Chapter 8 – Driving Lessons

Toby met her after school on Monday, eyes alight with discovery. "I've got it, Nora! I found the spell!" His voice was excited.

Nora nodded at him, unable to respond because Zen was chattering away on her other side, wanting to go to the movies that night. Toby unfortunately didn't really notice and kept talking.

"I found it this morning in some really old book that had gotten behind the ones on house-cleaning (which by the way annoys me—house-cleaning? Really?) and there it was! Right in the middle of the book! Relieving invisibility! But we have to go get the ingredients right now!" He grabbed her hand and she stumbled as he pulled her faster towards the sidewalk.

"Whoa!" Zen's hand grabbed at Nora before she fell. "You okay?" Her piercings slightly blinded Nora as the sun hit her face and she squinted.

"Um, yeah," she replied, surreptitiously trying to get Toby's hand out of hers. Her arm was angled away from her body, randomly hanging up in the air, a fact that Zen had taken note of and was staring at her strangely. Nora could feel her face heat up and with one sudden tug, she was able to free her hand from Toby's. God, she was looking strange to Zen wasn't she.

Toby seemed to finally catch on and stood quietly to the side.

"Anyway, like I was saying, there's the new Matt Damon flick out and it's said to be really mind-boggling. As long as it isn't like a Bourne whatever movie, I can totally see it. Love that man. I'd have his children if he wanted me to. Did you see him in Good Will Hunting? That was a movie he'd written a script for, did you know? Amazing. He's also this clean cut guy…"

Nora had a hard time focusing on what Zen was saying because Toby had sidled up next to her and was mimicking Zen's exaggerated motions and the way she talked and walked. Nora felt her lips turn up in a smile and at one point when Zen flipped her hair over her shoulder, Toby did the same and Nora lost it.

"Oh god, I'm—I'm sorry," she stuttered out as she covered her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter. Toby was on the other side, wiping his eyes because he had been laughing so hard.

Zen stood between them, looking confused and a little hurt. Noticing this, Nora immediately sobered up and put her arm around her friend, giving her a squeeze, "I'd love to go see the movie with you but I, uh, promised my mom I'd be back in time to help with a project she's starting today. Maybe next weekend?" The darker girl gave her a look and then nodded, her smile back in place but not quite as bright as before. Nora cringed, hoping that she'd be able to repair this once Toby was back to normal.

Giving her friend one last hug, she headed in the opposite direction of her house. Toby caught up with her and grabbed her hand, making sure to stick close to her so that it didn't look like it was randomly floating on air. "Sorry," he whispered next to her.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "S'okay. She'll understand once we're through this."

He smiled happily at her, violet eyes warm and sending a tingle from the base of her spine to her head. She shook it slightly, not wanting to faint in the middle of the street. Even though she'd had a couple of days to get used to this whole soulmate thing, the wonder of it hadn't faded at all but, as she'd spent practically all of Sunday with him, it had grown and become such an intricate part of her she was surprised no one had commented about something being different about her.

"What did you find?" she asked him.

He launched into a detailed explanation of the spell he'd found and then mentioned that they'd have to go to Merrymount to get some supplies. They'd reached his driveway by this time and were sitting on the porch stairs.

"How are we going to get there?"

He shrugged. "You can drive my aunt's car. She left it here when she flew to Vegas."

"You mean on a broomstick?" Her eyes were wide.

He grinned wickedly at her. "Yes and wearing a black pointed hat. She's actually got a large wart on her nose, too."

She pushed at his shoulder. "She does not! I've seen her in your mind."

He captured her hand and brought it to his lips before setting their joined hands in his lap. "She flew on a plane to Las Vegas."

"Okay. So…I think now would be a good time to tell you that I don't drive," she said on a rush of words.

He turned to her, eyebrows raised in disbelief. She tugged her hand out of his hold and crossed her arms. "I just don't okay? Haven't gotten around to it."

He was quiet for a second. "You're afraid of driving," he said it matter-of-factly, no disdain in his tone.

She looked away before he grabbed her chin and brought her eyes to meet his, his thumb caressing her cheek gently. She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Yeah. I'm not the most adventurous girl if you have to know."

"I don't know about that, Nora. You're the bravest soul I've met." His voice was sincere. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

"You're sweet, you know that? Under all that 'coolness' is actually a really great guy." He blushed and grabbed her hand, standing up.

"You're going to drive to Merrymount with me because we need to get the ingredients for the spell. It's going to take about 26 hours to get the potion completely ready which will take us practically into the last day of this imitation."

Nora resisted his tug towards the car. "Um, Toby? Darling, darling Toby. Didn't you just hear what I said? I can't drive."

"Yes, Nora, my love, the goddess of my soul." Nora ignored the pitter-patter of her heart, he was using his gift with words to sway her. "I did hear you. You'll sit on my lap while Idrive. Can't have everyone thinking that the car is driving itself."

She laughed at the ludicrous idea. "What? Really? Toby!" she exclaimed as he, tired of her resistance, had gone back to her and picked her up bodily. She couldn't even imaginewhat someone would think should they stick they look outside right now. He opened the car door easily and slid in, settling her on his lap. She sat stiffly upright. Yeah, he might be her true love and all but she wasn't used to being some sort of lap girl to anyone.

"Nora, it'll be okay. I'll just do the driving. You're small enough to fit with me here and I can still see over your shoulder. Just don't do too much wriggling." The last was said with a sort of breathlessness in his voice.

She blushed, not quite understanding what he meant, but knowing enough about boys to get the general gist and stopped moving around. Starting the car, he backed out of the driveway, telling her to put her hands on the wheel and look where he said to look, just so it would look more believable.

It wasn't until they were halfway towards Merrymount, having been on the road for about 10 minutes, did Nora relax a fraction. There really wasn't too much to it since Toby was actually doing all the work. She smiled as she thought of how it must look. She wasn't really able to sit back in her "chair" because of Toby and she was elevated a little higher than she normally would be. She tried to ignore how warm he felt and the muscles she felt shift beneath her as he applied the gas or pushed the pedal. One of his arms was around her waist, securing her to him. She felt that she had a perpetual flush throughout her whole body.

Soft warm lips startled her on the back of her neck and she jerked on the wheel accidentally. "Toby!" she admonished as he laughed and got the car straightened out once more.

"Sorry," no hint of apology in his tone, "it's just that your neck is so lovely."

"God, do you really use that line on girls?" she said, mainly to diffuse the very highly-charged atmosphere.

"No, just with you," he said simply and once more, revved up that link between them. She smiled and turned her head a little to look at him. His eyes twinkled back at her. "You know I love you, right?" No hesitation was in his voice.

She felt her heart swell and a warmth pool in her middle. She wasn't sure if that was just her or whatever was flowing on that glowing cord between them. "Yes. I love you, too." She gasped as she felt the rush of pleasure from him at her words. He tightened his arm around her and she faced forward again, relaxing against him as they continued on their way to Merrymount.

Author's Note:

Aha! I am back! I have one more chapter and we are finito! Yay! Tell me what you think oh loyal readers to this story! I'm sorry I've taken so long and in looking back at this and where I first started I can see that my writing has definitely changed. Still trying to keep it light, but I've become a sort of dramatic writer so I apologize if that leaked through here! :)

Char