Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1)
Page 12
From the living room, I could feel Martin freeze. He set the ribbon stitched onto the book to mark his place, and shut it, removing his reading glasses from his eyes. “She will never call me that word.” He said into the air. Looking over to us peripherally.
“What word? Grandpa? Of course she will!”
“Not in this house! The moment that word is uttered in reference to me, it is out of here!”
After Kaylee finished, she looked uncomfortable as she squirmed about. “Uh…” I said, trying to get Del’s attention. She and Martin were bouncing remarks, rich in sarcasm, to one another. I turned to Mark, who was already standing behind me. A cloth thrown over his shoulder. He extended both hands for me to give her to him, and when I did, put her over his shoulder and patted her back. I heard a small burp, then a small slosh of sound. He brought her to his arms and wiped away the streak of spit up she had left on her cheek. Someone’s taking the doting dad bit to new extremes. He handed her back to me and went to the sink to wash his hands. Little strawberry-blonde haired Kaylee—the perfect blend of her mothers red hair, and her father’s golden hair—stayed in my arms, watching me with eyes full of curiosity. She brought her arm to her mouth to cover a yawn with a closed fist. Funny how even infants can mimic adults. She was adorable. So cute, so innocent, and so new to the world. I did what felt natural to soothe her as she began to sniffle and sob. I sang.
You are the right to every wrong.
You are the sunshine in the sky.
You are the rhyme to this small song/
I sing for you, so you won’t cry.
It sounded much better when my grandma or mom would sing it to me in Spanish, and I’m pretty sure the words were different, but at least I tried. To my surprise, it worked. The little baby girl—sound asleep, nestled herself deeper into my chest, and I couldn’t help but smile.
Jett
11
I couldn’t leave her alone tonight.
Bane or his henchman—that was him, always letting other people do his deeds, then taking credit for it after—had probably seen her with me. Knowing him, he’s probably cooking up something foul, and I didn’t want her to be caught in the middle of his little games. Looks as though I’m going to have to spend all night watching over her.
I shut the water off and patted myself dry with a towel. I threw on fresh clothes I had gotten before and rushed into the hallway—my hair still damp. I spotted her standing with Kaylee in her arms, humming an unfamiliar tune. Over her shoulder, I saw Mark stirring the wooden spoon in the pot, nodding toward her and giving me a thumbs up with his free hand.
You picked a nice one! I could imagine him saying. I agreed. And I’m not going to let Bane and one of his royally fucked up plans get in the way of that—Rini is mine.
Rini
12
“Ready to go?” Jett asked. He had changed into a burgundy V-neck and some khaki shorts—the same ones he’d worn just days before.
“Yeah.” I waited for Mark to come around the counter to get Kaylee from my arms. She made a sound of discomfort during the exchange as she settled into Mark’s broad chest. A familiar body.
I followed Jett out after saying my farewells to the rest inside. The sun had already left to greet the people on the other side of the world. We walked side by side, ducking into the brush to go to my cabin, with thunder rolling in the background. The final warnings before the rain would begin to pour from the sky above. I could already smell the wet dirt from miles away. I love that smell.
I peered over to Jett, whom seemed to be lost in his mind yet again, like the brief moment he’d been at the lake a few hours before. “Jett?” I asked, shifting my gaze to the twig and leaf littered ground.
“Yeah?” he sounded disturbed from his train of thought.
“Thank you for letting me bring Sarah along. She and Max seem to have really hit it off,” I smiled, still keeping my eyes on the ground as I stepped over rocks and roots protruding from the earth. I felt a nearby branch—its twigs like a boney skeletal wooden hand—scratch softly against my exposed leg, as if contemplating grasping and pulling me in.
“Oh, it’s no problem. If anything, I have to thank you for bringing someone that he could actually talk to without April in his lap,” He laughed. “I keep telling him a virtual girlfriend doesn’t count if he can’t cuddle with her at night.”
