I stood staring at him, my mind flashing back to yesterday. What happened (or what didn’t happen) in his car. I couldn’t even croak out a hello or a smile. I was too freaked out, plus my face was getting hot.
John continued to smile at me like an idiot, and it made Alyssa uncomfortable, for she instantly said “Thanks for visiting me. I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” and walked away quickly, her coffee hot in her hand.
“Hi, John,” I finally managed to say, eyes on the floor. I was still embarrassed at my oh, I love the material exclamation.
Hi, John.
Wow. I felt so stupid when he looked at me like that, I couldn’t come up with anything cool. Although, like I said, I was anything but cool. I was probably one of the dorkiest people alive, besides Gabriel. Gabriel may think he’s a stud and the sexiest man alive, but that didn’t change the fact that he knew every word to every song in every single Disney movie out there. Every musical. And he also had special Tom and Jerry boxers, which were his favorite, second only to his Scooby-Doo one. But, he had to get rid of that one a few years ago.
Don’t ask me how I knew these things. I wasn’t proud to know them.
“Strange seeing you here.” John winked. “Isn’t it?”
“Hmm.” I thought for a moment. “Are you sure you’re not the one stalking me?”
He smiled a million-dollar smile. One that made my heart skip a beat. “I’ll admit. Today you’re right. I was hoping to run into you. But, normally, you are the one stalking me.”
“Okay, we’ll agree to disagree then.”
We started walking out of the store and I saw that our legs were in synch. How weird was that? Or was that normal?
“So, Alyssa told me you have shopping to do? What for?” John broke the silence between us.
I led us to a toy shop. Yes, a toy shop. Gabriel was…unique just didn’t seem to do him justice. “Um, no. Actually I’m…” I decided to not tell him it was Gabriel’s birthday. I didn’t want John getting jealous or anything. “I’m just looking around for some things for my nephew.”
Yeah, that was a good one. A nephew. The perfect alibi for Gabriel.
“And you need to look for some in a toy store?” John laughed out as we wandered the aisles filled with various Barbie products. “Younger nephew I’m guessing?”
“He’s ten. Ooh. This,” I joked, picking up a dress and some shoes that were being sold separately from all the other Barbies. I showed it to him and he shook his head, grinning at my foolishness. “This one’s perfect.”
“I hope you’re kidding.” John continued to shake his head as he stepped closer to me, popping my personal bubble (though I didn’t mind, at all). He reached over me and took a different type of dress off the hook. A polka-dotted purple ball gown. Showing it to me, he said, “This one screams your nephew.”
I chuckled. It was funny because he’d never even met my nephew. My nephew didn’t exist. Gabriel did. “Yeah, I think my aunt would die of laughter if I got him this. He, on the other hand, might not think it’s so funny.”
“Hm. Then how about something more like a ten-year-old boy?”
His easy response lightened my nerves. “Alright.” I set them both down. “You’re right. We need something better, something more boyish.”
“I have just the idea.” John took my hand and led me to another aisle.
His hands were rough, the kind of hands a man had. The kind of hands I could picture holding every day for the foreseeable future. They were nice hands, strong hands.
John squeezed my own hand as we stopped in the action figure aisle. He was right. This was better. There were so many—mutants, slayers, Marvel and DC heroes. Gabriel would die if he ever saw this particular aisle. The boy loved action figures, maybe even more than he loved girls.
That was saying something.
“Which one’s your favorite?” John asked, gazing intently at the shelves.
It was so very difficult to pay attention to the action figures when he still held my hand. My heart beat faster than it had in a long while, all because of him. I side-glanced at him, at his profile. A strong nose, a pronounced brow line. His cheekbones were gaunt but chiseled. It hit me like a brick.
John was so attractive it hurt.
Slowly but surely I tore my eyes from him and found one that stood high above the others. It cost one hundred dollars and odd cents, way too much for an action figure, whether it was a super-limited edition or not. No wonder it was still here, collecting dust, even though the movie was like twenty years old.
