Iron Moon

by Jenny Phillips

  After a lull in conversation, Lacey lifted her cup, “Cheers.”

  “What are we toasting to?” I asked, tearing my attention from the dance floor.

  She paused in thought. “To...an amazing night with even amazing-er friends!”

  I smiled at her wording, knocking my plastic cup against hers and taking another sip. I brought my free hand to my chest and tensed. “Lacey can I have the necklace back now?”

  She stared at me for a moment. “I already gave it back to you.”

  “No you didn’t,” I replied firmly.

  “Yes, I did,” she countered.

  “If you gave it back, it would be around my neck right now.”

  Lacey bit her bottom lip. “Are you sure you didn’t drop it in your purse or something?”

  Before I could respond, the song ended and Harlow and Ivy went their separate ways. Harlow smiled as he settled back into the chair beside me and placed his hand on my knee. “What was that about?” I asked trying to act casual.

  Harlow didn't answer right away, studying me. Then, “Are you okay?” he asked. “You look pale.”

  “I hate to say it, but, girl, I can see you sweating. Maybe you’re overheated. Take another sip.” Lacey encouraged, pushing my cup of punch toward me.

  I shook my head at her suggestion. “I’m fine,” I assured them, silently strangling Lacey with my eyes.

  “We can step outside if you want.” Harlow offered.

  I opened my mouth to respond when Olivia approached the microphone again, tapping it to signal her announcement. Beside her, our senior class vice president, Rachel Wheeler, stood armed with two plastic crowns.

  “Good evening!” Olivia began her speech enthusiastically. “Is everyone still feeling good?” The crowd responded with various shouts of approval. Olivia laughed. “That’s awesome! Let me just say that this year’s winter formal has had the biggest turnout in five years! So that’s really exciting. Thank you all for coming out. Shout out to the student council and decorating committee! You all did a fabulous job, and I’m honored to have you on my team!”

  After a brief applause from the crowd, I leaned in to Harlow’s shoulder, “Hey, do you think you could get me some more punch?”

  Harlow looked from me to my empty cup. “Yeah, sure,” he replied, getting up.

  “Me too!” Arianna commented, looking at Rider. And as soon as they were gone she moved over a seat. “What’s going on?” Lacey and I stared at her for a moment. “What?” Arianna asked, confused, “Clearly something happened, so spill!”

  “Rayna lost the necklace Harlow gave her!” Lacey spit out.

  I gawked at her as I spilled the contents of my purse on to the table. “If I can’t find it in here, I’ll just have to tell Harlow what happened.”

  “Bad idea, Ray,” Lacey said. “We’ll find it and Harlow will never have to know it was missing. You can’t tell him you lost the necklace he gave you mere hours after the fact.”

  I hated to admit it, but I felt like she had a valid point. I knew how much the necklace meant to him, so I knew how devastated he would be if I told him I’d lost it so quickly.

  All around me, students started drumming on tables and stomping their feet while I scoured over the contents of my bag on the table in front of me. “Your snow king is…” Olivia paused with a knowing smile for dramatic effect. “Todd Eversteen!” No surprise there. As captain of the varsity football team, he was a shoe-in. Students went nuts with applause as he made his way to the stage. “It’s not here!” I shouted to my friends over the noise just as I spotted Harlow and Rider heading back to the table and made quick work of sweeping everything back into my purse. Pushing up from the table, I continued, “I’m going to retrace my steps, starting in the bathroom. Keep Harlow away from me for as long as possible.” I begged my friends before lifting the hem of my dress and darting past the stage toward the nearest exit.

  “And the snow queen you’ve selected is…”

  chapter eight

  WHO GAVE YOU THOSE?” DALYN INQUIRED IN A playful tone as I stood at the sink, filling a slender, glass vase with water for the three white roses Harlow had gifted me throughout the school day.

  Glancing over my shoulder at her I asked, “Why, jealous?”

  She responded with a sharp “Ha!” and continued on her way, scooting past our mom as she entered the kitchen.