Gasp! I stumbled over a rock while laughing and lost my balance, my body fell through air like an angel stripped of its wings and banished to hell or exiled to earth, or whatever they’re doing in YA novels now. “I’ve got you.” I felt the strong embrace of his arms wrap around my body, saving me from what could have been a nasty fall over a sharp set of misshapen rocks. “I’ve got you,” he repeated, this time quietly, almost like a whisper—for only me to hear.
“Thank you,” I said again, our faces were too close for comfort. Well, for my comfort that is. I could smell the minty freshness of his breath graze against the skin between my nose and mouth.
“You sure have a thing for falling, don’t you?” he smirked holding back a laugh, and still keeping his face close to mine. “I need to keep that in mind.”
“Ha-ha,” I said sarcastically, as I fixed myself back onto my feet.
When we reached the porch—just dodging a light mist of rain—I threw open the door, feeling the welcome of the chilly air greet Jett and I in. “Would you mind getting the pizza over there while I get some drinks?” I asked, pointing to the table down the hall by the front door that the boxes sat on.
“Sure.”
“Cool, thanks. What’ll you have to drink?”
“Water, if you got some.” He touched the bottom of the pizza box, “Still warm,” he announced from the other end of the hall, “I thought I was promised cold pizza?”
“Guess your just gonna have to settle for warm then,” I shrugged and matched the grin he wore so handsomely. Stop it, Rini! I scolded myself.
I opened the fridge and took two waters and two teas into my hands. He waited for me by my room door, as if waiting for my permission to enter. The door was shut. That’s weird. I had left it open when we left. I turned the knob and pushed it open, spotting a pair of shifting figures in the dark. I switched the light switch on to illuminate the dingy room. Had I not been holding the bottles firmly, they would have fallen to the floor at what I saw.
Jett must’ve seen it at the same time too. “What the-”
“Eff?” I finished.
Sarah and Max were all over each other on my bed. Practically gnawing on each other’s mouths. “On my bed guys—really?!” They caught sight of us standing by the doorway and jumped off each other.
“Pig!” Sarah said, setting a slap on Max’s cheek. “How dare you!”
“What are you talking about?” he looked extremely confused, holding his cheek, slowly turning red in astonishment. “You kissed me!”
Sarah laughed, “Tee-hee, I know!” then moseyed on over to the very startled Max to give him a hug. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, “What? You can’t help who you like.”
...
After I got out of the shower and into my pajamas, I set foot into my room again. Post-make-out session. The newly formed couple, temporarily monitored by Jett, sat on the floor at the foot of my bed messing with each other playfully. I lied, stomach first, on the other side of the bed while Jett set himself next to me.
“Bust out the za’ and put a movie on.” Sarah’s hand appeared from the bed’s edge and snapped. “Let’s get this thing going already!” Sarah enthusiastically raised both her arms as if she were cheering, “Woo!”
I handed one box for Sarah and Max to eat from, and passed them their drinks. “Finally!” Sarah sighed. “I was dying over here.”
While I popped a movie in, Jett set two pillows at the edge of the bed for us to have extra padding as we ate. The lights were off, and the bluish glow from the TV lit the room. The aroma of the pizza hit my nostrils and made my mouth water. Jett an
d I didn’t hesitate tearing into the cheesy, pepperoni pizza just as the movie started.
The first movie was a romantic-comedy about a café owner who falls madly in love with the health inspector who wants to destroy her business at first to make way for his boss’s company. Boring. I found myself staring at random objects around my room in boredom during the ninety-seven minute feature. It took a small nudge on the shoulder from Jett to get my attention that it had ended.
“Oh,” I said, getting up to change the disc.
The second movie’s genre was horror, dealing with a mad scientist who is obsessed with experimentation. George’s pick. The mad scientist—dressed in a lengthy white lab coat and mask, in a dingy stonewalled room with lights that flickered, threatening to die out—raised the needle of a syringe in the air as a screaming woman in torn clothes tried to break free from the straps that bound her down on a white examination table. He approached slowly as a suspenseful score sounded and the camera zoomed in on the woman’s eyes, black from running mascara. I winced at the sight of the needle getting closer to the patient, already aware of his intentions. The needle was only mere inches away now as the woman squirmed and cried. The tip, with a gleam shining on it to make it more frightening, drew closer and closer.
