Heat

by Elizabeth Caroline

  When we got in we found Mr Robbens standing in the reception area.

  “Hello Mr Robbens, we were wondering if we could have a quick talk with you.” Michael said.

  “What’s the problem?” he asked.

  “We heard Solomon got into some trouble and, well my friend Claudia wanted to make a little confession.” Mr Robbens looked at me, with a slightly confused expression.

  “I know you from somewhere, don’t I?” he asked.

  “Yah” I answered putting on my Emily voice again, “I was totally helping at your charity thing.”.

  “Yes, I remember. You look very different.” He said swiftly glancing over me.

  “Well, no disrespect of course, but there wasn’t much I could do with that uniform I had to wear. It was so gross!” Mr Robbens’ face looked as if he wanted to laugh for a moment, then it became serious again.

  “What did you want to tell me about Solomon? You know, he is in quite serious trouble, we’re just waiting to see what exactly he accessed.”

  I grabbed a lock of hair and began winding it around my finger as I'd seen Stacy do when she wanted to sweet talk her way out of something. “Well, I really don’t want to get into trouble, but I just wouldn’t be able to sleep if I let Solomon take the blame for me. You see, I was actually the one who used the computers.”

  “You accessed our systems?” he asked looking even more serious than before.

  “I didn’t want any trouble, it’s just that I was helping Solomon with his paper thingy’s and he mentioned that the computers had access to the local orphanages. So I thought it would be so cool if I went online and uploaded a few selfies I’d taken earlier to my orphanage's pages. You know, like you can do on that website ‘Friend locator’. But I was totally lost! You don’t have a ‘share’ button or anything like that on any of the web pages.”

  “They’re not web pages!” he said sternly.

  “Whatever! I mean I saw so many of my old roomies and I couldn’t even connect with them, talk about a disappointment.”

  Mr Robbens firmly set his eyes on mine, probably hoping to scare me or put me on edge, but he really was too short and round for me to find him intimidating. He almost reminded me of a balding, beardless Santa Claus. “So you want me to believe that you accessed our computers to upload ‘selfies’ to your old roommates?” he said.

  “Why wouldn’t you believe me?” I asked fluttering my eyelashes innocently.

  “We are checking the logs now.”

  “You mean you can see what web pages I viewed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Cool, so you’ll see I only went through my history trying to locate all my old friends. I mean you could totally organise some kind of reunion party with all that information you have.”

  Mr Robbens stared at me suspiciously for a short while. “So do you mind telling me where Solomon was while you were on our computers and how you managed to get into our office without him.”

  “Well, I kind of saw his pass code when I went up with him with the first lot of papers he had. And I snuck back up there later because I wanted to surprise him and ... you know” I broke off dropping my head and shuffling my foot across the ground in an attempt to act shy and coyish “I wanted to spend some time alone with him. I just started using the computers while I was waiting for him.” My cheeks flushed with heat as I said the word 'alone'. It was actually Michael’s idea for me to use that line and that definitely wasn't how it had happened, but as the words came out my mouth I couldn't help feeling embarrassed, as if I had just shared a secret I didn't want to. I bit my lip nervously as I waited for him to respond.

  “Ok, fine. I’m sure the technician will be finished shortly, if we do find that’s all that has been accessed then I’ll let Solomon know.”

  I nodded, pouting my lips in the most pathetic way I knew possible, “I really am sorry Mr Robbens, if I ever help out again I promise I won’t touch anything without your permission.”

  “Well, I’m sure if that’s all that happened then no harm has been done, but it would be a good idea not to do anything like that again, okay?” I nodded, and shook Mr Robbens' hand gently before saying goodbye and leaving.

  We walked out of the building quietly, while I, still in character, pretended that I might start crying at any moment.

  As soon as we were far enough away, Michael nudged me in the arm. “That was some pretty impressive acting you did there, I almost didn’t recognise you. You should act a bit more girly more often. It was sweet, especially the part when you started blushing!”

  “Whatever!” I said brushing off his last comment. “I just hope it worked.”

  “Is that really all you were doing? Looking up old friends.” He asked. I looked over at him, I might as well tell him some of the truth now, I thought.

  “Not really friends, but kind of. There are a few people in my past that I am looking for, I don’t think it will look any different in their logs if I was looking for friend or foe.”

  “Hmm.” he replied thoughtfully. “Were you looking for the people that wanted to hurt you?”

