by Rush, Lynn
I glanced around, then cooled down my hand. My fingernails flickered neon-blue, then I spewed a stream of slush from my fingertips, dousing the flames. Within seconds it sizzled and steamed. I looked around again, then back to the pile. Several cigarette butts littered the ground.
Strange. Must be some punk kids messing around. A brick wall that backed up to a little patch of trees made for a good hiding place. My phone vibrating sent a shockwave of goose bumps up my spine.
I slid it out of my pocket and saw a text from Scott.
Landed. On the drive up north. Couple hours ‘til we hook up with Georgia’s mom.
Okay. Call when you get there.
One last glance over the area showed it clear, so I trudged back into the store. “Hey, Georgia. I heard from Scott. They’re on their way up north.” I rounded the corner into the prep area to wash my hands. I slid them under some steaming water and lathered up the soap. “Georgia?”
I snatched a paper towel from the silver dispenser, then scooted around the corner to the front. I almost stumbled over my feet when I saw Nate standing there.
“Hi, Mandy.”
Georgia stood at the cash register, shoving some bills into the tray. “Yeah, Mandy, look who stopped by to say hi?”
I sent her a glare. If my head spun any more with everything happening at the moment I might tip over.
Nate stood tall, and the florescent lights spotlighted his bronzed skin and shadowed his dimple. He wore jeans and a white T-shirt that had some black print on the left shoulder.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to say hi.”
I reached for the washcloth I’d been using earlier and started wiping the already clean counters again. Georgia slammed the register door shut, sending me shaking in my shoes again. Why was I so jumpy?
“You came to say hi to me?” I asked. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“I confess.” He grabbed his smoothie from Georgia. “I’m kind of stalking you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not bad stalking. But—well—I looked you up online and found your address and stuff. Didn’t realize this was a smoothie shop. You work here?”
“My brother owns it.”
“Cool.” He sucked some of the peach drink up the straw. “Good smoothie, Georgia.”
“Why did you want to find me? You live right upstairs from me, you could have waited until I got home if you needed a cup of sugar.”
Georgia giggled.
“What I really needed was ice for the muscles in my back from lugging up that chair!”
“Wimp,” I said.
Georgia shot me a wide-eyed look as she hopped up on the counter and sat, her back to Nate.
“Did you just call me a wimp?” He pressed his forefinger to his bulky chest. I think I heard the fabric of his shirtsleeve stretch.
I leaned against the back counter, next to the mixers holding the damp rag. My heart hammered against my chest like I’d just run a mile. Heat flooded my cheeks.
“Hey. If the shoe fits…” I shrugged.
He glanced around. “So, you’re real busy, huh?”
I chuckled. “Very. You should probably leave, you’re holding up the line.”
He stepped away from the counter. “Come sit with me.”
I glanced at Georgia. Her eyebrows pulled together, creasing her forehead, then she gave a slight nod. I tossed my washrag to her, and she caught it. She mouthed the words, “He’s so cute.”
Was my sister encouraging me to hang with Nate? That was just wrong. She should be talking me out of it. I had a boyfriend.
A boyfriend who was MIA.
I shuffled around the corner, then pushed through the half swing-door and followed him out to the booths. He sat in the one furthest from the counter. I couldn’t see Georgia any longer, which was probably a good thing. She was going to get me in trouble. Normally the voice of reason in this whole twin-sister-thing, she should have talked me out of sitting with Nate.
So, he’d tracked me down. So, he’s amazingly good looking. So, I’d love to find out what his hair felt like between my fingers.
Oh wait. Scratch that last one.
I suck.
“What’s so important that you had to stalk me?” I slid into the booth across from him, wishing I’d made myself a smoothie. I didn’t know what to do with my hands.
“I’m sorry about the other night.”
“Sorry?” I shifted in my seat. The amber in his eyes really flickered beneath the lights. Or maybe it was because the sun was spilling through the window at the perfect angle.
“That guy, Zach, he’s your boyfriend isn’t he?”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry if my helping you out ticked him off. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay.”
Oh my gosh. Cute, nice, and thoughtful. Just made his eyes sparkle even more.
“He seemed really mad.” He sucked some more smoothie, then looked out the window. “Then I had to be grabbing your arm just coming out of a bedroom with you. I can imagine how that looked.”
“Didn’t look too good.”
“You been dating him long?”
“Few months.”
“Serious?”
“I think so.” I mean, I was totally considering having sex with him. That would be serious right? But now that I heard myself say we’d been dating a few months, it made me realize something. Zach and I hadn’t been dating very long. How could I be considering sleeping with him so soon? I didn’t even know if he’d been with other girls. Or if he even wanted to have sex.
“Hmmm.”
“What?” I said.
“Nothing.”
“What?” I slapped at his hand.
His eyebrow perked up, but what surprised me more was, in a flash, he grabbed my hand. It was surprisingly warm…and tingled against my skin.
“Because.” Nate smiled. “If it’s not serious, and you’re free to date other people, I’d like to ask you out.”
Chapter 12
“Dude, what’s up with the no calls?” I said to Zach’s voicemail. “Seriously.”
