I drew up my glove, flashing him the glowing blue rune. “When isn’t it?”
Reese’s fingers brushed over the illuminated skin. Could he feel the vibration? “You ignited it.”
It almost sounded like a question as he looked the rest of me over. He, too, was clearly at a loss for what it meant, because nothing else was happening. As he had said, they were supposed to do something. Was I defective?
Of all things, he smiled.
“What?”
“It’s nothing.” He gave a casual shrug, but still didn’t let go of my hand, his thumb still gently drawing small circles over the tingling patch of glowing skin. The distance between us was rapidly closing, and I wasn’t sure if he was moving in or if it was me. Our faces were now flush to one another’s that I could see every shade of brown and gold woven into his bottomless eyes. They really were beautiful.
“Come on, man!” A clatter of loud voices suddenly boomed from the next table over, startling us both. We turned just in time as a girl laughingly stumbled into us.
“Sorry,” the leggy brunette cooed, patting me on the shoulder as she caught her footing. “My bad.”
“It’s fine.” I gave a polite smile, and she winked in return, a roguish grin teasing her lips. She was in head-to-toe leather, her feline brown eyes accentuated all the more by winged eyeliner and black eye shadow.
“I think she likes you,” whispered Reese, trying to hold back his amusement.
I still couldn’t take my eyes off the brunette as she headed down to a group of people who had just walked in. Something about her was uncannily familiar. Where had I seen her before?
She looked back over her shoulder, that feline grin still in place as she returned my gaze. Her eyes shifted over to the entrance, and her stare went cold. I turned around, catching a glimpse of a tall dark figure. That strange sensation stirring under my skin tugged at me, urging me to the open doorway.
“What’s wrong?”
I didn’t have time to answer. Making my way through the gaming hall, I headed back into the dining area, still feeling that pull as I surveyed the patrons. A fresh wave of warmth spread across my chest the closer I got to the parking lot. I stepped outside, feeling the breath catch in my throat at the sight of the hooded figure leaning contentedly against Reese’s truck. The lighting overhead only consisted of a singular bulb hanging above the front entrance, so the parking lot was shrouded in shadows. But his sleeves were pulled up to his elbows. That much I could see, because glowing blue runes emanated from his left forearm.
As if in response, my own tingled with a dull roar, like an engine revving in anticipation before you floored it.
Footsteps galloped up behind me just as a van drove past. “Everything okay?” Reese asked, coming to my side.
I blinked, gaping at his old beater truck across the way. The hooded stranger was gone, my runes dying down at the realization.
Chapter 17
Don’t Kill The Magic
Reese hadn’t seen the stranger, but unlike Officers Blake and Stevens, he took my word for it. I knew no one was home before we even pulled up into my driveway. Mom had the lights set up on a timer, and only those select few were turned on.
“You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah,” my voice cracked. “I’m sure I’ll be fine—in there.” In the big, dark, empty house… “Would you mind horribly coming in with me?”
Reese gawped back at me like I’d just declared myself to be the Easter Bunny. “You serious?”
“I know you always go into school early to work on the newspaper, and I know Kelsey would also appreciate not having to come hunt me down for my article later in the day. So I just thought I could maybe give you my flash drive…”
He pulled in his lips, trying not to smile. Why did he always have to make me feel like I was always the butt of some private joke?
“What?”
“After everything that’s happened tonight, that’s what’s on your mind?”
“I kind of have a hard time shutting my brain down,” I admitted. “You don’t have to stay. Just come in…”
“And make sure there’s no boogeymen hiding under your bed?” he finished.
“You are well-equipped,” I said, nodding down.
He looked shocked at first, but then tried his best not to laugh. “Ooookay.”
Uh-oh…
“What? No! That’s not what I meant!” I could feel my cheeks burning with mortification. “I was nodding down at your jacket, not…”
Oh. My. God. Kill me now! Where was a demon when you needed one?
“If you say so.” He patted my arm with a snicker before climbing out.
I was probably redder now than Elmo.
Mortified, I skulked out of the car and into the house. Reese offered to take a walk through the ground floor to make sure the coast was clear as I raided the box of Devil’s Food Donuts sitting on the counter. I was starving. He returned a few minutes later, looking even more uneasy.
“Did you find something?”
He shook his head as I cleared my throat with a healthy swig of Dr. Pepper.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. You have a very…lovely house,” he replied stiffly.
At last, I laughed. “No one’s holding a gun to your head, you know.”
“It’s just…are your folks, like, anal-retentive or something?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not exactly what you’d call welcoming,” he admitted, looking around at the furniture as if it was toxic to the touch. “This place puts a model home to shame. Everything’s so…perfect. Not to mention pricey. Forgive me, but I don’t exactly feel at ease in a room where I’d have to sell a kidney in order to pay for a broken lamp.”
He did have a point. If someone so much as put a drink on the coffee table without a coaster, they’d probably vanish under mysterious circumstances. Mom didn’t even let Dad or me venture into the parlor room out of fear that our footprints would leave impressions in the new luxury carpets she had installed last month. But that was just the way things were. I’d become accustomed to it, so I guess I didn’t think it odd anymore. At least, not until Reese stepped through the door.
