Hoax

by Lila Felix

  A knock at the door made her unlatch from my torso and I took the moment to cool myself down while she answered the door. She came back in, toting Sean on her arm, and I took that as my cue to leave.

  Sean looked between us and reached out to fist bump me and we exchanged ‘hellos’ and then I told them I was leaving.

  “Bye, honey. Call me later, ok? Set the alarm, please.” I kissed her once, softly on the lips. Now that she was my girlfriend, I didn’t need to pull a machismo stake of claim on her in front of Sean.

  “Ok, be careful. Text me when you get home.”

  “Will do. Goodnight Sean, take care of my girl.”

  “Yeah, bye Abel.” He said.

  Corinne

  After several minutes of commentary from Sean, I finally gave him the remote and let him mute out the voices he wanted voice over. He was ten times funnier than the people on the movie anyway. I made us dinner and we talked about everything from parents to his BMX racing to Abel. He left after the first movie because his Dad called and needed help at home. I had mandatory testing at the high school tomorrow anyway. Even though the school had received my transcripts and testing scores, they insisted that I had to go through their state exams before I could enroll. I hated standardized tests. I got so bored with them, I just wanted to run through and mark all of the ‘C’s just to finish it. But tomorrow I needed to pay attention or it would be my ass.

  I got into bed, I felt safer knowing that the alarm system was active now but not half as safe as I’d felt when Abel was here. But what was I gonna do? I couldn’t ask him to do any more than he was already doing.

  I called him and he ‘Boooed’ me when I told him about the testing tomorrow. And he let me know that Tuesday he had to go for a physical and try-outs for the soccer team. And even though I would miss him, I needed some space. Not from him, but just a chance to breathe and let everything soak in. I was used to being by myself every day, all day and this was a chance for me to collect myself.

  I arrived at the school fifteen minutes early, complete with my number two pencils and identification. The halls were empty and I took the opportunity to scout out the new school. The floors were covered with a shiny tile of some sort and gray and burgundy lockers lined the walls. It didn’t look like anything close to Wellsley but I was intrigued nonetheless. I walked into the office labeled ‘Administration’ and there was no one to be seen. I lightly tapped the bell on the counter and shortly afterward a woman in her forties came out of the Principal’s office.

  “Can I help you dear,” she asked as she sat in the desk chair.

  “Yes ma’am, I’m Corinne Novak, I’m here for testing.”

  “Ah, yes. Go down the hall to the Counselor’s office. Mrs. Peabody is waiting for you since you’re the only one testing today.” She smiled at me, but there was an annoyance to her voice.

  “Thank you.” I said and perused down the hall until I found the right room.

  I entered and there were couches in all shades of ugly and posters on the wall with every cliché mental health mantra in the book. I rolled my eyes to myself.

  A woman off to the left of the room cleared her throat and stood up from a desk that was so tiny I hadn’t even noticed it was there.

  “Ms. Novak,” she asked.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “I’m Mrs. Peabody. You’re the only student who has to take the Senior Level Entry test so it’s just you and me.”

  “Thank you.”

  I sat at one lonely desk on the other side of the room while Mrs. Peabody read a very used paperback covered with a long haired man-Barbie with a billowy shirt on the front. She had thirty or more pages dog-eared. I wondered what parts were worthy of her dog-earring. I bet I could guess.

  I finished early, section by section, and finally about noon the torture was over. Most of it was relatively easy. I thanked Mrs. Peabody and returned to the Administration office to get a uniform regulations packet. I skimmed it quickly and it was pretty simple. Navy blue bottom, white top, extremely simple, just like I liked it.

  I drove to the grocery store and got a few things. I returned books to the library. And as much as I resolved to spend my day away from Abel, after running out of things to keep me busy, I couldn’t get there fast enough. I laughed at myself when I got to the house because I rushed to get to him but he wasn’t there. I forced myself not to call him. Maybe this was a sign that he needed some space too.

