Em and Em

by Budzinski, Linda

  She met his gaze and smiled. “Much better.”

  Charles grinned. He pointed toward the dance floor. “Well enough for a dance?”

  A slow Adele song had come on, and in an instant the floor had transformed from a typhoon of gyrating bodies to a tranquil sea of swaying couples.

  Ember hesitated as Zach’s smile, his voice, and his saltwater scent swam through her mind. She should say no. Zach wouldn’t want her dancing with another guy. On the other hand, what could it hurt? How was this any worse than playing skee-ball at Zippies with a “friend”?

  She held up her camera case. “Let me hide this.” She tucked the case behind the stage and returned.

  Charles took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. “Is this like your homecoming dances back in Philly?” he asked.

  “Pretty much. In fact, I’d say it’s exactly the same, but with more country music. The parade, on the other hand … that was different. So many animals.”

  Charles grinned. “We like our animals.”

  “Do you have any? Animals, I mean.”

  He laughed. “About seven hundred.”

  “Seriously?”

  “My dad raises cattle.”

  Ember tried to imagine what it would be like to live on a farm with seven hundred cows. “Do you have to help out? With feeding and herding and … branding and stuff?”

  “I guess. But I’m no cowboy, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  A cowboy. It hadn’t even occurred to her. He seemed so … nerdy. For the first time, she noticed how rough his hands were, how defined his arms, how tanned his face and neck. She stifled a smile. He was a nerdy cowboy. A nerdy, strip-dancing, football-superhero cowboy. She closed her eyes and leaned in toward him, allowing his solid frame and Adele’s voice to calm her. For the first time in what seemed like years, she felt safe, almost at home.

  The feeling didn’t last long. Partway through the song, she felt a vibration in her dress pocket. Her phone. Zach had finally messaged her again. She knew she should wait until the end of the dance to read it, but she couldn’t. She needed to know what he was thinking.

  Ember stepped back and offered Charles an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I should check this.” She pretended not to notice the look in his eyes—was it hurt? disappointment?—as she retreated to a corner and woke up her screen.

  Zach: Luv u.

  Her hands shook, and she leaned against the gym wall. This was the first time he’d said he loved her since the night of the murder, since all the fighting began. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed him to say it.

  She looked up at the scene around her, at all the fake beach stuff and the room full of strangers dancing. She didn’t belong here. She belonged back in Jersey with Zach.

  Ember walked around the outside of the room to the stage. It was time to retrieve her camera and leave. She picked up the case and opened it to make sure no one had touched anything. Everything was in its place. The camera, the lens, the flash. And as she zipped the case closed, she spotted a flash of pink at the bottom. The candy heart.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ember leaned over Charles’s shoulder and pointed at the screen. “Who’s that kid?”

  He’d pulled up a series of photos of a Bruins lineman sacking the other team’s quarterback. Behind the action, sitting in the bleachers, the skinny kid from the drug deal stared straight into the camera. His glare gave Ember the chills. Had he watched her like that the entire second half?

  Charles shrugged. “Seen him around, but I don’t know. He’s a sophomore, maybe.”

  At least that meant Charles probably wasn’t involved. Not that it mattered. He could be the biggest cokehead in the world and she wouldn’t care. She loved Zach. Zach loved her. No more thinking about Charles.

  He zoomed in on the kid’s face. “If looks could kill, you’d be slaughtered, butchered, and frozen about now.” He turned in his seat to face her. “Was this dude bothering you?”

  “No, not at all.” Ember tried to sound casual. “I’ve never seen him before either. I only noticed him because of his expression, but probably I just caught him as he was about to sneeze or something.”

  Charles scrolled through the series. “For six frames?”

  “It’s a fast shutter.”

  Charles shrugged and continued scrolling, apparently satisfied with her explanation. He stopped at a shot of a Bruins interception. “Nice. Maybe we’ll use this one for the front page.”