“It’s not much of a secret that my mom enjoys being one of the elite in town. Everything you see is a reflection on her, so she wants it to be perfect.”
“Everything, including you?”
As hard as I tried to salvage some kind of comeback, my mind came up dry. Instead, I closed the box of donuts and headed to the other side of the kitchen. Sure, that’s not where I found them, but I needed an excuse to not look at him. He knew the answer.
“Let me go grab my flash drive.” I slinked out and headed up the back staircase to my room. When I returned to the kitchen, I found Reese leaning against the island with a picture in his hands. “Here.”
He took the flash drive, tucking it into his jacket. “Where was this taken?”
I looked at the image. It was the photo I had been using as a bookmark in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which I’d left on the kitchen table this morning. “That was my dorm room back at Stewart’s Landing.”
His eyebrow ticked up.
“The boarding school I attended before I moved here,” I clarified. “Mom and Dad thought it would be good for us to spend more family time together after my dad got his new job here, so they pulled me out in favor of Belleview High.”
Reese looked just as confused as I’d been when they told me the same thing a year and a half ago. “And how’s that working out for you guys?”
I motioned to the empty room. “What do you think? It’s…everything I expected it to be.”
“Minus the murderous henchman of the Underworld.”
“Yeah, I hadn’t quite anticipated that.” I smiled at the memory of when the photograph had been taken.
“You miss it there?”
“I’d been going to Stewart’s since I was twelve, so up and leaving all my friends wa
sn’t easy,” I admitted.
“I like your shirt,” he laughed. “I like your whole room, actually.”
I was wearing a Goonies tee, and you could see a fandom of vintage movie posters plastered all across the wall. My best friends Eve and Dawn joined me on my bed, all of us donning knee-high Doctor Who socks with a massive bowl of popcorn in each of our hands as we sat down to watch a movie marathon.
“You look happy.”
“I was.” I grabbed the paperback, sliding the photo between two random pages before returning the book to the counter.
When I turned back to face Reese, I didn’t have a chance to react. He was suddenly standing directly in front of me, a gentle hand cradling the nape of my neck. His head lowered, and I instinctively tilted my own.
What was I doing?
What was he doing?
My heart began to pound furiously against my chest, and I was sure he would have been able to see it…if not for the fact that his magnetic eyes were focused on my face. Of all things, the back of my hand started to tingle with a strange electrical current pulsating up into my fingers.
Reese wasn’t going to kiss me. He didn’t like me. He—
He kissed me.
His lips brushed my cheek at first, tentative, as if to give me time to pull away. If I wanted. But I didn’t. I wanted to blame it on my body locking up, blame it on pure and utter shock freezing me into place, but that wasn’t it. Because the moment he brought his mouth to mine, I welcomed it. My back arched upward, eliminating the minuscule space still situated between us. His other hand cradled the small of my back, pressing our bodies flush together. A low sound came from deep in his throat, kicking my heart rate into overdrive. My fingers were suddenly raking through the back of his hair, combing the feathery locks. The soft caress of his lips deepened, and I finally pulled away.
“I don’t understand…”
He was still so close, enough that his nose continued to brush against mine. Reese smiled ever so slightly. “Just stop thinking so much.”
His hand slid from my neck, only to brush back the loose strand of hair falling into my eyes. And just like that, he left. His footsteps trailed down the hall, but I couldn’t see him. Now I couldn’t move.
Reese just kissed me.
Reese Blackburn.
The guy who infuriated me like no one else ever could just kissed me, and I’d let him.
Just stop thinking so much.
That kiss proved any chance of that impossible, because there was no way I couldn’t not think about what just happened. Amid all the craziness that had been dumped into my lap tonight, all my thoughts now were on the curious boy who—against all odds—had just made me melt in his arms.
Chapter 18
Teenagers
The mouthwatering aroma of popcorn wafted the air as I went up to the concessions for my second helping. Unlike the dazzling new theater at the mall, the Stargate Cineplex was fairly innate to the vintage movie-going experience. Instead of plush recliners, they still had those hard foldout seats in the theater. An old marquee sign lit up the front entrance, and best of all, there wasn’t reserved seating. I loved the spontaneity of being able to go to the theater on a whim. First come, first serve. Not like everywhere else where you have to plan a week in advance so you can assure decent seats.
My first week in town hadn’t been favorable. I’d spent most of my time being dragged to dinner parties and political fundraisers by my folks. Tonight was my first night of freedom, and after seeing the sign advertising a from-dusk-till-dawn screening of the entire Star Wars franchise, I knew exactly where I’d take refuge. Apparently, the force wasn’t particularly strong in Mystic Harbor, because I shared the entire theater with only one other person.
I stretched lazily as I looked over the concessions menu, feeling pins and needles spreading up my legs.
A pleasant chuckle emitted from behind me. “Feet fall asleep?”
I looked over my shoulder, meeting a pair of friendly amber eyes. Well, he was definitely unexpected. I had been convinced that no male in town owned anything outside of Ralph Lauren or the Brooks Brothers’ brand names. Yet, the stranger before me couldn’t be pegged by any label. He looked like how I’d imagine Dorian Gray might dress if he had been a modern-day rock star.