  I got a text from my parents telling me that they were leaving for Mexico in the morning and not to call unless there was an emergency. I didn’t even respond. There was no point. I spent the afternoon swimming and trying my damndest not to think about Abel. It worked like a charm—not.

  Abel

  I didn’t miss her when I worked that day. I didn’t think about her or even realize she wasn’t there. I didn’t feel anything when I saw her bikini drying out on the white picket fence that surrounded the pool. I didn’t dial her number nineteen times during the day. And I especially didn’t drive the route from the Stephenson’s house to Sibley High School hoping to see her truck on my way home. Nope, I didn’t do any of that

  Liar.

  I walked in the front door and my parents had their suitcases out, packed and ready even though they didn’t leave for three days. My mom informed me, by yelling from the bedroom, they decided to leave the next morning and were spending a few days in New Orleans before the cruise left. That didn’t surprise me in the least. I yelled back, ‘Have a good time.’ Soon after they went to dinner, by themselves, of course. I kept myself busy the rest of the night with laundry. Plus, I needed to find my soccer gear and make sure it didn’t smell like a two year old cheese sandwich. They did.

  I showered and fell asleep on the couch watching recorded episodes of Ghost Hunters. They never found anything much but at least it put me to sleep.

  The next two days I spent doing soccer stuff. One day of try-outs turned into two and my appointment with the doctor was rescheduled until the next day as well. Corinne and I had texted several times but I felt like I was bugging her every time I let myself text her.

  I went home, exhausted and spent. I showered and went to the kitchen, too lazy to go get something to eat. I made a sandwich and ate while I stood at the counter. I downed the rest of the gallon of milk and noticed that my mom had left a note telling me that I needed to go grocery shopping.

  “Thanks Mom,” I said to the empty house and I took the stairs two at a time and went to bed. I checked my phone just before I turned out the lights and saw a text message.

  Corinne: Hope try-outs went ok.

  It was sent over an hour before but I responded anyway.

  Abel: I’m a shoe in. lol

  The response came immediately.

  Corinne: Ha ha. Goodnight.

  Abel: Goodnight

  I laid down and counted out how many weeks I had with her until school started. Three weeks until the Stephenson’s got home, so that meant we had a month. A month until she was exposed to them. A month until—I didn’t know what. I knew one thing for sure. I had to make these next weeks count so when we faced reality, maybe she would remember this.

  I stopped at the store the next morning and picked up bagels and cream cheese and one coffee. She loved it but I couldn’t choke it down. As I came up the driveway I surveyed the work that still needed to be done on the house. I finished painting everything so now all that was left to do was yard maintenance. That meant I didn’t need to be there every day, but now I wanted to.

  I knocked at the door. Even though I could use the code, it felt weird. She answered and wore the greatest smile I’d ever seen. When the girl was happy, everyone knew it.

  “Put the stuff down Abel.” She said as she danced from toe to toe.

  I put it all down on the stairs and before I’d even straightened back out completely she had leapt from the top stair onto me. She was light as could be so I held onto her without exertion. Her arms around my neck came close to c
hoking me and her legs locked around my waist.

  “I missed you.” It was a simple sentence but it meant everything to me.

  “Ugh, I missed you too. How’d your test go?”

  “I hate those stupid tests. But I think I did ok.” She pulled back and pressed her lips to mine, not nearly long enough.

  “I’m sure you did great. So, it looks like I don’t have very much work here anymore. What do you have to do today?”

  “Nothing! I’ve been cleaning and stuff while you were running around doing your soccer thing.”

  “Good. So first I wanted to bring you to my house, show you where it is. Movies and pizza?”

  “A whole day of vegging out with you?”

  “Yeah, unless you’ve got a better idea.”

  “What? There’s no better idea than that. Let me grab my stuff.”

  She came out with a purse and a jacket. I grabbed the uneaten breakfast and brought it with us.

