“No,” she said in a soft, happy voice without opening her eyes. “My coming out ceremony was the one event she needed me to go along with and keep up proper appearances at. It’s the first time an event of hers has had me as the center of it, and I could very easily ruin the whole party. Mother knew she needed some enticement to make certain that I didn’t do anything rash she wouldn’t approve of so I asked for my fantasy car.” Then her eyes flitted open, she straightened, and dreamily made her way to stand in front of me. “I never actually thought she would agree,” her voice was still distant and illusory. When her eyes focused on mine she beamed up at me. “Want to go for a spin?”
“Maybe some other time. We have to get going if I’m to bring you home at a decent hour.”
“Oh,” she said. Then after a second’s thought, she told me, “You don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Have to bring me home at a decent hour. My parents are gone for four days.”
“Four!?! Who’s staying with you?”
She shrugged indifferently. “No one.”
A clock on the garage wall said six-fifteen. “Explain once we’re on the way.” I started toward the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked still standing where she had been before.
I back-tracked and took her wrist gently; this time I was leading. “You’ll see.”
When we got to my Cadillac I was surprised by the ping of pity as I thought back to Keira’s Aston. Quickly side-stepping that emotion, I released Keira’s wrist- a bit reluctantly I might add- and opened the passenger door for her. She seemed surprised. “What? You didn’t think I had manners?” I asked her.
“No, I’m just used to only older men opening the door for me.” She descended into the seat.
Her words brought another flash of emotion. Jealousy. And anger. “Older men?” I choked out.
She laughed at my expression. “Yes. Hired, old guys who used to drive me places when my parents didn’t feel like it, and I couldn’t drive myself yet. They’re called chauffeurs.”
“Oh.” Relief flooded over me.
I closed her door, and Keira was still grinning to herself. When I got in behind the wheel, closed my car door, and started the ignition, she turned to me and said, “I liked watching you open the door better than the others though.” She was taunting me. And perhaps flattering me at the same time.
I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of a response to her banter. “So, your parents are gone…” I began driving to our destination.
“Yes, for four days,” she repeated.
“Where are they?”
“New York City.”
“Why are they there without you?”
“I get bored going on Mother’s business trips. I stopped tagging along years ago. I love the city, but I wasn’t allowed to wander very often and eventually it wasn’t worth it anymore.”
“What do your parents do?”
“How long is this drive going to take?” she asked without answering my question.
“Over an hour. Your parents’ occupations?”
“An hour?... Ok. My very entertaining history is as follows: My dad came from a poor family, but he was gifted with a brilliant mind. He was the first of his family to go to college. After graduating from Yale as first in his class, he started his own business online which made him extremely wealthy extremely quickly. On a trip to New York, a few years later, he met Mother. She had just begun working at a high position in Grandma’s fashion company and was well off too, but because of her family’s money; not what she personally earned. Somehow, they apparently fell in love. After four months of dating, my father and mother married. She had me a year later. Mother eventually took over the company once Grandma stepped down. Dad made us move back to his hometown of High Point after his parents died when I was almost four years old, so Mother flies up a ton and Dad works mostly from his computer. Over the years, their incomes grew and their time became money.” She shrugged. “They go to New York or wherever several times a year, and I’m left to run the house and wreak havoc however I please. It’s nice- the freedom.” I noted the way her voice filled with admiration when she spoke of her father and the guarded tone she used whenever she mentioned her mother. And the way she said Mother- it sounded more like a title when Keira said it than when other humans spoke of the woman who bore them. “Did that suffice?”
I contemplated what I had just learned- what she had said and what she hadn’t. “That was your past. What about your future?”
“I’m going to be a blend of my parents financially. I’ll make enough money, but I’ll also accept what my parents offer if and only if I struggle.”
I nodded. “You’ve grown accustomed to having money there for you, hence the Aston Martin.”
She seemed to take some offense I hadn’t intended. “I haven’t grown accustomed to being rich; I’ve always been accustomed to it.” Her voice rose vaguely in volume. “I’m not ashamed of it. I haven’t driven my new car to school because I don’t think it’s right to flaunt my family’s money. I don’t like the way people treat me when they know how well off I am. I trusted you enough to not see me only as my family’s coins but as the girl you’ve gotten to know over the last half month.”
“I do see you. And I wasn’t judging you, Keira.” I turned to her and looked her in the eye for a moment. Sighing, I focused back on the road. “I have no right to judge anyone,” I admitted softly; so softly I wasn’t sure if Keira had heard me. I glanced back at her and spoke more loudly and evenly, “I do not care about your lucre, but I am glad you told me and didn’t keep it secret.” I’m such a hypocrite.
“I want you to know me, all of me.”
I couldn’t meet her gaze. “Me too.”
“Do you have more questions?” she asked kindly.
“Not now,” I replied curtly.
She gestured to the radio. “Then do you mind? I love long rides because they mean I get more time to listen to music.”
“Not at all. Choose whatever station you like.”
