“They were sitting on the sofa kissing and watching TV,” Court continued. “He tried to do other things and when Chelsea said no, he tried harder. She kept telling him to stop but he wouldn’t listen, kept copping feels of her breasts. Luckily, her little brother was home and just happened to come down the stairs at that time. Max got mad and left. Then he never talked to her again.”
“Wait … she told you all this?” He was talking about Max, the boy I’d known and loved practically my whole life. Max who told me everything, I thought. But then, sex was a topic that had always been off limits. I knew he and Chelsea had gone out for a while and then they stopped liking each other—I just never thought about why. I figured Max discovered Chelsea’s flighty and rude disposition and decided he didn’t like her anymore. I never dreamed Max could do something like what Court just told me. “I am having a hard time believing this. Why would she confide something like that, something so personal and humiliating to you, a guy?”
“I told you. We were friends.”
“But, still.”
“She trusted me and needed to tell someone. She knew I’d never do anything to hurt her or spread it around. But somehow, I think her secret is safe with you.”
“Well, I won’t tell anybody, but shouldn’t she have?”
“Probably, but she wasn’t ready and I had to respect her wishes.”
I shook my head. “Max helped me get here. He could have left me stranded at school.” I whispered.
He smirked. “Right. I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said or thought about Maxen Wendell. I should get down on my knees and thank him for saving you.”
“You’re drunk, so I’m going to try not to let you hurt my feelings.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, but Adela, you would not have been stranded. I wouldn’t have let that happen. As long as I can breathe, I would never let anything bad happen to you, because … because I love you.”
I don’t think my mouth could have dropped open any further than it did then.
Court looked at me and grimaced. “I shouldn’t have said that, but there it is. I love you, Adela Casteille. I’ve been in love with you since the very first time I ever laid eyes on you, the day you moved here. We were in fourth grade. You had a few more freckles back then. My mom used to say that every freckle a person had was a kiss from an angel, so I figured you’d been kissed by tons and that was why you were so beautiful.”
I didn’t know what to say. The dark cellar suddenly felt very cold and I shivered. Breath came out of my mouth in small white clouds as it hit the air and I just sat, listening to Courtland Reese confess his undying love for me.
“My freckles show more in the summer,” I whispered, not liking the silence that coated the air between us.
“Maybe someday you’ll let me kiss you. If we ever get out of here.”
Chapter 20
~~ Adela ~~
What were the chances of us actually getting out of the cellar? I could die down here, having never been kissed. As if I’d been possessed by some alien whose sole purpose in life was making sure I kissed Courtland Reese right then and there, I leaned toward him and pressed my lips right to his. After a couple seconds, I quickly pulled back, knowing I lacked any experience. Figuring he must think me an awful kisser. I sat against the wall looking everywhere, anywhere but at him and said, “Thank you for saving me,” as if that was the reason I’d kissed him.
I had to admit, I don’t know what came over me. I’d never been one to act on impulse—at least not that I would ever admit—and I had never kissed a boy before. No boy had ever kissed me either. It was the truth. I know, I was pathetic, but I hung out with Max all the time and never ever looked at another boy that way. Unless you counted the time at Max’s thirteenth birthday party when, during a game of spin the bottle, it pointed straight at me on Miles Stonewell’s turn and I had to kiss him. It was more of a quick peck and then he wiped his lips off with the back of his hand. Humiliating, to say the least.
Then the most amazing thing happened. He reached out, and pulled me close to him. This time, when his lips touched mine, a little slower and a little softer, I nearly melted in the warmth of his arms. The taste of wine lingering on his lips wasn’t bad at all. I almost pulled away when his tongue slipped between my lips, but he tasted good, sweet. Dizziness swept through me, stealing my breath and my heart palpitated against his.
When we stopped kissing, I sat up straight, not sure what to do. I touched my fingers to my lips wondering how they existed so long in this world without having had that done to them before.
“How was that?” he asked.
Court’s question startled me and my cheeks warmed. “I don’t know. I guess it was good, but I don’t have anything to compare it to.”
“Really?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Max has never kissed you?”
“No.”
He smiled like he was proud that he’d kissed me first.
“So I guess that was my first.”
“Your second.”
“What?”
“That was your second kiss.”
“How do you figure?”
“You kissed me first. Then I kissed you.”
“Oh.” I smiled.
“Want to try for a third? You could compare it to the second one.”
I nodded and leaned closer. Using his uninjured hand, he held the nape of my neck and pulled me in the rest of the way. This kiss was a little different, prolonged, deeper, intensifying the longer it lasted. My body reacted with a jerk, my stomach fluttering, my mind going places it had never been before. He kissed me for a long time and when he released me, I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped with my exhale.
When I opened my eyes, he asked again, “How was that?”
“It gets better each time.”
“Good. Let’s give it another shot.”
“No.” Did I just say that? As much as I wanted to, something told me that if we continued kissing it was going to lead to some other things and I definitely wasn’t ready for that.
“Why not?”
“Um … I think you have had enough kisses for one day.”