  We drove to my house and I never knew how much satisfaction I would get from sharing my life with her. She stopped in the hallway, flicked on the light, and took a minute at every single picture, she touched the frame on a couple of them in some kind of reverence. She stopped at a picture of my parents, taken three years ago, kissing on some beach on one of their infamous cruises. She stood there longer than the rest. I walked up behind her and rested my chin on her shoulder, wondering if she saw something that I didn’t.

  “Where was this taken,” she asked and never broke her and the picture’s stand-off.

  “Umm…Cozumel, I think. They take a cruise every summer.”

  “So, you took the picture?”

  “No, I don’t ever go with them. They like to do a lot of things by themselves and most of the time I’m grateful. They practically make out in front of me. I mean, I know they love each other but they go over the top.”

  “That’s kinda sad.”

  “I’d say—more gross than sad.” She laughed and my chin bobbed up and down with her shoulders.

  “Not the making out, the leaving you at home all the time by yourself.” As she said it, she reached behind her and took my hands in hers and brought them around so that my back was flush with hers and our hands, woven together, hugged her right under her chest.

  “I guess I just got used to being alone. Just like you.”

  I realized how similar our childhoods had been. Yes, we went to different schools and had different kinds of parents, but we were both dreadfully alone. And as I thought about it for a moment more, I realized it was that same reason I kept my friends around. They were grade-A assholes but some company is better than no company, I guessed. But now I had Corinne.

  “You’ve got me now.” She whispered it, more of a prayer than a response.

  “Yeah, I do.” We stayed there for a few minutes more and then I let her see all of the rooms in the rest of the house.

  We went back into the living room and I sat on the couch and watched her peruse my array of DVDs, letting her pick whatever she wanted to watch. I would sit right here and watch history documentaries with her if she wanted me to—anything to keep her close to me. She sat on the couch after putting a movie about a haunted house on.

  “It’s freezing in here Abel,” she shivered.

  “I know. My parents like it cold, says it keeps the germs down. They have quirks.” I reached around her and grabbed a blanket and draped it around her shoulders. She curled up against me and I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

  “You have quirks too.” She giggled next to me.

  “Oh yeah, like what?”

  “You chew on the inside of your cheek when you’re thinking about something. You readjust your hat when I catch you checking me out. You hate coffee but sometimes you pretend to drink it with me. You always eat one dish first and then the other, never alternating.”

  “I do those things, don’t I?” And didn’t it just inflate my ego that she’d been observing me.

  “Yup. What’s your middle name?” She turned to face me.

  “Ugh…Lincoln” She turned her body now.

  “Shut up! Tell me they didn’t name you Abel Lincoln Collins.”

  She laughed uncontrollably.

  “I’m glad I’m not sensitive about it Corinne,” that really set her off. “So what’s yours boarding school queen?”

  “My name is a long one. Corinne Elizabeth Annalee Novak. I swear I couldn’t even say it until my teacher at Wellsley made me recite it every day until I said it perfectly.”

  “It fits you.”

  “Does it?” If she didn’t quit looking at my lips, I was going to lose it.

  “Mmmhmmm, it’s beautiful, it’s feminine and it’s perfect for you. Your parents were clever.”

  “Huh,” that’s all she said.

  “I can’t kiss you,” I said while I reciprocated her lip-stare.

  “Again?”

  “Do you know how many times I’ve caught my parents, um…”

  “Gross Abel,” She threw a pillow at my face.

  “Get back over here and let’s watch the movie.”

  She laid in my lap on top of the pillow she had thrown on my head and we watched movies until it got dark.

  Corinne

  The next week Abel picked me up and we went to Shreveport. It was only two hours away and we listened to Silent Film the entire way. We parked outside the stadium where the concert was held and had to walk almost half an hour to get there. We walked in and were bombarded by t shirt and sticker vendors. Guys and girls whose backs were covered by piles of t shirts, their own personal store front.

