by Allie Gail
“So one day I come home from school and my mom’s gone. Just gone. She just left me there. And that was bad enough, but then the police start coming around looking for her because apparently the man she took off with stole a whole lot of money from his clients. Something to do with trust funds, I think. Anyhow, long story short, they somehow managed to locate my uncle who, by the way, hadn’t even laid eyes on me in ten years. He came and got me. And here I am.”
He was quiet for some time, though she could feel his grip on her hand tighten. Eventually he spoke. “So are you happy living here? With your uncle?”
“Oh, definitely! Uncle Phil is awesome. I just love it here! The area is so beautiful and I even love going to school here. I never would have believed it. I didn’t even have any friends at my old school. Everyone there pretty much avoided me. They thought I was trash.”
“I hope you don’t think that, Anna.”
“Well . . . not anymore, no. But even so, I don’t think I’d want everyone here knowing about me. I’m not even sure why I unloaded all this on you. I can imagine what you must be thinking.”
“Would you like me to tell you?”
“Huh?”
“What I’m thinking.” His attention was on her as he walked fluidly along, somehow managing never to stumble on exposed roots but instead stepping gracefully over them, even without watching the ground. She wondered if he was part deer.
“Oh. Um . . . okay.”
“I think life dealt you a really bad hand the first time around. But that isn’t your fault. You aren’t a bad person by association because of what your mother did. So don’t ever think that. Who you are is based on what you choose to be, not what somebody else wants to label you as. It’s all up to you. And since you have a winning hand now, I suggest you relax and enjoy it.”
Anna pondered this. “How’d you get to be so smart?”
“Lots of blood sacrifices. My gosh, would you look at that. She’s going to break her neck!”
Anna followed his gaze and spotted Karen perched on Dalton’s shoulders, waving her arms and singing atrociously off-key. In one of her hands was a wine cooler.
“I need to let her know I’m riding home with you,” she told Alex. “Then we can go if you want to. It’s getting really late.”
“All right. I’m gonna go speak to Josh for a second. I’ll meet you in front of the trail, okay?”
Anna headed into the crowd, dodging people until she reached Karen who merrily looked down at her and shouted, “Hey, beeotch! Where ya been?”
“I went to see the gravestone with Alex. He’s giving me a ride home, okay?”
“Alex is here?” Karen was surprised.
“Yeah. What time do you have to be home? It’s already after midnight. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
Karen’s grin widened. “Whenever. My parents think I’m spending the night with Erica.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Dalton caught her eye and winked lasciviously.
“Please tell me you’re not riding with him!” Anna could see that Dalton was three sheets to the wind. She just hoped he didn’t drop Karen on her head. Not that it would make much difference.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get a ride with Josh and Erica. They’re still here.”
“Are they? Good. By the way, you look like a totem pole.”
Karen laughed. She was obviously having the time of her life. “Are you sure you want to leave already?”
“I’m tired! Aren’t you?”
“Not a bit!”
“Well, just be careful, okay?”
“I will! Call me tomorrow!” She blew a kiss in Anna’s direction, adding cheerfully, “I want to know all the details!”
9
They spoke little on the ride home, but Anna’s hand continued to rest in his. It seemed to belong there. Alex’s long fingers were entwined with hers and held them securely, as if he didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t want him to.
He pulled into his own driveway and finally released her hand, saying, “Come on. I’ll walk you home.” They made their way next door across the dewy grass, up the front steps and onto the porch. Anna felt very sleepy. It had been a long night.
Alex motioned to the swing. “Sit with me, just for a minute. All right?”
Side by side in the lovely ornate carved porch swing, they glided back and forth, pushing lazily with their toes. Anna thought contentedly that she could easily fall asleep right where she was. After the hours of raucous music blasting in her ears, the sound of nothing but crickets chirping and branches rustling in the breeze was welcome.
Then Alex said in a low voice, “What you told me tonight, Anna. You know I’d never repeat it to anyone. Right?”
She nodded slowly. “I know you wouldn’t.”
“Good. I just wanted to make sure you knew that. I’m not one to spread gossip.” He paused. “Anyway, that’s Karen’s department. She’d be terribly offended if I tried to take her job.”
“Well. We certainly wouldn’t want to put Karen on the unemployment line, would we?”
“She’d probably turn it into a conga line.”
Anna yawned and stretched. “You joke, but I could actually visualize her doing that.”
“You look tired. Do you realize it’s one o’clock in the morning? You should go on in. Before your uncle comes out here with a shotgun and wants to know what we’re doing.”
“You worry too much.”
“I’m trying to break the habit, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that.”
“Did I mention how pretty you look tonight?”
Anna felt a thrill rush through her. Sure, it had been nice when Creed and Sebastian called her pretty. But coming from Alex, it meant so much more. “No, I don’t believe you did. Maybe you should do that right now.”
“You look beautiful tonight, Anna.”
“Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“You know you can.”
“I’m glad you knocked Sebastian’s block off.”
Anna was still laughing to herself when she went inside.
****
“Okay. So what is up with you and Alex? Spill it.”
