Things That Go Bump At Night

by C. A. Saari

  “Come on Remi!” Kendra called. “Get out here and show me.”

  I wasn’t getting it, it just felt too short, but, if she wanted to see, then I’d let her. I stepped from the dressing room and Kendra’s hands went to her mouth.

  “It’s perfect!” She cried.

  “I don’t know.” I tugged at the short side.

  “Stop it! You’ll wrinkle it.” Kendra swatted at my hand. “And what do you mean you don’t know? That dress was made for you.”

  “But it’s so short.”

  “I know! Isn’t it delish? Jake is going to find himself wondering what’s under there all over again.”

  I groaned. “Everyone is going to know what’s under here Kendra.”

  “You are a prude!” She laughed. “You can’t see anything Rem. Everything is properly covered.”

  I frowned, doubtful and turned to face the mirror. My frown turned sad slash wanting. It was so pretty.

  “I saw the perfect shoes for that dress too. Wait right there.” Kendra turned and ran off.

  Could I get this dress? I did my slow turn again, examining every inch of myself in the mirror. Kendra was right, it did cover everything…if I remained standing. Maybe I could just be careful and not bend over all night, and I’d sit very carefully too. I could make it work. It was so pretty, I would hate myself later if I left it behind with the pant suits. It deserved better. I would hate myself even more if I saw someone else walk into the dance in this dress because I’d been, okay yes, a prude.

  “Here.” Kendra stuck heels in front of my face. I’d finally started to get the hang of heels. While not an expert yet, I could still pull them off flawlessly if Jake kept a hold of my hand. Something else he enjoyed teasing me about. Luckily Kendra had not chosen to torture me with five inch heels. Instead she presented me with a modest three inch heel. The shoe itself was a simple strappy silver sandal, as it should be, a dress like this should never be outdone by a pair of shoes. “We are complete.” She said proudly. “Now pull out that credit card Jake gave you and let’s get out of here. I’m starving. I need sustenance.”

  Okay. I would get it. Kendra had never steered me wrong when it came to clothes. I would trust her –besides, I really wanted this dress. I changed back into my jeans and sweater as Kendra rambled on outside my dressing room door.

  “I cannot believe Jake just handed you his credit card like that, and was all whatever you want, baby about it. OMG, what guy says that? Hold on to him forever and ever homie, ‘cause you will never find a guy who will just give you his credit card and actually ask you to spend as much money as you want. Hell, if I’d known he was going to do that, I’d saved my allowance money and just waited to shop with you.” She backed away as I stepped, dressed again, from the room, but she kept talking. “So, I thought we’d go for sushi for lunch. I don’t want anything heavy. I don’t want to bloat, besides we’re all going for dinner before the dance. After lunch I’m taking you for that much needed mani pedi. And we’ll finally get those eyebrows done too.”

  I smiled as she continued to ramble, most of the time when she got on her rants, I wasn’t even expected to reply.

  We got ready in her room that evening. Kendra had fashioned my hair into a deceptively loose looking carefree knot at the bottom of my neck, position slightly to the right over my bare shoulder. Then she had sat in front of me to do my makeup, but had backed away after just a moment of contemplation. Claiming once again, that beauty like mine shouldn’t be covered, in the end she settled for just running a mascara brush over my –whine- insanely long lashes, and a coat of shiny pink gloss on my lips. Kendra herself was sporting a pink –surprise, surprise- baby doll type dress that was cute and girly, but also dangerously short, which added the right amount of Kendra sass to it. She of course paired her dress with high five inch heels, which also added the right amount of Kendra sex appeal as well. Then again, the girl could run in heels, so her choice in footwear was no surprise either.

  I mentioned how surprised I was that she hadn’t gone Hollywood glam, to which she replied that the glam was saved for the big show -which was apparently prom- I grumbled at the thought of having to dress shop once more. Kendra laughed at me and said; “Oh silly girl. We still have the winter formal in December and the sweetheart dance in February before prom. We get to do this several more times.” It was a happy thought for her, but I groaned and hung my head like she had just informed me I had to live in a dank cave for the next eight months and live off worms to survive.

  My intense displeasure did a complete one eighty when I saw Jake though –who’d shown up just minutes after Kendra’s date who happened to be the certain quarter back she’d had her eye on- Jake looked like himself, tall, dark and handsome, those wide shoulders tapering to a narrow waist on long legs. His hair still had that slightly disheveled look to it. But he’d dressed up his dangerous wouldn’t-want-to-meet-you-in-a-dark-alley self in a pair of black slacks and a white tuxedo shirt. Untucked, no tie, and the top button of his shirt undone. The white of the shirt made the tattoo on his neck stand out. His other tattoos had always been hidden by his shirts, and most people at school –save for the guys who locker roomed it with him or friends he went to the lake with- didn’t even know he had them. But the one on his neck was visible for all to see, and it made the dark air about him a little more dangerous. I thought maybe I was just biased, since I was in love with the guy, but at one point I caught Kendra eyeing him up like he was the only prime cut of steak in a buffet of pork chops. No, it wasn’t just me, and he made my mouth water. And the way he was staring at me, made it dry up again.