I pointed with my free hand, saying, “That one.” It was a beautifully handmade Edward Scissorhands, with a real leather outfit and stainless steel scissors.
“Yeah,” he spoke after a while, “that one is pretty cool.”
I looked up at him, surprised and unsure if I believed him or not.
He saw my expression. “What? It is. I’m man enough to admit it.”
In a few minutes we decided to buy a Spartacus action figure. That one cost only fifteen dollars. Before leaving the store, still holding John’s hand, I inhaled the plastic aroma, savoring it. I loved that smell, weird as it was.
“Where to next?” John asked, smiling.
“Everywhere that we can hit in the next—” I looked at my watch. “—two hours.”
“I have the perfect place, Kass. Come on.” And with that, John began dragging me all over the mall for those two hours, looking for the craziest things. We hit almost every store, making weird noises, trying silly clothes on, and all in all just having a fantastic time, like in one of those eighties’ movie montages.
It was the instant when John told me he was driving me home when I realized that I was definitely falling for John. Hard.
A Purifier-civilian relationship. Could I actually entertain the thought?
How hard could it be?
Chapter Twelve – Kass
We slowly pulled up to the house. John usually just dropped me off at the end of the driveway, but since I had so many bags, he figured that he had to go all the way up, like I was some helpless girl who couldn’t carry seven bags by herself.
This year I went a little overboard with presents, but it’s not like it was totally my fault. John was the one who showed me some of this stuff, so I blamed him as much as me, even though he didn’t know why I was buying all this stuff. But, the way I saw it, life was better lived on a need-to-know basis.
John got out of the car and opened the trunk. I took a few bags and said, “John, you don’t need to do this. I got it from here.”
“I’m sure you do.” He grabbed the remaining bags. “But this way, you’ll get all of it done in one trip. And besides, I’m trying to be the gentleman here, so cut me some slack.” A huge grin appeared on his handsome face.
“Alright. I’ll let it slide this time.” I smiled up at him before turning and heading up the stairs to the front door. I struggled to open it, but I was finally able to after a few awkward moments as I shoved all the bags on one arm.
Michael waited for me in the kitchen. “Ah, about bloody time.” He stopped when John entered the house, carrying five bags. “Who’re—”
“Oh, sorry. Forgot my manners,” John spoke, setting the bags down on the ground. He walked over to Michael with his hand outstretched. “I’m John.”
Michael went to shake his hand, but not before he gave me a look. You know, the one with one eyebrow up. The one that asked if this was the boy who I may or may not like. The one that wondered if I’d be dating him more often, that I’d finally have my first kiss…
Okay. Maybe Michael wasn’t thinking that last part.
“I’m Michael. It’s very nice to meet you, John. Kass has told us—” He caught himself when I nonchalantly shook my head no. “—absolutely nothing about you,” Michael finished while making me seem like a jerk in the process.
Thanks, Michael. Thanks a lot.
“Okay.” Michael took a sip of his tea and walked over to the bags.
Peeking inside them, he asked, “These all presents for—”
I ran over and hip-pushed him aside, making him stop speaking since he almost spilled his tea. “Yeah. These are those. Those are these. Yep.”
Great. Now I was babbling like an idiot. It was harder keeping a secret than telling the truth, but I was almost home free so I wasn’t going to let the truth slip now.
Michael said nothing as he stared at me and then John. He was loving this, clearly.
“Well,” I muttered, breaking the silence, “I have to go, um, put these away, so…I’ll see you later.”
John nodded and replied, “Okay. It was really fun today at the mall. We should definitely do it more often.” Michael’s eyebrows rose even higher, if that was possible. “And,” without a warning, John hugged me, which was weird, because I was never hugged like that before. The hug was warm and strong, and it forced the breath right out of me.
I never wanted him to let me go.
He whispered into my ear, “Someday, Kass.” John let me go and shook Michael’s hand once more. “It was nice meeting you, sir.” He glanced back at me, seeing that I was recovering from blushing at his someday statement. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Our physics project is waiting.” With a wink, he left.