  Ember’s eye went immediately into the stands. There was the kid again, but he was watching the play. Thank goodness. “Enough game pictures,” she said. “Let’s check out the photos from the dance.”

  As Charles pulled them up, Marissa breezed in, flung her backpack onto the desk, and joined them at the monitor. “I get veto power over the homecoming court shots.”

  Charles grinned and assumed an official tone. “The editor in chief shall make the final determination on all Bruins Bulletin content, including both editorial copy and images.”

  Marissa nudged him. “If the editor in chief wants his lead photographer to continue working for him, he’ll give her veto power over the homecoming court shots.”

  Ember couldn’t help but notice that she stressed the words “lead photographer.” Of course she would want to throw that in her face. “Don’t worry, Marissa. You look great in every shot.” She did. Depressing, but true.

  Marissa sat down at another computer and connected her camera. “I took some photos in the computer lab this morning. What’s going on with that story?”

  “Right now, there is no story.” Charles lowered his voice, though the three of them were the only ones in the room. “The front office knows someone has hacked into the system, but they don’t know who or why. And they can’t ask too many questions, because they want whoever is doing it to keep doing it so they can catch them.”

  “So it’s someone inside the school?” Ember asked. “Is it a student or a teacher?”

  “They don’t know for sure. They can’t figure out why it’s being hacked, but they know there’s been a breach.”

  Marissa pulled up a shot of a darkened lab. Banks of computers and other electronics glowed throughout the room like a Christmas display gone awry. Off to one side of the shot, one lone monitor was lit up in the center, as though it had just been turned on. Clearly the shot was staged, but still. Amazing.

  “What do you think?” Marissa wasn’t asking Charles. She was asking her.

  “I like it,” Ember choked out. “Really good.”

  She didn’t trust herself to say anything else. Marissa had done it. Her single shot of an empty computer lab was better than Ember’s four gigs of homecoming parade, game, and dance photos. Marissa’s shot intrigued the viewer, made them feel something. You could practically hear the soft, creepy horror movie music in the background.

  For the first time in her life, Ember felt like a hack as a photographer.

  “There it is!” Charles was still scrolling through her dance photos. “That’s the money shot.”

  Ember turned to look. There on the screen, as big as life, a laughing Charles was ripping off his shirt. She’d zoomed in on him at just the right moment. That photo made her feel something, too, though she didn’t want to admit it.

  “Who’s that kid who keeps showing up in your photos?” Marissa appeared behind them.

  “What kid?”

  She pointed to the screen. There in the background, almost hidden in the shadows behind Charles, stood the skinny kid. Once again, he was looking into the camera.

  “What do you mean, he keeps showing up?” Charles asked.

  “Well, I’ve only seen a few dozen shots since I walked in, but that’s, like, the third one he’s been in, and he’s always staring at the camera.”

  Charles started scrolling backward and stopped at the photo of Claire and Ryan on the dance floor. “You’re right. There he is again.”

  Ember shuddered. This guy was starting
to creep her out.

  “Didn’t you notice him?” Marissa asked.

  Ember shook her head. “I guess not.”

  Marissa gave a dramatic sigh. “That’s my photographer’s eye. Always hyperaware of the background. I almost wish I could look at photos without it.”

  Ember took a deep breath. We get it, Marissa. You’re the real photographer here.

  “Maybe he has a crush on you,” Marissa said with a smirk.

  Charles stood and faced her, concern etched on his face. “Ember, what’s going on with that guy? Seriously, if he’s stalking you or something …”

  Ember looked back and forth between him and Marissa. Should she tell them about her run in under the bleachers? After all, the man buying the drugs was one of Charles’s coaches. Maybe he had a right to know what was going on. Then again, the last thing she needed was to be a witness to another crime scene. Why did drama follow her wherever she went?

  “Don’t be silly,” she said. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe Marissa is right. Maybe he has a crush.” She assumed her best sultry-movie-star voice and brushed her hand suggestively through her hair. “I’ve been known to have that effect on men.”

