by E. J. Krause
"Right," Andi said. "Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."
Melissa's eyes lit up. "Oh, good. I knew you weren't as dumb as you were letting on."
Andi had a hard time making pleasantries with the cashier because she was biting back laughter. Luckily, nobody noticed since Melissa regaled the staff on her scrapbooking prowess. Once the purchase was complete and they'd walked back into the mall proper, she wondered if everyone in the store high-fived for having gotten rid of Melissa. The thought forced her to bite back more laughter.
"Ready to eat?" Melissa asked, pulling her towards the food court without waiting for an answer. "Maybe Randy or Kevin will be here. Neither said anything about it, but it'd be a nice surprise. Even you have to admit they're both hotties."
Andi agreed to placate her, though she wasn't sure she could pick either boy out of a lineup. She glanced around to see if those shadowy figures were still around, but saw no sign of them. Maybe they had temporarily latched onto her at random. If they were here for a specific purpose, wouldn't they still be following her? It was a question for another time as they got into line at The Mongolian Fire Pit.
*****
Andi knew Ben was waiting beside the driveway before they pulled onto his street. He'd sensed her coming home and had exited the house a few seconds before. When Melissa pulled her sporty little red convertible, which of course her daddy had bought for her sweet 16, into the driveway, she waved at Ben and yelled out, "Hey, Ben! Looking good!"
He gave her a weak smile and a half-hearted wave, which by Melissa's reaction of puffed-up shoulders and a smirk at Andi, had been much more heart-felt in her mind. Andi, on the other hand, saw his embarrassment of the situation and annoyance with Melissa.
Once they'd wished Melissa a Merry Christmas and watched her drive off, Ben engulfed Andi in a hug, and she melted into him. If there was anything better than being in his arms, she didn't know about it. She didn't have much time to enjoy his embrace before he started trying to peek inside the bag.
"Knock it off," she said, smacking his hand away from the plain white gift bag. She'd picked that up so he couldn't guess what his present was by seeing the Paper Paradise sack. "You'll get to open it tomorrow night after dinner."
He tried a new tactic and nuzzled her neck. "Can't I have a little hint? Please?"
"No," she said, her voice a bit more breathless than she would have liked. Great, now he'd think he had an opening and would never give up. "What did you do today?" She hoped the change of subject would buy her a bit of time to compose herself.
"Not much. Doodled a bit." That was his code for writing. He grew embarrassed any time anyone but her asked him about it. "I was finishing up a short story when I felt you coming home."
"Ooh, a shiny new story. When can I read it?"
He kissed the top of her head. "You know the rules. I need to edit it first before I give you a crack."
"Fine," she said, and didn't push further. All she'd wanted was to get his mind off the gift, and that had been a resounding success. His smirk, however, proved he was on to her, but would let it go. For now. It was hard, after all, to misdirect someone who could read your every emotion.
"How was the mall? I take it Melissa didn't want to be seen in your bug." In addition to allowing Andi to graduate high school this time around, her parents also let her get her driver's license. With that, they bought her a new Volkswagen Beetle. She'd always loved the styles of the VW bugs, so her dark blue one was a perfect fit. It almost matched her scales, not that anyone but the family would know that. Ben's parents had bought him a new mid-sized pickup. They'd almost got it in the same color as Andi's but everyone decided to go with black instead. Andi and Ben already made enough people at school barf with their togetherness, so they didn't need to add anything else.
"She thinks my bug is cute and all, but…" She broke into her Melissa imitation, which Ben insisted was spot on. "C'mon, really? Hello? Convertible here."
"Actually, I'm going to have to side with her on that one. Too flashy for every day, but, hey, every once in awhile, why not?"
"Yeah." She paused, and Ben noticed. Before he had to ask, she said, "I saw something strange. While we were walking through the mall, there were these shadow figures. They looked sort of like apes because of their long arms, and they moved with impossible grace. I thought they were following me, but I couldn't be sure if there was a purpose to it, or if they were simply attracted to my power."
Ben nodded and looked thoughtful. "I saw them, too, on the last day of school before break. I couldn't tell why they were stalking me, either. I was about to bring it up when Princess High Drama" (his new nickname for Melissa, one that never failed to bring out a snort from Andi, this time being no exception) "came over with news of the frivolous."
"She's good at that."
As they walked up to the wreath-adorned front door, which, besides the string of colored lights running along the first story roof-line, was the only outside Christmas decoration, she wrapped an arm around his waist.
"So where are your parental units?"
"Over with yours. Probably decorating or shopping or something." He gave her a sly grin. "Why do you ask?"
"Hmm, well, then that means there'd be no one to walk in on a hot make-out session."
"I like where this is going."
As they started up the stairs, he playfully smacked her behind. "So what did you get me?"
"I don't believe I actually said I got you anything. How do you know I didn't buy something for myself?" He stopped and gave her a peck on the lips.
"Because I can read you like a book. Pretty much literally."
"Good point." She grabbed his hand and continued up the steps. "What did you get me?"
"Nothing."
His emotions sang out that he was lying, but she didn't call him on it.
"In that case, this better be an exceptional make-out session," she said, as they entered his room.
He chuckled, picked her up in a bear-hug, kicked the door closed, and set her gently down on the bed. When his lips met hers, she was in heaven.
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