“Never enough, but you’re the boss. You just let me know when, and I’m there.”
I was the boss? I liked that. I thought about what Court told me about Max and Chelsea and I did sort of remember hearing something about it, but as usual when people talked at school, I tried not to pay much attention. Especially about Max because it always hurt too much.
I remembered Max telling me that he liked Chelsea and then all of a sudden, he hated her. I didn’t usually ask him about the girls he went out with. I didn’t want to know because I always wished I’d been them. But now, maybe not so much anymore.
A damp cold stillness permeated the cellar and my teeth began to chatter. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms trying to warm my blood. “How about that game of Scrabble?” I asked.
“No. We’re both freezing. How about you snuggle up close to me and read to me some more. I like listening to your voice.”
I was freezing and the idea had a great deal of appeal. “Yeah, especially when I stumble over some of those Gaelic words. How about I try reading with a little Irish accent?”
“Sure. A good laugh ought to warm us right up.”
~~ Courtland ~~
We snuggled close under the sleeping bag and I leaned back reveling in the memories of the kisses. Adela could have read aloud in Japanese and I wouldn’t have cared. All I wanted to do was think about kissing her again. I couldn’t believe she actually let me kiss her. I closed my eyes and remembered her mouth on mine, or was it mine on hers? I knew those lips would be tasty. I wanted more and wondered if she would ever give me more. I would never take any from her. I had never taken a kiss from any girl. Of course, I’d kissed a couple, but never any girls from our school, never without their permission, but enough to know I’d found the b
est. There was something in those kisses from Adela. More than just lips. That was all I’d felt from the other girls I’d made out with, nowhere near the same intensity as Adela’s kisses.
Soon I stretched out completely, listening as Adela read. I laughed when she mispronounced Mullaghtinny. I didn’t correct her, though. She was so into it by then and I didn’t want to spoil any of it. Her horrible Irish accent tickled my ears and I couldn’t help but chuckle each time she pronounced another word incorrectly while trying so hard to be serious. After all, Yeats was serious stuff.
She yawned then stopped reading and closed the book. She took the empty cup from my hand and placed it on the floor. Without saying a word, she snuggled down next to me, tugging the sleeping bag over our bodies and resting her head on my chest again. Her breathing became heavy and I figured she fell asleep.
I stroked her hair until I, too finally drifted off.
***
I awoke to the faint smell of Adela’s hair as it tickled my nose. Her head lay against my chest and quiet breathing sounds escaped her lips, the same lips I’d kissed just a few hours ago.
I glanced around the cellar, having no idea what time it was. It was dark. It was always dark down there.
I needed to get up and stretch my body but I didn’t want to wake Adela. She slept so peacefully. I carefully lifted her head, placed it gently on the sleeping bag beside me and slowly shoved the covers off my legs. I was feeling much better. The burns were beginning to heal and the stinging had stopped. I pulled back one of the strips of gauze from my hand and took a peek. The blisters appeared to be way smaller than they were the day before. I glanced at my ankle. The swelling had gone down, almost to nothing.
I stood up and walked to the back of the cellar behind the wine barrels to visit the bucket, limping only slightly. I was a little groggy and had a slight headache from the wine I’d drunk, only a minor discomfort compared to the pain I’d experienced from the burns.
I stared at the wall in the dark, wishing I had a cup of coffee when something shiny sticking out from behind the barrels caught my eye, so I limped over to check it out. Leaning against the wall, right behind the barrels stood a shovel and a pick ax.
“Court? Courtland, where are you?” Adela sounded a bit frantic. I chuckled to myself. I didn’t know where she thought I could go.
“I’m over here. Are you okay?” I asked, walking back to her as fast as I could go.
She gave me a sleepy grin. “Oh. I was worried.”
“About what?”
“You. I woke up and you were gone.”
I joined her on the floor, placing my leg over her lap again. “Where did you think I could go? We are trapped down here, you know.”
“Right. How could I have forgotten?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that. I think now that I can walk, we should try to start digging ourselves out.”
“With what, our hands?”
“I have a surprise for you. I saw some stuff over there.” I pointed to the wall behind the wine barrels.
“What did you see?”
“Go look.”
Adela removed my leg from her lap and stood, walking to the spot behind the wine barrels. “Oh my God! How did we not see them?” She ran back and hopped onto the sleeping bag, pounced on top of me and kissed me.
She’d caught me off guard, but I quickly gained my wits, held her close and kissed her back.
“They were behind the barrels. Somehow I noticed the edge of the ax sticking out.”
“We are going to be okay, aren’t we?” she said.
“Yes.” I wondered if this was how it would always be, Adela running to me with excitement and showering me with soft kisses. I blinked, coming back down from that daydream and said, “I’ll take the first shift digging. Where are my pants, anyway? I don’t want to get too much dirt on my leg while I’m digging.”
When Adela handed me my jeans, I gingerly stuck my bad leg in first, then the other, slowly pulled them up, zipped them and buckled my belt. I was pleased that it didn’t hurt my fingers at all.