  Was it her imagination, or did Charles blush?

  Ember grabbed the mouse, scrolling back to the shot of shirtless Charles. “I vote you run this one on the cover. Above the fold.”

  Marissa laughed. “I second.”

  Charles laughed. “As I said, the editor in chief makes the final determination. Not happening.”

  “Speaking of … ” Marissa sat down in Charles’s seat. “Time to check out the homecoming court shots.”

  “I like the ones I took during the parade better than the ones from the dance,” Ember said. “More colorful, and better lighting.” She felt her stomach clench as Marissa reviewed them. They seemed so boring, so pedestrian compared to her work. Fortunately, Marissa seemed concerned only with her own facial expressions.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. No.” She flipped through them, dragging the ones she approved of onto the desktop. Never mind if the other members of the court were blinking or frowning or, in one case, actually yawning. Ember rolled her eyes. Guess Marissa’s “photographer’s eye” couldn’t see past her own face.

  As she neared the end of the parade shots, Marissa stopped at a photo of Tricia. “Who’s this?”

  Ember grinned. Her sister looked so cute. She’d had the Bruins logo painted onto her cheek and was waving a small American flag. “That’s my sister, Tricia.”

  “She’s a cutie,” Charles said.

  “Have I met her before?” Marissa asked.

  “I doubt it.”

  Marissa zoomed in closer on Tricia’s face. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I mean, since we moved here, she’s come to both of the games, so maybe you’ve seen her in the stands, but I don’t think you would have met her.”

  Marissa shook her head. “Something about her seems really familiar. Like I used to know her. I think it’s the eyes and the smile.”

  A small knot formed in Ember’s stomach. The PhotoPro cover. Marissa probably subscribed. She probably had the July issue somewhere in her house right now, among a pile of photography magazines. And while Tricia looked very different today than she had on that spring morning, with Marissa’s eye …

  “Are you okay?” Charles was staring at her. “You seem a little pale.”

  “No, I’m fine.” Ember forced a smile. She reached over Marissa’s arm, grabbed the mouse, and clicked past the shot of her sister.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Five weeks earlier

  “Why can’t I go to the bonfire?”

  Emily sighed. She hated when Trina whined. “Because I don’t need you tagging along. Because you’re in grade school. Because you’d have to be home by ten for your bedtime. Should I go on?”

  Trina sat down on Emily’s bed and pouted. “It’s not fair. Eighth grade is practically high school. And anyway, Mom let me stay up until eleven the past two weekends.”

  Emily snapped on her mermaid ear cuff and swept her hair behind it. “Well, you’re not coming, so get over it.” She pointed to the eyelash curler lying beside Trina. “Hand me that.”

  Trina watched her every move as she put on her makeup. “Are you going to teach me how to do my eyes like that this year? With the dark corners?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And my lips? With the liner?”

  “Sure.” She wished Trina would leave her alone. She wanted to get ready in peace. This would be the last beach party of the summer, and Emily wanted to savor every minute of it, even the getting-ready part. She wasn’t sure what the new school year would bring. Would the fact that she had seriously dated Zach all summer make a difference? Would her PhotoPro cover shot earn her some respect? Or would she be doomed to another year of people whispering and laughing behind her back, with Jimmy d’Angelo and company still treating her like they owned her?

  “Em?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you and Zach kiss … and stuff?”

  Emily smeared her eyeliner. Damn it. This was not a talk she wanted to have. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. It wasn’t so much what she and Zach had done that worried her. They really hadn’t done much more than kiss. But she didn’t want Trina to know what she’d done with all those other guys. She dabbed at the smear below her eye with a cotton ball. Next year, Emily would be a senior and Trina would be a freshman, and there would be no more hiding her reputation from her kid sister. But she planned to keep up the charade for one final year, to be the big sister Trina looked up to for as long as she could fake it.

  “Yes. We kiss. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “How do you get a guy to want to kiss you?”