Keira smiled and pushed the power button. We rode without talking, and the more songs that played, the better my mood became. Whenever a commercial came on, Keira would change the station. At one point, she started tapping her hand against her leg, keeping beat with the new song that started playing. Once its chorus began, she hummed along softly. When the lyrics ended, she changed the station again. We had already gone through at least half a dozen. She stopped searching and another smile began lifting her pink, full lips. She knew the song that had begun. When these lyrics started, she sang with them, throwing sideways glances at me every now and then. My mood was almost completely lifted, and I smiled encouragingly. She sang more loudly where I could hear her better, if I were fully human. Her voice was beautiful. It soothed away the rest of my bleakness. I was faintly disappointed when I drove into the parking lot that was our destination; when the car came to a stop, so did Keira’s singing.
She surveyed the lot. “Where are we? Why aren’t there any buildings?” Having been so engrossed in the music, it seemed that she hadn’t noticed the signs on the highway and streets we had passed.
“Do you trust me?” I challenged. It was one of my favorite games to play with her. We constantly toyed with the other’s faith, whether it was me choosing what book she read next per my recommendation or me allowing her to lead me into a dark garage. I could hear her heart beat slightly faster. Whether out of fear, doubt, or anticipation, I couldn’t be certain.
She studied my eyes, and her heart rate returned to its normal, calm rhythm. “Yes.”
“Good. Then hold on a second.” I got out of the car and walked around to open her door and the one behind it. “Do me a favor,” I called to the front seat from the back, “and carry this bag for me.” She stepped out and wordlessly took the small backpack I held out for her. I retrieved the other, vastly larger pack, shouldered it, and closed the two doors. “Now we hike,” I informed he
r.
“Hike? I thought I felt my ears pop on the drive here. Are we in the mountains? We’re hiking?” I didn’t answer. “A nature walk is your idea of a date?” she baited me. Her face was amused and perhaps a bit disappointed.
I used the remote that came attached to the Cadillac’s keys- humans think up the strangest ideas- to lock the doors and then pocketed them. “You’ll love what I have in mind. Just wait and see.” Keira wasn’t convinced. I lifted her chin to make her eyes level with mine. “Trust me.”
“Alright,” she conceded. “Which trail?”
There were several marked around the parking lot. When the cement ended, grass and a forest began everywhere we looked except the section that had been cleared for the road that had taken us there. “This way.” I started walking and Keira followed, after a moment’s hesitation, a few paces behind me. “If you get tired,” I said over my shoulder, “tell me, and we’ll take a break.” She recognized the challenge in my voice and sped up so she was marching by my side. I stayed in step with her, liking the view of her in nature. With green all around us, it was like we were in a different world. Our own world of lush trees and ancient rocks and blue skies. It took me back to simpler times. “Are you ready for more questions?”
“I’m ready for whatever you throw at me tonight,” she avowed seriously.
I laughed quietly. “What made you choose the Aston Martin DBS V12?”
“Oh, well that’s an easy question. Ever since I saw it in Casino Royale I knew that I had to have it. It was just so enticingly smooth and sleek.”
“You picked a car because of a movie? A James Bond movie?”
“Yes.” I laughed again, but this time she heard me. “What’s wrong with that? I looked it up first, and then my feelings were confirmed. I knew that it was perfect.”
“You have me there.” I recalled the memory of her standing by the Aston. “It does suit you sublimely.”
“Thank you. Next question.”
Practicality won over my other questions that were merely brought about by curiosity. “Do you really live alone in that mansion when your parents are away?” I didn’t like the thought of that. There are too many dangers in this world, as I well know.
“Not all alone. But I am the supreme authority. Maria and Jerry stay to keep an eye on me, but I know that if I asked them to do something for me, they would without questions.” She wasn’t conceited- her voice was tender as she spoke of the two people her parents left her with. “Maria and Jerry make the nights fun whenever Mother and Father are on a business trip. We order pizza and blast the stereo up as loud as it will go.” She laughed, “And sometimes they act more like teenagers than I do. They hosted sleepovers when I was younger, for my friends, which were so wild we had to clean the whole next day to make sure Dad and Mother wouldn’t be suspicious when they came home.”
“You love them, don’t you? Jerry and Maria.”
She held my glance. “Yes. I do.”
I didn’t want to dampen her spirit, but I had to know, “How do you feel about your mother?”
She grew solemn and quiet for several minutes. “We don’t see eye to eye on most things.” I waited for more, knowing that Keira would tell me as much as she wanted. “She feels entitled to her money, like it makes her better than others with less than us. Her work is her life; Dad and I sometimes come in second. She cares about appearances and never looking bad in the social circles. I couldn’t care less what her snotty, stuck-up friends thought…” Keira sighed, a sound that was misplaced on one so young. “Mother and I just don’t get along,” she ended with a finality that told me not to press the subject further.
“How about your mother’s mother? You seemed to have a note of affection, before, when you spoke of her.”
“Yes.” A spark lit Keira’s eyes. “She’s the only grandparent I have left and she was always the one who I felt closest to. Grandma lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She retired five years ago, and every summer since then, I’ve gone up for a few weeks in July to stay with her.” She flashed me a smile. “You’d like her.”