“Oh my god, what is he doing?” Sarah squealed from the floor, her face hidden behind Max. “What is he gonna-Aaaah!”
The scientist jabbed the needle in the poor wailing woman’s eye and drew a grey fluid. Gross! I quickly turned my face from the screen and held back a shudder that was festering inside of me.
“It’s just a movie, Sarah,” Max said, comforting her. “It’s all special effects done during film editing. None of it is real.”
My eyes were shut tight. I usually never got affected by horror movies, but something about needles and eyes, don’t mix. Or teeth and fingernails, and—well, anything and nails. Period. I felt the gentle touch of a hand rest on top of mine.
“You okay?” Jett asked, wailing woman in the movie still going off in the background. “You look like your about to freak out.”
“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little weirded out.” I swallowed the scream I had choked back just before it could escape, and looked at his hand on mine—it was almost twice the size, rough skinned, and moist. But most of all, warm. Like a nice mug of hot chocolate after spending a day out in the snow. In the little light there was, I could see the raised skin of a scar or birthmark on the part of skin below his index finger knuckle. It was in the shape of a tiny crescent moon. Wonder where that’s from? I thought about removing my hand from his—maybe brushing a strand of hair then placing my hand somewhere else—possibly going for one of the last slices of pizza, or even grabbing the remote and adjusting the volume one block louder or softer. I thought about doing these things, but didn’t. Instead, I left my hand right where it was. Under his. My fingers twitched, as if aching to intertwine with his. Not going to happen my little phalanges, sorry. Jett had a half-amused look on his face when he saw that I didn’t move my hand away. The other half being a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
“Ugh! Put another movie on, this one is gross!” Sarah exclaimed in disgust, already removing the disc from the tray. “The next movie must and will be a comedy!”
By the middle of the last movie, Sarah and Max had fallen asleep on the inflatable bed they’d set up post-movies. They had kicked the thick blanket to the floor, probably feeling too hot. Even from my bed, I could see a bit of sweat on Max’s neck and Sarah’s crinkled discomforted face. It was cold for me, but I guessed I’d have to suffer for them to be comfortable. That was me, putting other people before myself. I lowered the thermostat, mounted on the wall right beside my door, and moved my oscillating fan from beside my desk to beside the big window so they could cool down faster. The hot and humid air began a descent in temperature. It was a fairly new air conditioner so the coolness took only a minute or two to become noticeable.
I’d sent Celeste a text saying that Sarah and I were having a blast and getting ready to go to sleep. She replied: Okay, Do you want us to make you all some breakfast before we leave in the morning? I told her no and that we’d get our own breakfast and go catch a movie at the theater tomorrow, just because I didn’t want her to come in and see a random guy in each of our beds. How awkward would that be?
Jett sat on the edge of my bed, watching the sleeping couple on the air bed. “I’ll wake him up in a bit so we can go,” he said in a whisper, pointing to Max with his finger.
“Oh—no, it’s okay. Let him sleep.” I fixed my pillows back to their original position and changed the channel from the dark input channel to a colorful late-night talk show. The rain had picked up from a small drizzle to a full on storm, and a loud rumble of thunder above the cabin announced that it had just begun. “Besides, the weather sounds bad—you should stay too.” I said quietly, sneaking a peek out the window to see a flash of lightning.
“You sure?” he asked, equally as quietly. “I could dash for it and be back in the morning to pick him up.”
I stopped whispering and spoke through a yawn with my hand over my mouth, “Yeah—I’m sure.” I was exhausted, and my muscles ached from the swimming today. “Make yourself comfy.”
“Are you really sure?” he asked again in a normal quiet voice.
“Yup,” I lifted the comforter enough to slide in, and closed my eyes. The TV volume had been lowered to a low yet still understandable level, and the soft glow continued to fill the room, flickering every time the camera switched angles from the host to the young interviewee talking about her new CD.