  Abel moved me in front of him and put one hand on each side of my waist. It was like having my own private body guard. I looked up at him and he blinked those heavy lashes at me and smiled. He bent down to put his ear to my mouth and whispered, “Don’t want anyone taking off with my girl.” I turned around and stopped him, right smack dab in the middle of the crowds rushing to get to their seats. I grabbed two handfuls of the front of his shirt and pulled him to me, our mouths meeting each other in a fury. As his warm mouth danced with mine, I knew. This guy who kissed me until my legs were putty, I loved him. I wouldn’t tell him, couldn’t tell him yet. But knowing was enough for me.

  We slowed eventually and I was put back into my ‘Abel cage’ until we got to our seats. As the lights and music started up, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a live band and listening to them on my iPod would never be the same. I had heard that some bands were not as good live but it wasn’t true for this one. It was one of the best times of my life. Not to mention, Abel next to me made it perfect.

  We left the concert and drove to the hotel. My stomach rattled inside me. I breathed a sigh of relief when we walked into the room and there were two double beds.

  “Don’t look so relieved, Corinne, I’m not gonna rob you of your virtue on a concert trip.”

  “Shut up Abel.” I said, but he was totally right. That was exactly what I was afraid of.

  I showered and changed into my pajamas. We passed, me coming out of the bathroom and him going in and he slapped my butt. I gasped as he said,

  “Nice hearts, honey.” He shut the door before I could reply.

  I heard the shower turn on and I went to the balcony to get some fresh air. What I got instead was hot, sticky air, it was what walking into a humidifier might feel like. I breathed it in anyway, the act itself making me feel calmer.

  “Ugh, it’s like walking into a wet towel. What are you doing out here?”

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Do you want me to get another room?”

  I turned around and came face to face with shirtless Abel. I know my eyes became saucers but I reeled them in. My hands reached out and I ran the backs of them over his chest and then looked to his face for some kind of permission. He gave me a look of shock, but not rejection.

  I let my fingers walk further south, letting them run the length of his stomach, stopping at his belly button
. He shuddered underneath my touch and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Stop teasing Corinne, it’s not nice, honey.”

  And I did, I kissed him until I questioned whether or not I was still on the balcony or flying. His mouth tasted like cinnamon, like red hots or an atomic fireball. Before I knew heads from tails, I was laid on one of the beds and Abel lay next to me, and his left hand fisted the comforter we lay on. I didn’t know if he was in pain or something else. But when he broke free of our kiss, I could plainly see.

  “You’re driving me mad Corinne. I can’t get enough of you.” He moved and laid his face on my stomach and though my breaths were embarrassingly loud, I couldn’t care less. Because the fact that he wanted me as badly as I wanted him? Nothing could bring me down from that.

  Abel

  We drove home from Shreveport and if I got nothing else out of the trip, I knew one thing and had no doubt in my mind that it was true. I loved her. Not high school love, or summer love, I loved her.

  We spent the next two weeks getting ready for the return of the Stephenson’s and the closer and closer the beginning of school got, the more anxious I got.

  The Stephenson’s got home on a Saturday before school started on Monday and I helped Corinne pack her things into her truck to go home. She turned once and stared at the house where she had spent her summer and got into her truck. She wiped her cheeks once before pulling out of the driveway and waving to me.

  I didn’t hear from her until Sunday night before school.

  “Are you ok? Ready for school tomorrow?”

  “No, I’m not. I’m really nervous. Plus my parents are really freaking me out big time.”

  “Why,” I asked and knew that her parents were weird anyway.

  “When I got home yesterday, my dad was installing flood lights and cameras everywhere. Why in the hell would people need lights and freakin’ cameras all over their house?”

  “Maybe they’re on watch for me. Making sure I don’t climb in your window and ravish you while they sleep.”

  “That must be it. But they don’t have to worry right? It’s not like we’ve slept in the same bed and you’ve never taken me out of town to try to seduce me in a hotel room—wait.”