Anna tried to open a box of macaroni and cheese with one hand and nearly dropped her phone in the process. “What do you mean?”
On the other end, Karen sighed impatiently. “Oh, I don’t know. Just the fact that you were off in the woods alone with him and I’m pretty sure you’re both crushing on each other. Did anything happen?”
“Like what?”
“Stop playing dumb! Has he kissed you?”
“Huh! I wish.”
“Ah-ha! So you admit you want him to kiss you! I knew it! I knew there was total chemistry there!” Karen whooped.
“All right, so I like him,” Anna admitted. She dumped the macaroni into the boiling water on the stovetop and tossed the box into the trash. “What do you think I should do?”
“Depends. Does he like you?”
“How should I know? You’re better at reading guys than I am. He sort of acts like he does. But we’re friends. Maybe he’s just being nice.”
“Hm. So he took you way off in the woods to see the gravestone and didn’t even try anything?”
“Nope. Perfect gentleman.”
“Well, maybe he’s shy. He is kinda the quiet type. Honestly, I don’t think he has much experience with girls. You might have to make the first move,” Karen advised.
“Yeah, and what if he doesn’t like me that way? I’d feel stupid.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“NO! Absolutely not! If you say one word to him about this I swear I’ll strangle you!”
“Okay, okay. My lips are sealed. I’ll scope him out on Monday and see if I can read his body language.”
“Speaking of body language, what did you do after you left the party l
ast night?” Anna opened a drawer and found a wooden spoon, then stirred the noodles.
“I went home with Erica. What do you think?” Karen’s voice was all innocence.
“I thought you said you weren’t really spending the night with her?”
“Oh, I was just messing with you. Sometimes you’re so gullible.”
“Thanks a lot! You had me worried. I didn’t want to see you on the six o’clock news after your parents found you shacked up in a cheap motel with Dalton.”
Karen burst out laughing. “As if! I wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like that. The Hilton, maybe. You know I have extravagant taste.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“He did ask me to prom, though.”
“Nice! Are you excited?”
“So excited! I’m totally stoked about getting a prom dress.”
“That’s what you’re excited about? The dress?”
“What else?” The funny thing was, she seemed serious this time.
“Forget it. I have to go, anyway. My lunch is boiling over.”
“Okay, bye!”
Anna turned the heat down on the stove and padded into the living room where Phil was relaxing on the couch with a beer, watching ESPN. She didn’t understand how he could find sports so fascinating. It was one of the many things she didn’t get about men.
“I’m making some macaroni and cheese. You want some?”
Without taking his eyes off the TV, he replied, “Sure. Thanks, pumpkin. Hey, how was your party last night? Did you have fun?” Not surprisingly, he’d been asleep when she got in. He sure wasn’t a helicopter parent. Guardian. Whatever.
“I had a blast. Danced for hours. My feet are sore.”
“You’re not going out tonight, are you? Noon news report said we might get some bad weather.”
“No, I wasn’t planning on it. Are you still going over to Lisa’s?”
“Yeah, probably. I’ll come home if the weather gets too bad.”
Anna started back toward the kitchen to check on the macaroni. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl, Uncle Phil. I’m not afraid of a little storm.”
****
The “little storm”, Anna discovered later by checking the weather forecast on the internet, promised to be an all-night event with high winds and torrential downpours. At the moment it was only thundering some outside, so Phil went ahead and left for Lisa’s house before the rain arrived. Anna decided the perfect way to spend the evening would be to pamper herself with a long soak in the tub, then curl up on the couch and enjoy a scary movie marathon. If there wasn’t anything good on cable, there were plenty of selections on the shelf to choose from.
She lounged in the bathtub for a long time, listening to the thunder outside. It was incredibly relaxing. A night like this made her long to be in some gothic castle, with lightning flashing and a gorgeous vampire on the ivy-covered stone balcony, calling to her. It was a scrumptious fantasy and made her think of Alex, of course. She had hoped he’d call her today. But he really didn’t have any reason to, so she tried not to be too disappointed that he hadn’t. Still . . .
Their conversation the previous night returned to invade her thoughts. Why had he asked her how many boyfriends she’d had? He’d probably think she was a complete loser if she told him she’d only been kissed twice in her entire life. And she wasn’t even sure one of them counted. Which was a shame, because it had been the only one that mattered to her, at the time.
It was December, and Miss May’s grandson Trent was home on leave, visiting her for Christmas. He was twenty-six, tall and muscular and confident, and when fifteen-year-old Anna first saw him in his U.S. Army fatigues, she’d developed a major crush. She spent most of that week hanging around Miss May’s apartment, and if Trent was annoyed by her presence, at least he was gentleman enough to hide it.
She’d happened to be standing underneath the kitchen archway one day when he pointed upward, laughing, to the sprig of mistletoe Miss May had hung. And as she blushed fiercely, he’d leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips. It was perfectly innocent, just a friendly peck from a charming man who was only being kind to a starry-eyed schoolgirl.
It had also provided Anna with a month’s worth of x-rated dreams.