I tossed my phone onto my bed. This so completely and totally sucked that Zach was dogging me. I logged into Facebook and noticed he’d been on last night and even this morning.
“Time for Facebook but not the girlfriend?”
I reached for my laptop cover to pull it shut when a new friend request notification popped up. Nate Ashcroft. I clicked on the profile and sure enough, it was Nate from upstairs. Talk about timing. I clicked accept and went to his information page.
Birthday was June. Single. Loves movies. All interesting stuff, but what caught my attention was his status:
Hoping she’ll accept.
What a strange status. Was that about me?
A chat window opened. My heart zinged thinking Zach had logged on, but it stalled again when I saw it was Nate.
Hey, Mandy.
The clock in the corner read nine o’clock. Didn’t have to leave for the smoothie shop for a couple more hours.
“I got time.”
Hey back atchya, neighbor
Thanks for accepting
I had fun with you yesterday
Me too
Was I too bold to ask you out?
My heart throbbed again. What should I say? He was totally flirting. Totally tempting me. And my boyfriend was totally MIA.
A little bold…but nice.
Are you free today?
Nope. Working. Bro’s outta town.
Bummer. I’m having a party tonight at my place, will you come?
You’re right upstairs, I think I can find my way there. Georgia, too.
For sure bring Georgia.
Sunday night partying?
It’s the last week before classes start. Got to have fun.
True.
You’re nineteen next weekend I see.
Can’t hide anything online anymore, can ya?
LOL. So, party at your apartment next Friday.
I’ll get back to you on that one. Not sure what I’m doing.
Boyfriend probably wants you to himself.
Oh crap. What should I say? I looked at Nate’s profile picture. Even in a photo his brown eyes flickered like they were on fire.
“Hey, whatchya doing?” Georgia asked from my doorway. “Can I hang some pictures in here?”
“Sure. I’m just on Facebook with Nate.”
“Nate? Where’s Zach?”
I thumbed toward my bed where my phone lay. “Tried to call him again. No answer. Left another voicemail. Oh, but he was on Facebook last night and this morning.”
“Dumbass. He does know you can totally kick his butt and freeze important body parts off, right?”
The Facebook chat box chimed again.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to upset you about my last comment.
You didn’t.
Oh. You disappeared for a while, thought I did.
Just not sure about the BF thing.
Problems?
No. Maybe. Not sure. But I should get going. Have to work.
Okay. Bye, Mandy.
I logged out of chat and slapped my computer shut. “Okay. MEN SUCK.”
Georgia strode through the door holding a hammer and some picture frames. “Men suck, huh?”
I leaned back into my desk chair and brought my fingers to my greasy, unwashed hair. My mouth tasted like dragon spit because I hadn’t even ventured to the bathroom to clean up yet. I squeezed a handful of hair and tugged until my eyes watered.
“Seriously. Zach’s all wishy-washy after our little parking lot make-out session. But then Friday he’s all over me, lovin’ on me, then falls off the face of the earth.” I pushed my chair back and stood. “I’m getting dizzy. You know?”
“And then there’s dreamy Nate.” Georgia held up a picture against the wall. “Right here look okay for this?”
“Hey. What’s that?” I stepped closer.
A pencil sketch of my face with a touch of blue in my hair and eyes came into focus. With calligraphy-like writing, the word Kelvin was sketched at the bottom.
“Snap. You drew this?”
“You like?”
I snatched it from her for a closer look. “Totally. When’d you do that?”
“Over the summer.”
“You’re so talented.”
“So. You hate men?”
I stood next to her, holding the picture while she pounded in the nail. Once it was in, I hung the treasure. “Wow.” I threw my arm around her shoulder. “That’s really good.”
“Oh, man. You reek.” She stepped away, waving her hand beneath her nose. “Can we say dragon breath?”
“Sorry.” I clamped my hand over my mouth.
She smiled. “Tell me what’s going on, my slimy sister.”
“Nate invited us to a party upstairs tonight. Zach’s not returning my calls.”
“What’s up his butt?”
“Don’t know because I can’t get him on the phone or anything.” I crossed my arms over my chest. My heart cracked a little. “He’s totally my first love even though I haven’t said the exact I Love You words to him. He knows everything about us. Why would he bail on me without even talking to me about it? Have I been a naggy girlfriend?”
“You’re not a nag. No. You’re not doing anything wrong. He hasn’t bailed. Something’s up. He’ll talk to you today, I bet. I’m sure it’s just his folks ragging on him again.”
I navigated toward my bathroom. “I hope so. This whole relationship thing sure is sucky sometimes.”
“At least you can control your powers better, otherwise, this apartment would have been an igloo by now.”
“True.” I paused at the doorway. “Maybe I’ll get to know this Nate guy a little more, huh?”
“No harm in that.” She winked. “As friends, I mean.”
Friends.
My phone rang out from my bed. I hopped over and snatched it from the covers. “It’s Scott.”
Her face blanched, and she descended onto the bed, next to me.
I clicked speaker.
“Hey, Scott, you’re on speaker.”
“Georgia. I’m sorry, but she bolted. She never came home last night. I had Jess hack into the hotel records, and she checked out last night right before we got here.”