“Really?”
“Of course. While in your room I noticed all of the classic books and music you’ve collected. Grandma loves all things classical. When she began the family’s fashion business, all of the clothing was elegant and time-honored. She’s also very active. My friends talk about how their grandparents live in the past and never do anything fun, but my grandmother’s different. She respects the past, but she’s always looking forward. And she’s always busy. Even now when she’s retired and Grandpa’s gone, she teaches a class of fashion design at Northeastern University in Boston and keeps a hand in her company that Mother now runs. Grandma never lets anyone push her around or tell her that she can’t do something. She’s strong-willed.”
“Ah. So I’d like her because I like you and you’re both stubborn. Is that it?”
Keira laughed. “Exactly.”
The clearing was coming up around the corner. I got an idea. “Stop.”
She ceased walking but still asked, “What?”
“You showed me your bribe today. Now I’m about to show you something I found recently that means something to me. It’s your turn to close your eyes and be surprised.” Her eyes narrowed, and she gave me a disbelieving look. “Just do it. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I swear.”
“Okay.” She obediently closed them.
“Now give me your hand.” She did, and I slid my hand in hers. Intertwining our fingers made Keira’s heart accelerate, and I noticed that mine was keeping time with hers. There was a peculiar feeling in my chest that I didn’t understand.
Collecting myself, I lead her slowly and carefully into the opening which began a dozen steps in front of us. When the trees parted, the sun was setting in the distance, and I was eager to share the sight with Keira. I shook off my backpack and slid the other off her shoulders. When I turned back to her, my breath caught. Keira’s face was radiant as her skin encountered the incandescence that poured out onto her. She’s so beautiful. I leaned in closer. “Now,” I whispered in her ear, “open your eyes.”
She gasped. In front of us were miles and miles of a sea of mountains that seemed to take on a glow in the setting sun. The pinks and purples that encompassed us made our surroundings seem illusive, phantasmal. I can’t properly describe its magnificence. “It’s beyond words,” Keira breathed. She turned to gaze up into my eyes. I felt her place her hand once again into mine, and we stood there soaking in the natural beauty of the land.
“You found this recently?” she asked.
I nodded. “The first night my family arrived in North Carolina I drove up here and found the trail. When I met you, I wanted to show you this place where I had first found peace after the move.”
“Thank you,” she looked up at me once more, “for bringing me here.”
I felt myself getting closer to her, in every way that a person can get closer to another. It was like I was some third party watching us from somewhere other than through my own eyes. We were facing each other now, and my eyes were searching hers for some sign. Could she possibly be feeling the same as I was? I saw in Keira’s a reflection of my own ardor. As she extended her body toward me, I heard a strange noise. Keira instantly stopped and withdrew. The noise sounded again, and I realized what it was.
I smiled, and Keira’s cheeks flushed. Once I cleared my throat, I asked the obvious question, “Are you hungry?”
“I can’t believe that just happened,” she apologized.
“Why are you embarrassed?” I inquired, and then added, “Though you are adorable when you blush.”
“Adorable,” she muttered flatly, and started to turn away, but stopped when my stomach suddenly growled loudly.
“See,” I said in an uneven voice that I couldn’t recognize as my own. “Nothing to shy away from. It’s well past seven and neither of us has eaten dinner.” As I said these thin words, I could feel my face getting warmer.
Keira walked over to me and playfully patted my jaw as she repeated my previous statement, “Adorable.”
I turned from her satisfied expression to reach for the pack she had carried up the mountain. I picked it up, and after unzipping it, pulled out the two water bottles and one large blanket that were contained within. I set the backpack and water bottles to the side and rolled out the blanket where there were no rocks on the ground. Next, I reached into the bag I had carried and produced a boom box. “A little ambience,” I informed Keira, who took the thing from my outstretched hand and began her process of selecting a station. I sat down on the blanket, and she joined me presently. After I got two plates and two cups out of my pack and sat them down, I asked, “What are you hungry for?”
She raised one brow at me.
“Pick anything in the world and let’s see if it’s what I pull out of my pack.”
She still looked skeptic, but she obliged, “Good ole fashioned fried chicken.”
I reached in and pulled out a plate of a dozen tenders. Keira’s eyes grew large, but she didn’t voice her surprise. I placed her choice in front of her. Dark green eyes daring me to be right again, she challenged, “Corn on the cob and some warm rolls.”
I smiled in response and lifted her foods out. Now she couldn’t keep silent. “Are you kidding me?”
“Napkins?” I asked as I pulled some out for us both and placed them next to the portioned food. “And for the final test. What would you like to drink?”
Her eyes narrowed again. “A Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri.” Then a satisfied smirk appeared on her lips. She knew she had me with this last request. But then- “No freaking way.” Her expression was wonderfully bewildered as I held up a finger for her to wait, unzipped another pocket in the backpack, and pulled out a secured pitcher- chilled and filled with virgin strawberry daiquiri mix.
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