“A bit,” I admitted, flexing my aching toes.
The coffee-haired stranger dropped his gaze to my feet with a smile. “Nice kicks.”
Sure enough, we were both wearing black Chuck Taylors. The difference between the pairs was that his was branded with the anarchy symbol on the sides and top.
“So what brings you to our quiet little hamlet?” he inquired, brushing a loose strand of hair from his eyes. “Vacationing?”
“What makes you think I don’t live here?”
“Everyone knows everyone around here, whether you want to or not,” he clarified. “And considering the Prada sporting divas of Maine’s coast, you don’t exactly blend in with the pack.” Mom would’ve blown a gasket if she’d seen me leave the house looking as I did. Torn up jeans, Led Zeppelin t-shirt, and all. The mention would have been an insult coming from anyone else in town, but approval flickered in the stranger’s eyes, signifying it was entirely a compliment.
“Thanks,” I smiled.
He nodded as a smile of his own spread across his lips. Between the dimples that formed and the adorableness of the cleft in his chin, the simple action lit up his entire face. “You know, if you want to avoid your legs from cramping up, it helps to sit in the first row of the main section. You can rest your feet on the metal bar of the walkway divider. Makes for a decent footrest.”
“Wish I could, but someone’s already sitting there,” I said, gesturing to the doorway of my screening room. “It’s only me and someone else, but I don’t want to be that person who infringes on other people’s personal space, especially when I have the whole rest of the theater to choose from.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” His smile grew all the more as momentary confusion reached my face.
I sighed in understanding. “You’re the other person.”
“Indeed I am.”
“Sorry, I didn’t recognize you. All I saw was the back of your head when I went into the theater.”
“Still a better sight than most of The Phantom Menace.”
At last, I laughed. “Good point. But then again, you did pay to see it, so…”
“I paid to see the original Star Wars trilogy. Having to endure the unfortunate prequels just comes with the territory,” he chuckled.
“So you wouldn’t mind some company for Attack of the Clones?”
“Not at all.” He extended his fingerless-gloved hand to me. “Reese.”
Walking back into the lobby, we both winced as the early morning sun reflected off the freshly polished granite floors. I thought for sure I would’ve fallen asleep at some point, but Reese and I both spent the last eleven hours eating our weight in concessions, laughing the entire time. As it turned out, I’d met someone who was an even bigger Star Wars fan than myself, if that were possible. Fueled by a caffeine high from all the soda I’d ingested, I wasn’t the least bit tired. Still practically in tears, we continued laughing over the ‘Han Shot First’ debacle as Reese and I headed across the foyer.
He held the door open for me, flashing me the smallest glimpse of a tattoo wrapped around his wrist between his glove and shirt cuff. I thanked him and walked out. Goosebumps perforated the back of my neck as I noticed the lone passerby on the sidewalk not ten feet from us. Based on his clothes and ruffled state of his once-neatly groomed hair, it was clear the twenty-something guy had obviously had a long night on the town. He stopped dead in his tracks, a wicked grin spreading across his tight lips. I followed his line of vision to see him focusing on Reese’s tattoo as well.
“Friend of yours?” I asked Reese in a low enough voice so that only he could hear.
Reese took one look at the guy and froze, any sense of amusement slipping from
his face. “No.”
The stranger’s smirk tightened as he lingered on the sidewalk for an instant longer, eventually continuing on his way down into the alleyway between a couple storefronts that hadn’t opened yet.
That was weird, I thought. But the unease subsided the moment the man disappeared from sight. “You want to go grab something to eat?” I sighed, trying to lighten the sudden heavy mood. “I don’t know about you, but I could go for some French Toast to wash down all that candy and popcorn.”
Reese’s eyes were still fixed on the mouth of the alleyway.
“Hey, you okay?”
“What?” he mused distractedly, finally returning his attention back to me. “Oh… Yeah, I’m fine. I just…have something I need to do.” He was already making his way down the sidewalk. “Rain check, on the breakfast?”
“Sure.”
He turned back to give me one last parting smile, but there was an inexplicable somberness in his eyes. “It was really nice meeting you. Kat.” The way Reese said my name, I couldn’t help but sense that he really wanted to stay. Nevertheless, he walked away. Something about the man had rubbed us both the wrong way, yet Reese seemed to be heading after him as he too eventually dodged into the very same alley.
***
I stirred awake. I’d spent countless times reflecting over the first time we met, and I could never figure out what happened between us. Now, I saw with new eyes. Something had happened that morning. Something he could only now explain.
But how was I going to ask?
Reese was guarded, to say the least, and I doubted he’d tell me outright.
Grabbing the tops of the covers draped over my torso, I was about to pull them up further when the theme from Dracula suddenly blasted from the nightstand. Receiving texts had become a new fear of mine, but I breathed a sigh of relief to see Reese’s name on the screen.
“Pick you up at 7.”
I lifted my head, seeing the clock that read 6:45 a.m. Crap, I forgot to set my alarm. It thankfully didn’t take me more than a few minutes to get ready, since I didn’t bother doing my hair and I could pull off not wearing any makeup.
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