  I'd almost forgotten I'd told him about that. “Something like that.”

  “Why? What do you intend to do?”

  "What would you do to the person who had stolen your entire childhood, and the one good thing that was in it?" I replied bitterly before realising I may have said too much.

  "Claudia," Michael said, slowing his pace until he eventually stopped walking. "I know we kinda only just became real friends. But you know you can tell me anything. I'm never gonna judge you."

  “Thanks.” actually believing he meant it, “But I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind And please, promise never to mention any of this to anyone, I haven’t even told Solomon.”

  Michael frowned and shook his head, indicating he didn't actually agree with my suggestion. “Sure, no problem.” He said sullenly “I just don’t want you to do anything stupid, that’s all.”

  “I’ll try not to.” I said smiling at him and although the concern didn’t leave his eyes, he seemed to accept the answer.

  We walked through the town centre slowly making our way back to my house, talking and joking along the way. When the house came into sight a sigh of relief left me as the thought of finally being able to change my clothes entered my mind. But that was a thought that was quickly forgotten, my relief changing to excitement as I noticed the blue car at the bottom of my driveway.

  “Hey Solomon." I said unable to contain my enthusiasm, "I haven't heard from you for a while.”. He was leaning against the front of the house looking down at his phone. I was so happy to finally see him again, I almost skipped the last few steps.

  “Yeh, I've been busy.” He replied looking me up and down, scrutinizing my appearance. His eye's flashed a glance towards Michael and there was an obvious change in his whole demeanour.

  I swallowed hard, noticing his sudden coldness “Is this a social visit or am I in trouble?” I said.

  “Neither.” he said “Mr Robbens just called me and said you had visited him. He's not very impressed with me, but I'm off the hook and he said I can have my job back, minus a few of the privileges I had gained. I just passed by to say thanks.”

  “That's good news, isn't it?” I said smiling happily.

  “Hmm.” he said and then reached into his pocket for his car keys.

  “You're not going already are you?” I asked, the loneliness that had temporarily left me returning abruptly. I still didn't understand why he was being so cold with me lately. He'd only found out about me accessing the systems now, so what about before that? I forced a light smile hoping the sadness I felt wasn't apparent in my face.

  “Why stay?” he said, stepping forward to walk past us. Michael who had been standing quietly all this time, pushed his hand up against Solomon's chest.

  “Stop it man.” Michael said in a hard voice, “None of this is what you think it is.”

  “Whatever!” Solomon sai
d pushing Michaels hand away.

  “Why? What do you think this is?” I asked. Surely he can't think that Michael helped me access the systems!

  “It doesn't matter Claudia.” He said as he shook his head “You're a big girl, the two of you can do what you want.” I looked over at Michael and frowned, not understanding exactly what we had done.

  “It's the same thing he thought the other day when he saw you leaving my house.” Michael winked with a smirk on his face. I scowled at him, I still wasn't sure what they were talking but I knew Michael was only making things worse.

  “What exactly did you think the other day?” I said to Solomon, my voice becoming soft with concern.

  Michael pull me in closer to him and rested his chin on my shoulder then whispered loudly, “He thinks we're hooking up!” A look of disgust crossed Solomon's face and he looked away.

  “No, Solomon.” I said quickly as I pushed Michael's arm down from my shoulder. “Why would you even think that I would be interested in Michael?”

  “Wow, thanks.” Michael said.

  I didn't actually mean to sound so harsh. “No offence Michael. Honestly I like you a whole lot more now than I did last week, but not like that.”

  Michael smiled and nodded. “Don't worry about it, I know how it is. Solomon's just a bit emotional when it comes to certain … things.”

  Solomon looked back and forth from Michael to me. “So you two aren't seeing each other?” he said.

  I shook my head.

  “So what was all that the other day about you spending the night out together?” he said to Michael.

  “I didn't say I was with Claudia.” Michael laughed.

  “Yeh, but you knew that's who I thought you were with and you wouldn't tell me the girl's name.”

  “I don't always tell you the names of girls I go out with.” Michael said flatly to which Solomon just raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay, fine. I didn't tell you because I was winding you up. You've been acting like such a girl since that charity event.”

  Solomon looked over to me and shook his head embarrassedly.

  “Yes, you were. You were accusing me of all kinds of things and all I was trying to do was keep Claudia out of trouble.”

  “So who were you with?” Solomon asked, still needing reassurance.

  “That cutie Jessica from your maths class.”