  “Those are pretty,” my mom commented, admiring the flowers as I cut the stems and arranged them in the vase.

  “Thanks. Harlow gave them to me,” I told her, partly because I wanted to gauge her reaction, but mostly because it was the truth. Three weeks ago he had accompanied me to winter formal. At the time our relationship was so new and my parents had only just met him, so I thought it best not to mention that we were a couple then. But as time wore on, I had a change of heart and decided there was no real reason to hide our relationship. When I broke the news, my parents were a bit surprised but accepting of my decision—as long as my school work didn't suffer.

  “Uh-huh...” my mom murmured an unamused response. After a beat, she said, “Rayna, it's obvious you like him, and I don't know him well enough yet, but I think I understand why. He has a certain quality...” she trailed off searching for the right words.

  “Mom, Harlow doesn't have a bad boy bone in his body if that's what you're getting at.” I frowned. My mom's eyebrows flicked up and I sighed heavily, dragging my hands down both sides of my face. “What about Rider?” I pointed out “You never gave me a hard time for being friends with him.”

  “We've known the Larson's for years. Rider is a good kid underneath all that leather. He's a little rebellious, but it'll pass. And I'm not suggesting that Harlow is a bad boy,” she continued cautiously. “There's just something about him and, to be honest, I can’t quite put my finger on it,” she paused mid-thought. “What I'm trying to say is that your father and I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Mom,” I sighed, smiling a little at her concern for my heart. “It's one date.”

  “You'll understand when you have children!” she called after me as I shuffled out of the kitchen with the vase of white roses in hand.

  Harlow arrived at eleven on the dot as planned. He refused to tell me where he was taking me for our date. And at this point, I didn’t care. I was all too eager to get out of the house and away from all of the worried comments my mom had been dishing out on the matter up until now.

  I answered the door with a stern look on my face. “Be nice,” I instructed, pointing my index finger at him.

  “I’m always nice,” he whispered back with a wink. Harlow stepped through the door and into the entryway where my mom stood, waiting.

  “Garrett!” My mom called. “Can you come here, please?”

  As my dad wandered into the entryway from his office, I began Harlow's second introduction. “Mom, Dad, you remember Harlow,” I started, purposefully keeping things short. “I’ll go grab my coat,” I announced, hurrying toward the hall closet, quick to end their interaction as soon as possible.

  Down the hall, I heard my parents begin their interrogation. “So, where are you taking her?” My dad began to pry.

  “On a little outdoorsy trip. I promise I’ll have her back in a few hours,” Harlow replied.

  A short silence ensued and that was my cue. I shuffled back into the entryway with my red peacoat on and my purse in hand. “Ready to go?” I asked Harlow.

  “Need me to drive?” My dad wondered.

  “Bye!” I replied, embarrassed, ushering Harlow out the front door as fast as humanly possible. Once the front door closed behind us, I let out a sigh of relief. “Sorry about that,” I frowned. “So where are we going?”

  “I'm not telling,” Harlow smiled, opening the passenger door for me.

  I watched with a fresh bout of curiosity as he crossed in front of the car. When he slid into the driver's seat I asked, “So on a scale of one to ten, how likely am I to get grounded after this date?�
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  “That depends,” Harlow began, turning the key in the ignition. “How upset will your parents be with me for taking you on a mini road trip?”

  My mouth fell open. “What constitutes mini?” I asked, scrutinizing his face. “Are we talking about crossing the state line?”

  As the car turned onto the main road, Harlow said, “This place is three and a half hours away. But before you object,” he added, glancing my way, “Your parents can rest assured I'll have you home before curfew.”

  Most of the car ride was spent with me trying to guess where he could possibly be taking me. Harlow shot down every scenario I came up with. He wouldn't give me any hints either, and I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. After I had guessed everything from a hiking trip to him kidnapping me and taking me to an early grave, Harlow changed the subject.

  “So when are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” he asked hinting at the topic I'd expertly avoided the past three weeks.

  Again, I pretended like I had no idea what he was talking about. “What elephant?”