Her second kiss had been with a boy from school named Jeremy. She’d been flattered by his attention and one day they went behind the bleachers where he proceeded to shove his tongue in her mouth. When he tried to put his hand up her shirt, she stopped him, not because she was a prude exactly, but because he tasted like cigarettes and it was really grossing her out. He told all his burnout friends that he’d scored with her. That was the end of Jeremy.
Of course, none of that mattered now. It all happened a million years ago, in another life.
After blow-drying her hair just long enough to prevent it from dripping, she brushed her teeth and slipped into a comfortable cotton nightgown, then skipped downstairs, pausing at the bottom of the steps to listen. The wind had really kicked up outside, and it was beginning to rain harder. Peeking out the front window, she saw only darkness until a flash of lightning lit up the sky momentarily, and the whipping branches of angry trees were briefly illuminated. She wondered if she ought to check the news again and make sure there weren’t any tornado warnings.
Clicking on the television, she located a local channel and was relieved to discover only severe thunderstorm warnings. Storms were romantic and exciting. Tornadoes, on the other hand . . . not so much.
****
Alex was getting his butt kicked at Mortal Kombat. He didn’t blame his gaming skills, though – he blamed the girl next door. How was he supposed to concentrate? He kept remembering that Mr. Moore was always at his girlfriend’s house on Saturday nights so Anna must be all alone next door, and the idea of seeing her was tempting him almost more than he could stand. Logically, he knew it would be a really, really bad idea to go over there. Really bad. Why torture himself? Did you wander around a bakery if you were on a diet? No. You avoided temptation. Only way to deal with it.
“Dang, you suck tonight,” Creed was saying. “I’ve seen Jennifer do better and she’s terrible at this.”
“Where is Jen tonight?” Charlotte asked.
“Grounded. For breaking curfew last night.”
“Creed. You should know better than to keep her out past her curfew.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Thunder rumbled nearby, followed by a quick flash of brilliant light.
“Maybe we should unplug the TV,” their mom mused. “That lightning is really close.”
Creed rolled his eyes. “What are we supposed to do all night, then? Make shadow puppets on the wall?”
Charlotte gave her son an exasperated look. “You could try reading a book.”
“Only thing he knows how to read is a text message,” Alex joked, earning a shove from Creed. He shoved back and they delved into a wrestling match on the floor.
“Boys, please! Do you have to do that in the house?”
“Should we go outside in the rain and do it?” Having pinned Alex down, Creed released him with a triumphant grin. Alex socked him in the arm.
Charlotte looked thoughtfully at the window, then stood up, saying, “I think I better get some matches. I’ll be surprised if the power doesn’t go out soon.”
At that very moment the lights flickered, as if some cosmic force heard her and agreed. “Oh no, don’t go out yet, please!” she begged, scurrying into the kitchen. She returned with a box of matches and hastily lit some candles in a centerpiece on one of the end tables.
“Don’t we have some flashlights?” Alex wanted to know.
“Yes, but the candles are more quaint, don’t you think? If you must have a flashlight, there are a couple in the linen closet. Help yourself.”
“You scared of the dark or something?” Creed heckled.
“Your face scares me.” Alex found the flashlights in the closet and brought them into the living room, tossing one to
his brother.
There was a loud crack of thunder, and the lights flickered again. Then they went out altogether.
“Well, there it goes,” Charlotte announced.
“Talk about stating the obvious.” Still lying sprawled out on the floor, Creed lifted his head to look up at Alex, who was headed down the hallway. “Where you goin’?”
“Cleveland, where do you think?” Alex hollered back. He went into the bathroom he shared with his brother, closing the door behind him. I’m not going anywhere. Anywhere at all. I’m only brushing my teeth because I’m into dental hygiene. Clean teeth are happy teeth, right? And I’m only putting on cologne because I like the way it smells. Yep. I’m not going anywhere. Gonna stay put, right here. I am not leaving this house.
“Mom?”
Charlotte looked up from her novel. “What?”
“I’m gonna go next door and make sure Anna’s all right. She’s over there by herself. Might be scared.” So much for resolve.
“Oh. That’s a good idea, sweetie. She may need a flashlight. Be careful, okay? And take your raincoat.”
Creed hopped up from the floor and followed Alex into the foyer, watching suspiciously while Alex maneuvered his way into the raincoat while holding a flashlight in one hand. “Are you wearing cologne?”
“Shut up.” Alex pulled the hood up over his head and reached for the doorknob.
Creed leaned against the door and crossed his arms, searching his brother’s face. “What are you doing?” he asked, keeping his voice low so their mother wouldn’t hear.
“Just what I said I was doing. Could you move?”
“You really think that’s a good idea? Going over there while she’s alone?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I think it’s a great idea.”
“Don’t be a smartass. You know what I’m talking about. You think I haven’t noticed the way you look at her?”
“What’s the problem? You want her for yourself or something?”
“That’s not it and you know it.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you? Like you knew what you were doing with that chick back in Indiana?”
With a sharp look at his brother, Alex said, “Christ almighty. That was two years ago, Creed. Do you have to keep bringing it up?”