“Why can’t we both dig?”
“We only have one shovel.”
“Oh, well, I can do something with the pick. I can pull dirt with it or something while you dig and then we can switch. I can’t just sit here watching you work.”
~~ Adela ~~
Court had been digging shoving dirt away from the mound for what seemed like an hour when I heard him groan. I watched as he pulled more dirt from the stairway and threw it to the side. He dug the shovel into the pile again, placed his foot on the edge of the shovel, and groaned again.
“You can’t keep doing this. You’re putting too much pressure on your ankle and what if you get dirt in the burn? It’ll get infected.”
“I’ll be okay,” he said, sticking the shovel in the dirt again.
Using the pick ax, I pulled dirt from the side of the stairway onto the cement floor. Switching from the ax to using just my hands, I dug and dug and dug, until finally my hands were red and cut from rocks and sticks. I looked at Court as he emptied the shovel onto the new pile, sweat dripping down his temples as his knees suddenly gave way and he sank to the floor. I was sure if he hadn’t been holding onto the shovel he would have toppled over and landed face down in the pile of dirt.
I sprang to him and kneeled in front of him, brushing his damp hair off his forehead.
“Court, Court! Jeez, I knew this was going to be too much for you. And you called me stupid for wanting to ride Big Blue.”
“I didn’t call you stupid. I said it was a stupid thing you did.”
“Same thing.”
“No, it’s not. Help me up. I need to take a break; a little water and I’ll be fine.”
We hobbled over to the sleeping bag, Court leaning on me the entire way. He practically fell down on the floor and I went to get the water. I came back and held the water to his lips. “You first,” he said.
I didn’t argue. I was pretty thirsty. I finished and handed him the cup.
“We’re getting low on water,” I said, holding up the almost empty jug for him to see.
“Guess we’ll have to drink wine,” he smirked.
“Yeah, you’d like that, but I’m not so sure I would. I think that stuff is pretty nasty.”
“It is an acquired taste, my dear.”
“Oh now, aren’t you just Mr. Sauvé,” I laughed.
He gazed into my eyes and traced my lips with his finger before brushing a few strands of hair off my cheek. “It is nice to see you laugh.”
I sat for a minute. The room filled with silence and I knew he was thinking of his dad just as I thought of my family. As if someone pricked me with a safety pin, I jumped up. “My turn.” I took the shovel and went at it while Court stayed back on the sleeping bag, watching me.
I stuck the shovel in and pulled out dirt, time after time. I stopped to take a swig of water and rubbed my nearly blistered palms on my jeans.
I stuck the shovel in a little higher and pulled it out full of dirt and as I turned to dump it on top of the other pile, the entire stairway filled back up with twice as much dirt as we had just removed. I fell back as the dirt nearly buried me.
Court stood and limped over to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I looked up at the mountain staring back at me. “Now what?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m hungry and I’m tired. I’m sorry, Adela. I really thought we could dig our way out. You should have left with Max. You would have had a better chance out there.”
He held his hand out to me, helping me up. I shoved my hands into his chest and he almost lost his balance and had to steady himself by the wall. “Don’t. Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare tell me that! Don’t you tell me I made the wrong choice.”
“Why, Adela? Why did you stay with me?”
“Because you needed me. You were injured.”
“That’s why you stayed? Because you felt sorry for me? B
ecause you thought of me as some poor injured creature that couldn’t fend for himself?”
“No! I … I stayed for you. I stayed because I trusted you.” I trusted you more than I trusted Max. Now I was totally confused. Max had always been my crutch, my go-to guy. Court saved my life, but … was that it? Did I suddenly have feelings for Court just because he saved my life? Twice. I had to believe I was a little less shallow than that. I trusted Court. I trusted Max.
Max left.
“And now you’re going to die down here with me.”
I wanted to slap that thought out of him, because I didn’t know how else to deal with the possibility of dying down here and I hated hearing the words spoken aloud. Those words taunted the back of my mind with each minute we remained trapped, but my hand stopped short of his cheek when I realized he was going to just stand there and let me strike him. Instead, I sank down on my knees and sobbed.
Within a millisecond, Court was down there on the cold cement floor with me, cradling me in his arms, cooing in my ear. “I’m sorry, Adela. I’m sorry. We’ll figure something else out.”
His hand stroked the top of my head and I leaned into him and wept like a little girl. I was frightened but I was also upset that I lost control that way. Why was he going to let me strike him? I was about to hit Court and for no good reason other than the fact we were going to die down there. I would never see my sister and brother again. I would never see my dad again or my mom. I would never see Max again. I made my choice to stay in the cellar with Courtland and now I would die with Courtland.
“My God, Court, I almost hit you!”
“It’s okay. We’re both exhausted and upset,” he said.
“No … no, it’s not okay. I never wanted to hit you. I’m sorry. I was frustrated, scared, and now I’m embarrassed.”
“You had a good reason to want to lash out. Hell, I wanted to strike something. You snapped. So what? I snapped earlier. Let’s take a break and have that last can of soup, okay?”
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