  “The reason you ran out on me at winter formal,” he said bluntly.

  His words stung, but I kept my expression unreadable. “I told you, I didn’t run out on you. The whole snow queen thing freaked me out. I panicked. I left. I wasn’t leaving you.”

  “You’re lying.”

  I glared at him. “I’m not lying, Harlow,” I replied in a resentful tone.

  “Maybe not about that, but you’re definitely not telling me something.”

  He was right. There was a huge something I hadn’t told him and despite the fact that the issue had been resolved, there was still no way I was going to tell him that I’d briefly misplaced his family heirloom.

  I searched every inch of the girls’ bathroom after I bolted from the gym at winter formal. I checked the lost and found. I even went back to the refreshments table to ask if anyone had seen it lying around. Nothing. The necklace was just gone. Lacey and Arianna did their best to keep Harlow at a distance, but eventually he knew something was wrong and started asking questions. So I faked feeling ill and had my parents pick me up early.

  On Monday morning, I emptied out the contents of the purse I’d brought with me to winter formal one final time. And there on top lay the three moon pendant. My heart stilled at the sight of it.

  RAYNA: I found it! I found the necklace!

  LACEY: See! I knew you had it somewhere!

  ARIANNA: Where was it?

  RAYNA: In my purse! Which is so weird because I’ve checked multiple times and I swear it wasn’t in there!

  ARIANNA: Maybe there’s a hole in the lining.

  LACEY: Or maybe she was just so worried that she overlooked it.

  “I don’t want to talk about it…” I trailed off.

  His eyes flicked from the road to my face. “I know. I'm just saying, whatever it is you can tell me.”

  I scrutinized his face. “Harlow, do you think I don’t trust you or something?”

  He shrugged.

  I reached for his right hand. “I do trust you. I hope you know that,” I told him, squeezing his hand to make my point.

  An hour and a half into the drive, Harlow told me we wouldn't be stopping for lunch if we wanted to make good time. Later on in our journey, I saw several advertisements for Acadia National Park, alerting me that we were near the ocean. He wasn't seriously taking me to the beach in December, or was he? Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I kept my mouth shut.

  Nearly four hours later, the Vista Cruiser rolled to a stop and my eyes fluttered open. “Are we still in Maine?” I joked, stretching my arms out in front of me.

  “We've landed.” Harlow smiled, reaching over the back of his seat for a neatly rolled blanket.

  We were parked in a lot directly overlooking the ocean. Calm, blue water stretched out far and wide before us in all directions—an island visible in the distance. Rocky cliffs overpopulated with trees accented the view.

  As I stepped out of the car, the distinct scent of ocean air greeted me. “You lied!” I laughed, giving Harlow a playful shove. “I guessed the ocean!”

  Harlow laughed too. “I didn't want to spoil it. And we're not just here to see the ocean.”

  “Oh, things just got interesting!” I teased as we made our way over to a metal bench positioned near the edge of the parking lot.

  “Grab the end,” Harlow instructed, offering me a side of the rolled-up blanket, and together we unrolled the whole thing. “Now come closer,” he said, unsatisfied until our arms were touching. Then he proceeded to wrap the huge blanket around us, with Harlow’s arm across my shoulders and sat down. This way we wouldn't have to sit directly on the cold metal. Once we got settled, Harlow proceeded to explain what we were doing here. “Whale watching,” he told me. “It's not something I've ever done before, but I thought it'd be a pretty cool experience to spend a day on the ocean. That is until I found out that the boat tours ended in October. So after doing a little research to find the best vantage point, I figured we might get lucky and see something from here.”

  “I love it!” I exclaimed, giving him a peck on the cheek before snuggling in closer. Our bodies fit together almost too perfectly with my shoulder tucked into his. Leaning my cheek against Harlow's shoulder, I listened to his steady breaths. It didn't hurt that he seemed to radiate his own heat against the frosty winter air. Harlow had a certain calmness about him that I hadn’t realized until now. And part of me wished my parents could see him the same way I did—strong, compassionate, and kind. Peering up at him from my perch on his shoulder, we made brief eye contact. I closed my eyes and leaned into his kiss, my lips finding his. My body filled with warmth, and not from the blanket.