  His arm slid around my waist and his hand came to rest on the curve just above my bottom, he pulled me tight against him.

  “I so very much want to skip this dance.” He said after telling me how incredibly beautiful he thought I looked.

  My reply was cut off when Kendra’s mother came in and insisted on a thousand pictures. But the tension between Jake and I had not waned one bit. And I loved it. When he opened my door for me I had to stand back for a moment, contemplating how I was going to crawl into his large truck while still being lady like about it. It just simply was not doable. Jake chuckled behind me, then scooped me up in his arms and set me in my seat. He even leaned in to buckle my seatbelt for me, but I suspected that was just because he wanted to lean in and kiss me. I used my thumb to wipe my gloss off his lips, and he did the same to me, explaining that he’d be kissing me a lot tonight. The butterflies in my stomach had gone nuts.

  We met several other couples for dinner –Darva and her date included, she even went as far as to seek me out to tell me she loved my dress. I guessed that was her olive branch. I took it and complimented her back.

  The dance itself was not what I’d expected. Though every girl there was dressed to kill, it was not a vulgar club-like scene like I’d expected, and rather than it being an excuse for everyone to grind on everyone else, everyone behaved and danced respectably. It was fun. The music was energetic and loud and guys danced with girls, girls danced with girls and girls and guys danced in groups. At one point in the evening a circle formed around the dance floor and people took turns dancing inside of it, showing off moves, whether silly or really practiced, while everyone else cheered them on. Jake held me close during the slow songs –and kissed me often like promised- and jumped around with me during the fast ones. He didn’t dance with a single other girl all night, though at one point Kendra and I sandwiched him between us –which I’m sure he enjoyed, he was a guy after all. The girls –me included, I was not proud to admit- used cell phones to snap picture after picture and at one point I’d exchanged my number with a dozen other girls so we could forward the photos to each other.

  It seemed this was a night for friendships. No one was better or worse than anyone else while we danced. And it was –excluding my nights with Jake- the most fun I’d had in, well, ever. And when the night drew to a close I was a little disappointed. The DJ called all
love birds to the dance floor, the night was coming to an end and he was dedicating this last song to all of us.

  Jake’s hands went to my hips and he pulled me to him. He fingered the hem of the short side of my dress, his fingers brushing my outer thigh sending tingles through my entire body. My arms went over his shoulders, my own fingers played with the hair at the back of his neck. I glanced around, there were very few other couples touching each other the way Jake and I did, and they glanced at us as well. I guess our secret was out. It was pretty obvious to everyone now that Jake and I were, clearly, intimate with each other. The rumors had been out there, but since we ignored them, and Kendra kept my secrets, it was hard for everyone to get a definite read on our personal life. Even Jake’s closest guy friends were left in the dark. I’d spent some time with them, the most they knew about me was that I was “hot” and had a pretty good sense of humor.

  Jake leaned in to nuzzle my neck and I forgot about everyone else around us.

  “There’s an after party after this if you’d like to go.” He said, I felt the tip of his tongue make a path from my pulse point at the side of my neck to the soft spot behind my ear. If he was trying to convince me to forgo the after party, I was convinced.

  “I don’t.” I said, leaning into his nuzzle.

  “Thank God.”

  We didn’t even finish the dance. Jake led me out of the room, I looked back quickly for Kendra, found her and made the international sign with my thumb and pinky that I would call her. I caught her smile just before the door blocked my view of her. We went home…and had our own after party.

  11

  My eyes fluttered open, sunlight was streaming into the room and I knew it had to be late morning. I also knew, without even looking, that Jake was not in bed. That happened a lot, but usually I felt him leave, he usually kissed me before he did. I rolled onto my back and stretched. I heard muffled laughter drift up through the open window in the hall. Curiously I crawled out of bed, wrapped the sheet around me and went to the window.

  Jake was in the driveway with several of his friends. They stood around the tailgate of his truck, talking. One, -Dane, Kendra’s date last night, of all people- glanced up at the window. At me. Wrapped in a sheet. I gasped and leapt away from the window and out of sight.

  “Crap.” I whispered, as if they could hear me otherwise. I went back to bed and hid my head under my pillow. Would Jake be mad? It was only a minute later when I heard the door to the bedroom open and close. “I’m sorry!” I shouted from where I hid under the pillow.

  I heard him chuckle. The bed depressed as he crawled over me, straddling me, his knees on either side of my hips. He removed the pillow from my head and leaned over me, his elbows on either side of my head and kissed noisily on my neck and shoulders, I kept my eyes squeezed shut.

  “Are you mad?” I asked.

  He chuckled again.

  “Does it seem like I’m mad?” When I still didn’t open my eyes, Jake forcibly rolled me over, told me to look at him. “I think our secret was out last night already.”

  “People know I live here?” I asked, a burst of panic hit me low in the belly.

  “No. They only think you spent the night. We’re watching football today, if you want to come down and join us.”

  “They’re still here?” I asked, reaching up to play with the collar of his shirt. I hated when he wore shirts. He should just do the world a favor and burn every single one of them.