  “Poor girl” Solomon sighed deeply. Then he looked back up to Michael and they both giggled. “I'm sorry man. It's just I know how you are.”

  “Then you should have known I wouldn't do that.” Michael said.

  I'd forgot how much of an outsider I felt sometimes when the two of them were in the midst of a conversation. It was obvious they shared a strong bond. Sometimes not even needing to finish a sentence as just a gesture or an expression would give the clear meaning to the other. It was funny then that Solomon had allowed Michael to so clearly mislead him.

  “So, this is what you two fell out about?” I said.

  Solomon blushed a little “Look, I'm really sorry I've been a little .. off lately. I was just ..”

  “It's fine.” I interjected “I guess I would be worried too if Michael was trying to date my best friend.” My mind ran back to what Michael had said about not meeting me first, finally understanding what he was talking about. Maybe 'before who' would have been a better question than 'before what'. He'd meant Solomon, Solomon had met me first! The flutters of anxiety returned to my stomach, I had heard about people getting butterflies in their stomach and wondered if this was the same feeling.

  “Can I buy you a juice or something? Just to make up for my behaviour.” Solomon said looking up at me. His eyes were that usual deep indigo colour that I loved and he had the sweetest smile I had seen him wear in a long time.

  A smile grew on my face that I found impossible to mask. Solomon wasn't upset with me anymore, and he had only been upset because of a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding that lead him to become jealous, a voice whispered inside me.

  “Sure.” I said remembering he was waiting for an answer. I looked down at my skirt, pretending to brush something off, but really hoping that nobody would notice the fact that I was also blushing. Regardless of him being jealous or not, Solomon is only a friend and that is all he will ever be, I scolded the voice. I had never cared so much about one of my friends as I did about him and as nice as a summer fling might be I wasn't going to risk our friendship with one.

  “So, what's the outfit for?” he asked, looking down at my skirt as I brushed it.

  “Oh, that's a long story. I'll tell you when we go for the juice.” I answered, Solomon smiled and nodded.

  “Well, I guess that's my cue to go home.” Michael said.

  “That's not like you to turn down a free juice Mike.” Solomon said. Michael looked over at him and raised his eyebrows. “It's on me.” he urged.

  “Since you put it like that.” Michael replied.

  “Ok, great. Give me 5 minutes to change please.” I said, turning back towards the house.

  “That won't be necessary.” Solomon said grabbing hold of my wrist, “You've graced everyone else with your new look, surely I deserve a few minutes.”

  I looked at Solomon from the corner of my eye, the butterflies in my stomach growing stronger. “It's definitely not my new look, but ok … whatever! Let's go.”

  Michael chuckled as we walked over to the car. “I would normally call shotgun, but I know when to take the back seat.” he said as he opened the back door.

  “Doesn't all his jokes about us get on your nerves.” I asked Solomon as I pulled my seatbelt on. “Play another record Michael!”

  “Nah, he's alright.” Solomon said chuckling, “I mean he was cool about the 3 day thing, so I guess I can handle the jokes.”

  I gaped at Solomon for a short moment, “You told him about that?” I said remembering the conversation we had had about only allowing Michael to visit 3 days a week if we got married.

  “Sure, I tell Michael most things. I thought you knew that.” Solomon answered with a mischievous look on his face. Michael's teasing was starting to make a lot more sense now, I glanced back at Michael who was giggling quietly.

  “Right fine. My bad.” I said flatly, trying my best to mock Michael, which sent him into a fit of laughter.

  “You're not upset are you?” Solomon asked, biting the side of his lip, attempting to hold in a smile.

  I glared at him for a minute, but couldn't hold on to my anger. “No, it's cool.” I said sighing heavily. “As long as you're planning on buying me a slice of cheesecake as well.”

  “Deal.” he said.

  CHAPTER 16

  Pulling back the curtain I looked out of the window. Snow was simply floating to the ground now in soft circular motions compared to an hour ago when the storm was in full swing. Outside was quiet, still and almost completely white with a thick layer of snow along the street, cars and buildings. It looks like a cloud fell down, I thought.

  “Looks like the snows stopping.” I said to my family as I went back to sit on the armchair.

  Veronica and Rachael were sat on the sofa watching an old movie together and Charles was on his computer.

  “The kids will be out in the streets soon then.” Veronica laughed.

  “Don't they get cold?” I asked.

  “That's part of the fun.” she said.