Michael waited a minute before speaking. “Seems like a nice boy.”
“Oh, God.” I rolled my eyes as I stormed up the stairs, making great effort to take all the bags up in one trip, which proved to be a difficulty. It was like he was my boyfriend, and it was the first time he met my dad, even though Michael wasn’t my dad and John wasn’t my boyfriend. But it felt awkward anyway. Or, at least as awkward as I imagined it would be, since I never had a boyfriend before. Or a dad.
I spread all the gifts, the scissors, and the wrapping paper out on my bed. I was cutting a line of paper off when Michael entered my room and sat across from me on my bed. Once I cut a sheet, I gave it to him, along with the appropriate gift, and he started wrapping it.
“Now don’t kill me for what I’m about to say.” Michael started wrapping the second present. “But do I need to have the talk with you?”
I looked at him sharply. “If I throw these scissors at your face, will you know what the answer is?”
“Okay, okay. Bloody hell, I was teasing! I wasn’t sure if—”
I cut him off, “Michael, we’re not even dating.”
“Well, from what I observed downstairs, it seemed like you were.”
“We’re not.”
“Kassandra.” Michael reached his hand over to me, trying to comfort me, but I was too angry.
“No.” I shook his hand off. “No,” I said a bit more calmly. “No.”
“I understand what you’re going through. You’re experiencing feelings you’ve never felt before and you’re confused, and—”
“It’s not that.” My head shook, causing my wavy hair to get in my eyes. But I was too lazy to move it out of my face.
Michael was not. He moved the pieces of hair behind my ear. “And you don’t want your first boyfriend to try to kill you.”
I couldn’t deny that, because it was true. The last time and the only time, Gabriel was in a relationship that lasted more than two dates, the girl had tried killing him. And she had almost succeeded in killing both him and me.
Maybe that was the reason I was afraid of taking the thing between John and I anywhere. I was afraid.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I stammered.
“Take it from me, Kass.” Michael stuck the last piece of tape on the present. “Not every guy in this world is an evil Demon.”
Gabriel and Raphael walked in and were, for the most part, unknowing of what surprises awaited them. And by surprises I meant presents and cake. And by them I meant just Gabriel. Raphael, the jerk, didn’t deserve any surprises. Not any good ones.
Michael sat on a barstool and I was sprawled out on a few kitchen chairs. It was six-thirty, which meant they were thirty minutes late. Not that I was complaining.
“Sorry we ran late,” Raphael apologized the second he saw us waiting.
It’s not like it mattered. I’d only been sitting here for the past thirty minutes in the same chairs, barely moving because I was lazy and my legs had fallen asleep. Mostly I was lazy.
Gabriel, much to my chagrin, slapped my foot off a chair and sat next to me. “Yeah. You are going to be jealous. Raphael took me to an arcade and bought me ten bucks worth of games. I lost them all, of course. And then he took me to that little pet store down on Water Street. They had the most adorable puppies. I asked Raphy, Raphy, can I keep one? And he said no, being the mean person he is.”
I laughed because I couldn’t help it. “Raphy? Did you really just call him Raphy?”
Raphael stood properly, as if he was ignoring everything we were saying. “We did no such things. Do not listen to this boy’s ceaseless lies. I would sooner kick a puppy then let this boy get away with calling me Raphy.”
“Whoa. Simmer down there, Raphy.” Gabriel continued, oblivious to the fact that Raphael scowled at him. “And kick a puppy? You are a mean, mean man. Besides, it is this randomly chosen day that I have grown up and am no longer a boy. I am a man. A sexy, grown, no-nonsense kind of man.”
Michael brought out his wrapped presents, setting them on the table.
Gabriel clapped. “Ooh, goody! Presents!”
I rolled my eyes. So much for him being a no-nonsense kind of man.
Raphael turned to Michael. “Randomly chosen day?”