  When we parted, Harlow perked up, “Oh! I almost forgot!” He unwrapped his limbs from the blanket and jogged over to the car, pulling out a wicker basket from the backseat.

  “Is that a picnic basket?” I smiled, noting the effort he had put into this day. No one had ever done this much for me.

  “Why, yes, it is,” he said proudly, dropping it at our feet. “Heads up,” Harlow warned, lightly tossing something in my direction—binoculars. He pulled out two sandwiches and handed one to me.

  “Did you make this yourself?” I asked, between mouthfuls.

  Harlow grinned. “I have many skills other than being devilishly handsome,” he said with a wink.

  I rolled my eyes playfully.

  Not more than five minutes into our dinner, Harlow nudged my shoulder lightly. “Look!” he said with enthusiasm, pointing into the distance. I squinted my eyes and leaned forward, following his finger to a dark speck poking out of the ocean.

  “Do you think it’s a whale?” I asked, not sure myself. The creature, if it was a creature, was too far away to distinguish.

  “Keep an eye on it,” he told me, throwing the blanket off of himself and fumbling for the binoculars, on the bench between us, as they fell to the ground. I bit back a laugh as I watch him struggle, and he caught me and tried not to laugh himself, insisting, once again, that I keep an eye on the potential whale.

  I giggled and returned my attention to the water.

  “Here,” he said, “take a look.”

  Using the binoculars, I scanned the water while Harlow situated himself beside me once again. After several long minutes, I said, “I think it's gone. Maybe we imagined it.” Not a moment later, as if I had somehow summoned it, a large whale fin emerged from the water. Pointing vigorously, I shouted, “Whale tail! Fin! Whatever!” I laughed, my breath clouding the air with remnants of my enthusiasm as I offered Harlow the binoculars. He smiled back at me, accepting them.

  We spent the next hour talking on and off about school and our friends, reminiscing over the past three months. It was easy to talk to Harlow, but it was even easier not to. More often than not silence made me uncomfortable, but not with him. Not like this. Not today. I could live in this silence: Harlow, the ocean, and the whales.
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  “What are you thinking?” Harlow wondered.

  “That I could stay out here forever,” Being this far away from Harbor Glenn, just staring out into the ocean was liberating.

  “Me too, but I think your parents would have a difference of opinion, though,” he answered somberly. “We should probably head back.”

  “Can't we stay a little while longer?”

  When we pulled onto my street later that evening, the sky was dark with few visible stars.

  Despite the long day we'd had, I asked Harlow to pull over as an idea struck.

  “What?” Harlow replied quizzically.

  “Pull over and park here. I’m not ready to go home just yet.”

  “O-kay,” he replied with a minor question in his tone but obliged to my request anyway. “Now what?”

  “Now, it’s my turn to surprise you,” I stood beside the driver's side door before Harlow was even out of the car. “Come on!” I urged, grabbing his hand, pulling him along behind me; in between houses and eventually into the woods, navigating my way to our place. In no time we broke through the tree line and into the clearing. I peered over my shoulder and spotted a knowing grin on Harlow’s face.

  “Clever,” he approved. “Consider me surprised.” We sat down on a log. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the date?”

  “The jury’s still out,” I teased, smirking in his direction. Our eyes locked for a suspended moment before he leaned in, and our lips met. We kissed for several seconds, his hand drifting to the small of my back, pulling me closer. My hand caressed the inside of his knee while his hand glided up my back to my neck, gently tousling my hair. When we parted, my breaths were slow and shallow.

  “How about now?” he whispered.

  “Definitely improving.”

  Disrupting the moment, my phone chimed from inside the pocket of my peacoat, alerting me to a text. With an apologetic frown, I pulled the phone from my pocket to view the message. “Dalyn,” I told him, trying not to let my disappointment at her terrible timing ruin the mood. “She's asking if I’ve eaten dinner.”