  “Yes. And these guys are cool. They’re not going to talk about finding you here.”

  “’Kay.” I said, reluctantly. Don’t get me wrong, I did NOT mind that people knew I slept over at Jake’s, but if anyone were to find out I lived here, and not at home with my own father, as a minor, then the school would launch an investigation and that could be disastrous. “I’m going shower, maybe I’ll come down in a bit.”

  “Don’t shower.” Jake grinned as he jumped off the bed. “I like it when you smell like me.” He closed the door on my attempt at the singular eyebrow raise. I still couldn’t master that. So I crawled out of bed –again- and went to the closet. Well, if his friends were going to know I’d slept over, then I was going to make sure I looked good in the morning. I chose a pair of hip hugger jeans and a pink –yes, because ninety percent of what Kendra owned was pink- sweater that fit like a second skin and had a V-neck scooped so low that it was almost –almost- inappropriate.

  I took the stairs down and sailed past the living room with a cheery hello. Jake watched me with an affectionate slash appreciative smile. I wasn’t halfway down the hall to the kitchen when I heard his friends razz him with good natured comments and cat calls. My own smile faded when I entered the kitchen and was met with Ana’s scowl.

  “Morning.” I mumbled and went to the fridge. She watched me with narrowed eyes, her bowl of cereal obviously forgotten.

  “So glad to see you’re making yourself right at home.” She growled as I poured myself a glass of orange juice. I leaned against the counter and took a sip, watching her over the rim of my glass.

  “Well, I live here.” I said simply.

  If her eyes could have narrowed even more, they would have.

  “Yeah. When do you plan on leaving?” She asked. That caught me up short. I hadn’t thought about it. When would I leave? Would Jake let me? If so, would he come with me? He’d seemed pretty adamant about that particular point with his father, but then, maybe he’d meant that he wasn’t going to leave me on my own until I was eighteen and legally able to take care of myself.

  Ana snorted a sarcastic laugh through her nose.

  “Oh my God, did you think you were staying here forever?”

  Maybe.

  “You know, Jake will get tired of playing house with you eventually. He’s not the type.”

  “You have no idea what type he is.” I said, going for my orange juice again to cover up my uncertainty. I’d avoid her question about my probable move date. I guess that was a conversation I’d have to have with Jake eventually. I turned eighteen in five months. Ana pushed her bowl away and came around the island to stand next to me, very close, right up in my personal space. My first instinct was to flinch away, but I forced myself to meet her glare.

  “I have lived with him for nearly three years now, you’ve been his girlfriend for what? Three weeks? I think I know him a little better than you think, he’s never had a long term girlfriend. You think it’s all sweet and cute and that you’re different, well, let me tell you about his last girlfriend. Yeah, he had one of those when I first met him. He dumped her because she got too clingy, he told me the whole story as we stayed up all night talking. So, you little divas may come and go, but I will always be here. Get it through that pretty little head of yours, I do live here, permanently, with him. You do not.”

  If she was trying to shake my confidence, she was successful. My heart actually hurt a little, like it twisted the wrong way or something. Ana smiled at me as if she knew it.

  “Excuse me.” She said sweetly. “I have a football game to watch.”

  Jake hated clingy. Okay, I wouldn’t be clingy. After the very uneventful hunt that night I showered and crawled into bed, Jake was there, waiting for me. He smiled when I came into the bedroom. Sure, he smiled now, but how long was that going to last? I crawled into bed and rolled over to my side away from him. I felt him touch my hip.

  “Everything okay?” He asked.

  “Yeah, just really tired.” I lied. I wanted him, oh so very much, but I was determined to make this last. He was the best thing in my life and I wanted to keep him as long as I could.

  “Okay.” He scooted down into the bed and pulled me into him spoon fashion. I let him, my willpower had its limits.

  The next night was the same, and the next, and by Wednesday I’d made sure to go directly from class to class at least a couple times, skipping my trip to my locker just to see him. He text me, asking where I was. I told him that’d I needed to get to class, but I’d see him lat
er. He asked if I was okay and I said peachy. He let it drop after that.

  When I turned his advances down Wednesday night again –for the fourth night in a row- he, for the first time, did not wrap his arms around me and fall asleep with me, instead he rolled away from me as well. I nearly cried but I held strong, I would say yes tomorrow night, and it’d be alright.

  But he didn’t ask. After another uneventful hunting night, that was really starting to frustrate everyone, Jake showered and did not even come to bed. He instead hit the couch for TV. I found him sleeping there when I went in search for him later. This time I did cry. Was it beginning? Was he already done “playing house”? I was pretty certain it was when on the drive to school Thursday morning he did not, for the first time since asking me to be his girlfriend, hold my hand.

  By Friday morning we were practically strangers to each other again. I’d spent most of the day swallowing back lumps in my throat, and when he shot me several glares while getting ready for the hunt that night, I figured it was only a matter of time now before he’d be suggesting I find a new place to live. I was loading a clip into my gun when he suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, roughly, above the elbow, and gave me a yank. My gun clattered to the floor.