The Seven Kings of Jinn

Determined to begin right away, Ari threw her wet hair into a messy bun and selected a light summer dress from her wardrobe. Checking her reflection before she left the bedroom, she noted the dark circles under her eyes and cursed. She took a couple of seconds to find some concealer and cover them up. Usually she didn’t much care, but this morning she was hunting down Charlie and wanted to look at least okay.

The fact was it was kind of easy for Ari to look “okay”. Whoever her mom was, she had to have been more than reasonably attractive because Ari had inherited striking looks that did not come from her dad. Her long hair was thick and dark brown, although when the sunlight hit it, it had a reddish tint to it. Her smooth skin looked permanently tanned all year round and she had pretty features, the most distinctive of which were eyes that seemed to shift colors under different light. No one was able to really pin point Ari’s actual eye color, only that they were beautiful with thick, long lashes so dark Ari never wore mascara.

Sure that she was presentable, Ari grabbed her schoolbag and hurried out of the house, foregoing breakfast, and texting Rachel to let her know she didn’t need a ride to school that morning. Ari marched down the street, her long legs eating up the sidewalk, the lactic acid in her muscles burning as she forced them into sudden and intense exercise.

She made it to the Creaghs in record time and just in time to bump into Charlie as he slammed out of the front door. He stopped abruptly, pushing his messy hair out of his eyes. He took the steps two at a time and half-jogged over to her, where she waited on the sidewalk. A waft of lemon danced up Ari’s nose and she noted he was wearing a freshly washed T-shirt over a long-sleeved shirt. He’d done his laundry. Surely that was a good sign. Right?

“What are you doing here?” he grumbled, shouldering past her.

Ari’s heart pounded as she took in his tired but non-dilated eyes. She brushed her hand across his arm to slow him down. “I thought we could walk to school together like old times.”

Charlie frowned, throwing her a suspicious look out of the corner of his eye. “What’s going on?”

“Does something need to be going on for me to want to hang out with you? We haven’t hung out in forever.”

“We don’t exactly run with the same crowds these days, Johnson.”

Here goes. Ari took a deep breath. “We could change that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The desire to scream and shout at him he was acting like a complete and utter asshole bubbled under Ari’s skin as it did sometimes when she forgot what he was going through. She shook it off, pulling on every ounce of patience within her. “It means you could stop hanging out with those bums and start getting your life back on track.”

“I’m perfectly happy with my bums.”

The distance Charlie put between them hurt, a painful ache that was as fresh today as it was the first day he’d spoken to her in that infuriating monotone. “You used to be perfectly happy with me.”

“Ari, don’t.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she muttered in irritation, frustrated that their meeting was already off to a dismal start.

Charlie grinned at her, and her heart lit up at the sight of it. “Don’t tell me what to do,” he countered teasingly.

See, why can’t he be that Charlie all the time? I love that Charlie. Giving him a soft smile, a smile meant to coax, Ari nudged him with her elbow. “How about we hang out this summer?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Back to Mr. Monotone again. Great. “I thought maybe we could take a road trip or something.”

“Yeah, whatever you want.”

“Or we could do something you want to do.”

He laughed bitterly, slamming his hands into his jean pockets and hunching over a little. “I wouldn’t let you do what I want to do.”

Okay, maybe it was too early for patience. “What? Get high? Get wasted. Sleep around with a bunch of STI-infected morons.”

“Ari,” he moaned. “It’s too early for this shit.”

“Yeah, well, it’s never too early to catch an infection,” she snapped, attempting to conceal her jealousy and hurt that he slept with anything with breasts and yet treated her like an asexual house plant. “Have you even been to a clinic?”

“Two weeks ago.” He tilted his chin arrogantly, narrowing his eyes to a smolder that should have annoyed her rather than cause the funny flutter in her lower abdomen. “Just because I’m eye-candy doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

“Oh, ha-ha, funny.”

“I’ll have you know lots of girls find me attractive.”

“Yeah and you don’t turn down any of them, do you?”

“That sounds like you’re calling me a manwhore.”