“Yes.” He nodded while Gabriel started to rip open his first gift. “Gabriel and Kass don’t know when they were really born, so they picked a day. For all we know, Kass could be only fifteen and Gabriel could be twenty. Though,” he said, sneaking a glance at us, “based on the way they act, I would say the opposite, I suppose.”
“What…what’s this? Is this what I think it is?” Gabriel looked at me, and I smiled in response. “A Snuggie? It is. It’s a Snuggie. I’ve always wanted one of these.”
Michael chuckled, saying, “I believe the whole world knew that, Gabriel.”
I could have sworn, one second he stared at the box, and after I blinked, Gabriel was already done opening all his other presents: a Spartacus action figure, a garden gnome, a tiger Pillowpet, and a Staples Easy Button.
“Alright, I told myself this morning that I was going to stop giving group hugs because they’re a little juvenile, but oh, why not? Come here, all of you,” Gabriel motioned for all of us to come closer as he stood up. Michael and I made our way to him and he welcomed us with open arms, but when Raphael stepped closer, Gabriel said, “Not you, Raphy. I don’t know you well enough to include you in this hug fest.”
“Gabriel,” I scolded him, even though it was true.
Gabriel started chanting cake again and again, forcing Michael to retrieve it from the fridge. He took it out of the box and brought it in front of Gabriel. I huddled next to him. The boy stood in front of the cake, so it was hard for me to see. Michael went to look for matches and candles.
“Hey,” Gabriel whispered to me, “what’s that?” He pointed to the cake.
“What’s what?” I asked, studying the cake for the offending thing.
“That.”
“What?”
“That!”
While Raphael had gone to help Michael find the matches, I brought my face down to the cake, truly not seeing anything wrong with it. There were no spots or hairs or anything. “What?”
Gabriel, with no hesitation, shoved my face straight down into the cake.
There was so much cake on my face, and the frosting…was the frosting ever going to come out of my hair? I was wordless. Seriously. I couldn’t say anything, so I glared at him. Gabriel almost doubled over from his laughter.
That’s it.
I took a giant piece of cake with both hands and spread it across his whole face. Now it was my turn to laugh. I got it in his eyes.
He wiped it out of his blue gaze and glared at m
e.
What was he going to do—throw more cake at me?
Yep.
A giant ball of cake landed on my neck and slid down my shirt, between my boobs.
My mouth dropped open. “This was a nice shirt,” I exclaimed, irritated, and now I had to wash my bra. He was going to get it back tenfold. As I threw another ball of cake, I managed to get a chunk of it to slide down his shirt and land in the center of his crotch.
I stuck my tongue out.
Grabbing some off of his body and smacking it on top of my head, he stuck his out.
Michael and Raphael saw us for the first time, in our cake-smeared glory. They glanced at each other, set the matches and candles down slowly, and walked up the stairs. Michael said, “Happy birthday, Gabriel. And just so you both know, I’m not cleaning this up.”
“Wait,” Gabriel yelled around the stairwell. “What cha doing?”
“Having a grown up discussion. Don’t wait up.”
Gabriel stared at me from underneath his cake-stained face. “Since when does Michael say don’t wait up?”
My shoulders shrugged. And then I shoved some more cake in his face, just to see if it was still funny.
And, yes, it was.
The kitchen was clean. My body was clean. Gabriel’s body was clean. Everything was taken care of. But were we sleeping, or at least getting ready to sleep, like we should have been doing on a Sunday night before school? Nope.
We were reclining on the couch in front of the giant flat screen in the living room. That was when I remembered I had something to give him. Something that was just awesome. I had even hidden it under the pillows on the couch.
Good thinking, I praised myself on guessing that I would feel lazy tonight (which I did), and hiding it here. I found it and turned to Gabriel, hiding it behind my back.
“I have something for you,” I said as I revealed it.
Gabriel managed to murmur as he saw what laid in my hands, “Wow. Malcolm in the Middle. Where the heck did you find this? I’ve been itching to watch this again. I love you, I really do.” He pulled me into a hug. “You aren’t bad, you know.”
Staked! Page 12