding circle of hysteric creatures.

"Lucy... Luce... Oh my God, it's really her... Look over here, Luce... Oh my, she's gorgeous!"

Lucian felt fingers touching, hands caressing. Faces intruded way past his comfort zone, lips brushed his face. He smiled and wriggled to find space, raising his hands to no avail.

"Girls!"

The voice was as steely as he remembered. And the command hadn't lost its effectiveness, for the cordon around him dissolved at once.

Through an opening in the receding crowd he saw Ms. Gloria Parker.

She looked paler and more owlish, but her cream-colored summer suit was like always a fortress -- no doubt reinforced by a corset, shoulders stuffed, tits in armor.

She walked over to Lucian with clipped steps, the pebbled driveway notwithstanding.

"Lucian," she said, smiling and extending her hand. "Welcome back to Norton's. I do hope the girl was in time and you had a pleasant journey."

Lucian just smiled, suppressing the long-forgotten urge to curtsey. He barely touched her fingers.

"Yes, you can be proud of Ellis," he said.

"Lucian, darling!"

He looked away and saw Dr. Kurtz. She'd gained at least fifteen pounds since he last saw her, but she still seemed adamant to press the surplus into too-tight dresses. And not wisely into black ones, but in shiny salmon that made her even look paler.

"Dr. Kurtz," he said, smiling.

She stepped closer and hugged him, making him feel attacked by a multitude of air bags.

"Vivian, please, it's Vivian, remember?" she breathed into his ear. "We're all so glad to have you back with us, honey. We're so proud of you." She leaned back, but her face was still alarmingly close. "And you look so... spectacular," she concluded.

He smiled into her puffy face, avoiding her sensuous lips by stepping back.

"I guess I'll step back before I feel a needle somewhere in my body," he said with a chuckle.

The doctor blushed and frowned.

"It did get you where you're now, honey," she whispered.

"Now did it?" Lucian wondered, smiling. Then he turned away to meet other familiar faces.

Three girls giggled as their eyes met his. Girls, women? They must be third-level Boobs, but no boobs -- or hardly. Just tall and leggy and willowy.

"Taylor!" he cried out, throwing himself in the arms of a blond woman. "My God, darling, is that really you?"

His one-time roommate towered over him, wearing enough big blond hair to shame the entire state of Texas. They kissed, and it was a real, long kiss that made them both forget where they were.

His face felt hot when they finally separated after being pulled and pushed around.

"Kelly... oh boy..."

"And Harper..."

They were all there, grinning and blushing. And yet, they weren't there, having changed in so many ways.

Red-headed Kelly had lost every edge and hint of who he once might have been; no knuckle-kneed awkwardness and buck-teethed grinning anymore. (Or farts and belching, he thought.) His skin had the paleness of a true red-head, and there was no freckle left. His green eyes sparkled, he moved like a dancer. He was as tall and reedy as the others, and his hips were slender.

"Oh, Kelly, honey, let's kiss. I missed you."

And they did, until Harper tapped his shoulder.

"Harp, oh Harp, let me look at you. God, it's been a long time. How are you? What are you all up to? So much I need to know."

Lucian knew he babbled and he didn't care. These were the friends who saved him, in the end; the only reasons for him to survive Norton's fucking Academy of Excrements.

Harper looked dark and stunningly exotic.

His bluish-black hair shone, as did his deep dark eyes in a face of olive perfection. His lips were even more generous than he remembered, and his body as slender -- and tall -- as a willow, draped in a short silk dress.

They embraced.

"You have to tell us everything," Harper breathed into his ear. "You are our hero, you know."

Lucian knew he blushed as he smiled into Harper's face.

"Of course," he said. "And I need to know everything about you all. But first there is some business to attend."

As he turned away to find Parker, his eyes lingered.

Apart from the group stood a small girl, like a puppet -- blonde and pink and sweet. She was too far away, but he knew her eyes were violet. Her cherry lips would be like those of a Japanese doll, and her skin of pure porcelain.

He wanted to walk over, but a hand held him back.

"Lucian, we really must... " said Honor, guiding him over to the principal, who stood waiting with the doctor and two elegant women -- Mamselle, he saw, and Ms. Fontaine.

He looked back to the distant doll, but she'd vanished.

***