“All right then,” He spoke softly a few seconds later after thinking it through.
I felt a weight be lifted from the edge of the bed, and then a small thud sounded on the floor. I opened my eyes just as Sarah and Max shifted in their bed, both facing opposite directions but still close together.
“What are you doing?” I asked, holding back another yawn, as I leant over the edge of the bed to Jett.
“Trying to sleep.” He was lying on the floor bare-chested using his shirt as a pillow. “So, if you don’t mind—”
“Woah!” I held out a hand to cover his chest from my view, “Settle down there Abercrombie and Fitch, you can sleep on the bed you know.” I patted the extra space on the bed. “Come on, I don’t bite.”
“I might,” he grinned as he stood up and slid into the bed.
“Huh?”
“Nothing.”
I closed my eyes once again. The vent was directly over me, making it twice as cold. Even though I had a fairly thick blanket over me, the cool breeze still made me shudder.
“Are you cold?” Jett whispered. “You’re shaking.”
“No.” My teeth chattered. I covered my mouth to mask out the sound.
“I can feel you through the bed. Either that, or what I hope to be your phone, is vibrating.”
What was he trying to say? “M-maybe I am, s-so what?”
“Well, then let me raise the thermostat.” Jett inched toward the edge of the bed and threw the cover off of him. I caught sight of the ridge going down his bare back. He could have at least put his shirt back on.
“No,” I told him. He stopped and flipped his lengthy hair over his shoulder to look at me. “—then it’ll get too hot. I’d rather be cold than hot. Besides, it’s obvious that Sarah and Max are roasting over there, so it’s better this way.”
“Hmm,” Jett said in a thinking voice as he lowered himself back down. There was the curiosity I had called earlier. “Well, there is another alternative.” He turned on his side—facing me. To divert the awkward closeness again, I turned to face the wall instead.
I dared myself to ask, “Which is?”
Suddenly, I felt his arm reach around my body and pull me toward him. I slid across the silky, satin sheets until my back hit his chest with a small thunk! Immediately, the warmth overflowing from his body began to warm me, as if being poured from an ever-running faucet.
“What was that?” I demanded in a quiet voice, trying not to disturb those asleep, after pulling away from his chest and glaring at him for an answer.
“It’s me trying to warm you up so you don’t have to freeze to death,” he smiled, propping his head up with his hand. “Relax, I’m not trying to do anything.” He held his hands out as if I’d accused him in some way. “Now, come here,” he motioned for me to return, “You feel as cold as ice.”
“Well, thanks, but I don’t need it.” I wiggled my way back to the other side and brought the blanket over my shoulder. Humph! The air conditioner was still blowing and the small bit of warmth I’d received from his body was already being chilled. The shuddering was slowly making its return. I heard him sigh and sink back into a lay. The warmth of his chest had felt good. No wonder people like to cuddle. The closer I was to him, the more potent his alluring scent was. That woodsy, wild scent that I’d gotten a sniff of the day I’d met him. It is pretty cold. I thought of many reasons as to why I shouldn’t go back to his arms, but the air just wasn’t letting up. Give in! I imagined a voice in the back of my head yelling. Just give in for God’s sake! I peered over my shoulder at him and was surprised to meet his eyes. “What?” I said, trying not to make it such a big deal.
“Nothing. Didn’t say a thing.” He held the blanket up and lifted his eyebrow, offering his warmth to me again with a sly grin of victory.
“Well, maybe just for a little bit,” I nudged myself back into the warmness of his chest. I’ve never been this close to a guy before, but I was absolutely sure of one thing. I liked it. A lot. He set his hand softly on my side. Had I not been too focused on the precious warmth that was now disseminating across my body, I might have even felt him squeeze me softly once more as he adjusted himself closer to me. It was only a matter of time until the soft beats from his heart, his soft snores, and the movements of his chest rising and falling against my back, sent me drifting off to sleep.