“Shit. Did he find anything else out?”
“No. We talked to the hotel manager. But it’s not a little po-dunk hotel, they don’t see all the people coming and going.”
“Did you go into her room?”
“Jas got us in there. It was clean. So clean Jas didn’t even pick up a fingerprint. I’m sorry, sis.”
Georgia hung her head low. I rested my hand on her shoulder. “Thanks, Scott. When you comin’ home?”
“Be there tonight. How’s the shop holding out with you two running things? Burn it down yet?”
“Tried to. A little fire behind the dumpster yesterday, but I doused it.”
“A fire?”
“Found a bunch of cigarette butts. Probably some kids messing around back there. It’s pretty sheltered.”
“Strange. Okay, well, we’re heading to the airport. See you tonight.”
“Okay, Scott. See ya.”
“Love you guys.”
“You, too.” I clicked end.
“Damn it.” Georgia shot up from the bed. “I want to find her so bad and ask her about the safe and the book and the DVD. Gary knows nothing about it. The safe’s empty. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been in it. We don’t have that book Mom said had more info about The Center. I feel like we’re just sitting here, waiting for The Big Bad to happen again or something.”
“I know—”
“And in the meantime, you’re living the Young and the Restless life with two boyfriends, not sure which one to choose. Me getting dumped, blah-blah-blah.”
“I do not have two boyfriends. And as for Dan. He’s a jerk. We’ll find you someone better. Maybe that Jason guy you met will be at Nate’s party tonight.”
“Whatever.” She stepped toward my dresser and snatched up the other picture to hang. “You go shower, stinky, I’ll make your bedroom more presentable in case you’ll be entertaining someone in here soon.”
Chapter 13
“I can’t believe you came down to visit me again, Nate,” I said, as I slurped my smoothie. “And you brought me a flower.” I brushed the cool, yellow petals against my cheek.
“Happy to. If you couldn’t tell, I kind of like you.”
“You are bold, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been known to be.” He raked his fingers through his dark, brown hair. “I’m sorry if it’s putting you in a bad spot with your boyfriend, but I just can’t help myself.”
My face flamed. Sure was hard not to like this guy. Showering me with all this attention. I usually wasn’t a flower-kind-of-chick, but the gesture sure was sweet. And the fact that I was having these tingly feelings about someone other than Zach meant I really needed to talk to Zach…like now!
“Are you and Georgia coming over tonight?”
“We’re done here around eight or so, after that we’ll come up.”
“So, you and Georgia--you sisters or something?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Just that you live together, work here together, you both have those streaks of color in your hair and on your nails.”
I rested my hands on my lap. “We’re close as sisters.”
“That’s cool. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I always thought it’d be fun.”
“Yeah. It’s cool.”
“Hey, Mandy, will you grab some more napkins from storage?” Georgia asked from around the corner.
“Got it.” I stood and took the two steps to the closet next to the bathroom, then looked back to Nate. “Want to help?”
He hopped out of the booth, wide-eyed and ready to perform. “What do you need?”
&nbs
p; “Follow me.” I cranked open the door and waved him in. “Top shelf, back row there. See them?” I went to follow him in, but the front of my flip-flop caught the little doorframe thing on the floor, and I lurched forward.
I heard a thunk above my head and looked.
A dart dangled inches from where I’d just been standing. I glanced at Nate. His back was to me, so I yanked the dart from the door, backed out, and slammed it shut. My heart hammered my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs.
“Hey. What are you doing?” He yelled through the door. I iced my body down and froze the handle, locking it shut.
“The door accidentally shut. I can’t get it open,” I lied. “Hold on. I’m going to go find a key or something.”
Georgia screamed. I bolted around the corner to the front counter. The prep area burst with flames, but not from a cooking problem. Fire enveloped Georgia.
A tall, skinny guy, decked out in black fatigues held a dart gun, pointed at Georgia.
“You missed me, by the way.” I showered him with ice, focusing my intense cold on the gun he pointed at my sister.
She was flamed up, so it would have bounced off her, but still. Something pinged off my ice shield, and I whirled around to see another Rambo wannabe bursting through the doors.
I threw an ice ball at the guy and clocked him on the head. He stumbled. I slicked the floor, and he fell flat on his ass. I locked him to the floor with a chamber of ice over his whole body, leaving only his head free to move.
The guy on the counter fell to the side, spasming like he’d had a seizure or something. The ice around him shattered. I leapt to him and kicked his wicked gun away. Georgia, still flaming, came around the corner.
“He nicked me. He…” She staggered.
I grabbed her shoulders with my ice-hands. “Flame down, girl. Flame down.”
She looked at me through heavy lids. “I didn’t see him…in time.”
“Where are you hit?”
“Tired.”
I tightened my grip around her. “It’s the drug. Hold on. I’ll see if my healing you will chase it away.”
Blood trickled down her left arm. How’d I miss that? I glanced at our frozen friends. They were still immobilized. I shook Georgia’s shoulder. She flinched, and her eyes shot open, but her body sagged against mine.
I eased her to the floor, then cooled her arm down with a patch of ice over her wound. Through the crystals, I saw the blood stop flowing and the wound mesh together.