  Emily whirled around and pointed her eyeliner pencil in Trina’s face. “Oh, no. Ain’t happening. You are too young to kiss boys, got it?”

  Trina rolled her eyes. “I’m practically in high school.”

  “Yeah, well. Don’t be in such a hurry to get there. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies.”

  Trina stuck out her tongue and stalked out of the room. Emily grinned. At least she was still kid enough to stick out her tongue.

  ***

  Zach waved to her from across the beach, his tanned, muscled abs and biceps reflecting the amber glow of the bonfire.

  Emily slipped out of her flip-flops and quickened her pace. The cool sand shifted slightly beneath her feet as she neared the crowd, and the soft lilt of a guitar blended with the roar of the surf. Out of nowhere, tears sprang to her eyes, and the flames blurred into a hazy, glowing pyramid. Why did summer have to end?

  “What’s wrong, babe?” Zach wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

  She sank into him and wiped her eyes. “Nothing. It’s just the heat from the fire.”

  He lifted her chin and kissed her, a warm, soft, lingering kiss. If only she could stand here like this with him forever.

  “I was just getting ready to play some volleyball. You in?”

  Ember eyed the court. Jimmy and Brad were high-fiving an ace serve. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “You go ahead. I want to chill for a while.”

  She poured herself a tequila sunrise from a nearby cooler, found a piece of driftwood near the guitar player, and sat down. He had long dreads with beads woven through, and he played a magical mixture of reggae and calypso. A light breeze blew off the ocean, while a full moon painted a soft gold streak through the water. If this wasn’t heaven, she didn’t know what was.

  “Mind if I sit here?” A girl Emily had never seen before pointed to the edge of the driftwood.

  “Sure.”

  The girl was pretty, with long, wavy dark hair and brown eyes that danced in the light of the fire. “I’m Rosa. Where are you from?”

  “Hi, I’m Emily.” She motioned toward the boardwalk. “I’m from here.”

  “Wow.” Rosa looked out toward the water.
“Lucky you.”

  “Yeah.”

  Rosa motioned toward the volleyball game. “He’s cute.”

  Emily followed her gaze. She was watching Jimmy. Ugh.

  “Good kisser too.”

  She’d kissed him? Maybe Emily should warn her about what a jerk he was. Then again, she was a tourist. She’d be gone in a few days. What could it hurt for her to have a late-summer fling with him? Emily pasted on a smile and turned away. She didn’t want to talk, certainly not about Jimmy d’Angelo. She wanted to lose herself in the music, the breeze, the moonlight.

  Rosa seemed to get it. She sat and sipped her drink, swaying to the music. Neither of them spoke another word.

  Emily pulled her knees in tight and closed her eyes. The night couldn’t be more perfect.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Deputy Steuben eased himself onto the couch. Ember knew why he’d come, though she pretended not to. “Didn’t expect to see you this evening. What a surprise.” She hoped she wasn’t laying it on too thick.

  “Can I get you a cup of coffee?” her mom asked.

  He nodded. “Cream. No sugar. Thank you.”

  Ember sat down across from him. It was almost ten o’clock. She’d begun to think he might not show up. Thank goodness he had. She had so many questions.

  As soon as her mom reappeared with the coffee, Deputy Steuben got down to business. “There’s been a small setback.”

  Ember knew what was coming. Zach had messaged her about it last night. Apparently the news was spreading quickly back home. Of course, she couldn’t tell the deputy or her mom about that.

  “The toxicology reports came back inconclusive.”

  “What?” Ember feigned surprise. “But you said the tests would provide the key evidence, that my testimony was just to back them up.” She’d tossed and turned all night after getting Zach’s message. How could the tests be “inconclusive,” and what did that mean for the case? Would the prosecutor drop it without them? Was it possible Rosa hadn’t been drugged after all? What if Ember was wrong about everything? Maybe Zach was right. Maybe this was all for nothing. Maybe she should drop it and go back home.